Hokkaido at that time, Hakodate-ku and Otaru-ku also existed.
Modern history (20th century)
In 1907, the Tohoku Imperial University was established in Sendai Miyagi Prefecture, and Sapporo Agricultural College was controlled by the University. Parts of neighbouring villages including Sapporo Village, Naebo Village, Kami Shiroishi Village, and districts where Tonden-hei has settled, were integrated into Sapporo-ku in 1910.
The Sapporo Street Car was opened in 1918, and Hokkaido Imperial University was established in Sapporo-ku, as the fifth Imperial University in Japan. Another railroad operated in Sapporo, the J?zankei Railroad, which was ultimately abolished in 1969.
In 1922, the new city system was announced by the Tokyo government, and Sapporo-ku was officially transferred to the Sapporo City. The Sapporo Municipal Bus System was started in 1930. In 1937, Sapporo was chosen as the site of 1940 Winter Olympics, but due to the outbreak of Second Sino-Japanese War, this was canceled in the next year. Maruyama Town was integrated into a part of the Ch??-ku in 1940, and the Okadama Airport was constructed in 1942.
During the last days of World War II, on July 14 and 15, 1945, 30 B-29 Superfortress bombers dropped 889 tons of E-46 500 lbs incendiary cluster bombs and 500 lbs T4E4 fragmentation cluster bombs into Sapporo at lunchtime. In the resulting firestorm 190 civilians were killed, 6,788 were injured, 78,000 others remained homeless, and many structures burned for a total of 17.5 percent of the city destroyed as a part of Allied air raids on Hokkaido. The city however, was reconstructed after the war.
The first Sapporo Snow Festival was held in 1950. In the same year, adjacent Shiroishi Village was integrated into Sapporo City, rendered as a part of Shiroishi-ku, and Atsubetsu-ku. In 1955, Kotoni Town, the entire Sapporo Village, and Shinoro Village were merged into Sapporo, becoming a part of the current Ch??-ku,
