Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Buffalo Soldiers

Before the Army’s 25th Infantry Division, stationed at Schofield Barracks on Oʻahu (formed in 1941,) for a while during the time of World War I (1913 – 1918) Hawaiʻi had the Army’s 25th Infantry Regiment.

The Division is known as the “Tropic Lightning;” the Regiment was known as the “Buffalo Soldiers.”

In 1866, Congress created six segregated regiments which were soon consolidated into four black regiments. They were the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry.

“The officers say that the negroes make good soldiers and fight like fiends … the Indians call them ‘buffalo soldiers’ because their woolly heads are so much like the matted cushion that is between the horns of the buffalo.” (Roe, Army Letters from an Officer’s Wife, 1871-1888)

Although African Americans have fought in America’s wars since the Revolution, they weren’t allowed to enlist in the Regular Army until after the Civil War (and, from July 28, 1866 – February 3, 1946, America’s Army was segregated.)

While the Buffalo Soldiers fought in the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars at the turn of the century, they did not see combat in World War I (1914 – 1918.)

At the time, the National Park Service did not exist, however a few National parks had been created: Yellowstone (1872,) Sequoia (1890,) Yosemite (1890,) Mount Rainier (1899,) Crater Lake, 1902,) Wind Cave, (1903,) Mesa Verde (1906,) Glacier (101) and Rocky Mountain (1910.)

Rather than fight, the Buffalo Soldiers and other Army regiments were assigned to duties at some National Parks.

The US Army served as the official administrator of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks between 1891 and 1913; Buffalo Soldiers, like their white counterparts in US Army regiments, were among the first Park Rangers, and created a model for park management as we know it today.  (NPS)

In addition to bringing law and order to the mountain wilderness, their accomplishments included the completion of the first usable road into Giant Forest and the first trail to the top of Mt. Whitney (the tallest peak in the contiguous United States) in Sequoia National Park in 1903 …

… and the building of an arboretum in Yosemite National Park near the south fork of the Merced River in 1904. One scholar considered the latter area to contain the first marked nature trail in the national park system.  (NPS)

Starting in 1906, George Lycurgus (operator of the Volcano House) and newspaperman Lorrin Andrews Thurston were working to have the Mauna Loa and Kilauea Volcanoes area made into a National Park.  In 1912, geologist Thomas Augustus Jaggar arrived to investigate and joined their effort.

Jaggar had tried to lead several expeditions to the top of Mauna Loa in 1914 but was unsuccessful due to the elevation (13,678 feet) and the harsh conditions: rough lava, violent winds, noxious fumes, shifting weather, extreme temperatures and a lack of shelter, water and food.  (Takara)

About 800 Buffalo Soldiers from the 25th Regiment had been assigned to garrison duty in Hawaiʻi at Schofield Barracks.  Given their experience in Parks on the continent, some of the soldiers were called upon to assist at the volcanoes on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

In September 1915, Jaggar, Thurston and a US Army representative conducted a survey to determine a route for a trail up Mauna Loa.

The following month, a local paper noted, “Soldiers Building Mountain Trail.  Negro soldiers of the Twenty-fifth Infantry to the number of 150 are at work constructing a trail from near the Volcano House to the summit of Mauna Loa. It is estimated that three or four weeks will be devoted to this work. The soldiers are doing the work as a part of their vacation exercises.”  (Maui News, October 29, 1915)

The Buffalo Soldiers built the 18-mile trail to the summit of Mauna Loa.

On August 1, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the country’s 13th National Park into existence – Hawaiʻi National Park.  At first, the park consisted of only the summits of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa on Hawaiʻi and Haleakalā on Maui.

Eventually, Kilauea Caldera was added to the park, followed by the forests of Mauna Loa, the Kaʻū Desert, the rain forest of Olaʻa and the Kalapana archaeological area of the Puna/Kaʻū Historic District.

The National Park Service, within the federal Department of Interior, was created on August 25, 1916 by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act.

The experience of working with the Army did not end with the construction of the Mauna Loa Trail, and Thurston’s energy did not seem to wane. He continued to promote the Kīlauea area to the public and the military who he thought could benefit from, and would be a benefit to Kīlauea.  (NPS)

In 1916, Thurston, recognizing the long tradition of soldiers and sailors who had visited the area, proposed the establishment of a military camp at Kīlauea. Thurston promoted his idea and was able to raise enough funds through public subscription for the construction of buildings and other improvements.  By the fall of 1916 the first group of soldiers arrived at Kīlauea Military Camp (KMC.)  (NPS)

Later, in the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built research offices, hiking trails and laid the foundations for much of the infrastructure and roads within the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes and other parks across the country.

On, July 1, 1961, Hawaiʻi National Park’s units were separated and re-designated as Haleakalā National Park and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Oh, one more thing … another lasting legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers to the National Parks is the Ranger Hat (popularly known as the Smokey the Bear Hat) – with it the Montana Peak (or pinch) at the top of the hat; a recrease of the Stetson hat to better shed water when it rains.

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Hawaiʻi’s Visitor Industry

It is believed that Hawai‘i’s first accommodations for transients were established sometime after 1810, when Don Francisco de Paula Marin “opened his home and table to visitors on a commercial basis …. (in) ‘guest houses’ (for) the ship captains who boarded with him while their vessels were in port.”

In Waikīkī, in 1837, an ad in the Sandwich Island Gazette newspaper extended an invitation to visit the new “Hotel at Waititi” (as Waikīkī was sometimes called) – the exact location of this first hotel was not given, however it remained in business for only a few years.

In the 1870s, another foreign resident, Allen Herbert, turned his home into a family resort. Herbert’s enterprise broadened its appeal by welcoming ladies and children. In 1888, this became Waikīkī’s second hotel – The Park Beach Hotel.

In 1893, the first famous Waikiki hotel opened. George Lycurgus, leased Herbert’s premises, renamed the hotel “Sans Souci” (“without care”) and turned it into an internationally known resort to which visitors like the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson were attracted (the beach, there, is still named for it.)

When Hawaiʻi became a US territory (June 14, 1900,) it was drawing adventuresome cruise ship travelers to the islands. Hotels blossomed, including Waikiki’s oldest surviving hotel, the Moana Hotel, in 1901.

However, the tourists stopped coming – possibly because Honolulu was swept by bubonic plague in 1899 and 1900. There were reports that Los Angeles was anticipating a bumper crop of tourists for the winter of 1902. Competition had already begun.

Over the decades, promotional efforts grew and so did the number of tourists.

In 1917, the Hau Tree was purchased and expanded – the buyers renamed it the Halekulani (“House Befitting Heaven.”) The Royal Hawaiian Hotel opened on February 1, 1927.

During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape would be transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in the draining and filling in of the remaining ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.

In 1941, a record year, in which 31,846 visitors arrived, World War II brought an abrupt end to tourism in Hawaiʻi. Three years later, the Chamber of Commerce began bringing it back to life with a Hawaiʻi Travel Bureau (now HVCB.)

An important priority was to get the ocean liner “Lurline” back in the passenger business after her wartime duty. In the spring of 1948, with an enthusiastic welcome by some 150,000 people and an 80 vessel escort, she steamed into Honolulu Harbor to reclaim her title as “glamour girl of the Pacific.”

Also In 1948, American President Lines resumed flying the Pacific and scheduled air service was inaugurated to Hawaiʻi.

1959 brought two significant actions that shaped the present day make-up of Hawai‘i, (1) Statehood and (2) jet-liner service between the mainland US and Honolulu (Pan American Airways Boeing 707.)

These two events helped guide and expand the fledgling visitor industry in the state into the number one industry that it is today.

Tourism exploded. Steadily during the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the millions of tourists added up, and Hawai‘i was learning to cope with the problems of success. The yearly visitor arrivals total peaked at nearly 9.4-million people in 2017.

Tourism is the activity most responsible for Hawaiʻi’s current economic growth and standard of living.

Although many emerging industries – such as technology, film, health & wellness, professional services, specialty products and others – show great promise for the future, Hawaiʻi’s economy will likely depend on the activity generated by visitor activity for years to come.

Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA) has been adjusting to deal with both the short-term challenges facing Hawai‘i’s tourism industry and the longer-term challenge of achieving a healthy and sustainable industry that provides maximum benefits to Hawai‘i’s community.

I was happy to have served for four years on the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority.

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Unexpected Partners

Lorrin Andrews Thurston was born on July 31, 1858 in Honolulu. His father was Asa Goodale Thurston and Sarah Andrews. On his father’s side he was grandson of Asa and Lucy Thurston of the Pioneer Company of missionaries; on his mother’s side, he was grandson of another early missionary, Lorrin Andrews.

Thurston was fluent in the Hawaiian language and gave himself the nickname Kakina. He attended Oʻahu College (Punahou,) and, later, law school at Columbia University.

He followed his father and became a member of the Hawaiʻi Legislature. In 1887, Thurston authored what became known as the Bayonet Constitution. He became the Minister of Interior.

In 1892, Thurston led the Annexation Club and participated in the revolution and overthrow of the constitutional monarchy (1893.) Thurston headed the commission sent to Washington DC for American annexation. (Smith)

A volcano enthusiast, in his childhood on Maui, he would act as an informal tour guide; Thurston first visited Kīlauea on the Island of Hawaiʻi in 1879 at the age of 21 with Louis von Tempsky. Thurston wrote that “we hired horses in Hilo and rode to the volcano, from about eight o’clock in the morning to five in the afternoon.” (NPS)

Ten years later Thurston’s first mark upon the Volcano landscape appeared. In 1889, using his position as Minister of the Interior, he oversaw the construction of an improved carriage road from Hilo to Volcano.

The road was completed in 1894 allowing four-horse stages to transport visitors from Hilo to Volcano in seven hours. This feat would greatly increase the number of people able to view the volcano at Kīlauea. (NPS)

In 1891, Thurston bought the Volcano House in the Island of Hawaiʻi.

George Lycurgus first left his native Sparta in Greece around 1876, when he was about 17 years old. He served in the Greek Army for 18 months. George sailed from Greece to Liverpool sometime in 1880 and from there docked in New York. Here the young boy, not knowing any English, started out by selling lemons.

The later found himself in San Francisco; however his brother John and a cousin, Peter Kamarinos, were in Hawaiʻi. By the fall of 1889, George was sailing on the ‘Australia’ to Hawaiʻi.

Lycurgus opened the California Wine Company in Honolulu. Another Lycurgus enterprise in Honolulu during those years was the Union Grill. He then got in the hotel business, with the ‘Sans Souci’ in Waikiki. (Maggioros)

“In 1893 Sans Souci was a rambling hostelry, nestled among the coconut and palm trees of Waikiki Beach. The guests occupied small bungalows, thatched-roof affairs about ten by twelve, the bed being the principal article of furniture. It was in one of these bungalows that Stevenson had established himself, propped up with pillows on the bed in his shirt-sleeves.” Scribner’s Magazine, August, 1926.

Lycurgus was a royalist and was implicated with other counter-revolutionists in supplying arms (1895.) He was arrested, thirteen counts of treason were filed against him and he was held at ‘The Reef’ (Oʻahu Prison) for 52-days. (Chapin)

Later, Thurston sold the Volcano House to Lycurgus. (Smith)

Starting in 1906, Thurston, a revolutionist, and Lycurgus, a counter-revolutionist, started to work together to have the volcano area made into Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

In January 1912, geologist Thomas Jaggar arrived to investigate the volcano. A building for scientific instruments was built in a small building next to the hotel. Jaggar stayed in Volcano for the next 28 years.

Thurston and Lycurgus were instrumental in getting the volcano recognized as Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. On August 1, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the country’s 13th National Park into existence – Hawaiʻi National Park. At first, the park consisted of only the summits of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa on Hawaiʻi, and Haleakalā on Maui.

Eventually, Kilauea Caldera was added to the park, followed by the forests of Mauna Loa, the Kaʻu Desert, the rain forest of Olaʻa and the Kalapana archaeological area of the Puna/Kaʻu Historic District.

The National Park Service, within the federal Department of Interior, was created on August 25, 1916 by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act.

In 1916, Thurston, recognizing the long tradition of soldiers and sailors who had visited the area, proposed the establishment of a military camp at Kīlauea. Thurston promoted his idea and was able to raise enough funds through public subscription for the construction of buildings and other improvements. By the fall of 1916, the first group of soldiers arrived at Kīlauea Military Camp (KMC.) (NPS)

Later, in the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built research offices, hiking trails and laid the foundations for much of the infrastructure and roads within the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes and other parks across the country.

On, July 1, 1961, Hawaiʻi National Park’s units were separated and re-designated as Haleakalā National Park and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

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Thurston-Lycurgus-1892
Thurston-Lycurgus-1892
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George_Lycurgus-1892
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Lorrin_A._Thurston,_1916
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Uncle_George_Lycurgus-1958
Thomas Jaggar (second from left) L2R Norton Twigg-Smith, Thomas Jaggar, Lorrin Thurston, Joe Monez, and Alex Lancaster-(USGS)-1916
Thomas Jaggar (second from left) L2R Norton Twigg-Smith, Thomas Jaggar, Lorrin Thurston, Joe Monez, and Alex Lancaster-(USGS)-1916
Uncle George Lycurgus
Uncle George Lycurgus
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Thurston_Lava_Tube-1940
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Volcano_House_1866
Volcano House billiard room, Kīlauea, Hawai‘i-(HHS-6019)-early 1890s
Volcano House billiard room, Kīlauea, Hawai‘i-(HHS-6019)-early 1890s
Volcano House, Kīlauea, Hawai‘i-(HHS-6018)-early 1890s
Volcano House, Kīlauea, Hawai‘i-(HHS-6018)-early 1890s
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Volcano_House-(DMY)-1892
Volcano_House-(LOC)-1902
Volcano_House-(LOC)-1902
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Volcano_House_1904
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Volcano_House-Kileuea-1912

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“Pele’s Grandson”

He was known as “Pele’s Grandson” to many – and “The Runt” to his boss, Thomas R Boles, Superintendent of the Hawaiʻi National Park (he was 5-foot 1-inch in height and weighed ninety-five pounds.) (NPS, 1953)

Alexander P Lancaster (aka Alex or Alec,) a Cherokee, was employed by Volcano House and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes Observatory, guided tourists to Kilauea’s active lava lake from 1885 to 1924. (Wright)

Lancaster was a firm believer in Pele and her powers; he took a proprietary interest in the volcanoes – thus the nickname. He enthralled thousands of visitors with his intimate knowledge of volcanoes.

When someone mentioned Vesuvius to him, his stock reply was, “Vesuvius is just an old man. Pele is sturdy on her job.” It was nothing short of a sacrilege to talk about other volcanoes in Alec’s presence. (NPS)

An interview with “Uncle George” Lycurgus Volcano House owner (on his one-hundredth birthday) reveals more on Pele. When asked if he had ever seen Pele, Lycurgus replied:

“Oh, yes. I tell you. I saw Pele, in the fire. There is a woman … you can see a woman, in the flames … she comes out and walks around … then she goes back in the fire … and prays ….”

“The Hawaiians believe in Pele. Certainly I believe in Pele, too. Pele belongs to the Islands. She will come to tell us what to do. She always comes when we need her. Pele is bound to come soon.” (Nimmo)

When Halemaʻumaʻu was inactive and business at the hotel was poor, Lycurgus decided to offer prayers and rituals at the volcano to coax the goddess back to the crater and thereby improve business at the hotel.

He and Lancaster “walked down to Halemaʻumaʻu and invoked some prayers to the volcano goddess. Following that, they tossed into the fire pit an Ohelo berry lei made by Lancaster … “

“As a final gesture, Lycurgus tossed in a bottle of gin which had been partially drained by him and Lancaster on the walk to the pit. More prayers followed and the two of them returned to the Volcano House for the night. Within hours after the men went to bed, the volcano began erupting.” (Nimmo)

“Alec Lancaster, the well-known guide at the crater, has made a trail to a ledge of pahoehoe, a distance of 200-feet from the brink, and takes down to that point those visitors who desire to make a closer inspection than can be made at the edge. So far not many have shown a willingness to accept Alec’s invitation.” (Evening Bulletin, June 15, 1902)

Thomas Augustus Jaggar, Jr was an American volcanologist; he founded the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and directed it from 1912 to 1940.

“Lancaster, probably wound up each trip into Kilauea caldera with one pocket full of tips and another full of Cuban cigars – until Jaggar put him on the Observatory’s payroll as janitor, guide and general roustabout. Lancaster’s experiences close to Kilauea’s flowing and fountaining lava made him a good hand for Jaggar.” (USGS)

“Once again, in the interest of science, Madame Pele has been braved by the investigators living on the volcano’s brink for the purposes of studying systematically the vagaries of the fire goddess and of reducing her phenomena down to rules of cause and effect.”

“Last week, while the pit of Halemaʻumaʻu was in a state of unusual activity, with lava fountains playing, spatter cones forming, streams of liquid fire swelling in flows over the hardened crust…”

“Dr ES Shepherd, of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution, and HO Wood, technical assistant of Professor Jaggar, accompanied by Alex Lancaster the veteran Volcano House guide, descended four hundred feet into the pit, crossed the hardened but heated lava floor and collected sufficient of the nascent gas from one of the open vents for analyses.”

“Rope ladders were used to descend the first one hundred and eighty feet of the pit, for which distance the walls are sheer. At this depth the walls were broken down and the intrepid scientists and their daring companion were able to scramble down the rest of the way to the fire level, over the smoking, crumbling lava.”

“During the greater part of their descent, the three were hidden from the view of those who tried to watch them from the pit’s rim by the swirling, opaque gases that swept in clouds over the surface of the lower levels. (Hawaiian Gazette, December 10, 1912)

Alec’s thirst for liquor was his undoing; he was dismissed from the Park in 1928. He spent his last years as a public ward in the Old Folks’ Home in Hilo. (NPS) (Reportedly born in 1861, Lancaster died in 1930.)

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Alexander P Lancaster-NPS
Alexander P Lancaster-NPS
Lancaster_leading_a_tour_at_Volcano-1890
Lancaster_leading_a_tour_at_Volcano-1890
Norton Twigg-Smith, Thomas Jaggar, Lorrin Thurston, Joe Monez, and Alex Lancaster-1917
Norton Twigg-Smith, Thomas Jaggar, Lorrin Thurston, Joe Monez, and Alex Lancaster-1917
Uncle George Lycurgus
Uncle George Lycurgus
Dr. Thomas Jaggar and wife, Isabel Maydwell – 1917
Dr. Thomas Jaggar and wife, Isabel Maydwell – 1917

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Hilo Hotel

“It is asserted by many that Hilo is the most beautiful city in the Islands. … Situated on its magnificent crescent-shaped bay amid dense dark-green foliage, it extends its welcome to all and opens its portals to the historic and romantic interest of the Big Island.”

“Of course, no visitor to the Hawaiian Islands fails to see the great volcano Kilauea.” (Musick; Ludington Daily News, March 12, 1896)

“… it does seem a pity to be so close to it and fail to explore its wonders. … It matters little whether or not the volcano is active during our visit, but, of course, we hope it will be.” (When you Go To Hawaiʻi, 1930)

But you needed ways to get there …

“There have been two meetings of the people to discuss the Volcano road and there is a general desire to have it made. Tourists will find it more pleasant to go to the Volcano by way of Hilo … as the road from Hilo to the Volcano will be through the woods mostly, the ride will be enchanting.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 20, 1888)

By 1890, “the Legislature having appropriated a definite sum of money for the Volcano road;” the “public work” road was under construction. However, the funding was not enough and prison labor was later used to construct the road. (Hawaiian Gazette, July 15, 1890)

“The year 1894 witnessed the completion of the volcano road which was begun in 1889. … it affords a fine carriage drive the entire distance of thirty miles. Regular stages now run between Hilo and the Volcano House every other day.” (Thrum)

But, before the ride on the road, you needed to get to the Island …

Before interisland air travel, competitors Wilder Steamship Co (1872) and Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co (1883) were the way to go. Wilder took you straight to Hilo; Interisland took a southern route around the Island to Punaluʻu. From there, folks rode a railroad to Pahala and then coaches hauled the visitors to the volcano from the Kaʻū side.

And they came … But you also needed a place to stay …

“In former times Hilo, like many of the country towns, lacked a hotel where travelers can stay and feel at home. In this respect the village is now well supplied by the ‘Hilo Hotel,’ kept by Joseph Vierra, formerly of the ‘White House’ in Honolulu. Here are now ample accommodations for travelers on the principal street, and in the center of the village.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 1, 1891)

But Hilo hotel accommodations didn’t seem to have the same happy history as the road construction or interisland steamers bringing people to see the Volcano (or other reasons to come to Hilo.)

“Every now and then an attempt at running something like a regular hotel would be made by some enterprising resident, but heretofore these experiments have not resulted in any marked success, for what reason it is not the purpose of this article to inquire. All that our readers will care to know is whether Hilo has a good hotel now, and whether if it has the boon is likely to be perpetuated.” (Evening Bulletin, May 21, 1896)

“Old Hotel Will Soon Be Replaced … The need of a new building for a hotel in Hilo has been felt by every tourist visiting the place. The present hostelry has been standing for many years, and was limited as to rooms, and void of conveniences. The place has been a nightmare to the people of Hilo, for the reason that it had a tendency to drive people away, while the new one will be inviting.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 26, 1897)

“One of the problems that confront Hilo in view of the increase in travel, which promises to further increase, is adequate hotel accommodations for visitors. The Hilo Hotel under its present management has become so popular a place to live that many rooms and cottages formerly available for transients are now occupied by Hilo people”. (Hilo Tribune, January 24, 1902)

And more came … “With the appearance of the steamer Enterprise, which will make regular voyages between this port and San Francisco, the number of strangers within the gates of Hilo at all times will be larger than heretofore. Perhaps a dozen more cottages will be required to accommodate visitors when steamers arrive, especially when the boats from Frisco and Honolulu arrive simultaneously.” (Hilo Tribune, January 24, 1902)

“One of the burdens falling upon owners of hotels in a city which is just starting out as an attraction for the traveller, is that of maintaining their plant at a standard several notches above the immediate demands of the trade.”

“The owners of the Hilo Hotel have been doing this and they should have more credit perhaps than is accorded them. It is they who put a good front before the weary voyager who must always arrive in Hilo after a forty round bout with Father Neptune.” (Hilo Tribune, January 24, 1902)

“The well-known progressive character of the men who own the Hilo Hotel is a guarantee that they will consider all matters which bear upon the future welfare of Hilo. Any minute that they feel conditions warrant it, they will make annex and annex to the Hotel until it becomes as large as the Moana, if necessary.” (Hilo Tribune, January 24, 1902)

But, things changed for the Hilo Hotel … “The Volcano House is ‘getting off on the right foot.’ Even Madam Pele is waking up to the fact and is starting in on at least a benefit performance. There is a gray side to this bright picture, however. The Hilo Hotel is closed. It has been converted into a chapel.” (Hilo Tribune, March 6, 1903)

“The need of a hotel at Hilo is more acute since new life has been injected into the hotel at the Volcano. The same push and energy would make the Hilo Hotel a popular and paying proposition.” (Hilo Tribune, March 6, 1903)

Things turned to a bright side, again, when George Lycurgus and his nephew (Demosthenes Lycurgus) bought and reopened the Hilo Hotel … “Tourists will no longer complain of the lack of hotel accommodations in Hilo …” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 29, 1909)

“The building was constructed about eleven years ago after the original Hilo Hotel, presided over by Joseph Vierra, proved too small for the accommodation of the people who visited Hilo.”

The replacement structure was “a two-story building with a row of cottages on either side of the lot. Even with the additional rooms supplied by the new structure there were not enough to meet the demands of the people who happened along on the steamer which arrived once in ten days.”

“The cottages were so inviting to the local people that they were preempted and many of the best rooms in the main building were taken by Hiloites so that it was not long before there was the old complaint of no rooms for tourists.”

“For several years the cottages only have been in use. They were found desirable by residents who were satisfied with smaller quarters than a dwelling and were quick to take advantage of the opportunity to secure a suitable place convenient to business. While a first-class cuisine will be the rule at the Hilo Hotel, Mr. Lycurgus will probably continue to maintain his town café, for the accommodation of the public.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 29, 1909)

By 1911, there were two hotels in Hilo, the Hilo Hotel and the Demosthenes (both under Lycurgus.) In addition, Lycurgus (Uncle George) owned the Volcano House. (Mid Pacific Magazine, Encyclopedia, 1911)

At the age of 81, Lycurgus traveled to Washington, DC to have the construction of the new park headquarters building farther back from the lip of the crater.

That allowed him, in 1941, to build a more modern hotel at the former Hawaiian Volcano Observatory site. He reopened the new Volcano House (designed by notable architect Charles William Dickey.)

After another eruption in 1952, at the age of 93, he arranged a publicity stunt involving riding a horse to the rim of the erupting vent and tossing in his ceremonial bottle of gin. (The offering of gin became a regular at Volcano after that.) Uncle George died in 1960 at the age of 101.

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Hilo_Hotel-(DMY)-1891
Hilo_Hotel-(DMY)-1891
Hilo_Hotel-(DMY)
Hilo_Hotel-(DMY)
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Hilo_Hotel-1924
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New Hilo Hotel-Front-PCA-Feb_26,_1897
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New Hilo Hotel-Side-PCA-Feb_26,_1897
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A_Road_To_The-Volcano-(Mid-PacificMagazine)-1913
Road (new) to volcano-(HHS-6032)
Road (new) to volcano-(HHS-6032)
Volcano_House-(LOC)-1902
Volcano_House-(LOC)-1902
Volcano House, Kīlauea, Hawai‘i-(HHS-6018)-early 1890s
Volcano House, Kīlauea, Hawai‘i-(HHS-6018)-early 1890s
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Early_Inter_Island_Routes
SS Waialeale
SS Waialeale