Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mānoa – Home of Hawai‘i’s Commercial Agricultural Ventures

Mānoa Valley was a favored spot of the Ali‘i. In early times Mānoa Valley was socially divided into “Mānoa-Aliʻi” or “royal Mānoa” on the west, and “Mānoa-Kanaka” or “commoners’ (makaʻāinana) Mānoa” on the east. The Ali‘i lived on the high, cooler western (left) slopes; the commoners lived on the warmer eastern (right) slopes and on the valley floor where they farmed.

The well-watered, fertile and relatively level lands of Mānoa Valley supported extensive wet taro cultivation well into the twentieth century. Click the link for more information about Mānoa’s pioneering role in the development of commercial-scale agricultural ventures in the Islands – Sugar, Pineapple, Coffee and Macadamia Nuts – all had their commercial start in the Islands, in Mānoa.

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Largest Milk Dairy in the Hawaiian Kingdom

The east side of upper Mānoa (and a roadway through it) is known today as “Woodlawn.” It’s named for the Woodlawn Dairy and Stock Company. It became the largest milk dairy in the Hawaiian Kingdom. “This Dairy commenced business in June, 1879, under the name of “Woodlawn Dairy,” with stock consisting of ten native cows.”

“Mr (Benjamin Franklin) Dillingham’s beautiful residence, ‘Woodlawn,’ at Punahou, about a mile and a half from town, (is) where the dairy was originally started. Here there is about 350 acres controlled by the company, including land in Mānoa Valley and on this pasturage there is a herd of about 450 head of cattle, including Short horns, Durhams, Devon, Ayreshires, Holsteins and Jerseys.” (Dillingham’s ‘Woodlawn’ home was about where Central Union Church is situated.)

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Dole Street

The beginning of the original Dole Street was just below the Punahou School campus and was part of an 1880 small subdivision of lots the school developed to raise money for the school’s endowment. It was named for Rev Daniel Dole, Punahou’s first teacher/administrator. Streets within the subdivision were named for prior leaders of the school: Dole, Beckwith, Alexander and Bingham. Apparently, some at the University of Hawaiʻi are trying “to restore Dole Street to its Hawaiian name” – suggesting Dole Street was originally named Kapaʻakea Street. (HNN)

This is not true. The history is clear, Dole Street was formed in 1880 by Punahou School and was named for Rev. Daniel Dole, not his son, Sanford. Suggestions that the ‘original’ name of Dole Street was Kapaʻakea Street are simply wrong and not consistent with the clear history of the road and its subsequent extensions. The image is a portion of an 1892 map of the area. It notes Dole Street and the Punahou Lots subdivision (on the left); note that there are no roads on the right, and definitely nothing labeled Kapaʻakea, other than the wetland. Check out the full story and multiple maps that show the same – Dole Street, but no Kapaʻakea Street.

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kidwell’s Mānoa Pineapples

John Kidwell was born January 17, 1849 in the small north Devonshire village of Marwood. At the age of fifteen (in 1864,) he left home to become an apprentice to a second cousin, who was a nurseryman in London. He emigrated to the US in 1872 and became a nurseryman in San Francisco. In 1882, with letters of introduction, Kidwell sailed to Honolulu. At the time, there was great demand for fresh Hawaiian pineapples in San Francisco.

Kidwell started a pineapple farm with locally available plants at Wailele (where Mid-Pacific Institute is situated). The fruit was of poor quality; so he searched for better cultivars, importing 12 ‘Smooth Cayenne’ plants. Kidwell is credited with starting Hawai‘i’s pineapple industry; after his initial planting, others soon realized the potential of growing pineapples in Hawaii and consequently, started their own pineapple plantations. The commercial Hawaiian pineapple canning industry began in 1889 when Kidwell’s business associate, John Emmeluth, a Honolulu hardware merchant and plumber, produced commercial quantities of canned pineapple.

by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Mānoa War Homes

“Housing was a critical problem at the beginning of the war.” “On December 7, 1941, the only project operated by the Hawaii Housing Authority was Kamehameha homes consisting of 221 units for families in the low-income bracket.” “Prior to the declaration of war, plans had been prepared for the construction of a low income family project of 368 units to be known as the Mayor Wright homes. The war prevented this development from going ahead”. Following the war more homes were needed.

In 1946, the problem has become even more serious – 11,000 additional houses were needed in the Honolulu-Pearl Harbor area. “Of those who applied the authority could provide houses for only 1,265, 1,000 of whom were placed in Mānoa war homes.” It worked for a while; then, “The Commissioners of the Authority froze vacancies as of January 1, 1956, at Mānoa War Homes, a 982-unit temporary war housing project, as the site must be vacated, buildings demolished, and the land restored to its owners by June 30, 1958.” Familiar Mānoa landmarks that were once the site of the Mānoa War Homes are the Mānoa Marketplace, Noelani School and Mānoa Innovation Center.