C. W. Winstedt and the National Construction Company began the construction of the Aloha Tower in 1924.  The tower was designed by architect Arthur Reynolds and boasts 6,000 barrels of cement, 15 gallons of light green paint for the cupola, and 1.400 gallons of eggshell-white paint for the tower exterior.  The tower took a year and a half to built and cost $351,053.

In June of 1926, Hawaii Territorial Governor Wallace Farrington and Honolulu Mayor John Wilson officially opened the Aloha Tower, a fitting structure to hail the periodic boatlands of the tourists crowding Honolulu Harbor.

At the time, travel to the Islands was done entirely by sea, so the building was intended to create a lasting impression, both for arriving and departing passengers.  It was built on the water side of the piers at which most of the stately liners of the day docked.

The tower is slender and square-shaped, topped by a domed cupola with balconied openings on all four sides. Below the cupola are large clocks, with a face for each of the four sides of the building.  Between each clock face and cupola balcony, etched in letters big enough to view from some distance are the letters A-L-O-H-A to welcome or bid farewell to the new arrivals or departures.

Although built primarily as a symbol, Aloha Tower also had a more practical function.  Rising opposite the entrance to Honolulu Harbor, it has a commanding view of the whole harbor and offers a front row seat for the excitement.  The tower also used to serve as a lighthouse and could be seen as far as 16 miles if out at sea.

Aloha Tower was built to a height of 10 stories - 184 feet, 2 inches, and is topped by a 40-foot flag staff.  The tower was occupied by custom offices, offices dedicated to the arrival and departure of passengers, and the offices of the harbor master, harbor pilots, and staff.  The first to occupy the building were local artist James Wilder and Aloha Tower architect Arthur Reynolds.

For four decades it was the tallest building not only in Downtown Honolulu, but also all of Hawaii.  Spreading from its base were the docks, warehouses, passenger-handling and other facilities of Piers 8, 9, 10 and 11, the core of Honolulu Harbor's commercial activity.

In the 1920s and '30s, "Boat Day" meant the arrival of a passenger ship and it quickly became a festive celebration shared by the whole community.  But during World War II, the tower was closed and camouflaged with netting, khaki and green paint.  Repainting the tower took months, but Aloha Tower was reopened in 1948 for many more happy Boat Days.

As time passed, and the city grew, the tower still stood above the buildings and hubbub crowding around it.  Even though air travel has replaced the ocean liners as Hawaii's chief link with the outside world, and Downtown Honolulu has since sprouted high rise office buildings that dwarf the aging Aloha Tower, it continues to deliver its welcoming greeting.