BAGUIO CITY – Few people are aware that the dilapidated city public market actually looks its age: It turned 100 years old this year.

The old stone market of 1908 fueled the growth of the city, which was chartered in 1909 and will celebrate its own centennial next year, according to Erlyn Ruth Alcantara, who put up an exhibit of old photographs of the market at SM City here. The historical show will run until New Year’s Eve.

The stone market was formally inaugurated as a modern economic facility in 1908, accompanied by the operations of a water system, electricity, telephone services and a garbage disposal system, Ben Tapang Jr. wrote in his book, “Innovation and social change: The Ibaloy cattle enterprise in Benguet.”

Tapang, a retired University of the Philippines Baguio economics professor, said the American colonial government policy was directed toward creating a viable mining industry and developing a Western hill station in Benguet (which became Baguio).

His book cites the 1906 Commission Report that said only the American-built Baguio Commercial Store and small Chinese and Ibaloi stores contributed to economic activity at the time.

“The marketplace [today] has 38 permanent sections, 1,835 permanent stalls, 1,687 temporary stalls and over 1,000 ambulant vendors,” said Alcantara.

But no stakeholder is openly celebrating its centennial. The vendors have pursued a court battle with the city government since 1995 over whether it is legal to privatize the facility.

Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. said people supporting a city conservation program for the centennial had asked him to design a new market that would blend the old stone market with the traditional Ibaloi hut.

“Shaping a model of an improved Baguio market that we deserve as a community requires the constructive participation of residents, city officials, market associations, suppliers and vendors,” Alcantara said.

“We must, however, learn from mistakes in our history. The city lost one of its most historically important buildings when the stone market was demolished. The buildings inaugurated in 1952, 1955 and 1958 are the only remaining links to the old Baguio market. Yet we hardly even notice them anymore,” she said.

The city government did manage to keep one relic from the old market – a stone eagle, which was almost thrown out as scrap.