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Hilo History, Hawaii

Although the availability of evidence to prove the original birth is very scarce but many different evidences have proved that the city of Hilo was inhabited by many different tribes way before the English people entered this land. These tribes used to live around the Hilo Bay, the famous Wailoa River, and the huge Wailuku River. These tribes had inhabited this area for years and it was after they had completely settled that people from different Western countries landed here.

Initially this name Hilo was used for the complete District of Hilo, but as of now, the district has been divided into two namely the North Hilo District and the South Hilo District. It was the year 1823 when the famous missionary William Ellis had visited this land. During those days, he found that the major settlement in this area was Waiākea which was residing around the Hilo Bay. It was the arrival of this famous missionary that many other missionaries started to enter this region between early years of 1800s to the middle of 1800s. These missionaries built many churches in the area which was later called modern Hilo due to the availability of huge number of modern monuments. One of the most famous church amongst the many built was Haili Church.

Soon sugar plantation business became very famous in the city of Hilo and the areas which surround the city. The major reason behind the growth of sugar plantation was due to the availability of rich soil around the Hilo Bay. This sugar plantation business started to attract huge number of workers from Asian Countries and as a result this newly created city soon became an important trading center for the United States of America.

It was the month of April during the year 1946 when the city of Hilo was hit by a severe earthquake, which later on resulted into a Tsunami too. It did destroy the city to a large extent. Another Tsunami hit the city of Hilo in the year 1960, which was again due to a severe earthquake.

It was the decade of 1960s when the city of Hilo started to expand economically as well as in terms of population. Since then, the city hasn’t looked back and continued to expand at a considerable pace.

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