Editing Hilo, Hawaii (section)

==History==
Around 1100 AD, the first Hilo inhabitants arrived, bringing with them [[Polynesia]]n knowledge and traditions. Although archaeological evidence is scant, [[oral tradition|oral history]] has many references to people living in Hilo, along the [[Wailuku River|Wailuku]] and [[Wailoa River (Hawaii)|Wailoa]] rivers during the time of [[ancient Hawaii|ancient Hawaiʻi]].<ref>{{Hawaiian Dictionaries |Hilo |dic=hpn |HASHbe6bbaa7d9c7c80616c1b0 |access-date= February 18, 2011 }}</ref> Oral history gives the meaning of ''Hilo'' as "to twist".<ref>{{Cite book
| url = https://archive.org/details/legendsofwailuku00hapa
| title = Legends of the Wailuku: as told by old Hawaiians
| last = Hapai
| first = Charlotte
| date = 1920-01-01
| publisher = Honolulu, The Charles R. Frazier company
| access-date = 2016-08-18
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170705050339/https://archive.org/details/legendsofwailuku00hapa
| archive-date = 2017-07-05
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

Originally, the name "Hilo" applied to a district encompassing much of the east coast of the [[Hawaii (island)|island of Hawai{{okina}}i]], now divided into the District of South Hilo and the District of North Hilo. When [[William Ellis (British missionary)|William Ellis]] visited in 1823, the main settlement there was [[Waiakea, Hawaii|Waiākea]] on the south shore of [[Hilo Bay]].<ref>Ellis, W. ''A Narrative of an 1823 Tour through Hawai'i'', republished 2004, Mutual Publishing, Honolulu {{ISBN|1-56647-605-4}}, chapters 11 and 12</ref> Missionaries came to the district in the early-to-middle 19th century, founding [[Haili Church]].

Hilo expanded as [[Sugar plantations in Hawaii|sugar plantation]]s in the surrounding area created jobs and drew in many workers from [[Asia]]. For example, by 1887, 26,000 Chinese workers worked in Hawai'i's sugar cane plantations,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://immigrationtounitedstates.org/541-hawaii.html|title=Hawaii|website=Immigration to the United States|language=en|access-date=2019-11-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905025036/https://immigrationtounitedstates.org/541-hawaii.html|archive-date=2019-09-05|url-status=live}}</ref> one of which was the Hilo Sugar Mill. At that time, the Hilo Sugar Mill produced 3,500 tons of sugar annually.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://keolamagazine.com/then-now/hilo-sugar-mill-wainaku-center/|title=Then & Now: Hilo Sugar Mill/Wainaku Center|last=Laitinen|first=Denise|date=2013-09-18|website=Ke Ola Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191114214730/https://keolamagazine.com/then-now/hilo-sugar-mill-wainaku-center/|archive-date=2019-11-14|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Distant view of the suburbs of Hilo, Hawaii, 1907 (CHS-427).jpg|left|thumb|Hilo, Hawaii, 1907]]
[[File:Hawaii - Hilo - NARA - 23937301 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Hilo Iron Works, 1929]]

A breakwater across Hilo Bay was begun in the first decade of the 20th century and completed in 1929. On April 1, 1946, an [[1946 Aleutian Islands earthquake|8.6-magnitude earthquake]] near the [[Aleutian Islands]] created a {{convert|14|m|ft|order=flip|adj=mid|-high}} [[tsunami]] that hit Hilo 4.9 hours later, killing 159 total in the islands,<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-023-06076-w | doi=10.1007/s11069-023-06076-w | title=A qualitative review of tsunamis in Hawaiʻi | date=2023 | last1=Fisher | first1=Scott | last2=Goff | first2=James | last3=Cundy | first3=Andrew | last4=Sear | first4=David | journal=Natural Hazards | volume=118 | issue=3 | pages=1797–1832 | bibcode=2023NatHa.118.1797F | doi-access=free }}</ref> with 96 deaths in Hilo alone. In response, an early warning system, the [[Pacific Tsunami Warning Center]], was established in 1949 to track these killer waves and provide warning. This tsunami also caused the end of the [[Hawaii Consolidated Railway]], and instead the [[Hawaii Belt Road|Hawaiʻi Belt Road]] was built north of Hilo using some of the old railbed.<ref>{{Cite thesis |type=M.A. |title=Personal Accounts from Survivors of the Hilo Tsunamis of 1946 and 1960: Toward a Disaster Communications Model |last=Johnston |first=Jeanne Branch |year=2003 |publisher=[[University of Hawaii at Manoa]] |hdl=10125/7104 }}
</ref>

On May 22, 1960, another tsunami, caused by a [[1960 Valdivia earthquake|9.5-magnitude earthquake]] off the coast of [[Chile]] that day, claimed 61 lives,<ref>{{Cite book|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=b1sXfJCiCHQC|page=49}}|title=Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes|last1=Gates|first1=Alexander E.|last2=Ritchie|first2=David|date=2006|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9780816072705|language=en}}</ref> allegedly due to the failure of people to heed warning sirens. Low-lying bayfront areas of the city on [[Waiakea, Hawaii|Waiākea]] peninsula and along Hilo Bay, previously populated, were rededicated as parks and memorials.

Hilo expanded inland beginning in the 1960s. The downtown found a new role in the 1980s as the city's cultural center with several galleries and museums opening; the [[Palace Theater (Hilo, Hawaii)|Palace Theater]] reopened in 1998 as an arthouse cinema.

Closure of the sugar plantations (including those in [[Hamakua|Hāmākua]]) during the 1990s hurt the local economy, coinciding with a general statewide slump.<ref name="WaPo"/> Hilo in recent years has seen commercial and population growth.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lauer |first1=Nancy Cook |title=Hawaii Island leads state in population growth, despite some towns seeing declines |url=https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2019/12/22/hawaii-news/hawaii-island-leads-state-in-population-growth-despite-some-towns-seeing-declines/ |access-date=July 25, 2020 |work=[[Hawaii Tribune-Herald]] |date=December 22, 2019}}</ref>