Founded in 1912, the Outdoor Circle quickly became a champion of Hawai'i's natural beauty, wielding so much power that developers and government planners often sought the blessings of the group.
Perhaps more amazing: It was founded by women at a time when men were the powerbrokers.
True, they initially drew their power from their influential husbands and fathers, but they used it for their own goals of beautification. The founding seven women all were related to the leaders of the Big Five, the large companies that ran Hawai'i for decades, and their signatures carried clout.
Today, the group has more than 3,500 members — men and women.
When the Outdoor Circle was created, Honolulu had no sidewalks and very few trees. Its main streets were lined with billboards. The Outdoor Circle soon began advocating underground wiring, and landscaping at military bases. In 1927, it helped pass legislation banning billboards in Hawai'i.
Through the years, the Outdoor Circle defeated proposed hotels, mountain tramways, tree-removal programs and elevated freeways. Even hamburger giant McDonald's bowed to the women and scaled down the size of its arches in the 1960s.
The Outdoor Circle also added hundreds of thousands of trees to the landscape.
However, the same organization opposed projects that became Honolulu landmarks, including Aloha Tower, which was deemed "too tall," and the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Punchbowl, because it would "create a city of the dead above the city of the living."
