Colegio Anglo Peruano - 1928

1928 was a critical one for the Colegio Anglo Peruano. At the Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in May of that year the subject of the college was hotly debated. The McNeilage brothers led the faction that wanted it closed but there were others in favour not only of its continuance but also of its expansion. Fortunately the latter elements prevailed. In the meantime it was fast becoming imperative to look for another site. Many avenues were explored and several properties looked at. I accompanied Mr Renwick on one of these searches, which took us beyond the limits of the inner city to the south of the Spanish Arch. From the Avenida 28 de Julio at this point ran the Avenida de la Agriculture more or less parallel to the Avenida Leguia. It was called Agriculture because it led to the School of Agriculture which overlooked a park on Camilo Carrillo. Land in this vicinity was quoted at between nine and eleven soles per square metre but at that time few people could predict this being built upon in the foreseeable future and we were not among those few. The site of the Ministerio de Trabajo and the Ministerio de Salud Public was bare pampa. An ex-teacher of the Colegio Anglo, Dr Elias Ponce Rodriguez, was an exception. He purchased a block on the Avenida Mariatequi a few blocks further south and near Avenida Salaverry, on which he constructed his boarding school which he called ‘Residentia Lima’. It was about ten blocks south of the Spanish Arch on a bare and dusty pampa that more like ‘no mans land’ than anything else. Campo Marte in those days was occupied by the Hipdrome (sic), racecourse, where races were held every Sunday afternoon. It was her ein 1928 that the first mail plane carrying mail touched down one Sunday afternoon bearing mail from New York. I saw the plane land. It had taken four days to make the journey.