Hilo

Sister cities

• La Serena

History

Around 1100 AD, the first Hilo inhabitants arrived, bringing with them Polynesian knowledge and traditions. Although archaeological evidence is scant, oral history has many references to people living in Hilo, along the Wailuku and Wailoa rivers during the time of ancient Hawaiʻi. Oral history gives the meaning of Hilo as "to twist". Originally, the name "Hilo" applied to a district encompassing much of the east coast of the island of Hawaii, now divided into the District of South Hilo and the District of North Hilo. When William Ellis visited in 1823, the main settlement there was Waiākea on the south shore of Hilo Bay. Missionaries came to the district in the early-to-middle 19th century, founding Haili Church. Hilo expanded as sugar plantations 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, one of which was the Hilo Sugar Mill. At that time, the Hilo Sugar Mill produced 3,500 tons of sugar annually. A breakwater across Hilo Bay was begun in the first decade of the 20th century and completed in 1929. On April 1, 1946, an 8.6-magnitude earthquake near the Aleutian Islands created a tsunami that hit Hilo 4.9 hours later, killing 159 total in the islands, 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 Hawaiʻi Belt Road was built north of Hilo using some of the old railbed. On May 22, 1960, another tsunami, caused by a 9.5-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Chile that day, claimed 61 lives, allegedly due to the failure of people to heed…

Geography

Hilo is on the eastern and windward side of the island. It is classified by the US Census Bureau as a census-designated place (CDP), and has a total area of , of which is land and of which (8.4%) is water. Hilo has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen: Af), with substantial rainfall throughout the year. Its location on the windward coast (relative to the trade winds), makes it the fourth-wettest city in the United States, behind the southeast Alaskan cities of Whittier, Ketchikan and Yakutat, and one of the wettest in the world. An average of around of rain fell at Hilo International Airport annually between 1981 and 2010, with 272 days of the year receiving some rain. Monthly mean temperatures range from in February to in August. Hilo's location on the shore of the funnel-shaped Hilo Bay also makes it vulnerable to tsunamis.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Common Myna

  Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,514
• Saffron Finch

  Sicalis flaveola (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,291
• Zebra Dove

  Geopelia striata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,137
• Spotted dove

  Spilopelia chinensis (Scopoli, 1786) · Aves
  2,649
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,359
• Pacific Golden-Plover

  Pluvialis fulva (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  2,278
• Yellow-billed Cardinal

  Paroaria capitata (d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837) · Aves
  2,268
• Japanese White-eye

  Zosterops japonicus Temminck & Schlegel, 1845 · Aves
  1,950

Largest nearby schools

• Hilo High School
  High · Hilo · 1,317 students · 16.9:1 ratio
• Waiakea High School
  High · Hilo · 1,297 students · 16.8:1 ratio
• Keaau High School
  High · Keaau · 1,046 students · 15.8:1 ratio
• Keaau Elementary School
  Elementary · Keaau · 821 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• Waiakea Elementary School
  Elementary · Hilo · 789 students · 14.9:1 ratio
• Waiakea Intermediate School
  Middle · Hilo · 774 students · 13.8:1 ratio
• Keaau Middle School
  Middle · Keaau · 749 students · 15:1 ratio
• Waiakeawaena Elementary School
  Elementary · Hilo · 684 students · 13.4:1 ratio