Hilo | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

November 7, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiakue Kaikuono

“Waiakue Kaikuono (Waiakue Bay), as it is called by the natives, comprises a spacious harbour, formed by a reef of coral rocks, of about half-a-mile in breadth, through which there is a channel three-quarters of a mile wide, with a depth of water throughout, of about eleven fathoms.” (Hill, 1856)

“Incidently, Hilo Bay was once almost called Vancouver Bay. Vancouver, whose name was given to the great island in British Columbia, and to a fine city in BC and another in southern Washington, was a visitor to Hawaii on several occasions.”

“The men of his party wanted to give Vancouver’s name to Hilo Bay. But somehow it didn’t take.” (Edwards; Honolulu Advertiser, April 29, 1951) It was later referred to as Byron’s Bay and ultimately, Hilo Bay.

“Hilo is a famous sea-shore resort on this island, and from Honolulu by a direct sea route the distance is estimated to be almost one hundred and ninety-two miles, and a steamer of moderate speed can accomplish the trip in almost twenty-four hours.”

“On the map Hilo Bay is frequently marked Byron’s Bay, after Captain Lord Byron, who was the first to make an accurate survey of it, which he did in 1825.” (Hall, 1898)

“Lord Byron, the cousin and successor of the poet (George Gordon Byron), and a very different man, commanding HBM Frigate Blonde, was commissioned by his majesty to convey the bodies of the king and queen (Liholiho and Kamamalu) and the survivors of their suite back to their country.” (Bingham)

“During the voyage Liliha and Kekuanaoa were baptized at their own request by the chaplain, Lord Byron standing as sponsor.” (Taylor)

Actually some suggest its traditional name is Waiakea Bay. “The proper native name for Hilo Bay is Waiakea, but as is quite natural, it is called from the town itself.” (Hall, 1898) “The best landing is at Waiakea, which gives its name to the bay, although it has been called Hilo and Byron’s Bay.”

“The latter name was conferred on it, in compliment to Lord Byron, by Kaahumanu; but the native appellation cannot be set aside, and the bay is now scarcely known among the natives when called Byron’s.” (Wilkes, 1845)

“Excellent water is to be had in abundance, and with great ease, within the mouth of the Wailuku river; but it requires some care in passing in and out the river when the surf is high.” (Wilkes, 1845)

“Lord Byron, with his scientific corps, visited Hila, the great crater of Kilauea, and Kealakahua Bay, and caused accurate surveys to be made of Waikiki Bay, Honolulu harbor, and Hilo Bay, which has since been often called Byron’s Bay.” (Bingham)

“Hilo Bay has an excellent harbor, and if commerce needs it, can be rendered safe and commodious by a breakwater which runs out from the shore to Cocoanut Island. There is room for a whole navy here, if necessary, and the water is deep enough for the largest ship afloat.”

“The town is well laid out and very pretty. One can see great stretches of cane fields all yellow and green, and the tall, graceful cocoa palms with their plumy branches. As the roads in Hilo are not very good, one must either go about on foot or on horseback.” (Hall, 1898)

“Lord Byron drew up the first laws printed and published in Honolulu, being regulations for the harbor of Honolulu. … and by his advice the chiefs began more active measures for suppression of vices which were destroying their race, and for promoting education.”

“The American missionaries, who were still more or less under suspicion, were indebted to him for removing the last doubts as to their mission and motives; telling the natives that these people taught the same religion as that recommended to them by Vancouver, teachers of which he had promised to send them on his return to England, if possible.” (Taylor)

“Before leaving the islands, Lord Byron set up a memorial of Capt. Cook, almost half a century from the time of his death. On the hill of ancient lava, at the head of Kealakekua Bay, and one hundred and fifty rods from the place where that navigator fell …”

“… and near where he was dissected, he erected, on a heap of rough, volcanic stones, a small shaft, or pillar of wood, with a small plate attached”. (Bingham)

In the late 19th century, the growing sugar industry in East Hawai‘i demanded a better and more protected port, and a breakwater was constructed on Blonde Reef to shield ships from rough waters as they entered Hilo Harbor.

In 1908, construction began on a breakwater along the shallow reef, beginning at the shoreline east of Kūhīo Bay. The breakwater was completed in 1929 and extended roughly halfway across the bay. In 1912, contracts were awarded to construct Kūhiō Wharf, to dredge the approach to the new wharf, and to lay railroad track into the new harbor facility.

Work was completed at Kūhiō Wharf, Pier 1 in 1916. Pier 1 was a 1,400-foot long by 150-foot wide wharf with a wooden storage shed. By 1917, a mechanical conveyor for bagged sugar with derricks for loading ships, was constructed.

In 1923, Pier 2 was constructed just west of Pier 1. Additional dredging was conducted in Kūhiō Bay as part of the construction. By 1927, Pier 3 was added on the west side of Pier 2.

Between 1927 and 1928, the approach to Pier 3 was dredged and the pier was widened. In 1929, the 10,080-foot long rubble mound breakwater was completed.

Contrary to urban legend, the Hilo breakwater was not built as a tsunami protection barrier for Hilo; it was built to dissipate general wave energy and reduce wave action in the protected bay, providing calm water within the bay and protection for mooring and operating in the bay.

In fact, in 1946, Hilo was struck by a tsunami generated by an earthquake in the Aleutian Islands; it was struck again in 1960 by a tsunami generated by the great Chilean earthquake – both tsunami overtopped the breakwater and Hilo sustained significant damage, including to the breakwater.

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August 31, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Emerald Bower of Hilo

Lydia Bingham Coan, second wife of Titus Coan, assembled his letters and told some of his stories in a Memorial to her husband. She speaks of “‘Emerald Bower,’ as they called their Hilo home, was a place of many hospitalities, and for nine years, with the delightful Dr. Coan, Mrs. Coan enjoyed the many social, literary and pastoral experiences of missionary life.”

“After the death of Dr. Coan in 1882, she returned to Honolulu to enter into the home of her brother, Dr. Hiram Bingham, Jr., in Punahou, near the old home of the Bingham family.”

“When Dr. Bingham died in 1908 the American Board gladly gave her a life tenure of the Bingham home, called “Gilbertina,” where with the loving ministrations of her devoted niece, Miss Kate Reynolds, she happily passed her declining years. On Tuesday, Aug. 14, 1915, Mrs. Coan took a severe cold, which developed into pneumonia.”

“Though this disease was soon arrested the frail body could not bear the strain of recovery, and on August 31st Mrs. Coan entered into the rest for which she had long been waiting.” (HMCS) Following are passages from her memorial and remembrances of Coan and Emerald Bower.

“From Boston he wrote to his parents: “December 3, 1834.- ‘We have now been here nearly two weeks, waiting for the ship to be ready. We hope to go to-morrow. Twelve missionaries sailed to-day for Southeastern Africa. There are eight of our number, making twenty in all, who met in this city at the same time.’”

“‘We received our instructions together on Sunday evening, the 23d of November, in Park Street Church. The meeting was crowded, solemn and impressive. The people of Boston take a deep interest in the cause of missions, and are very hospitable to missionaries. We have been kindly entertained since our arrival here.’”

“‘Our ship, the Hellespont, is a very good one, of 340 tons burden, but she is deeply laden. We shall be pent up in small rooms, but they will be large enough to hold our Bibles and our God, if our spirits are contrite.’”

“To His Brother, Heman Coan, Honolulu, June 26, 1835. – ‘My eyes at last behold these ‘isles afar off,’ and my feet tread on these long desired shores. And I would here first record the goodness of God in guiding us through all the perils of the deep and in bringing us to the field of our labors’”.

“‘On the morning of the 5th inst., just six months from the time we lost sight of our native land, we first descried the island of Hawaii, at the distance of sixty or seventy miles. On the morning of the 6th we made this island (Oahu), and at 10 A. M. dropped anchor in the harbor.’”

“‘All the missionaries of the islands, except two, with their wives and little ones, were assembled in general meeting at this place, according to their annual custom.’”

“‘On hearing of our arrival, Messrs. Bingham, Chamberlain and Armstrong came off to the ship in a boat, to welcome and to take us on shore. When we landed, we found the band of brethren and sisters at the seaside awaiting our arrival and ready to embrace us. Every heart seemed to feel more than it could utter.’”

“‘After services Mr. B. introduced me to the governess and some of the high chiefs, who expressed much joy at the arrival of more teachers on their shores. When we turned from our interview with the chiefs, the common people pressed around me in crowds, each one striving to grasp my hand and express his warm welcome.’”

“‘I long to go into the work. I think this is my proper field of labor, and I would not go back for the world, unless I knew it to be the will of God. There is pressing need of laborers here. Thousands who are anxious for instruction must die without it unless help can be obtained.’”

“‘Our location for the present year will be at Hilo, on the island of Hawaii. Our associate is to be Rev. Mr. Lyman. We shall probably be two hundred and fifty miles from medical aid, and can expect none. We have only to trust in God. Dear brother, live near to God and labor for souls. If we are faithful to our Master we shall soon meet in joy.’”

“Mr. and Mrs. Coan remained a month in Honolulu. Then, their location having been assigned by the mission, and an opportunity of reaching it presenting, they went forth to their appointed station.”

“Hilo was to them at the first, ‘a picture of loveliness,’ and forty years later Mr. Coan would write: ‘The ecstatic romance with which I first saw these emerald isles has not abated by familiarity or by age. The picture is photographed in unfading tints upon my heart, and it has become to me the romance of reality.’”

“‘Where can you find within so small a space such a collecting, such massing, such blending of the bland, the beautiful, the exquisite, the gorgeous, the grand and the terrific as on Hawaii?’” Of Hilo he notes, “our lovely, our inimitable landscape, our emerald bowers, our crescent strand and our silver bay”.

“To Mrs. E. Coan. March 8, 1867. – ‘I have just reached home in the dear old Emerald Bower. I went about fifty miles north to meet Bro. Bond, of Kohala, and the native pastors and delegates of N: Hawaii at the meeting of an ecclesiastical association.’”

“‘Thence I went to Waimea, seventy miles from Hilo, to see our dear Brother Lyons, who has not been able to leave his station for more than three years on account of ill health.’”

“To His Children. February 1, 1881. – ‘This is a joyful day. The heavens shine with glory. The earth glows with beauty. The sea sparkles with brilliants. The radiant orbs sing praises. The bland zephyrs murmur sweetly. The rippling rills leap and laugh.’”

“‘The emerald fields rejoice. Silvery notes of praise rise from glen and forest, and mingling strains of harmony and love ascend to the Creator from all his works.’”

“‘I am this day four score years old. God gave me a happy childhood, a cheerful youth, a vigorous manhood, and now a calm old age. My health is good, my spirits buoyant, and my heart is happy in the companion of my choice. My faith is firm, my hope anchored, and my love for you all is deathless as the soul.’”

“‘My experiences have been varied, and I look back upon my life as marked with many mistakes, numerous sins, and much unworthiness.’”

“‘But I also adore the grace of God in his pardoning love, and humbly trust that the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, will cleanse me from all sin. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to the salvation of every true believer.’”

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August 9, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ghosts of the Hilo Hills

One of these legends about Hina and her famous son Maui and her less widely known relates to three small hills back of Hilo toward the mountain, Halai, Opeapea and Puu Honu (not far from the Wailuku river and Rainbow Falls).

Here in a cave under the Rainbow Falls was the home of Hina, the mother of Maui. Other parts of the Pacific sometimes make Hina Maui’s wife, and sometimes a goddess from whom he descended.

Hina had several daughters, four of whose names are given: Hina Ke Ahi, Hina Ke Kai, Hina Mahuia, and Hina Kuluua. Each name marked the peculiar “mana” or divine gift which Hina, the mother, had bestowed upon her daughters.

Hina Ke Ahi meant the Hina who had control of fire. This name is sometimes given to Hina the mother. Hina Ke Kai was the daughter who had power over the sea. She was said to have been in a canoe with her brother Maui when he fished up Cocoanut Island, his line breaking before he could pull it up to the mainland and make it fast.

Hina Kuluua was the mistress over the forces of rain. The winds and the storms were supposed to obey her will. Hina Mahuia is peculiarly a name connected with the legends of the other island groups of the Pacific.

The legend of the Hilo hills pertains especially to Hina Ke Ahi and Hina Kuluua. Hina the mother gave the hill Halai to Hina Ke Ahi and the hill Puu Honu to Hina Kuluua for their families and dependents.

The hills were of rich soil and there was much rain. Therefore, for a long time, the two daughters had plenty of food for themselves and their people, but at last the days were like fire and the sky had no rain in it.

The taro planted on the hillsides died. The bananas and sugar cane and sweet potatoes withered and the fruit on the trees was blasted. The people were faint because of hunger, and the shadow of death was over the land. Hina Ke Ahi pitied her suffering friends and determined to provide food for them.

Slowly her people labored at her command. They went to the banks of the river course, which was only the bed of an ancient lava stream, over which no water was flowing; the famished laborers toiled, gathering and carrying back whatever wood they could find, then up the mountain side to the great koa and ohia forests, gathering their burdens of fuel according to the wishes of their chiefess.

Their sorcerers planted charms along the way and uttered incantations to ward off the danger of failure. The priests offered sacrifices and prayers for the safe and successful return of the burden-bearers. After many days the great quantity of wood desired by the goddess was piled up by the side of the Halai Hill.

Then came the days of digging out the hill and making a great imu or cooking oven and preparing it with stones and wood. Large quantities of wood were thrown into the place. Stones best fitted for retaining heat were gathered and the fires kindled.

When the stones were hot, Hina Ke Ahi directed the people to arrange the imu in its proper order for cooking the materials for a great feast. A place was made for sweet potatoes, another for taro, another for pigs and another for dogs. All the form of preparing the food for cooking was passed through, but no real food was laid on the stones.

Then Hina told them to make a place in the imu for a human sacrifice. Human sacrifices were frequently offered by the Hawaiians even after the days of the coming of Captain Cook. A dead body was supposed to be acceptable to the gods when a chief’s house was built, when a chief’s new canoe was to be made or when temple walls were to be erected or victories celebrated

Therefore it was in quiet despair that the workmen obeyed Hina Ke Ahi and prepared the place for sacrifice. It might mean their own holocaust as an offering to the gods.

At last Hina Ke Ahi bade the laborers cease their work and stand by the side of the oven ready to cover it with the dirt which had been thrown out and piled up by the side. The people stood by, not knowing upon whom, the blow might fall.

But Hina Ke Ahi was “Hina the kind,” and although she stood before them robed in royal majesty and power, still her face was full of pity and love. Her voice melted the hearts of her retainers as she bade them carefully follow her directions.

“O my people. Where are you? Will you obey and do as I command? This imu is my imu. I shall lie down on its bed of burning stones. I shall sleep under its cover. But deeply cover ine or I may perish. Quickly throw the dirt over in), body. Fear not the fire. Watch for three days. A woman will stand by the imu. Obey her will.”

Hina Ke Ahi was very beautiful, and her eyes flashed light like fire as she stepped into the great pit and lay down on the burning stones. A great smoke arose and gathered over the imu. The men toiled rapidly, placing the imu mats over their chiefess and throwing the dirt back into the oven until it was all thoroughly covered and the smoke was quenched.

Then they waited for the strange, mysterious thing which must follow the sacrifice of this divine chiefess.

Halai hill trembled and earthquakes shook the land round about. The great heat of the fire in the imu withered the little life which was still left from the famine.

Meanwhile Hina Ke Ahi was carrying out her plan for securing aid for her people. She could not be injured by the heat for she was a goddess of fire. The waves of heat raged around her as she sank down through the stones of the imu into the underground paths which belonged to the spirit world.

The legend says that Hina made her appearance in the form of a gushing stream of water which would always supply the want of her adherents.

The second day passed. Hina was still journeying underground, but this time she came to the surface as a pool named Moe Waa (canoe sleep) much nearer the sea. The third day came and Hina caused a great spring of sweet water to burst forth from the sea shore in the very path of the ocean surf. This received the name Auauwai.

Here Hina washed away all traces of her journey through the depths. This was the last of the series of earthquakes and the appearance of new water springs. The people waited, feeling that some more wonderful event must follow the remarkable experiences of the three days.

Soon a woman stood by the imu, who commanded the laborers to dig away the dirt and remove the mats. When this was done, the hungry people found a very great abundance of food, enough to supply their want until the food plants should have time to ripen and the days of the famine should be over.

The joy of the people was great when they knew that their chiefess had escaped death and would still dwell among them in comfort. Many were the songs sung and stories told about the great famine and the success of the goddess of fire.

The second sister, Hina Kuluua, the goddess of rain, was always very jealous of her beautiful sister Hina Ke Ahi, and many times sent rain to put out fires which her sister tried to kindle. Hina Ke Ahi could not stand the rain and so fled with her people to a home by the seaside.

Hina Kuluua (or Hina Kuliua) could control rain and storms, but for some reason failed to provide a food supply for her people, and the famine wrought havoc among them.

She thought of the stories told and songs sung about her sister and wished for the same honor for herself. She commanded her people to make a great imu for her in the hill Pun Honu.

She knew that a strange power belonged to her and yet, blinded by jealousy, forgot that rain and fire could not work together. She planned to furnish a great supply of food for her people in the same way in which her sister had worked.

The oven was dug. Stones and wood were collected and the same ghostly array of potatoes, taro, pig and dog prepared as had been done before by her sister.

The kahunas or priests knew that Hina Kuluua was going out of her province in trying to do as her sister had done, but there was no use in attempting to change her plans. jealousy is self-willed and obstinate and no amount of reasoning from her dependents could have any influence over her.

The ordinary incantations were observed, and Hina Kulutia gave the same directions as those her sister had given. The imu was to be well heated. The make-believe food was to be put in and a place left for her body. It was the goddess of rain making ready to lie down on a bed prepared for the goddess of fire.

When all was ready, she lay down on the heated stones and the oven mats were thrown over her and the ghostly provisions. Then the covering of dirt was thrown back upon the mats and heated stones, filling the pit which had been dug. The goddess of rain was left to prepare a feast for her people as the goddess of fire had done for her followers.

Some of the legends have introduced the demi-god Maui into this story. The natives say that Maui came to “burn” or “cook the rain” and that he made the oven very hot, but that the goddess of rain escaped and hung over the hill in the form of a cloud.

At least this is what the people saw-not a cloud of smoke over the imu, but a rain cloud. They waited and watched for such evidences of underground labor as attended the passage of Hina Ke Ahi through the earth from the hill to the sea, but the only strange appearance was the dark rain cloud.

They waited three days and looked for their chiefess to come in the form of a woman. They waited another day and still another and no signs or wonders were manifest.

Meanwhile Maui, changing himself into a white bird, flew up into the sky to catch the ghost of the goddess of rain which had escaped from the burning oven.

Having caught this spirit, he rolled it in some kapa cloth which lie kept for food to be placed in an oven and carried it to a place in the forest on the mountain side where again the attempt was made to “burn the rain,” but a great drop escaped and sped upward into the sky.

Whether this Maui legend has any real connection with the two Hinas and the famine we do not surely know. After five days had passed the retainers decided on their own responsibility to open the imu. No woman had appeared to give them directions.

Nothing but a mysterious rain cloud over the hill. In doubt and fear, the dirt was thrown off and the mats removed. Nothing was found but the ashes of Hina Kuluua.

There was no food for her followers and the goddess had lost all power of appearing as a chiefess. Her bitter and thoughtless jealousy brought destruction upon herself and her people.

The ghosts of Hina Ke Ahi and Hina Kuluua sometimes draw near to the old hills in the form of the fire of flowing lava or clouds of rain while the old men and women tell the story of the Hinas, the sisters of Maui, who were laid upon the burning stones of the imus of a famine. (Westervelt)

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February 6, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Jimmy Mann

The day after Jimmy Mann arrived in Hawaii in 1916, he was penniless. The first night he had met “Doc” Hill and lost $4.40, all he had to his name, in a “friendly crap game.”

During the nearly 41 years since, James B. Mann has become one of the Territory’s best-known engineers. And in the process he has more than recouped that first night’s loss.

He drew the first design for the Ala Wai drainage canal and Kapiolani Blvd.

He was engineer for the first concrete road on the Big Island through the forest reserve from Waiakea to Olaa.

He was associated with Edward Clissold and the late Ralph E. Woolley in Home Factors, a residential subdivision firm, until recent years.

He founded Hawaii Blueprint & Supply Co., originally Blueprint Photo Copy Co., which he sold in 1954.

For more than 30 years he has been in private practice as a civil engineer and surveyor for subdivisions, boundary determinations, land court titles, and the like.

Both he and his wife, the former Henrietta Smith whom he married in 1922, have been active in civic and community affairs. He was vice president of Leahi Hospital’s board of trustees, and Mrs. Mann was a Punahou School trustee.

But he started his Hawaii career pretty much at the bottom. After getting off the boat in Hilo he went to work as a $1.25 a day county surveying gangman. Then he came to Honolulu as an assistant territorial surveyor at $125 a month.

Born in Portland, Ore., in 1892, he was graduated from Oregon State College as a mechanical engineer in 1912. After a summer stint as a dock foreman, he studied hydraulic engineering at the University of Wisconsin.

In 1913 he arrived in Miami, Fla., then a town “half the size of Hilo,” to work on drainage and development of the Everglades country.

“I haven’t been back since, but they say you can drive for two miles and its one hotel after the other.”

In 1915 he returned to Oregon State for a winter of graduate work in highway engineering. Then he decided to look up a friend who had gone to Hawaii.

He bought a $40 rail and ship fare ticket, meals included, that took him from Corvallis, Ore., to Hilo via Portland, Astoria, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

It was not a luxury cruise, however.

“I never saw the water – there were no portholes in fourth class – or the sky until we were three hours from Hilo and I sneaked past a guard and got on deck.”

Despite his “gambling” loss to William H. (Doc) Hill, then an itinerant eyeglass peddler, and today one of the Territory’s wealthiest men, the two young men became good friends.

“We use to date the same girls.”

Later his surveying job took him to Kauai and then back to the Big Island, surveying public lands and homesteads.

His boss was Robert K. King, older brother of former Governor Samuel Wilder King, a man whom he credits with teaching him all he knows about surveying.

Then Governor Lucius E. Pinkham had what was considered “a crazy-brain idea” of digging a canal to drain and fill the lowlands at Waikiki and to build a road from town to Kaimuki.

He was assigned to draw up the governor’s ideas on paper.

“Now we have the Ala Wai canal and Kapiolani Blvd.”

His next job was with the water resources branch of U.S. Geological Survey.

“Just to give you an idea of how much the Territorial government has grown, in those days Iolani Palace not only housed the governor and secretary but also the treasurer.

“Down in the basement was the Department of Public Works, the Board of Harbor Commissioners, the Land Commissioner and the Water Resources Branch.

“I don’t think there were 25 persons in the whole basement.”

During World War I he was one of a group of six or seven Island men sent to Virginia for Army engineering training.

Their instructor was a young Army first lieutenant named Edmond H. Leavey, who later married the elder daughter of a Honolulu newspaper publisher, rose to major general and to the presidency of the giant International Telephone & Telegraph Co. (Mrs. Leavey was the former Ruth Farrington.)

The war ended while Mr. Mann, then commissioned a lieutenant, was en route to Siberia. He returned to Hawaii.

Back home he found his government job filled, and since there was no GI bill, he was out of work.

Walking down the street he met Geoffrey Podmore of the Bishop Estate, who suggested he see George M. Collins, later an estate trustee and then superintendent of the land department.

He spent six years with the estate’s staff.

In 1925 he resigned to become a partner in the engineering firm of Wright, Harvey & Wright. He opened his own office in 1930.

Mr. Mann was a student of Island history. One of his fondest memories of Sanford Ballard Dole, president of the Republic of Hawaii and first governor of the Territory of Hawaii, dining at his Liliha St. home off and on for three years before his death.

The Manns have two sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Cline, was a civil engineer with his father. A younger, James Jr., was manager of the Hukilau Hotel at Hilo.

The daughter is Mrs. Laurie S. Dowsett.

Surveying his 42 years in Hawaii through the transit of success, he considers his $40 ticket a fortunate and rewarding investment. (All here is from Greaney, Honolulu Advertiser, January 12, 1958)

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December 21, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Haili Church Choir

The Haili Church Choir began in 1902 under Harry K Naope, Sr, at the Kalepolepo Chapel, one of the seven branches of the Haili Church.

Naope was a music teacher in the public schools, and received his training in music at Lahainaluna Seminary on the island of Maui. He and Albert Nahale-a, Sr., Minister of Music, helped to create a viable, exciting, and rich choral agenda, in demand for community events.

Until the advent of church choirs, Hawaiian children learned to sing and play instruments from their parents and grandparents at home. Music was an essential part of family devotions, common in Old Hawai‘i.

At that time, the church was the foremost educational facility for most Hawaiians, and congregational singing was their first music “school.” (Haili Church)

The most musically talented adults and young people moved into the choir when it was formed. The majority of them could neither read nor write music, but they had excellent memorization abilities, learned from the intensive person-to-person training received at home.

The result of professional choir training under Naope was the development of not only many famous singers, but conductors and composers, as well. Helen Desha Beamer was, for many early years, Haili church organist.

Since the beginning of the 1900s, it has been the ‘training school’ for some of Hawai`i’s foremost names in traditional Hawaiian music, both sacred and secular.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, church choirs were instrumental in the development of Hawaiian music. While they are not the oldest, nor was the choir officially named until 1909, the Haili Choir, because of its performance outreach, became the most prominent.

Unlike the choirs of today, Harry K Naope, Sr (grandfather of George Naope) had only one sheet of music from which to teach his choir members. He copied the music onto large sheets of butcher-type paper, and tacked these sheets to the walls of the Sunday school rooms. Choir members were required to memorize the songs from these sheets.

Also, because of the unreliability of the church’s pump organ and the lack of trained organists (most of whom were pianists), Naope wrote out and taught both sacred and secular compositions, and his translations of English songs into the Hawaiian language.

Thus, the Haili Choir learned, and became known for their A Capella singing, (without instrumental accompaniment) in the Hawaiian language.

Among the early Haili Choir notables to gain professional reputations were Joseph Kalima, Sr. and his sons (“The Hilo Kalimas”), Enoch “Bunny” Brown and His Hilo Hawaiians, Kihei Brown and his trio, the Nathaniel Sisters, the Brown Sisters, and falsetto star George Kainapau.

Generations of family musical groups also grew up in the Haili Choir, and their descendants today are well known: the Beamer family, the Browns, the Deshas, Punohus, Nahale-as.

Today’s Haili Church Choir is most often accompanied by piano, organ or other stringed instruments, although they still sometimes sing A Capella. (Lots of information here is from Haili Church and Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame.)

Haili Church Choir sing E Kuu Lei Lehua https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xas-ZD3o3xM

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