The New International Encyclopædia/Honolulu

HONOLULU, hŏn′ō̇-lo͞o′lo͞o. The capital and commercial centre of the Hawaiian Islands, situated on the southern coast of the island of Oahu, in 21° 18′ N. latitude and 157° 55′ W. longitude, 2089 miles southwest of San Francisco (Map: Hawaii, D 2). It is wholly a modern town, surrounded by luxuriant fruit and ornamental trees and foliage, and is famed for its beauty and the loveliness of the region. It has a very healthful and mild climate, especially favorable for pulmonary troubles. The streets are well laid out, and the houses, although unpretentious, are rendered picturesque by their gardens. Honolulu has twenty-five miles of macadam streets. The area of its public parks is 194 acres. Among the public buildings are the royal palace, completed in the Italian style in 1882, the Government buildings, several churches, a museum containing interesting remains relating to the early history of the archipelago, a theatre, and a bank. There are 19 public schools and one high school, with a total attendance of 3345 pupils. Honolulu has several hospitals and a public library. There are manufactures of machinery. The town is equipped with a good water-supply, electric lighting and railway and telephone service. Its water-works plant, costing $1,300,000, and its electric-light plant are owned and operated by the Territorial Government. The city's municipal property had an assessed value in 1900 of about $2,500,000. The budget for that year balanced at $1,131,905. Over one-half of the expenditure was for construction and other capital outlay. There was spent on schools, $128,047. The harbor is well protected by coral reefs. The light from its lighthouse is visible eight leagues. Honolulu has regular steam communication with San Francisco (with which it is also connected by cable), Seattle, Vancouver, New Zealand, Sydney, and Japan. It forms the chief outlet for the trade of the entire archipelago. It is the seat of an Anglican and of a Catholic bishop, and of a number of European consular agents, as well as of the Government officials of the islands. As late as 1815 the present capital was a mere village. In that year, at the suggestion of John Young, an Englishman, then Governor of Hawaii, it was fortified, and in 1820 it became the capital of the archipelago. Population, in 1890, 22,907; in 1900, 39,306.