Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1920s – dredging of the Ala Wai Canal, Hawaiian Pineapple buys Lāna‘i, billboards outlawed and Honolulu Hale is completed. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.
Public Clocks
The first direct evidence of a clock on Island soil appears in a list of goods received by Kamehameha I at Lahaina in 1812, in return for a shipload of sandalwood. “Large public clocks first appeared in the 1840s and 1850s. In 1842, James Hunnewell presented Kawaiahaʻo Church with the large church clock on the gallery wall below the new organ.”
The public clock served the functional purpose of telling passers-by the time. But it also served as a village landmark, a reference point, and a symbol of civic pride. Indeed, public clocks were something of a status symbol for a community, a sign that a town had reached a certain level of prosperity, that there was action there. Our Lady of Peace Catholic Cathedral’s is the oldest tower clock in Hawai‘i. Others followed.
Irwin Park
The Honolulu Waterfront Development Project, introduced by Governor Lucius E Pinkham and the Board of Harbor Commissioners in 1916, was declared to be the “most important project ever handled in Honolulu Harbor.” The project began in 1916 with the construction of new docks; it continued in 1924 with the construction of Aloha Tower.
On September 3, 1930, the Territory of Hawai‘i agreed to accept the donation of land from Hélène Irwin Fagan to honor her father and that it be maintained as a “public park to beautify the entrance to Honolulu Harbor.” The Honolulu Waterfront Development Project was completed in 1934 with the creation of a 2-acre oasis shaded by the canopies of monkeypod trees.
Honolulu Harbor Lights
Even in today’s high-tech environment with tools and toys with satellite support, the simple illumination from a known point continues to serve as a navigational aid, as well as warn mariners of hazardous areas.
The original Honolulu Harbor Light was built in 1826 (a “crude oil lamp wrapped with red cloth.”) In 1869, “Harbor Wink” was built at the edge of the reef on the north side of the Honolulu Harbor entrance; other lights were replaced these, including the 10-story Aloha Tower (lighthouse.) The Aloha Tower navigational aid served until 1975, when the present Honolulu Harbor Light was established on a metal pole at the end of Pier 2.
Rock Silo to Bell Tower
Carl W Winstedt and the National Construction Company began construction on the Aloha Tower on 1924. The project took a year and a half to complete. Aloha Tower opened in 1926; at 184-feet, 2-inches tall, it was the tallest building in the Territory (and remained such for the next forty years.) (LRB) Winstedt was originally […]