Amfac | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

Downtown_Honolulu-Building_ownersh

Alexander & Baldwin-logo

Alexander & Baldwin Building-PP-7-4-006-00001

Amfac-logo

American Factors (formerly H.Hackfield)-PP-7-5-019-00001

C Brewer-logo

Brewer Building-Burlingame-SB

Castle & Cooke-logo

Castle_&_Cooke-PP-8-1-008-00001

Theo Davies-logo

Theo. H. Davies Co., Bishop St-PP-8-3-010-00001

James_Campbell_Building-(Williams, Adamson)-1967

Dillingham Transportation Building-PP-8-4-003-00001

September 15, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Grand Canyon

“Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children, and for all who come after you, as the only great sight which every American … should see.” (Teddy Roosevelt)

It was the home of a group of people that some call the Anasazi, a Navajo word for ‘Ancient Ones.’ About 2,000 years ago, the Pueblo people learned to survive in extremely harsh conditions and for more than 1,000 years thrived there. Then, they simply disappeared. (Shields)

The Hopi, Yavapai, Navajo, Apache, Zuni, Paiute (Kaibab,) Havasupai and Hualapai are among the tribes that call the canyon home, each with their own language, customs and beliefs. (NPS)

The Colorado River began carving a course to create the Grand Canyon, 4 to 6-million years ago. The nearly 300-river-miles long Colorado cut the 1-mile deep, 10-miles wide canyon, exposing rock and sediment formations that are nearly 2-billion years old. (Stampoulos)

In 1540, a Spanish Nobleman, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, led the first expedition of Europeans into the southwest, in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola that were reputed to contain great riches.

Spanish explorer Don Pedro de Tovar accompanied Coronado and led an expedition to Hopi country. Tovar is credited with as being the first European to learn of the existence of the Grand Canyon. But the Spanish left, unable to cross its impassable void.

Later, more foreigners came.

In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran and his nine companions became the first to record the 1,000-miles of the Green and Colorado River from Wyoming through the Grand Canyon. Powell was the first American to consistently use and publish the name, ‘Grand Canyon.’ (NPS)

Miners discovered valuable mineral resources in the Grand Canyon in the late-1800s; but extraction was dangerous and expensive. Mining claims waned and tourism increased.

In the early days, reaching the Grand Canyon was difficult. Initially, horses, mules, river rafts and stagecoaches brought people to the canyon. The 73-mile trip from Flagstaff to the canyon rim took 10 to 12-hours. (Stampoulos)

In 1876, the Santa Fe railroad was one of the fastest expanding railroads in the country. In 1889, Fred Harvey had a contract for exclusive rights to manage and operate the eating houses and lunch stands with the Santa Fe, west of the Missouri River.

Passengers on the Santa Fe ate well because of Harvey’s special refrigerated boxcar that supplied fresh California fruits and vegetables. He had ‘Harvey Girls’ (“young (unmarried) women between 18 and 30-years of age, of good character, attractive and intelligent”) as waitresses and salesgirls.

The Fred Harvey Company operated all of the hotels and restaurants along the Santa Fe railroad lines, as well as many dining cars. (Stampoulos)

Soon, the Santa Fe Railway (and others railways) reached the South Rim of the canyon. In 1901, Harvey died, and his son Ford Harvey took over the company. After Fred’s death, the company’s good reputation for fine food and service grew even more. (Armstrong)

Newspapers across the country heralded the passenger trains carrying visitors to the Grand Canyon; the story stirred public interest, instigating what would later become a ‘boom’ of visitors to the canyon – more than half of them arrived by train at the Santa Fe Station. (Shields)

The company decided to go ahead with plans for a first-class hotel at the Grand Canyon. Ford was in charge of what became the company’s crown jewel, the El Tovar Hotel (named after the early Spanish explorer) – the Charles Whittlesey-designed log structure opened its doors on the canyon rim (and at the rail station) on January 14, 1905.

The hotel soon became the mecca for travelers from all over the world. In order to serve the large number of visitors. The Fred Harvey Company had to maintain a fairly large staff. To accommodate them, men and women’s dormitories were built near the hotel.

The Harvey Company continued its growth well into the 20th century.

So, what’s the Hawai‘i connection? … In 1968, Amfac (one of Hawai‘i’s ‘Big Five’ companies) bought the Fred Harvey Company (and with it, the concession for El Tovar and other hotels, shops and activities at the Grand Canyon.)

Amfac had its beginning in the Islands when, on September 26, 1849, German sea captain Heinrich (Henry) Hackfeld arrived in Honolulu with his wife, Marie, her 16-year-old brother Johann Carl Pflueger and a nephew BF Ehlers.

Hackfeld opened a general merchandise business (dry goods, crockery, hardware and stationery,) wholesale, as well as retail store.

Hackfeld later developed a business of importing machinery and supplies for the spreading sugar plantations and exported raw sugar. H Hackfeld & Co became a prominent factor – business agent and shipper – for the plantations.

A few years later, with the advent of the US involvement in World War I, things changed significantly for the worst for H Hackfeld & Co. In 1918, using the terms of the Trading with the Enemy Act and its amendments, the US government seized H Hackfeld & Company and ordered the sale of German-owned shares. (Jung)

The patriotic sounding “American Factors, Ltd,” the newly-formed Hawaiʻi-based corporation (whose largest shareholders included Alexander & Baldwin, C Brewer & Company, Castle & Cooke, HP Baldwin Ltd, Matson Navigation Company and Welch & Company,) bought the H Hackfeld stock. (Jung) At that same time, the BF Ehlers dry goods store also took the patriotic “Liberty House” name.

American Factors shortened its name to “Amfac” in 1966. The next year (1967,) Henry Alexander Walker became president and later Board Chairman of Amfac.

Over the next 15-years, Walker took Amfac from a company that largely depended on sugar production in Hawaiʻi to a broadly diversified conglomerate (which included the acquisition of the Fred Harvey Company in 1968.)

Later, the resort management company became known as Xanterra Parks and Resorts (the present concessionaire and operator of hotels (including El Tovar) and other functions at the Grand Canyon, and elsewhere.)

In 1893, President Benjamin Harrison established it as a forest reserve. On January 11, 1908, President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt placed the Grand Canyon under public protection, declaring it a national monument. Congress updated the Grand Canyon to national park status and doubled the protected area in 1975. It was named a World Heritage Site in 1979.

They say the average length of stay for visitors to the Grand Canyon is 3-hours; take some time to see and experience what some suggest is one of the 7 Wonders of the Natural World (Grand Canyon, Mount Everest, Northern Lights, Harbor at Rio de Janeiro, Great Barrier Reef, Paricutin and Victoria Falls) – it is something to behold, that neither words, nor pictures, can adequately describe.

Tourist at the edge of the Grand Canyon, ca. 1914

Grand Canyon-1872

Grand View Trail, Grand Canyon, 1906

Grand_Canyon_Dorie_In_Marble_Gorge_1964

grand-canyon-harvey-girls

Harvey Girls – Grand Canyon National Park – Fred Harvey Company

Grand Canyon Train

Vintage-Grand-Canyon-Bus

Vintage-Grand-Canyon-look out

El Tovar Hotel-facing Canyon

El_Tovar_Hotel_in_early_1900s

El_Tovar_Hotel_1968

El_Tovar_Hotel-snow

El_Tovar_Hotel-menu-1953

April 20, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Walker Estate

Captain Heinrich Hackfeld was an adventurer born in Dalmenhorst, in Oldenberg, Germany. He was a sea captain on the China run when he sailed into Honolulu Harbor for provisions.

He stayed; he and his brother-in-law Johann Carl Pflueger founded a dry goods store called H Hackfeld and Company in 1849 in Honolulu. In 1881, Paul Isenberg became a partner.

George Rodiek was first vice president of H Hackfeld & Co; he also served as German consul in the Islands. In 1905, Rodiek built a two-story home with a series of garden featuring ferns, rocks and orchard in Nuʻuanu.

Then, WWI came (1914-1918.) In 1918, using the terms of the Trading with the Enemy Act and its amendments, the US government seized H Hackfeld & Company and ordered the sale of German-owned shares. (Jung)

The patriotic sounding “American Factors, Ltd,” the newly-formed Hawaiʻi-based corporation, whose largest shareholders included Alexander & Baldwin, C Brewer & Company, Castle & Cooke, HP Baldwin Ltd, Matson Navigation Company and Welch & Company, bought the H Hackfeld stock. (Jung)

The German-started H Hackfeld & Co became one of Hawaiʻi’s “Big Five.” (Hawaiʻi’s Big 5 were: Amfac – starting as Hackfeld & Company (1849;) Alexander & Baldwin (1870;) Theo H Davies (1845;) Castle & Cooke (1851) and C Brewer (1826.))

In 1918, Rodiek sold his Nuʻuanu home to Alan Wilcox who remained in it until the 1930s when it was taken over by Henry Alexander Walker (Walker became president of American Factors in the 1930s – American Factors shortened its name to “Amfac” in 1966.

The next year (1967,) Alexander’s son, Henry Alexander Walker became president and later Board Chairman. Over the next 15-years, Walker took Amfac from a company that largely depended on sugar production in Hawaiʻi to a broadly diversified conglomerate. After adding so many companies, Amfac sales were $1.3 billion by 1976, up from $575 million in 1971. (hbs-edu)

After subsequent sales of controlling interests in the company and liquidation of land and other assets, in 2002, the once dominant business in Hawaiʻi, the biggest of the Hawaiʻi Big Five, Amfac Hawaiʻi, LLC (Limited Liability Company) filed for federal bankruptcy protection. (TGI)

OK, back to the house … The nearly-6-acres of grounds were originally used for orchards and vegetables although the Japanese garden was put in shortly after the house was built (thought to be the oldest formal Japanese garden in Hawaiʻi,) the stones, lamps and images specially brought from Japan for it.

Wilcox expanded the gardens, but it was not until the Walkers took over the house that the grounds were made into a showplace. (NPS)

The Walkers turned the estate into world famous orchid gardens. Una Walker (Henry Sr’s wife) maintained the estate by making the grounds available for weddings and visitors and as a movie and television set.

The Walker residence is one of the few intact estates that were built in the upper Nuʻuanu Valley before and after the turn of the century. The Classical Revival style reflects an era of gracious living that for various reasons has passed from existence except in a few isolated cases. (NPS)

In 1973, the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places; in addition more that 20 of its trees are listed as exceptional trees. (Being on the register doesn’t mean that a private landowner cannot demolish a historic site.)

In 1989, two years after Una’s death, the house and its grounds were sold by the Walker heirs to Masao Nangaku of Minami Group (USA) Inc. His intention was to restore the original house to be used as a corporate retreat; he renovated the house.

After Nangaku experienced financial problems, Richard Fried and partners took the property over and, in 1998, asked for planning permission to build a chapel to facilitate weddings on the site.

When this was refused, the estate was sold to Holy-eye (the Hawaii business arm of Forshang World Foundation and Forshang Buddhism World Center) the same day.

In 2005, Holy-Eye listed the estate for sale. In June 2006, real-estate developer TR Partners attempted to purchase the estate and planned to demolish the building and subdivide up to 20-home sites.

In 2006, Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation listed the Walker Estate to that year’s Most Endangered Historic Site (listing there calls attention to Historic resources that are often threatened by demolition, neglect, ignorance and/or apathy.)

The Taiwan and US flags are flown at the entrance to the property.

Walker_Estate

Walker_Estate-rear-view-(NPS)

Walker_Estate-front-main-entry-(NPS)

Walker_Estate-porte-cochere-(NPS)

Walker_Estate-master-bedroom-(NPS)

Walker_Estate-(historichawaiifoundation)

Walker_Estate-Japanese-Garden-(historichawaiifoundation)

Walker_Estate-Japanese_Garden-(NPS)

Walker_Estate-interior-(NPS)

Walker_Estate-(honoluluadvertiser)

Walker_Estate-Ficus_Tree-(outdoorcircle)

Walker_Estate-garden-(NPS)

Walker_Estate-Lawn

November 3, 2015 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Fred Harvey Company

The rapid growth of railroads after the Civil War was both a response to an existing need and an attempt to meet the challenge of future development. The frontier was pushing across the Kansas plains. (Snell)

Cyrus K Holliday took concrete steps toward the building of a railroad to the west as early as 1859; he has been credited with inaugurating the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (Santa Fe) railroad system.

“The said company is hereby authorized and empowered to survey, locate, construct, complete, alter, maintain and operate a railroad, with one or more tracks, from or near Atchison, on the Missouri River, in Kansas Territory, to the town of Topeka, in Kansas Territory, and to such a point on the southern or western boundary of said Territory, in the direction of Santa Fe, in the Territory of New Mexico”. (AT&SF Charter; Snell)

After getting to Santa Fe, New Mexico, the rail reached Needles, California in 1883 and would later reach all the way to Los Angeles in 1885 with a connection to San Francisco by 1900.

Frederick Henry Harvey was born on June 27, 1835 to Charles and Helen Manning Harvey, he lived in Liverpool, England with his family until they immigrated to the United States in 1850.

He first worked as a dishwasher with Smith and McNeill Café in New York for just $2 per day. He moved to New Orleans; then in 1853, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Six years later, he and a partner opened a restaurant in St. Louis (just before the Civil War broke out.)

The Civil War was bad for the restaurant industry, but good for the rail industry. Mr Harvey’s business partner left to join the Confederacy and the restaurant closed.

Harvey went to work for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (commonly called the ‘Burlington.’) On January 14, 1860 he married Barbara Sarah Mattas; they had 7 children, 5 of which survived to adulthood.

During this time, Harvey noticed that the lunchrooms serving rail passengers were deplorable and most trains did not have dining cars, even on extended trips. The custom at the time was typically to make dining stops every 100-miles or so.

The dining stops were short, no longer than an hour, and the passengers were expected to find a restaurant, order their meal, get served and eat. When the train was ready to go, it left, often leaving passengers stranded at the station.

Harvey tried unsuccessfully to interest the Burlington in a co-operative arrangement to provide good food for travelers. But the Santa Fe was interested and early in 1876 he acquired the lunchroom at the Topeka depot. Service and food were dramatically improved, and both Harvey and the Santa Fe desired to see his operations expanded.

Before long, the first Harvey House Restaurant opened in the Topeka, Kansas Santa Fe Depot Station in 1876. Leasing the lunch counter at the depot, Harvey’s business focused on cleanliness, service, reasonable prices and good food. It was an immediate success.

The Harvey Houses became the first chain restaurants, with the Topeka depot becoming the training base for the new chain along the Santa Fe Route. Soon Harvey lunchrooms extended from Kansas to California.

By the late-1880s, there was a Harvey establishment every one hundred miles along the Santa Fe line. Setting high standards for efficiency and cleanliness, the food was always served on china and customers were required to wear coats.

Harvey found that the men he hired to work in his restaurants weren’t working out; he began hiring women at a time when the only jobs for respectable females were as domestics or teachers. Harvey began to recruit them in newspaper ads across the country.

In order to qualify as one of the ‘Harvey Girls,’ the women had to have at least an eighth grade education, good moral character, good manners, and be neat and articulate. Harvey paid good wages, as much as $17.50 per month with free room, board and uniforms.

In return for employment, the Harvey Girls would agree to a six month contract, agree not to marry and abide by all company rules during the term of employment. In no time, these became much sought after jobs.

The famous ‘Harvey Girls,’ carefully trained, well-groomed young women who were hired as waitresses, further increased customer traffic. Before long, Harvey was operating restaurants, hotels, gift shops and newsstands in increasing numbers along the railroad route.

Fred Harvey’s rest houses became gathering places for visitors searching for mementos of Indian land and the Native residents of some of the West’s most striking cultural and geographic terrain.

In the 1890s, the Santa Fe Railway began including dining cars on some of its trains; Harvey got the contract to serve food on those, as well. About this same time, George Pullman began building (and staffing) his own sleeping cars.

After World War I, rising affluence, more automobiles and more leisure time hurt the Harvey Company. While keeping many Harvey Houses, they moved away from full reliance on train passengers. They packaged motor trips of the southwest, including tours of Native American villages (Indian Detours) and natural wonders(such as the Grand Canyon

At its peak, there were 84 Harvey Houses. They continued to be built and operated into the 1930s and 1940s (in 1946, its 7,000 employees served 33,000,000 meals a year to travelers.)

So, what’s the Hawai‘i connection? … In 1968, Amfac (one of Hawai‘i’s ‘Big Five’ companies) bought the Fred Harvey Company.

Amfac had its beginning in the Islands when, on September 26, 1849, German sea captain Heinrich (Henry) Hackfeld arrived in Honolulu and opened a general merchandise business (dry goods, crockery, hardware and stationery,) wholesale, as well as retail store.

Hackfeld later became a prominent ‘factor’ – business agent and shipper – for the sugar plantations. However, with the advent of the US involvement in World War I, things changed. In 1918, the US government seized H Hackfeld & Company and ordered the sale of German-owned shares. (Jung)

The patriotic sounding ‘American Factors, Ltd,’ the newly-formed Hawaiʻi-based corporation (whose largest shareholders included Alexander & Baldwin, C Brewer & Company, Castle & Cooke, HP Baldwin Ltd, Matson Navigation Company and Welch & Company,) bought the H Hackfeld stock. (Jung) At that same time, the BF Ehlers dry goods store took the patriotic ‘Liberty House’ name.

American Factors shortened its name to “Amfac” in 1966. The next year (1967,) Henry Alexander Walker became president and later Board Chairman of Amfac.

Amfac first got into resort management in 1962 when it developed some of its land at Kāʻanapali Beach Resort, Hawaiʻi’s first master-planned resort. Twenty-five years after it started, the Urban Land Institute recognized Kāʻanapali Beach Resort with an Award of Excellence for Large-Scale Recreational Development.

Amfac expanded its resort experience in the Islands in 1969 when it acquired Island Holidays Hotel Co and its chain of ‘Palms’ resorts (including Kona Palms, Maui Palms and Coco Palms) started by ‘Gus’ and Grace Guslander.

Walker took Amfac from a company that largely depended on sugar production in Hawaiʻi to a broadly diversified conglomerate (which included the acquisition of the Fred Harvey Company in 1968.)

Later (2002,) the resort management company became known as Xanterra Parks and Resorts. (Lots of information here is from Harvey Houses, Armstrong, Legends of America and Xanterra.)

Topeka Depot where Fred Harvey took over the 2nd-flr lunchroom in early 1876

ATSF_1890s_passenger_train

Harvey_House_Sign

Judy_Garland_The_Harvey_Girls

Harvey Girls – Grand Canyon National Park – Fred Harvey Company

Old_Harvey_House,_Las_Vegas,_NM

Harvey-uniform

Harvey-Girls-of-Somervillle-TX-1910

Harvey Cars at Hopi Point, Grand Canyon

grand-canyon-harvey-girls

GrandCanyonRailway

Fred_Harvey_cars_on_the_way_to_Rainbow_Bridge_1921

El Garces Harvey House and Railroad Depot in Needles

Barstow,_CA_train_station

Fred Harvery Company, Union Station Kansas City, Missouri-lunch

Fred Harvery Company, Union Station Kansas City, Missouri

Cajon_summit,_c._1919

Santa_Fe_Route_Map_1891

Fred Harvery Company, Union Station Kansas City-Missouri

August 13, 2014 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Līhuʻe

Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi (literally translated as ‘cold chill’) dates from the late-1830s when Kaikioʻewa, governor of Kauaʻi, moved his home from the traditional seat of government, Waimea, to the hilly lands overlooking Nawiliwili Bay on the southeastern side of Kauaʻi in the ahupuaʻa of Kalapaki.

He named this area Līhuʻe in memory of his earlier home on Oʻahu. The name, Līhuʻe, was unknown on Kauaʻi before then; the ancient name for this area was Kalaʻiamea, “calm reddish brown place.” (Līhuʻe on Oʻahu is in the uplands on the Waianae side of Wahiawa; Kūkaniloko is situated in Līhuʻe.) (Fornander)

In 1849, Henry A Peirce & Co, a partnership between Charles Reed Bishop, Judge William L Lee, and Henry A Pierce established a suar plantation (on the site Kaikioʻewa chose for it on the Nawiliwili stream (water power was used to drive the mill rollers.)) (In 1859, a new partnership was formed and the name was changed to the Līhuʻe Plantation Company.) (HSPA)

The Plantation had several innovations. “(T)he first important (irrigation) ditch was dug at Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi, in 1851 … other ditches on Maui soon followed.” (Louisiana Planter) In 1859, the first steam engine used to power a sugar mill in Hawaiʻi was installed at Līhuʻe. (LOC)

In 1851, a frame courthouse was built on a site just above Kalapaki Bay and Nāwiliwili Harbor. The Lihue Plantation Store was built in the 1860s on the grounds of the plantation manager’s residence and moved in 1876 to a hill across the mill valley (where the present County Executive Offices are situated.) The store later served as the area’s mail distribution hub.

A cluster of homes and stores around it was the start of the town of Līhuʻe. During most of the nineteenth century, Līhuʻe served as the center of island government. Sugar planting to feed the plantation and mill changed the landscape.

“The country was undergoing the process of denudation. Non-resident landlords, large landholders, have in most cases leased out their lands by long leases to vandal-like tenants, who are making the most of their time and their bargain by cutting down the forests, and supplying the sugar mills, shipping, and even Honolulu with wood.”

“Sixteen years ago, where beautiful kukui groves gladdened the scene, is now a barren plain.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 27, 1867)

Līhuʻe Plantation expanded in 1910 with the purchase of controlling interest in Makee Sugar Company. Expansion again occurred in 1916 when Līhuʻe Plantation and WF Sanborn purchased the 6,000 acre Princeville Plantation.

In 1922, American Factors, Ltd (AmFac,) successor company to H Hackfield & Co, acquired control of Līhuʻe Plantation Company. The Līhuʻe Mill was one of the longest sugar mills in service in the Islands (1849-2000.)

The Fairview Hotel (initially opened by Charles W Spitz in 1890) was the first full-fledged hotel on Kaua‘i providing rooms and a restaurant. William Hyde Rice’s oldest son William Henry Rice took over the operation in 1894 and eventually changed the name to Lihue Hotel; it grew over the years to 68-rooms.

In those days, an operation had to be self-sufficient and a farm behind the hotel raised cattle, pigs and chickens along with fruits and vegetable grown for the restaurant. After Rice’s death in 1946, the family sold the hotel to Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company; the name was changed to Kauai Inn. (Kauaʻi Museum)

Following annexation (1898,) the Territorial government passed the County Act (1905,) establishing county governments. Līhuʻe became the county seat of Kauaʻi and the County Commissioners held monthly meetings in the 1851 courthouse.

In 1913, the present County Building was erected, the first structure in the territory built expressly to house a county government. Its Chambers have served the Kauaʻi County Council ever since.

That year, a new Līhuʻe Store replaced the old. The County Building and Līhuʻe Store were the earliest buildings on Kauaʻi constructed of concrete and presaged a new era in the development of Lihue. With the completion of the County Building, the 1851 courthouse was razed and a school built on its site.

The school was interchangeably referred to as Līhuʻe High School and Kauaʻi High School. It was the fifth high school in the Territory of Hawaiʻi and the first high school on the island of Kauaʻi. Kauaʻi High sits on a hill often referred to as “Ke Kuhiau” (meaning “high point” – it’s also the name of the school yearbook.) (KHS)

The partially-rock-faced Albert Spencer Wilcox Memorial Library, the island’s first library, was dedicated on May 24, 1924 (Albert’s birthday – it was funded by Emma Mahelona Wilcox in memory of her husband.) (A new library was built in Līhuʻe in 1969 – the Wilcox Building is now the Kauaʻi Museum and home to the Kauaʻi Historical Society.)

Down the hill, construction of the Nawiliwili breakwater began in 1920. This was the first step in creating Nawiliwili Harbor, not completed until 1930. Air fields at Līhuʻe and Hanapepe were constructed and the first airplanes actually flew to Kaua‘i in 1920. By 1929 Hawaiian Airlines established regular flight service. (Strazar)

Kaua‘i made history at this time when it sent the first woman in Hawai‘i to the Territorial House in 1924, Rosalie Keliʻinoi, and the first to the Territorial Senate in 1932, Elsie Wilcox. (Strazar)

During the Depression Era and 1930s, public improvement projects dominated the construction scene in Līhuʻe. Roads were paved and several significant buildings were built.

The area surrounding the County Building developed as the hub of government activities with the construction of the Territorial Office Building (County Building Annex) in 1930 and the County Courthouse in 1938.

Originally the County Courthouse was to be built in the park in front of the County Building; however, public outcry against that location resulted in the construction of Umi Street and the Courthouse on its present site.

Līhuʻe Theater was built in 1931. The Līhuʻe Post Office (1938) was the first and only federally-constructed post office on the island of Kauai (it was expanded in the late-1970s.)

Daily flights led to airmail in 1934 complementing long distance telephone service begun in 1931. During the 1920s and 1930s a belt road connecting main towns was paved, as well. (Strazar)

The image shows the Līhuʻe Mill and Town In addition, I have included more related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.