A souvenir coin commemorates statehood in 1959.

Hawaii for the ages

Modern transformation
and cultural renaissance

1960: Population: 641,520. ALSO: Plantations are mechanized. ALSO: Hilo tsunami kills 61, causes $23 million damage. ALSO: State Legislature convenes first regular session.

1961: Cable TV arrives. ALSO: Federation of hotel workers formed. ALSO: First U.S. spaceman, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., rockets into space.

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Democratic Party HQ on 1962 election night.

1962: Democrat John Burns elected governor; Daniel Inouye and Hiram Fong, U.S. senators; Spark Matsunaga and Thomas Gill, U.S. representatives. For first time, Democrats control both legislative houses. ALSO: After circling Earth six times, astronaut Walter Schirra plucked from ocean 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu. ALSO: Astronaut John Glenn's space voyage; Cuban missile crisis.

1963: Hawaii Pacific College and Hawaii Loa College founded. ALSO: President John F. Kennedy here in June for National Conference of Mayors; five months later, he is killed in Dallas.

1964: Honolulu International Center (today Neal Blaisdell Center) is built. ALSO: Tsunami, generated by Alaskan quake, reaches here.

1965: 25th Division and Hawaii-based Marines assigned to Vietnam War. ALSO.: Medicare launched.

1966: U.S. Supreme Court upholds Hawaii's reapportionment plan based on registered voters instead of population. ALSO: First live TV broadcast, on KHVH.

1967: Tourism milestone: 1 million visitors in single year. ALSO: Legislature passes Land Reform Act, enabling lessees to force landowners to sell fee interests.

1968: 2nd Constitutional Convention held. ALSO: State Capitol on Beretania Street completed. ALSO: Frank Fasi elected Honolulu mayor; neighbor-isle counties elect mayors for first time. ALSO: Sen. Robert F. Kennedy killed.

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1969: Seven airlines awarded domestic routes from Hawaii to 35 mainland cities. ALSO: First moon astronauts return to Earth - USS Hornet retrieves Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin Aldrin Jr., (trio at right) and Apollo 11 craft to Pearl Harbor on July 26.

1970: Hawaii legalizes abortion, first state to do so. ALSO: Regularly scheduled jumbo jet (747) service in Honolulu. ALSO: Four Kent State University (Ohio) students killed by National Guard.

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1972: Milestone: 2 million annual visitors. ALSO: Hawaii is first state to ratify Equal Rights Amendment.

1973: Teachers strike for 17 days, nation's first statewide school strike. ALSO: Hilo quake causes $1 million damage.

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1974: Sugar prices soar from 11&CENT a pound, to 65.5&CENT a pound when 40-year-old sugar act expires. ALSO: Arab oil embargo of 1973 limits gasoline buying. ALSO: George Ariyoshi elected governor. ALSO: President Richard Nixon resigns amid Watergate scandal.

1975: Aloha Stadium opens. ALSO: Two killed when tsunami washes out Boy Scout camp on Big Island.

1976: Canoe Hokule'a sails to and from Tahiti, rekindling interest in Polynesian voyaging, culture. ALSO: Activists call for release of Kahoolawe from U.S. Navy test-bombing. ALSO: Honolulu Stadium razed. ALSO: Bicentennial of America's independence.

1978: 3rd Constitutional Convention held, among results: Office of Hawaiian Affairs created.

1979: Milestone: 4 million visitors annually. ALSO: United Public Workers strike for about 41 days.
ALSO: SALT II pact limits superpower arms race.

1982: Hurricane Iwa kills one, causes $250 million damage.

1984: Kauai's Nukolii development OK'd by Hawaii Supreme Court. ALSO: Mauna Loa, Kilauea volcanoes erupt.

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1986: Honolulu astronaut Ellison Onizuka, left, killed in shuttle Challenger explosion. ALSO: Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos deposed, flees to Hawaii exile. ALSO: John Waihee III is governor.

1991: W.M. Keck telescope starts up on Mauna Kea.

1992: Iniki most destructive hurricane in state's recorded history: four killed, 1,000-plus hurt, $1.6 billion in damage.

1993: Centennial of Hawaiian monarchy overthrow in January; in October, U.S. Senate apologizes to Hawaiians for illegal 1893 overthrow; in November, President Clinton signs Congressional Resolution acknowledging overthrow's illegality. ALSO: Hawaii Supreme Court rules unconstitutional the law banning same-sex marriages, unless state can justify such a ban. Appeals follow. ALSO: STARS test missile launches from Kauai's Pacific Missile Range Facility. ALSO: Dole Cannery's pineapple water tower, right, is dismantled.

1994: In May, Kahoolawe returns to state. ALSO: Japanese Americans whose Waiau property were confiscated in WWII are included by federal government for apology and redress.

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1996: Same-sex marriage debate rages in Legislature and courts; nationally, Congress passes Defense of Marriage Act. ALSO: Sugar production ends on Oahu and Big Island.

1997: Desecration of National Cemetery of the Pacific-Punchbowl and six other cemeteries. ALSO: Protests, "Broken Trust" essay spark investigations of Bishop Estate trustees. ALSO: Long-delayed, $1.3 billion H-3 Freeway opens.

1998: Voters approve constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. ALSO: UH scientists clone mice in breakthrough. ALSO: USS Missouri returns for homeport at Pearl Harbor.

About this Series The Honolulu Star-Bulletin is counting down to year 2000 with this special series. Each installment will chronicle important eras in Hawaii's history, featuring a timeline of that particular period. Next installment: November 8. Series Archive Project Editor: Lucy Young-Oda Chief Photographer:Dean Sensui