John H. Wilson (mayor of Honolulu)

John Henry Wilson, popularly known as Johnny Wilson (1871-1956), served as Mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii three times: from 1920 to 1927, from 1929 to 1931, and from 1946 to 1954.

Early years

Wilson was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1871. Part-Hawaiian on his mother's side, his parents were befriended by King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani. His father, C.B. Wilson, was superintendent of the water works and fire chief under King Kalakaua, and was Marshal of the Kingdom under Queen Liliuokalani.

Wilson attended the Fort Street School and St. Alban's College. After graduating, he worked odd jobs on the West Coast, Hawaii, and Alaska. A construction job that he took in 1890 with Oahu Railway & Land led him to pursue civil engineering as a career. With financial support from the Queen, he enrolled at Stanford University in 1891. However, lack of funds after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893 forced him to leave Stanford in 1894.

In 1896 he once again joined Oahu Railway & Land and worked on a survey for a carriage road over the Nu‘uanu Pali. Armed with this knowledge, he and fellow Stanford student Louis Whitehouse bid for and won the contract to build the road, completing the road in January 1898.

Political career

Wilson served as roads engineer for both Maui and Honolulu counties. His first political campaign was for a seat in the Territorial Senate in 1918, which he lost. However, upon the death of Mayor Joseph J. Fern in 1920, Wilson was selected by the Board of Supervisors to succeed him.

Wilson served three times as mayor, from 1920 to 1927, 1929 to 1931, and from 1946 to 1954, a total of 19 years. As mayor, Wilson oversaw the completion of Honolulu Hale, which was completed in 1929 and consolidated the functions of the city's government.

During the late 1950s, Wilson advocated that the territorial government build a tunnel through the Koolau Mountains from Honolulu to Kaneohe through Kalihi Valley. The territorial government, however, opted to build the tunnel through the Nuuanu Pali. The city eventually proceeded with plans to build a second set of tunnels through Kalihi Valley, which opened in 1961, five years after Wilson's death. The tunnels were named the John H. Wilson Tunnels in his honor.

External links

* [http://www.ascehawaii.org/herit2001.html ASCE Hawaii] - describes Johnny Wilson's early achievements