Though it was described as a stone bridge, it was actually a pier, extending out into the shallow waters of Kowloon Bay. It was first built in the 1870s by the Chinese government, enabling easier access to Kowloon City by boat.
The pier changed shape several times, as reclamation ate it up from the landward end, and different extensions were added to it at the seaward end.
It disappeared from sight completely in 1942, during reclamation for the expansion of Kai-Tak airport by the Japanese.
The closure of the airport in 1998 meant there it was possible to excavate the area. This was done in 2008, showing that several sections of the piers were still in place.
Here's a timeline of the main events:
1873-75 - The Lung Tsun Stone Bridge is built from granite
The original pier was built of granite. It measured about 210m long and 2.6m wide, and was laid in the direction of N131-degrees. The works were completed in 1875. [1, item 4.4.2]
At this time, this lay outside of British territory, which only extended as far north up Kowloon as the line of today's Boundary Street.
After Britain leased the New Territories from China, the pier was inside British territory. However, the 1898 Convention made two exceptions: Kowloon City would remain under Chinese jurisdiction, and Chinese men-of-war could use the pier.
The status of Kowloon City would be an ongoing point of disagreement between Britain and China over the following years, but I haven't seen any complaints about of a lack of Chinese access to the pier during that time.
1899-1900 - New name: Kowloon City Pier. New timber.
The 1899 and 1900 Annual Reports of the Public Works Department (PWD) noted that the timber section of the pier, which they now called "Kowloon City Pier", had decayed and was reconstructed.
1908-10 - Concrete replaces timber
It seems the 1899-1900 'reconstruction' of the timber section was actually a more minor set of repair.
The solution was to replace the timber section with a new section made from concrete. We can follow the progress in the following years' reports from the PWD:
- 1908: 27 reinforced concrete piles were made for the Kowloon City Pier. [6]
- 1909: The concrete piles were driven into the seabed, and the area around the pier was dredged. [7]
- 1910: The concrete pier was completed. It measured 149 feet long, with two sets of steps at the outer end.
The 1910 report also notes that two launches were allowed to start running a ferry service to and from the new pier.
1920s - Northern part of the granite section is buried under reclamation
Starting from 1916, a new sea wall was built across the northern section of Kowloon Bay, and the area behind it was reclaimed for the Kai Tak Bund project [9]. The line of the new sea wall cut across the granite section of the Kowloon City Pier, so the northern part of the pier was buried under the reclamation. I'm not yet sure which year that happened, but it was likely in the early 1920s.
The southern part of the pier's granite section, and the concrete part, remained in use. The following years' PWD annual reports mention repairs to the pier.
1934 - A new causeway provides easier access to the pier
In early 1934, the government issued a tender for "... the dumping of pell-mell rubble to form a causeway to Kowloon City Pier and the surfacing of same with cement concrete ...". The work was finished in December of that year.
1936-7 - Reconstruction
In 1936 the government issued another tender, this time for "Reconstruction of Kowloon City Ferry Pier". (Note the addition of "Ferry" to the name.) It says the work comprises: "the reconstruction of the pier in reinforced concrete involving the construction of R. F. C. walings, bracings, landings and steps, decking, roofing, booking offices, barriers and other contingent works."
Before this work began, the pier was made up of the three parts shown in the map above: the southern end of the original granite pier, the concrete pier from 1910, and the causeway from 1934. I'm not sure whether the reconstruction applied to all three parts, or just to that concrete pier from 1910.
The newly reconstructed pier opened in March 1937.
1942-5 - Lost from sight
During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, they reclaimed more of Kowloon Bay to expand the Kai Tak airfield. All three parts of the Kowloon City Pier were buried under this reclamation, and disappeared from sight.
2000s - Re-discovery
Kai Tak airport was closed in 1998, but it wasn't until 2008 that excavations revealed that at least some of the old pier had survived. Further excavations showed there were significant remains. It was decided to re-bury and preserve the remains, with the plan to later excavate them again and make them accessible to the public.