The history of today DECEMBER 12

	The Dec. 12, 1899, Pacific Commercial Advertiser reports that the wooden building at the corner of Fort and Beretania will be torn down for a new three-story business block of pressed yellow brick, iron and plate glass. In addition, Fort Street was to be widened 17 feet, and Beretania was to gain 14 feet.

1900: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrates the 50th anniversary of the arrival of its first missionaries in Hawai'i.

1912: The Advertiser reports the War Department is making elaborate preparations to increase the number of U.S. troops stationed in Hawai'i, from 4,000, to 15,000. "The defense of the Hawaiian Islands is the defense of San Francisco," Army Gen. Leonard Wood said.

1931: Horace Ida, one of the men accused of beating and raping Thalia Massie, is kidnapped and beaten. The trial had ended in a mistrial six days earlier.

1951: A weather and geophysical observatory is dedicated on Mauna Loa.

1979: Hilo Hattie, the schoolteacher who became a comic hula dancer and beloved entertainer, dies at the age of 78. She was born Clarissa Haili and took her stage name from the 1932 song by Don McDiarmid, "When Hilo Hattie does the Hilo Hop."

1997: A court-appointed factfinder investigating the Bishop Estate says trustee Lokelani Lindsey has created "an oppressive and hostile atmosphere" at the Kamehameha Schools and left the campus in turmoil.

1997: The H-3 Freeway opens. The long-delayed, controversial freeway cost $1.3 billion to build.

2003: Bishop Joseph Ferrario, who headed the Hawai'i Catholic Diocese from 1982 to 1993, dies at the age of 77.

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