Oahu Railway and Land Company | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

January 19, 2020 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Kawaihāpai

Kawaihāpai Ahupua’a is nestled between Keālia and Mokuleʻia ahupuaʻa in the Waialua District on the island of Oʻahu. West of Keālia is Kaʻena Ahupuaʻa.

The oral traditions explain the origin of the name as: “A drought once came there in ancient times and drove out everyone except two aged priests. Instead of going with the others, they remained to plead with their gods for relief.”

“One day they saw a cloud approaching from the ocean. It passed over the house to the cliff behind. They heard a splash and when they ran to look, they found water.”

“Because it was brought there by a cloud in answer to their prayers, the place was named Kawaihāpai (the carried water) and the water supply was named Kawaikumuʻole (water without source).” (Alameida, HJH)

Kawaihāpai was known for its large loʻi (irrigated terraces) and sweet potato fields as well as excellent fishing grounds. The loʻi extended into Keālia, where small terraces at the foot of the pali (cliff) grew varieties of taro.

In addition to shore or reef fishing, ponds were built for the breeding and nurturing of fish. Handy pointed out that, “these enterprises varied from small individual efforts to large-scale cooperative undertakings directed by ruling chiefs, and varied also according to locality and natural advantages.” (Alameida, HJH)

Kamakau wrote that the loko iʻa of various sizes beautified the land, and that “a land with many fishponds was called a ‘fat’ land” (ʻāina momona.) The well-known loko iʻa of Waialua were Lokoea and ʻUkoʻa in the ahupuaʻa of Kawailoa. While Kamehameha I was living on Oʻahu, he worked in the fishponds on the island, including ʻUkoʻa in Waialua.

After the death of Kinaʻu, daughter of Kamehameha I, all of her lands in Waialua were inherited by her infant daughter Victoria Kamaʻmalu. Although only nine years old at the time of the Māhele, Kamāmalu was the third largest land holder in the kingdom.

However, she gave up all of her lands between the ahupua’a of Kamananui and Kaʻena to the government to satisfy the one third commutation requirement set by the Land Commission.

Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) then designated these lands at the western end of Waialua district as government lands, distinct from those he reserved for himself; this included Kawaihāpai, Kamananui, Mokuleʻia, Keālia and Kaʻena. (As such, people, residents and foreigners, were able to purchase the land in fee simple.)

Those who bought government lands were issued documents called grants or often referred to as Royal Patent Grants signed by Kamehameha III. These differed from the awards issued by the Land Commission.

By the late-1800s, some of the heirs of the original Kawaihāpai landowners were selling land. By the mid-1920s, the Dillinghams owned land from Mokuleʻia to Kaʻena.

Army use of land just south of the Oahu Railroad & Land Company (OR&L) railway in Mokuleʻia began in 1922 with the establishment of Camp Kawaihāpai as a communications station. In the 1920s and 1930s, the site was also used as a deployment site for mobile coast artillery, which was transported by railroad.

The US government acquired about 105-acres from Walter F. Dillingham, whose father, Benjamin F. Dillingham, had built Oʻahu Railway & Land Co.

The military was looking for a site for an airfield. The area was originally called Kawaihāpai Military Reservation in 1927. By December 7, 1941, a fighter airstrip had been established on additional leased land and Mokuleʻia Airstrip had been established.

P-40 aircraft were deployed at North Shore airstrips at Kahuku, Haleiwa and Mokuleʻia when the Pearl Harbor attack took place. At the outbreak of World War II, the area was re-designated Mokuleʻia Airfield and was expanded to accommodate bombers.

Mokuleʻia Airfield was improved to a 9,000-foot by 75-foot paved runway, a crosswind runway and many aircraft revetments from 1942-1945. By the end of World War II, Mokuleʻia Airfield could handle B-29 bombers.

In 1946, the U.S. Army acquired the additional 583 acres of leased land by condemnation. In late 1946, the US Army Air Force became the US Air Force by order of President Truman, so Mokuleʻia Airfield became an Air Force installation.

In 1948, the airfield was inactivated and the area was renamed Dillingham Air Force Base in memory of Captain Henry Gaylord Dillingham, a B-29 pilot who was killed in action in Kawasaki, Japan, July 25, 1945.

Captain Dillingham was the son of Walter F. Dillingham who was a noted pilot on Oʻahu in the 1930s. Henry was also the grandson of Benjamin F. Dillingham (who founded the OR&L, which evolved into Hawaiian Dredging Company and the Dillingham Corporation.)

In the 1970s the state had examined the airfield’s potential as a reliever airport. The Defense Authorization Act of 1990 provided that the 67 acres of ceded land of old Camp Kawaihapai be transferred to the state after an agreement on future joint-use of the airfield was reached.

The 2001 Legislature passed Act 276 (effective in 2005) that changed the official name of the airfield located at Kawaihāpai, formerly known as Dillingham Airfield, to Kawaihāpai Airfield (although some still refer to it today as Dillingham.)

It serves as a public and military use airport, operated by the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation. The airport is primarily used for gliding and sky diving operations. Military operations consist largely of night operations for night vision device training.

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December 5, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiʻanae

The Waianae Coast received its name from the mullet that was once farmed here. Wai means water, and ʻanae means large mullet (perhaps from mullet in the muliwai, or brackish-water pools, that were once common in the backshore on many Waiʻanae beaches.) These fish were once produced in large amounts.

A legend describes the origins of niu (coconut) in the Hawaiian Islands, as well as the naming of Pōkaʻī Bay. Pōkaʻī was a voyaging chief of Kahiki (Tahiti) who is said to have brought coconut palms to Hawai‘i. A huge grove of coconuts once lined the shore of Pōka‘ī Bay.

The trees provided shelter and useful materials for the ancient Hawaiian village. This grove, known as “Ka Uluniu o Pokai,” was not just a legend as it was noted by western sailors in the 1700s.

Waiʻanae Ahupuaʻa within the Waiʻanae District was its Royal Center in the late-1600s to the 1700s. The ahupuaʻa had numerous important heiau and the largest population of the district at European contact.

Prior to contact with the Hawaiian Islands by Captain James Cook in 1778, the population of Waiʻanae was approximately 4,000 to 6,000 people.

In 1793, Vancouver described Waiʻanae as desolate and barren: “From the commencement of the high land to the westward of Opooroah [Puʻuloa] was … one barren rocky waste, nearly destitute of verdure, cultivation or inhabitants, with little variation all to the west point of the island. …”

“Nearly in the middle of this side of the Island is the only village we had seen westward of Opooroah. … The shore here forms a small sandy bay. On its southern side, between the two high rocky precipices, in a grove of cocoanut and other trees, is situated the village. …”

“The few inhabitants that visited us from the village, earnestly entreated out anchoring and told us, that if we would stay until morning, their chief would be on board with a number of hogs, and a great quantity of vegetables. … The face of the country did not, however, promise an abundant supply.” (Vancouver)

A Waiʻanae kahuna (priest) prophesied the coming of a “big fish” who “would eat all the little fish.” The following year (1795,) Kamehameha invaded and conquered Oʻahu. Following Kamehameha’s succession as ruling chief, “the despoiled people in large numbers fled to Waiʻanae and settled there. This part of Oahu being hot, arid, isolated, with little water, was not coveted by the invaders”. (City P&R)

In direct contrast was an inland description of Waiʻanae recorded by Handy in 1940: In ancient times Waiʻanae Valley had extensive systems of terraces along its various streams, in what is now forest and water reserve, and well down into the broad area not covered by sugar cane.

Names were obtained for 14 district terrace sections, watered by Olahua Stream, extending as far down as the site of the present power house. The section named Honua, including the group of terraces farthest inland, belonged to the aliʻi of the valley. (City P&R)

In the 1800s, missionary Levi Chamberlain traveled to Waiʻanae, describing it as: “… a very beautiful place, opening an extensive valley … having a view of the sea from those points …”

“… on the left is a grove of coconuts on low ground through the midst of which runs a beautiful stream of clear water from the mountains. Houses are scattered here and there in the grove and clumps of sugar cane and rows of bananas are see interspersed.” (Chamberlain)

The census in 1835 listed 1,654 residents on the Waiʻanae coast. In 1855, JW Makalena, the Waiʻanae tax collector, listed these figures for taxpayers: Waiʻanae Kai – 62, Kamaile – 44, Mākaha – 38, Makua – 21, Maile – 9, Nanakuli – 8. These were generally adult males. Assuming each adult male had a family of four, estimates of population are: Waiʻanae Kai – 250, Kamaile – 175, Makaha – 150, Makua – 85, Maili – 35, and Nanakuli – 30.

Christian missionaries were quick to establish missions throughout Oʻahu following their arrival in 1820. Ordained in 1850, Stephen Waimalu became the first Hawaiian minister of Waiʻanae.

In the mid-1800s, Paul Manini (son of Don Francisco de Paula Marin) had a lease over Waiʻanae Valley; he raised cattle on the land. By the late-1870s most of Waiʻanae Ahupuaʻa was in ranching. JM Dowsett had acquired Waiʻanae Uka by 1870 and by 1880 was running a grazing ranch on 17,200 acres of the Waiʻanae Valley. (City P&R)

Prior to the 1880s, the Waiʻanae coastline may not have undergone much alteration. The old coastal trail probably followed the natural contours of the local topography. With the introduction of horses, cattle and wagons in the nineteenth century, many of the coastal trails were widened and graded.

However, sugar was to be the economic future of Hawaiʻi and with the passing of the treaty of reciprocity in 1876, allowing sugar into the United States duty free, the profits became enormous.

In 1879 Judge Hermann A Wideman, GN Wilcox and AS Wilcox started the Waiʻanae Company to grow sugar in the Mākaha, Waiʻanae and Lualualei valleys.

With the addition of a railroad for hauling cane, Waiʻanae Company carried the distinction of being the most modern and efficient in all of Hawai`i.

As the success of sugar cultivation grew, so did Waiʻanae Village. By the 1890s, there was a resident postmaster, two mail deliveries a week, a steamer arrival every Friday and the plantation manager’s office boasted a telephone (McGrath).

Eventually as the sugar lands increased, squabbles arose between the plantation and the taro farmers over the precious and limited water resources. Wells dug by the McCandless brothers solved the crises for the plantation for a while. At its peak, the plantation produced 13.79 tons of sugar per acre in 1935.

John Papa ‘Ī‘ī describes a network of Leeward O‘ahu trails, which in early historic times crossed the Waiʻanae Range, allowing passage from Central O‘ahu through Pōhākea Pass and Kolekole Pass. The Pu‘u Kapolei trail gave access to the Waiʻanae district from Central O‘ahu, which evolved into the present day Farrington Highway.

In 1888, Benjamin F Dillingham secured a franchise from King Kalākaua to build a railroad that eventually extended from Honolulu, along the Waiʻanae coast, around Kaʻena Point, to Waialua and Kahuku. With easy access to the Waiʻanae coast by train came limited development

The arrival of WW II changed the character and land use of Waiʻanae. Some of the best sugar lands were taken over by the military, which was the beginning of the end for the Waiʻanae Plantation, that closed in 1947. Lots of information here from McGerty and Spear in City P&R.

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Farrington_Highway-Makaha_Beach-(CulturalSurveys)-1947

Farrington_Highway-(Cultural_Surveys)-late-1940s

Suydam Cutting, NY explorer & writer; Jouett Todd, Louisville attorney; Walter Dillingham; W. Averell Harriman, chmn Board; Sloan Colt, pres NY Banker’s Trust Co; Hugh Chrisholm, Portland MO.

Plantation manager's home, Waianae, Oahu-(HSA)-PPWD-18-2-012-1885

Waianae Beach, Poka'i Bay-(vic&becky)-1953

April 24, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hale‘iwa Hotel

While the Moana is touted as the First lady of Waikīkī, the Hale‘iwa Hotel, at the end of the OR&L train line in North Shore O‘ahu was constructed a year before the Moana.

In 1898, as part of the O‘ahu Railway & Land Company (OR&L) rail system, the Hale‘iwa Hotel (“house of the ‘iwa”, or frigate bird) was completed.

The hotel was part of a bigger plan to expand and diversify operations of the OR&L rail line. OR&L primarily serviced the sugar plantations, adding a hotel at the end of the line opened up opportunities to expand the number of people riding the train.

Passenger travel was an add-on opportunity that not only included train rides; they also operated a bus system. However, the hauling for the agricultural ventures was the most lucrative.

Typical hotels, like the Moana and later the Alexander Young Hotel in downtown Honolulu, served the traditional function of accommodating visitors; Ben F. Dillingham’s hotel sought that, as well as the diversified use of his train line.

On the continent, railroads were building hotels on their lines as a means to enhance the passenger counts – Hawai‘i, through OR&L, was doing the same.

By the early-1900s, the expanded railway cut across the island, serving several sugar and pineapple plantations, and the popular Hale‘iwa Hotel. They even included a “Kodak Camera Train” (associated with the Hula Show) for Sunday trips to Hale‘iwa for picture-taking.

When the hotel opened on August 5, 1899, guests were conveyed from the railway terminal over the Anahulu stream to fourteen luxurious suites, each had a bath with hot-and-cold running water.

Thrum’s ‘Hawaiian Annual’ (1900,) noted, “In providing so tempting an inn as an adjunct and special attraction for travel by the Oahu Railway – also of his (Dillinghams’s) creation – the old maxim of ‘what is worth doing is worth doing well’ has been well observed, everything About the hotel is first class…”

The weekend getaway from Honolulu to the Hale‘iwa Hotel became hugely popular with the city affluent who enjoyed a retreat in “the country.”

Reportedly, a round-trip, two-day excursion by train from Honolulu to Hale‘iwa, around Ka‘ena Point, cost $10. It included an overnight stay at the Hotel, a tour through Waialua sugar mill and a ride up to Wahiawa to tour the plantations.
The original manager was Curtis Iaukea, who had been chamberlain to Kalākaua’s royal household and was famed for his knowledge of protocol.

To while away the time there, the hotel recreational activities offered guests golf (reportedly the second course to be constructed in the islands,) tennis, fishing, canoeing and glass-bottom boat rides.

With the opening of the Hale‘iwa Hotel, the business climate expanded and tourism began to play a hand in the area. Many of the early business families and their original business buildings still remain in Hale‘iwa town today. Some of the town’s buildings are protected landmarks.

As noted in ‘The Union Pacific Magazine,’ (1924) “there are few more charming spots in the Hawaiian Islands than this delightful hotel with its bungalow cottages for guests and its beautiful grounds sloping gently back to the bank of a crystal clear river that runs out between lava rocks to the sea”.

By the late-1920s, it was hard to maintain the luxury and level of service at the hotel. What had been built two decades before to lure passengers to ride the train no longer applied, as more and more people owned cars.

In 1930 the railroad closed the hotel and it became a private ‘Haleiwa Beach Club.’ Later, the Haleiwa Hotel became the ‘Haleiwa Army Officer’s Club.’

During the height of its popularity, the hotel had made the name Hale‘iwa famous, and when its, ultimately, doors closed in 1943; its name remained as the name of the surrounding community – Hale‘iwa.

The last ride on OR&L’s train operations was on December 31, 1947, ending 58-years of steam locomotives hauling all kinds of people, freight and other around O‘ahu.

By 1953, the aged, termite-ridden structure had been torn down. Hale‘iwa Joe’s restaurant now stands where the Hale‘iwa Hotel once stood.

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Haleiwa_Hotel-from rail

Haleiwa_Hotel

Haleiwa-Hotel

HaleiwaHotel

Haleiwa Hotel

circa 1910, from The Advertiser’s archives shows the old Hale’iwa Hotel

Bridge at Haleiwa Hotel

Haleiwa_Hotel-1930s

Haleiwa-Hotel-Interior

Haleiwa Hotel-Interior

Driveway at Haleʻiwa Hotel circa 1915

Haleiwa Hotel-1935

Panoramic-view-of-Haleiwa-Hotel-1902-four-years-after-Benjamin-Dillingham-opened-the-hotel-in-1898

January 6, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Rail’s Impact

“The science of transportation, as demonstrated by the railroad and steamboat promoters of this age, has been clearly shown to be the principle upon which the astounding commercial progress of the United States is founded.”

“The vast trans-continental systems, with their ramifications, have carried millions of people from Europe and the Atlantic states into the unbroken west, tapped the treasures of mine, forest and farm, developed a hundred industries where none was known twenty-five years ago, built cities and added to the nation’s wealth a hundred fold.”

“Within the past year Hawaii has started in the footsteps of America by projecting a railroad around the island of Oahu, and actually perfecting, within the period from April 1st, 1889, to January 1st, 1890 …”

“… a well equipped railroad in running order, extending from Honolulu along the southern shore of the island to a temporary terminus at Ewa Court House, a distance of twelve miles.”

“It was five years ago that Mr BF Dillingham advanced the idea of building a steam railroad that should carry freight and passengers, and conduct business on the most improved American methods.”

“A hundred men told him his scheme was infeasible where one offered encouragement. He believed he was right, and so put forth every endeavor to secure a franchise, which was granted to him only after vigorous legislative opposition to the measure.”

“Chief among the ends secured by facilitating the shipment of produce from the interior to the seaboard is the conjunction of ship and car, a principle that Mr. Dillingham had in view when he launched his railroad venture. This project, involving the construction of a wharf from the present railroad terminus at Iwelei to deep water in Honolulu harbor, is being carried out.”

“Only three or four cities in the United States claim this superior arrangement for rapid and economic transfer of freight, and it certainly becomes a progressive movement on the part of Honolulu when our railroad cars bring sugar, bananas and rice from plantations on the northwest side of the island directly to ship’s tackles.”

“Its usefulness will be appreciated when, in 1892, the first crop of Ewa Plantation will, with only a nominal cost of handling, be placed in the hold of out-bound packets.”

“Banana and rice planters along the line of the railroad will not be slow to avail themselves of the shipping advantages provided by the meeting of ship and car. Bananas can be cut from the plant on the morning a vessel sails, and will arrive in the California market in a much better condition than those heretofore transported by horse and mule back from the interior.”

“Hawaiian rice, which commands a higher price in American markets than the South Carolina product, can be placed in San Francisco at a lower figure than formerly.”

“While the banana and rice traffic will be stimulated to a greater extent here than in any other country on the globe, the advantage given to sugar, the staple commodity of the Kingdom, will be heightened to an extraordinary degree.”

“In no other country have we the spectacle of sugar being taken from the mill directly to ship’s tackles. In Manila, Jamaica and Cuba, and even in Louisiana and Mississippi, the process of transportation is slow, laborious and expensive, reducing the profits of the planter to a minimum.”

“Market gardening, dairying and the raising of poultry can be made lucrative to the industrious, while fruit culture, embracing a large variety of products, offers other liberal inducements.”

“Along the line of the railroad there are now 7,500 acres in rice, yielding 10,000 tons annually, and 150 acres in bananas, yielding 100,000 bunches annually, and besides these prolific plantations there are, in close proximity to the several stations, thousands of mellow acres untouched, capable of bearing all the multifarious fruits and flowers of the tropics.”

“Repeated successes in the past give some assurance that the railroad will succeed in this laudable project. … The Oahu Railway & Land Company are nothing if not progressive.”

“It is difficult at this stage of the corporation’s history to convey an idea of what will be accomplished at the close of the year 1890.”

“The projection of branch roads, the importation of locomotives and cars, the improvements around Pearl Harbor and the track laying beyond Ewa are circumstances of the present that indicate preparations for an enormous business.”

“The branches or spurs now under way are, one extending into the Palama suburb, having its terminus at a stone quarry, and the other is a line running along the peninsula at Pearl City.”

“The enterprise shown by the Oahu Railway and Land Company from the very commencement of its great undertaking, and in every branch of its service, is worthy of special note and commendation.”

“Every month witnesses the opening of some new plan, or the completion of some noteworthy object, in which all will be more or less interested.”

“Of what may be termed the Pearl Harbor Section of the Oahu Railway there will be sixteen miles of track from the city to the mill of the Ewa Plantation, located near the shores of the west loch of the lagoon.”

“Of this, twelve miles are completed and in excellent order to Pearl City Depot, improving, however, with each month’s service and use by daily freight and passenger trains, and with the additional ballasting which the road receives from time to time, wherever and whenever wanted.”

“At each station convenient buildings have been erected, with two good depots at Honolulu and Pearl City. A commodious turn-table building has been erected near the Honolulu Depot, where the engines may be housed when not in use, and another smaller one at Pearl City.”

The freight business of the read is increasing with each new enterprise, that is being developed at or near the present western terminus.”

“And it is also a noticeable fact that business along the line of road between Honolulu and Ewa has already received a stimulus that is helping to increase the passenger and freight traffic and to develop the resources of those fertile plains.” (Whitney; Tourist Guide, 1890)

And their attitude/outcome in 1890? … “From what we have learned from all sources we have greater faith than ever in the success of … the Oahu Railway and Land Company”. (Whitney; Tourist Guide, 1890)

Rail about 130 years ago; what about today (you can include SuperFerry in those thoughts, as well)? Back then, private enterprise “came forward at the right time and purchased enough stock and bonds to set the enterprise on foot.” And today …

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OR&L Railroad Station 1890

OR&L Station

OR&L Alakea Street Honolulu

pulls into the Honolulu Depot to pick up and dispatch passengers. Photo taken in 1890.

OR&L Honolulu Depot-1901

OR&L Honolulu Depot-1914

OR&L_Waianae

Railroad along Pearl Harbor-1890

Train turning into Fort Kamehameha, Oahu, 1923

Waianae Train Station

OR&L Steam Locomotive-Leahi

May 17, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Train Terminal, Depot

Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Dillingham’s OR&L company, created in 1889, changed the landscape of west Honolulu. Its first train depot was created between a fishpond and North King Street, next to Prison Road, later renamed Iwilei Road.

The first section of track extended only as far as Aiea, but by the 1920s, tracks had been laid all over the island. The train was the primary mode of transportation. (Burlingame)

“Among the most important works now in progress of rapid construction, is the Oahu Railway to Pearl Harbor, which is already approaching completion, so far as grading is concerned.”

“Eleven miles of this line will have the grading completed in two weeks; and of this length ten miles are already finished. The material for the bridges is already on the ground, and the work of driving the piles has been begun at the larger estuaries of Kalihi and Moanalua.”

“A few of the bridges on this line will be of considerable length; but, with the present energy being displayed only a short time will elapse before the gaps in the line will all disappear.”

“Many of the smaller bridges and culverts have been already built. There will be altogether twenty bridges between Honolulu and Ewa, of various lengths—from 16 to 300 feet, with an aggregate length of 1250 feet.”

“Plans have been approved by which the main depot will be placed 180 feet from King street in what is now a fish-pond dividing Oahu prison from the royal stables.”

“A large portion, if not all of this extensive fish-pond will be filled in without delay, and this substantial and eligible building ground, artificially firmed, will become of great value by close proximity to the main depot buildings.”

“The depot itself will be of imposing size and made as ornamental in appearance as convenience and traffic requirements will allow. The grading of the whole division of this line, twelve miles, will be completed within the next month; and the laying of the rails will commence immediately upon their arrival by the bank Deutschland now nearly due from Germany.”

“The progress of this important work has been so rapid during the month of July that we give it first place among works in progress. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 27, 1889)

The inauguration of the OR&L rail service was November 16, 1889. (LOC)Eventually, the railroad ran west out of Honolulu to Waianae, around Kaena Point and on to Kahuku, and is significant in the development of the sugar industry on the island of Oahu.

As a result of the development of this rail line the lands of western and northern Oahu were able to be opened for the cultivation of sugar, with plantations started at Ewa, Waipahu, Waianae, Waialua, Kahuku and other areas. Besides freight, the OR&L also provided plantation workers with easy access to Honolulu. (NPS)

In 1924-1925, a new Depot was constructed to replace an earlier 1889 wooden terminal building, and was the main Honolulu rail terminal for OR&L’s passenger operations.

The building was designed by local architect Guy N. Rothwell. The contract to erect the terminal was officially given to the Hawaiian Contracting Company (a company that was owned by the Dillingham family), though much of the work was performed by OR&L’s in-house construction crews.

Upon completion, the building had dual functions, with the 2nd floor providing offices for the company’s daily railroad operations, and the 1st floor accommodating passengers. The 1st floor layout included a porte-cochere, a ticket office and lobby with a restaurant and bar, as well as a news stand.

The offices upstairs were occupied by OR&L’s president, general manager, superintendent and treasurer, as well as the station’s dispatcher.

Both floors also included spacious restrooms for travelers and employees. As soon as the building was completed, an extension was constructed on the north side, to accommodate the company’s growing freight department.

The railroad prospered until the 1930s when the advent of improved roadways led to its decline. The railway continued in operation through World War II, but in 1947 all operations outside of Honolulu were abandoned. (NPS)

The company continued to use Depot building as a terminal well after rail passenger operations ceased at the end of 1947. The property was acquired by the State of Hawaii in 1961. After OR&L moved off the premises eighteen months later the building was used as office space.

A 1975 renovation completely reconfigured the interior of the building for office use, and an elevator and expanded stairwell were added at an unknown date. Various state organizations have occupied the offices, with the current users being the Division of Accounting and General Services, Department of Human Services in the terminal building. (HABS)

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