Banyan Drive is a tree-lined street at the shoreline of Hilo, Hawaii. It is known as the "Hilo Walk of Fame" for the

banyan A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as a ...

trees planted by celebrities. These trees have withstood several

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

s that have devastated the town on the Big Island of Hawaii.

History

The drive circles the Waiakea Peninsula, near

Hilo International Airport Hilo International Airport , formerly General Lyman Field, is an international airport located in Hilo, Hawaii County, Hawaii. Owned and operated by the Hawaii state Department of Transportation, it is one of two major airports on Hawaii Island ...

, and boasts the largest hotels on the eastern side of the Big Island. It is located in Liliuokalani Gardens, and a small footbridge leads to Moku Ola, also known as Coconut Island.

Celebrity planting

In 1933, several park commissioners decided that it would be a good idea to have celebrities plant banyan tree saplings along the peninsula. In 1934, with the arrival of President Franklin Roosevelt in Hilo, it was decided to build a drive through the trees, then only of crushed coral. At the time, the peninsula hosted the Hilo Yacht club and several homes. In late 1933,

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...

was on the island filming " Four Frightened People". Several of the actors along with Mr. and Mrs. DeMille, all planted trees in their own honor. According to records, 8 trees were planted in October 1933. In addition to the movie stars, one tree was also planted by the famous baseballer, George Herman "Babe" Ruth. Planting of trees by celebrities continued with an additional 10 trees planted in 1934, 15 in 1935, 6 in 1936, 5 in 1937, 4 in 1938. Two trees were planted in 1941, one in 1952 by Senator

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, and two in 1972 by

Pat Nixon Thelma Catherine "Pat" Nixon (''née'' Ryan; March 16, 1912 – June 22, 1993) was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974 as the wife of President Richard Nixon. She also served as Second Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961 wh ...

, one to replace the tree planted by her husband which was lost in a storm and the other to honor her as first lady. In 1991 Polly Mooney replanted a tree lost to a tsunami honoring

Civitan International Civitan International, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is an association of community service clubs founded in 1917. The organization aims "to build good citizenship by providing a volunteer organization of clubs dedicated to serving individual an ...

leader

Courtney Shropshire Courtney Shropshire (July 10, 1877 – 1965), a prominent doctor in Birmingham, Alabama, was the founder and first president of Civitan International. Early life Shropshire was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1877. While living in Jackson, ...

. Mrs. Mooney was also honored by being the first woman president of the previously male-dominated Civitan. The tree bears both their names.

Banyan Drive today

Some of the trees were lost due to the effects of tsunamis that once devastated the Hilo coastline. Fifty trees still line Banyan Drive, marked with wooden plaques. Several of the banyan trees in the adjoining golf course may have been planted by honorees. Most of the trees still thrive along Banyan Drive, having grown into a thick canopy, making it popular for walking. The trees, which still bear the names of the planters, honor movie stars, religious leaders, political leaders, famous authors, adventurers and local Hawaiians.

Development on Banyan Drive

Banyan Drive is home to several hotels, apartment/condominium buildings, restaurants, and retail buildings. Hotels include: * The Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. * The Grand Naniloa Hotel. * The Hilo Seaside Hotel. * The Hilo Reeds Bay Hotel. Restaurants include: * Hilo Bay Cafe. * Coconut Grill. * Ponds Restaurant. * Suisan Fish Market. Some hotels and apartment buildings have recently faced financial problems and closures. The Banyan Drive Redevelopment Agency has proposed new parks, a new cruise ship port, new commercial activity, and a new hotel. A bike trail connecting Banyan Drive to downtown Hilo has been built. Funds at the state and county level are being sought for redevelopment.

Gallery

File:Banyan Drive.jpg, Banyan Drive, Hilo, Hawaii File:Banyan Drive, Hilo - Looking toward Hilo Port.jpg, Banyan Drive - Looking toward the Port of Hilo File:Banyan Drive, Hilo - Amelia Earhart.jpg, This banyan tree was planted in 1935 by Amelia Earhart File:Banyan_Drive,_Hilo_-_Henry Morgenthau Jr.jpg, This banyan tree was planted in 1937 by

Henry Morgenthau Jr. Henry Morgenthau Jr. (; May 11, 1891February 6, 1967) was the United States Secretary of the Treasury during most of the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He played a major role in designing and financing the New Deal. After 1937, while ...

Planters

Movie stars

Movie stars (and directors) include

and his wife Constance,

Mary Boland Mary Boland (born Marie Anne Boland; January 28, 1882 – June 23, 1965) was an American stage and film actress. Early years Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Boland was the daughter of repertory actor William Augustus Boland, and his wife M ...

William Gargan William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905February 17, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for Be ...

Edna Best Edna Clara Best (3 March 1900 – 18 September 1974) was a British actress. Early life Born in Hove, Sussex, England, she was educated in Brighton and later studied dramatic acting under Miss Kate Rorke who was the first professor of Drama at ...

Herbert Marshall Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966) was an English stage, screen and radio actor who starred in many popular and well-regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. After a successful theatrical career in the Uni ...

, and

Leo Carrillo Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo (; August 6, 1880 – September 10, 1961), known professionally as Leo Carrillo, was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist. He was best known for playing Pancho in the television ...

Adventurers

Adventurers who planted trees include pilots Amelia Earhart, Knefler McGinnis and Arctic and Antarctic explorer,

Lincoln Ellsworth Lincoln Ellsworth (May 12, 1880 – May 26, 1951) was a polar explorer from the United States and a major benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History. Biography Lincoln Ellsworth was born on May 12, 1880, to James Ellsworth and Eva F ...

Religious leaders

Religious leaders were also honored by planting banyans in Hilo. These include then president of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

Heber J. Grant Heber Jeddy Grant (November 22, 1856 – May 14, 1945) was an American religious leader who served as the seventh president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Grant worked as a bookkeeper and a cashier, then wa ...

, and Dr. John Sonnenberg, Pacific area president, Roman Catholic Bishop Stephen Alencastre, Monshu of the Hongwanji Buddhists Kosho Ohtani, Methodist leader Bishop Gerald Kennedy who planted a tree along the drive but it was not a banyan tree, Japanese Christian reformer

Toyohiko Kagawa was a Japanese Protestant Christian pacifist, Christian reformer, and labour activist. Kagawa wrote, spoke, and worked at length on ways to employ Christian principles in the ordering of society and in cooperatives. His vocation to help the ...

, YMCA Training School President Dr. L. L. Doggett, and Dr.

Daniel A. Poling Daniel Alfred Poling (November 30, 1884 – February 7, 1968) was an American clergyman. Early life and family Poling was born in Portland, Oregon, to Charles Cupp Poling and Savilla Kring Poling in 1884. His father was also a minister, and two o ...

, once pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church.

Politicians

Politicians that planted banyans include

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, War Secretary

George Dern George Henry Dern (1872–1936) was an American politician, mining man, and businessman. He co-invented the Holt–Dern ore roasting process and was United States Secretary of War from 1933 to his death in 1936. He also served as the List of Gov ...

, Postmaster

James Farley James Aloysius Farley (May 30, 1888 – June 9, 1976) was an American politician and Knight of Malta who simultaneously served as chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Postmaste ...

, National Guard Chief George Leach, Hawaii County Chairman

Helene Hale Helene Hale (March 23, 1918 – February 1, 2013) was an American politician from the state of Hawaii. Hale was born Helene Eleanor Hilyer in Minneapolis, Minnesota on March 23, 1918. From 1955 until 1963 she served on the County of Hawaii Boa ...

, Hawaii County Chairman Samuel M. Spencer, Secretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman, and Hawaii Territorial Governor Oren Long.

Notable Hawaiians

Hawaiians were often honored on Arbor Day, celebrated in Hawaii on the first Friday of November. Residents of the Territory and later State of Hawai'i include Virginio A. Carvalho, Otto Rose, vulcanologist Dr.

Thomas Jaggar Thomas Augustus Jaggar Jr. (January 24, 1871 – January 17, 1953) was an American volcanologist. He founded the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and directed it from 1912 to 1940. The son of Thomas Augustus Jaggar, Jaggar Jr. graduated with a Ph ...

, Hawaiian Princess Abigail Kawānanakoa, James McCandless, Dr. Grover Batten,

David McHattie Forbes David McHattie Forbes (21 July 1863 – 23 March 1937) was a Scottish botanist, ethnologist, sugarcane plantation manager and explorer on the island of Hawai'i. He practised forestry, agronomy, and horticulture and served as the first district ...

, Benjamin Bond (son of Hawaiian Missionary

Elias Bond The Bond District is a collection of historic buildings located in the district of North Kohala on the island of Hawaii. The district has three sections: the homestead of missionaries Ellen and Reverend Elias Bond (1813–1896), Kalahikiola Church, ...

), hotelier William Kimi, and hotelier

George Lycurgus George Lycurgus ( grc-gre, Γεώργιος Λυκούργος) (1858–1960) was a Greek American businessman who played an influential role in the early tourist industry of Hawaii. After Queen Lili`uokalani was overthrown in a coup by the Commit ...

. Father "Louis" Aloysius Borghouts founded the Father Louis Boys' Home for orphans and ran it for 36 years.

Other honorees

Other people honored by banyan tree planting include musician Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, radio celebrity

Arthur Godfrey Arthur Morton Godfrey (August 31, 1903 – March 16, 1983) was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname The Old Redhead. At the peak of his success, in the early-to-mid 1950s, Godf ...

, First Lady

, Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, Eastern Star's William A. Duvall, Sr., American Legion's Ada Mucklestone and Ray Murphy, author

Lewis Browne Lewis Browne (1897January 3, 1949) was a writer, philosopher, lecturer and world traveller. A rabbi, Browne turned to writing popular histories and biographies including ''This Believing World'' (1926), ''The Graphic Bible'' (1928, illustrations b ...

, Civitan's

and Polly Mooney Forestier, Philippine labor and cult leader Hilario Moncado, Boy Scout Executive

James West James or Jim West may refer to: People * James West (Australian journalist) (born 1982), Australian journalist and author * James West (antiquary) (1703–1772), English politician and antiquary; president of the Royal Society * James E. West (po ...

, Cleveland College sociologist Henry Busch, authors

Vicki Baum Hedwig "Vicki" Baum (; he, ויקי באום; January 24, 1888 – August 29, 1960) was an Austrian writer. She is known for the novel ''Menschen im Hotel'' ("People at a Hotel", 1929 — published in English as '' Grand Hotel''), one of h ...

and

Fannie Hurst Fannie Hurst (October 18, 1889 – February 23, 1968) was an American novelist and short-story writer whose works were highly popular during the post-World War I era. Her work combined sentimental, romantic themes with social issues of the d ...

, China's Premier

Sun Fo Sun Fo or Sun Ke (; 21 October 1891 – 13 September 1973), courtesy name Zhesheng (), was a high-ranking official in the government of the Republic of China. He was the son of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China, and his fir ...

, author and illustrator

Hendrik Willem van Loon Hendrik Willem van Loon (January 14, 1882 – March 11, 1944) was a Dutch-American historian, journalist, and children's book author. Life He was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the son of Hendrik Willem van Loon and Elisabeth Johanna Hanken. ...

, Professor of Chinese culture

P. C. Chang Peng Chun Chang, commonly known as P. C. Chang (; 1892–1957), was a Chinese academic, philosopher, playwright, human rights activist, and diplomat. He was born in Tianjin, China, and died at his home in Nutley, New Jersey. Biography Born in ...

and cruise director of the RMS ''Franconia'', Ross Hunt Skinner.

Trees planted in honor of others

Some of the banyan trees were planted in honor of other people. This list includes King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

in honor of his silver jubilee, Hawaiian Park Ranger

Albert MacKenzie Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert ...

by his wife on Arbor Day, Girl Scout founder,

Juliette Low Juliette Gordon Low (October 31, 1860 – January 17, 1927) was the American founder of Girl Scouts of the USA. Inspired by the work of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of Boy Scouts, she joined the Girl Guide movement in England, forming her own gr ...

, by a local Girl Scout troop. Trees were also planted honoring the new Commonwealth of the Philippines by Rev. Yadao and the Shriners.

References

* {{Reflist Transportation in Hawaii County, Hawaii Roads in Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii