Hilo | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

December 8, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

After December 7, 1941 – Submarines Continue Attack on Hawaiʻi

Most are very aware of the December 7, 1941 attacks by the Japanese on military installations on Oʻahu.

Their targets were Pearl Harbor; Hickam, Wheeler and Bellows airfields; Ewa Marine Corps Air Station; Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station and Schofield Barracks.

However, the attacks by the Japanese on Hawaiʻi did not end on December 7th.

A group of about nine Japanese submarines were kept in the vicinity of Hawaiʻi until mid-January – they were stationed there to find out just how much damage had been done to the American military.

In addition, they tried to do what damage they could, as well as stir up concern in the civilian population about the war.

Before December was over, the Japanese submarines brought war home to the neighbor islands. Not by air attacks, but with periodic shelling from their submarines.

Over the next few weeks, on several occasions, they shelled more targets in Hawaiʻi – and, those attacks were not isolated to military targets; later in the month, civilian facilities were the intended targets.

Just before dusk on December 15th, a submarine lobbed about ten shells into the harbor area of Kahului on Maui, and three that hit a pineapple cannery caused limited damage.

Over a 2½-hour period during the night of December 30 – 31, submarines engaged in similar and nearly simultaneous shellings of Nawiliwili on Kauaʻi, again on Kahului, Maui and Hilo on the Big Island.

Damage at all three points was slight, and no one was hurt. The principal result of these shellings was to stir up the war consciousness of all the Hawaiian Islands.

A report of the Kauaʻi shelling states, “At around 1:30 a.m. on the moonlit night of December 30, 1941, an enemy Japanese submarine estimated to be about 4 miles offshore shelled Nawiliwili Harbor with least 15 three-inch shells in what was the only attack on Kauai during WWII.” (kalapakibeach-org)

“The shrapnel from one shell riddled every room in the home of CL Shannon, which was located over the Kauaʻi Marine & Machine Works, Shannon’s business, then situated along the stretch of harbor between what are today the Matson and Young Brothers terminals.”

On the bluff above the harbor, where the bulk sugar storage warehouse stands today, a shell started a small cane fire. Most of the shells were duds. One punctured a gasoline storage tank, others created water plumes in the bay.

Merchant Marine William S. Chambers, on a cargo ship docked in Kahului, noted. “We were shelled by a Japanese submarine in Kahului Harbor on December 30th, 1941, shortly before we left for San Francisco.” No damage was reported at Kahului.

Ten rounds were fired at ships docked at Kahului piers. Two shells fell harmlessly into the harbor. Four rounds hit the Maui Pineapple Company cannery, doing some damage to the roof and smokestack. One fell on the driveway of the Maui Vocational School, another in a waste lumber pile on Pier I, and one broke a few windows at the Pacific Guano and Fertilizer building. Army guns unsuccessfully returned fire.

The second attack on Kahului, on December 31, took place after General Order No. 14 established wartime censorship in Hawai’i and therefore received limited coverage.

The News did, however, mention in its first edition of 1942 that Maui police, navy and marine forces, as well as “HC & S Co. cowboys,” were patrolling on horseback to prevent looting. The death toll from the attacks: one unfortunate chicken.

None of the damage was considered major. Some frightened Kahului residents started to flee, but police and Boy Scouts persuaded them to return home.

In Hilo, residents were roused when a submarine surfaced about three miles offshore and open fired on Hilo Bay. Ten rounds, with high explosive shells hit a seaplane tender, the pier and started a small fire in the vicinity of Hilo Airport.

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October 2, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hilo Boarding School

In the early years, after the arrival of the first missionaries, the Hawaiian language came to be the universal mode of education.

With the vigorous support of the Queen-Regent Kaʻahumanu, attendance in mission schools increased from about 200 in 1821 to 2,000 in 1824, 37,000 in 1828 and 41,238 in 1830, of which nearly half were pupils on the island of Hawaiʻi. (Canevali)

Common schools (where the 3 Rs were taught) sprang up in villages all over the islands. In these common schools, classes and attendance were quite irregular, but nevertheless basic reading and writing skills (in Hawaiian) and fundamental Christian doctrine were taught to large numbers of people. (Canevali)

Reverend David Belden Lyman (1803-1884) and his wife, Sarah Joiner Lyman (1806-1885,) arrived in Hawaii in 1832, members of the fifth company of missionaries sent to the Islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and were assigned the mission in Hilo.

“When we arrived in Hilo there were no foreign residents, save the Missionaries who proceeded us. There was but one frame building in this region … which the Coans have occupied. There were no roads (only footpaths,) no fences, and the Wailuku River was crossed on a plank … the only bell was hung in a breadfruit tree.” (Sarah Lyman)

It soon was apparent to the missionaries that the future of the Congregational Mission in Hawaii would be largely dependent upon the success of its schools. The Mission then established “feeder schools” that would transmit to their students’ fundamental reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and religious training, before admission to the Lahainaluna.

In 1835, they constructed the Hilo Boarding School as part of an overall system of schools (with a girls boarding school in Wailuku and boarding at Lahainaluna.)

On January 6, 1835 “our children’s school commenced, eighty children present, sixty knew their letters. A number of the more forward children are employed as monitors to assist the less forward. (ie. advanced)” (Sarah Lyman)

In October 1836, two thatch houses were constructed near Lyman’s house and on October 3 the school opened with eight boarders, but the number soon increased to twelve.

The school was operated to an extent on a manual labor program and the boys cultivated the land to produce their own food. (The boys’ ages ranged from seven to fourteen.)

“Mr. Lyman who was brought up on a farm had an abiding faith in the value of manual labor; and his work in Hilo had convinced him that such activity in both primitive and introduced vocation was as necessary as book learning during the period of transition from one culture to another.” (Lorthian)

Hilo Boarding School, under the leadership of the Lymans, was an immediate success. In 1837, six graduates were sent to Lahainaluna Seminary.

In 1839, the old thatch buildings were torn down and Lyman purchased the entire first shipment of lumber to arrive in Hilo to build a new school building, as well as a cookhouse and infirmary which would accommodate sixty to seventy boys.

The new school building lodged fifty-five pupils in its first year, most of them coming from outside Hilo. In 1840, sugar cultivation commenced on adjacent mission land, and was worked entirely by the boys of the school along with a “monthly concert” of labor by all members of the parish. The cane was probably ground in a Chinese-owned mill in Hilo.

The school occupied forty-acres of land (used mostly in farming activities,) and, in 1846, King Kamehameha III gave the mission the water rights of the Wailuku River in Hilo. In 1848, the school received a government charter and was incorporated.

More than one-third of the boys who had attended the school eventually became teachers in the common schools of the kingdom. In 1850 the Minister of Public Instruction, Richard Armstrong, reported that HBS “is one of our most important schools. It is the very life and soul of our common school on that large island.”

The school building burned down in 1853; in rebuilding, a new site for the school was selected about one-half mile above Haili Church. This was to be the third and final location of HBS. In 1856 the T-shaped, two-story wooden building was completed. It included a stone basement and an attic with a corrugated zinc roof.

1878 witnessed the first major building at HBS since repairs to the basement necessitated by an earthquake ten years earlier. A principal’s house was raised, as the former principal’s house continued to be the Lyman residence.

At the same time, a roadway was begun connecting HBS to School Street (now Kapiʻolani Street), and completed in 1880. The row of palms leading from the school to what is now Haili Street was also planted in that year.

Between 1886-1890 carpentry classes were organized when a supply of tools were donated. In addition, the gift of three sewing machines did much for the tailoring department. An industrial building was added in 1887.

In 1888, Mr. Alexander Young, manager of the Hilo Iron Works, donated a turbine wheel, complete with the necessary iron work, shafting, pully and the pully flanges.

In 1890 Mrs. Cassie B. Terry was appointed school principal; she took charge of the academic department and her husband devoted his time to the farm and shop classes. They expanded the blacksmithing class, and Mr. Terry invented a wooden poi-pounding machine.

In 1892 a fifteen-light dynamo was installed at the school; hydroelectric power, guaranteed by the school’s exclusive control over water rights, made it the first establishment in Hilo to be lighted by electricity.

In 1894 a one-half ton ice plant was situated on the campus, ice being produced for both school and community use. Later, in exchange for control of the water rights, the electric company (HELCO) provided free power to the school.

Vocational training really took off in the period from 1897-1923, under the guidance of Levi Lyman, grandson of the founder. New buildings replaced the old and vocational programs were housed in a blacksmiths shop, a four room utility building accommodating a steam plant, dairy, poi factory and wood room for craft supplies (as well as gym and mechanical arts building.)

At first, greater emphasis was placed upon producing teachers and preachers than upon molding farmers or craftsmen. However, with the loss of Lahainaluna to the government, the Hilo school became reoriented to stress vocational training.

Hilo Boarding School was never a purely vocational institution, however, its founder’s focus of educating the head, heart and hand carried throughout its history.

The Hilo Boarding School closed in 1925, although its facilities were used for several years thereafter. It first became a community center.

Then, in 1947, it was the first home of the Hilo Branch of the University of Hawaiʻi a center of the University Extension Division. UH programs expanded there with a permanent summer school in 1948 – then, in 1949, the institution changed its name to University of Hawaiʻi, Hilo center (which later moved to its present site on Lanikāula Street, in 1955.)

All of the Hilo Boarding School buildings are gone; in 1980 the Hilo Center affiliated with the Boy’s Clubs of America now occupies the site.

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Waiakea_Mission_The 7th Baron Lord Byron visited Hilo in 1825-painting by the Robert Dampier-only a few thatched huts at the time-1825

Hilo_Boarding_School_Shop,_Class_of_June_1901

Hilo_Boarding_School-printing-(75-years)

Hilo_Boarding_School_and_Gardens-from_Haili_Hill-(Lothian)-1856

Koa furniture crafted by Hilo Boarding School-(HawaiiMuseums)

Hilo_Boarding_School-Hilo-1891_Map-overlay_on_Google_Earth

April 15, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Lyman House

The Lyman Museum began as the Lyman Mission House, originally built for New England missionaries David and Sarah Lyman in 1839.

The original Lyman House was a “Cape Cod” type with a high, steep pitched thatched roof with dormers making up the second floor. The second floor was divided into sleeping quarters for some of the Lyman’s eight children.

The house kitchen was a semi-detached building at the rear of the house with an open fireplace and oven constructed out of rough stones, bricks being then unknown to Hawai‘i. The majority of the first floor interior is hand hewn koa (Hawaiian Hardwood).

Major renovations in 1856 added a new wing to be used as a study and library for Rev. Lyman. A new second story was added at this time with an attic. Northwest pine was substituted for koa on the second floor.

Reverend David Belden Lyman and his wife, Sarah Joiner Lyman arrived in Hawai‘i in 1832, members of the fifth company of missionaries sent to the Islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

The Lymans lived in a variety of homes, from a Hawaiian style thatched house to a “Cape Cod” prefab, before they built their own house in 1838.

In the late 1830s they built the Lyman House as a family home. The Hilo Boarding School, a school for young Hawaiian men, founded by the Lymans, was built nearby.

Although Rev. Lyman spent the majority of his time working with and for the students of the Hilo Boarding School, he did substitute as pastor for Haili Church when Rev. Titus Coan was on extended tours.

The Rev. and Mrs. Lyman were also founding members of the First Foreign Church, a church established in 1868 for the foreign residents of Hilo.

Over the years, the house became a place to raise their children and host guests, including many of the Hawaiian Ali‘i (royalty) and other notables, such as Mark Twain and Isabella Bird.

The Lymans never returned to their native New England, but lived out their long lives in Hilo.

The Lyman Mission House is the oldest standing wood structure on the Island of Hawai‘i and one of the oldest in the State.

Nearly 100 eventful years later, in 1931, the Museum was established by their descendants. Today, the restored Mission House is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and may be visited by guided tour.

The Lyman Museum building, next door to the Mission House, houses a superb collection of artifacts, fine art, and natural history exhibits, as well as an archives, special exhibitions and a gift shop.

Visitors touring the two facilities can see the old Mission House and life as it was 150 years ago, as well as state-of-the-art exhibits on many aspects of Hawaiian natural history and culture…a rare and well-rounded view of the real Hawai‘i, as it was, as it is today, and where it may be in years to come.

Docent-guided tours of the Mission House convey a sense of what it meant to live 5,000-miles and a 6-month journey away from your original home and family in a house without electricity or running water, as well as the difficulty of a decidedly different language and culture from your own, while being driven by a sense of duty to bring Christianity and Western-style education to the Hawaiian people.

The Museum and Mission House are open Monday-Saturday 10 am – 4:30 pm. House tours at 11 am and 2 pm. Closed Sundays, January 1, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and December 25.

Admission: Lyman Museum members are admitted free. Group rates, special tours and workshops must be arranged in advance. The current fee schedule is $10 Adults, $8 Seniors over 60, $3 Children 6-17, $21 Family (2 adults with children under 17), $5 University Student with current ID. Kama‘āina rates available.

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P-01 Hilo Mission Houses

David_Lyman,_Sarah_Lyman_and_children,_Hilo,_in_1853

David_Belden_Lyman

P-01 Hilo Mission Houses-400

Lyman_House (Lyman Museum and Mission House)

Hilo_Boarding_School,_1836

Ka_Home_O_Nā_Mākua_Laimana-1881

Lyman Mission House

Lyman_House_Museum,_Hilo

Lyman_Museum,_Hilo

Lyman_House_Memorial

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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Hilo_illustration,_c._1870s

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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Hilo_illustration,_c._1870s