The May 11, 1911, Pacific Commercial Advertiser reported that nearly 3,000 names were on a petition asking Congress to approve a new federal build ing for Honolulu.

1905: The board of archives of the Territory of Hawai'i is formed.

1909: More than 2,000 Japanese laborers in Waipahu go on strike for higher wages. Workers at the Honolulu Plantation in 'Aiea had gone on strike the previous day. The Advertiser reported that Japanese workers in 'Ewa and Waialua were expected to continue working so they could contribute funds to support the striking workers.

1915: A congressional party tours Kilauea. The lawmakers say they favor creation of a national park there.

1921: Judge Cornell Franklin grants a decree of condemnation for Washington Place, home of the late Queen Lili'uokalani, and it becomes the property of the Territory of Hawai'i. The value of the property was fixed at $55,000 and the previous legislature had made provisions for the government to purchase the home and property. It then became the official home of Hawai'i's governors.

1922: KGU, which is owned by The Honolulu Advertiser, begins commercial radio service in Hawai'i.

1929: A boxing commission is formed.

1931: Lorrin A. Thurston, militant leader in Hawaiian affairs for more than half a century, lawyer, statesman and publisher, dies. His grandparents, Asa and Lucy Thurston, were in the first missionary company that arrived on the brig Thaddeus. He was a key figure in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and the annexation of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. In 1898, he purchased the Pacific Commercial Advertiser.

1957: Fire rages out of control for nearly an hour and destroys the main building of 30-year-old Kailua Elementary School and threatens to spread to other buildings in the heart of town before it is put out by firefighters aided by hundreds of citizens.

1957: The new Nu'uanu Pali bridge and tunnels open to traffic.

1971: Almost 50 police officers and High Sheriff John Young evict Kalama Valley pig farmer George Santos and arrest 32 nonviolent protesters in a confrontation that had been anticipated for a month. Kalama Valley farmers and residents had been on month-to-month leases on the land, which Bishop Estate owned and planned to develop.

1977: Larry Price resigns as UH head football coach.

2000: President Clinton upgrades the World War II decorations of 21 Asian-American heroes to the Medal of Honor, including at least 10 men from Hawai'i. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye was one of the 10.

2002: The Manoa Falls trail reopens after clearing a final safety inspection. The trail had been closed since Feb. 1 when a landslide sent tons of debris crashing down near the base of the waterfall.

1909: Some 1,500 laborers at the Honolulu Plantation in 'Aiea go on strike for higher wages. Fred Makino, one of the leaders of the Higher Wage Association, said laborers wanted to be paid $1 a day and mill men wanted $2.50 a day.

1921: The Catholic Mission announces plans for a hospital to be run by the sisters of the Franciscan order.

1927: O'ahu's second belt road, to be created by linking the Pali-Waimanalo road at Makapu'u, is named Kalaniana'ole Highway in honor of the memory of Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole.

1937: Gov. Joseph B. Poindexter signs a bill repealing the $10 high school tuition fee.

1942: The Mauna Loa eruption that began April 26 subsides after lava reaches within eight miles of the outskirts of Hilo. The Army bombed the flow to divert the lava. Because Hawai'i was under blackout regulations at the time, the Army had censored news of the eruption. It was not reported until May 19.

1959: The 30th and last Territorial legislature adjourns after a bitter fight over taxes.

1963: The Advertiser reports that Olga Waterhouse has been chosen chairwoman of the Honolulu Police Commission. She was the first woman to head a police commission in the United States.

1964: Frank Sinatra narrowly escapes drowning when he is trapped in an undertow and carried 200 yards offshore of his rented home on the north shore of Kaua'i. Sinatra was in Hawai'i to direct and act in "None But the Brave." He had gone into the water in an effort to rescue the wife of his executive producer.

1977: Four Hawai'i hotel companies and the Hawaii Hotel Association are found guilty of criminally conspiring to fix room rates and are fined from $10,000 to $50,000 by U.S. District Judge Samuel P. King. All had pleaded no contest.

1900: The U.S. Senate confirms the appointment of Sanford Dole as governor of Hawai'i.

1907: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser reports it probably will be a surprise to the people of Honolulu to learn that the federal government has taken possession of Diamond Head as well as Punchbowl.

1918: Maj. Harold M. Clark, chief of the Army's Sixth Aero Squadron, leaves Fort Kamehameha at 9:15 a.m. for the first interisland seaplane flight. He flies to Maui and then to the Big Island, where his destination was Hilo but he crashes near Kaiwiki after getting lost in heavy cloud cover at the 8,000-foot elevation point. It takes him two days to walk out.

1922: The Honolulu Advertiser announces it has completed arrangements to introduce radio broadcasting to the Islands. The paper had acquired a $5,000 broadcasting set and planned to broadcast regular evening programs of a varied nature, including musical features, important announcements, vaudeville numbers, sermons, speeches and the like.

1957: A Hawaii Visitors Bureau research committee says seven out of 10 visitors are making trips to the Neighbor Islands, but O'ahu still gets 91 percent of the tourism money. The committee said it is time to plan the development of new destination areas outside of Waikiki.

1961: Vice President Lyndon Johnson arrives in Hawai'i en route to South Vietnam. While he is here, he dedicates the East-West Center "to fuse a new strength — a new strength for freedoms that will last through eternity." He also receives an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Hawai'i.

1999: Eight people are killed and 50 hurt when tons of boulders crash onto the pool below Sacred Falls. The cliff above the pool gave way at about 2:30 p.m. on a sunny Mother's Day.

1891: The Pacific Commercial Advertiser reports on the completion of the Hawaiian Sugar Co.'s ditch to Makaweli, Kaua'i. The paper calls it a great engineering work and essential to building up the plantation at Makaweli.

1907: A congressional committee arrives in Hawai'i to tour the islands for three weeks.

1926: Fire breaks out in a butcher shop of the 'ewa-makai corner of Maunakea and Pauahi streets. It swept through four buildings before fire fighters got it under control. Forty families were left homeless.

1927: St. Francis Hospital is dedicated in Liliha.

1931: The Lili'uokalani Trust purchases 20,561 square feet of land along the proposed 60-foot road about 130 feet from the Ala Wai, near the fairgrounds entrance.

1936: More than 1,000 people crowd the grounds of Kapi'olani Park to watch children take part in the first citywide hula contest sponsored by the city-county recreation commission.

1941: Sears, Roebuck & Co. opens its new store on Beretania Street.

1945: President Truman announces the unconditional surrender of Germany and warns Japan it can expect nothing but complete destruction unless it surrenders. In Hawai'i, Gov. Stainback says Honolulu will not celebrate V-E day.

1951: Oren E. Long is inaugurated governor of Hawai'i. He is the 10th territorial governor.

1973: Island crime syndicate boss Wilford K. "Nappy" Pulawa is convicted by a Federal Court jury of three counts of income tax evasion and three counts of filing false tax returns. Federal Judge Samuel P. King orders Pulawa taken into immediate custody after a prosecution contention that Pulawa was a threat to the community and had "imposed a reign of terror on this island."

1910: Ground is broken for the third Kaumakapili Church. The new church building replaced the church that burned in the Chinatown fire of 1900.

1914: The British liner Lusitania is sunk by German torpedoes off the coast of Ireland. Two Honolulans were aboard and were among the survivors.

1924: Negotiations are completed for the sale of a part of the Allen estate property commonly known as "Laniakea" to the Young Women's Christian Association. The YWCA bought the part of the estate facing Richards Street.

1936: The O'ahu prison band will no longer be allowed to take part in parades or play at government receptions, warden Joseph Ordenstein said. The inmate band previously had taken part in holiday parades and social functions.

1941: The military announces that with more than 150 ships of the U.S. fleet ordered to stay in Hawaiian waters indefinitely, all armed forces in the Islands are to go on wartime status the following week when the Army sends 23,000 troops into the field for spring battle drills.

1970: More than 3,000 members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1357 go on strike after rejecting a proposed new two-year contract with Hawaiian Telephone Co.

1977: The University of Hawai'i basketball program is censured and put on two-year probation by the NCAA for 68 specific violations of NCAA rules, including improper recruiting inducements and illegal extra benefits to 22 athletes.

1994: With chants, drums and the mournful sound of conch shell horns, the island of Kaho'olawe is officially transferred to the state of Hawai'i by the U.S. Navy.

1999: Probate Court Judge Kevin S.C. Chang removes four of the five trustees of the Bishop Estate — Henry Peters, Lokelani Lindsey, Richard "Dickie" Wong and Gerard Jervis — and accepts the unconditional resignation of the fifth trustee, Oswald Stender. It was a dramatic culmination of more than a year of broadening court oversight of the wealthy estate. The IRS had asked the trustees to step down or face proceedings for revocation of the tax-exempt status of the trust.

2001: The board of directors of BancWest Corp., parent company of First Hawaiian Bank, accepts an offer by BNP Paribas SA to acquire the company for $2.5 billion.

2005: A fire at century-old Kalaheo Elementary School destroys six classrooms and the administration office.