Increased shipping necessitated an extension to the port, involving the construction of a new long breakwater, which was handed over for use in 1931. The Mikros Koules (small fortress) and sections of the Venetian dry docks were demolished in 1936. Further work was carried out in the port two years later, to enable large vessels to approach the wharf.
At the same time, the arrival of refugees from Asia Minor and the concomitant increase in the population placed a strain on the water supply, and in 1926 work began on a new aqueduct from the springs at Astraki in Pediada district. Likewise, the town was first supplied with electricity in this period.
New public buildings were erected, and older ones were turned over to new uses. In the late 1920s, the earlier Kislades (Turkish barrack house) was divided into three, according to plans drawn up by the architect Dimitris Kyriakos.
