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June 3, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Emma Louise Smith Dillingham

Rev. Lowell Smith and his wife Abigail arrived in Honolulu on May 1, 1833, with the Sixth Company of missionaries of the ABCFM. He first served at Molokai in June 1833; then, in 1834, he established a church at Ewa District, O‘ahu and later founded and served as pastor of Kaumakapili Church (Second Native Church) in Honolulu, 1839–1869.

Rev and Abigail Smith had five children: Lowell Smith (1841–1842), Emma Smith (1843–1843), Emma Louise Smith (Dillingham) (1844–1920), Ellen Amelia Smith (1847–1848), and Augustus Lowell Smith (1851–1891). (FindAGrave)

Emma Louise Smith was a writer and had talents in music and the arts; her daughter Mary Emma Dillingham (Frear) published Emma’s 1850-51 Journal Book, written at age six. Emma later wrote poems, songs, books, etc.

“Little Emma Louise Smith entered Punahou at the age of 13, after having attended the old Royal School.” (Star Bulletin, April 26, 1929)

“Her father tells how Emma rode from Nuuanu to Punahou daily with two of Dr. Judd’s children. He says she was in advance of most of the children of her age, for which credit was due to her mother. ‘Emma can put a horse to a carriage … wash dishes, darn stockings, play the piano and do some other things equally well,’ her mother wrote.” (Punahou First 100 Years; Morrow)

“She graduated with the class of 1863 and the next year became an instructor in the academy. After one year, she accompanied her parents to the Atlantic coast of the United States, where she continued the study of music.”

“On her return to Honolulu she again became a Punahou instructor of music. She went to the Royal School as a teacher the next year, but after that again returned to Punahou.”

“Meantime, in 1865, there had arrived in Honolulu a young New England seaman, first officer of the bark Whistler. Attempting to indulge in the almost universal island sport of riding …” “… he had found himself more skilled in guiding a ship than a horse, with the result that when the Whistler went on, it left its first officer nursing a broken leg, the result of a fall from his mount.” (Star Bulletin, April 26, 1929)

“The first officer of the bark Whistler, Mr. Dillingham, whose leg was broken last Friday night, by being thrown from a horse, in collision with a carriage, on the valley road. … [Dillingham] is now at the American Marine Hospital, where he receives every care and attention, and is in favorable condition for recovery.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 29, 1865)

“It felt as if I had anchored in a home port; the cordiality I experienced from all those whom I met removed at once the feeling of being in a foreign land though the streets were filled with several nationalities. The luxuriant foliage, the balmy breezes, the tropical fruits, all afforded such delights that I felt sure I should return.”

“The first evening I left the ship was spent at the Wednesday evening prayer meeting in the Bethel vestry (where Emma led the choir). One of the first calls I made was at the home of Rev. Lowell Smith.” (Dillingham; Morrow)

“Young Benjamin [Franklin ‘Frank’] Dillingham entered the commercial life of the city as soon as he was able to be about. When an opportunity came to leave here he decided against it, a matter, no doubt, in which the young teacher of Punahou figured, since they were married on [April 26] 1869.” (Star Bulletin, April 26, 1929)

Despite tales of Emma nursing Frank back to health, Emma was away in New England while Frank was recuperating. The two of them probably met for the first time when Frank attended a church service after his arrival in Honolulu. But his efforts to win her hand began in earnest only in 1867. On April 26, 1869, Frank Dillingham married Emma Smith. They were both 25.

Frank was stocky and well-muscled, Emma was lovely and tall. She, like her mother, had dark hair parted down the middle, but her face was softer than Abigail’s and her smile was bright and engaging.

She had been engaged to James Baldwin of Maui when she met Frank, but, not in love with her fiancé, broke off the relationship. Frank pressed his suit quietly but firmly after their meeting and slowly she fell in love. (Morrow)

He accepted a job as a clerk in a hardware store called H Dimond & Son for $40 per month. The store was owned by Henry Dimond, formerly a bookbinder in the 7th Missionary Company. In 1850 Dimond had been released from his duties at the Mission and had gone into business with his son.

Dillingham later bought the company with partner Alfred Castle (son of Samuel Northrup Castle, who was in the 8th Company of missionaries and ran the Mission business office;) they called the company Dillingham & Co.

On September 4, 1888, Frank Dillingham’s 44^th birthday, the legislature gave Dillingham an exclusive franchise “for construction and operation on the Island of O‘ahu a steam railroad … for the carriage of passengers and freight.”

Dillingham formed O‘ahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L,) a narrow-gauge rail, whose economic being was founded on the belief that O‘ahu would soon host a major sugar industry.

‘Dillingham’s Folly’ had now become the greatest single factor in the development of O‘ahu and Honolulu. (Nellist) “With a shrill blast from the whistle and the bell clanging, the engine moved easily off with its load. Three rousing cheers were given by the passengers, and crowds assembled at the starting point responded.” (Daily Bulletin, September 5, 1889)

Ultimately OR&L sublet land, partnered on several sugar operations and/or hauled cane from Ewa Plantation Company, Honolulu Sugar Company in ‘Aiea, O‘ahu Sugar in Waipahu, Waianae Sugar Company, Waialua Agriculture Company and Kahuku Plantation Company, as well as pineapples in Wahiawa for Dole.

“It was in [Emma’s] home that the YWCA was organized, and she took an active part in the work of the Salvation Army.” (Advertiser, July 7, 1956) “In 1900, Emma Louise Smith Dillingham founded the YWCA Oahu as a place for Honolulu’s working women to learn skills that promote community engagement, build friendships, and develop shared values.”

“By 1915, Oahu YWCA boasted a membership of 1,386 women, which included Queen Liliuokalani. Today’s YWCA stands for empowering women, eliminating racism, standing up for social justice, helping families, and strengthening communities.” (BOH)

“She was one of [seven] founders of the Daughters of Hawaii.” (Advertiser, July 7, 1956) “‘Daughters of Hawaii’ was formed November 18, (1903) by Mrs. Emma Dillingham. Mrs. Sarah Colin Waters, Mrs. Lucinda Severance, Mrs. Ellen A. Weaver, Mrs. Annie A. Dickey, Mrs. Cornelia H. Jones and Miss Anna M. Paris.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 26, 1904)

The women (all daughters of American missionaries) foresaw the looming loss of Hawaiian culture and in an inaugural meeting, their gathering gave rise to the “The Daughters of Hawaii” dedicated to preserving that culture. (Morrow)

“Its object is ‘To perpetuate the memory and spirit of old Hawai‘i and of historic facts, and to preserve the nomenclature and correct pronunciation of the Hawaiian language.’ No one is eligible to membership who was not born in Hawaii of parents who came here before 1860.” (Hawaiian Star, December 7, 1903)

The Daughters of Hawai‘i was one of the first organizations in Hawai‘i to recognize the importance of historic preservation. Since the early 1900s it has been distinguished for preserving Hānaiakamalama in Nu‘uanu, commonly known as the Queen Emma Summer Palace, and Hulihe‘e Palace in Kailua-Kona, restoring them with original royal furnishings and regalia.

The Daughters continue to be stewards of two of Hawai‘i’s three royal palaces, as well as the birth site of King Kamehameha III at Keauhou Bay in Kailua-Kona. (Daughters of Hawaii)

Children of Frank and Emma Dillingham are Mary Emma Dillingham (Frear) (1870–1951), Charles Augustus ‘Charlie’ Dillingham (1871–1874), Walter Francis Dillingham (1875–1963), Alfred Hubbard ‘Freddie’ Dillingham (1880–1880), Harold Garfield Dillingham (1881–1971), Marion Eleanor Dillingham (Erdman) (1883–1972). (FindAGrave)

On his death in 1918 at age 74, Dillingham was hailed as a “master builder” and Honolulu’s financial district closed its doors out of respect. (Wagner) The Islands would have been different if not for a sailor breaking his leg riding a horse.

Emma Dillingham, “one of Honolulu’s most prominent women for many years … passed away peacefully” August 15, 1920. (PCA, August 16, 1920)

June 2, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Āhinahina

Although the Hawaiian name for this plant is not historically known, it is often referred to today as ‘Āhinahina, Hinahina or Hinahina Ewa. The reason for these names primarily has to do with their color. In Hawaii, many plants that are silvery in color are called hinahina or have the word hinahina in its name. (Hui Ku Maoli Ola)

Āhinahina (very gray) is the product of evolution in island isolation. Several million years ago, a California tarweed seed traveled 2,000 miles across the Pacific to Hawaii.

This single species evolved into the “silversword alliance,” a group of more than 30 species endemic to Hawai‘i that range from scraggly shrubs to ground-clinging cushions. (NPCA)

It is a distinctive, globe-shaped rosette plant, with a dense covering of silver hairs. (FWS) We commonly call this plant the Silversword (due to their long, slender leaves and a silver-white color).

After 10 to 30 years of rosette growth, thousands of aromatic flowers erupt from a human-sized stalk and are pollinated by native Hylaeus bees. After the silversword has finished flowering, it will die (silverswords only flower once in a lifetime). (NPS)

Some of the notable āhinahina are named for the mountains where they are found: Haleakalā Silverswords, Mauna Loa Silverswords, and Mauna Loa Silverswords.

Haleakalā Silverswords from Maui has larger flowers than the form on the island of Hawaiʻi. These plants were formerly abundant, but earlier in the century they faced the brink of extinction due to habitat destruction, goat grazing, and insect infestations.

Hotter temperatures and lower rainfall presents a new threat to these charismatic plants. Researchers with the University of Hawai‘i are actively working with park staff to evaluate the effects of drought conditions on Silverswords, and preserve these unique plants for generations to come. (NPS)

Haleakalā Silverswords live only in a 2,500-acre area at the top of the Haleakalā volcano, a moonscape pocked by cinder cones. They have developed an adaptation to cope with this harsh environment: The fleshy leaves are coated with tiny silvery hairs to break the wind, prevent drying and collect cloud moisture. (NCPA)

Mauna Kea Silverswords produce pink to wine-red flowers is rare and only found in the alpine regions of Mauna Kea. The harsh and challenging conditions of Mauna Kea volcano have forced the Silverswords to adapt to the environment in unique ways, similar to Mauna Loa Silverswords.

Leaves are covered with a dense layer of tiny hairs that help reflect sunlight and insulate the plant against cold temperatures. Sadly, impacts of climate change, and foraging invasive animals have put Silverswords in danger.

There are no records of the extent or density of the Mauna Kea silversword population prior to the introduction of ungulates to the island of Hawai’i in 1793 and 1794.

The Mauna Kea Silversword may have already been in decline due to browsing by feral ungulates by the time the silversword was first collected by James Macrae in 1825. Macrae noted in his diary that he found the remains of dead sheep near the summit of Mauna Kea on the same day that he encountered the silversword. (Mauna Kea Silversword Recovery Plan)

The Mauna Kea Silversword is distinguished from the Haleakalā Silversword by a high frequency of branching; taller, thinner flowerings; green bracts subtending flower heads; and fewer ray florets. (Mauna Kea Silversword Recovery Plan)

Mauna Loa Silverswords are perhaps lesser known than its Haleakalā and Mauna Kea cousins. The Kaʻū silversword is one of two forms of the Mauna Loa silversword that grow exclusively on Mauna Loa volcano.

The other, the Waiākea silversword, is rarer and found in wet bog habitat. Like its cousins, the Kaʻū form is in the sunflower family and blooms once by sending forth a dramatic stalk of small fragrant sunflower-like blossoms from its center.

These blooming stalks can reach nine feet in height. The plant dies after its towering display, but releases thousands of seeds to continue its legacy. (NPS)

The Mauna Kea Silversword probably only occurred on Mauna Kea. However, there are some historical and recent suggestions that a similar taxon may have occurred on Hualālai and on Mauna Loa.

The Mauna Kea Silverswords was first collected by James Macrae in 1825. Macrae’s specimens were sent to Augustin-Pyramus DeCandolle in Geneva. Later, David Douglas collected the Mauna Kea silversword in 1834 and sent specimens to WJ Hooker at Kew Gardens.

In 1852, Asa Gray described the Haleakala Silversword as endemic to the island of Maui. The similarity in vegetative features between Mauna Kea Silversword and the Haleakalā Silversword has led several authors to consider these taxa as the same species. (Mauna Kea Silversword Recovery Plan)

In 1875, world traveler Isabella Bird, in Haleakalā, stated, “Soon after noon we began to descend; and in a hollow of the mountain, not far from the ragged edge of the crater, then filled up with billows of cloud …”

“… we came upon what we were searching for; not, however, one or two, but thousands of silverswords, their cold, frosted silver gleam making the hill-side look like winter or moonlight.” (Bird, Six Months)

Alexander noted in his Ascent of Mauna Kea, in 1892, “We crossed a shallow crater just east of a conspicuous peak called “Ka lepe a moa”, or cock’s comb, and began to ascend the mountain proper. After climbing a steep ridge through loose scoria and sand, the party halted for lunch at an elevation of 10,500 feet.”

“The upper limit of the māmane tree is not far from 10,000 feet. … The beautiful Silver Sword (Argyroxiphium), once so abundant is nearly extinct, except in the most rugged and inaccessible localities.” (Alexander, PCA, Sep 14, 1892)

June 1, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Liberty Bell

In the 18th century, citizens across the colonies depended on bells to communicate important news. Bells might call them to put out fires, notify them of an approaching merchant ship, warn them about a possible attack by Indians or enemy soldiers, or tell them to gather to hear news important to the community. (NPS)

The Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly had the State House Bell made in 1751 to mark the 50-year anniversary of William Penn’s 1701 Charter of Privileges, which served as Pennsylvania’s original Constitution.

Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly Isaac Norris first ordered a bell for the bell tower of the State House of Pennsylvania (now known as Independence Hall) from the Whitechapel Foundry in London. That bell cracked on the first test ring.

Local Pennsylvania metalworkers John Pass and John Stow melted down that bell and cast a new one in Philadelphia. It is this bell that would ring to call lawmakers to their meetings and the townspeople together to hear the reading of the news. (NPS)

The following King James version Bible verse (Leviticus 25:10) is inscribed on the Bell: “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”

This verse refers to the ‘Jubilee’, or the instructions to the Israelites to return property and free slaves every 50 years. (NPS) Also included is information about the Pennsylvania Assembly and the Bell’s maker. (Constitution Center)

The bell originally rang in the tower of the Pennsylvania State House in 1753. It was in the Assembly Room of this building that members of the Second Continental Congress debated and signed the Declaration of Independence.

While there is evidence that the bell rang to mark the Stamp Act tax and its repeal, the bell probably didn’t ring on July 4, 1776. A magazine writer in 1847 made up the story of the bell ringing on the first Independence Day. (NPS & Constitution Center)

Once the Congress approved the Declaration of Independence document on July 4, it was sent to a printer named John Dunlap. About 200 copies of the Dunlap Broadside were printed.

Then on July 8, 1776, Colonel John Nixon of Philadelphia read a printed Declaration of Independence to the public for the first time on what is now called Independence Square. The bell may also not have rung on that day, as well. (NPS & Constitution Center).

It is known that bells in the city of Philadelphia were ringing to celebrate the public announcement of the Declaration of Independence. According to the Independence Hall Association, the statehouse steeple was under repair at the time, making it unlikely for the Liberty Bell to be in use. But with no contemporary accounts, we just don’t know.

In 1777, the Bell was removed from Philadelphia under armed guard and taken to Allentown, Pa., where it was hidden in a church. The fear was the British would melt the Bell and use it to make cannons. It came back to Philadelphia the following year. (Constitution Center)

Though known as the State House Bell, the Biblical inscription became a herald of liberty, and provided a rallying cry for abolitionists, who first referred to the bell as the ‘Liberty Bell’ in 1835, years before that name was widely adopted. (Philadelphia Visitor Center)

While there are a lot of subsequent stories and statements naming dates, no one recorded when or why the Liberty Bell first cracked. But the most likely explanation is that a narrow split developed in the early 1840s after nearly 90 years of hard use.

In 1846, when the city of Philadelphia decided to repair the bell prior to George Washington’s birthday holiday, metal workers widened the thin crack to prevent its farther spread and restore the tone of the bell using a technique called ‘stop drilling’. The wide ‘crack’ in the Liberty Bell is actually the repair job. There are over 40 drill bit marks in that wide ‘crack’.

The repair was not successful; the Public Ledger newspaper reported that the repair failed when another fissure developed. This second crack, running from the abbreviation for ‘Philadelphia’ up through the word ‘Liberty’, silenced the bell forever. (NPS)

“‘These is, of course, the large crack that everyone knows about. It is also full of things called ‘shrinkage’ and ‘porosity.” (Mike Modes) These are soft spots created when metal cooled after casting. They were common in metals in the 1750s.” (Star Bulletin, Nov 27, 1975)

Millions of Americans became familiar with the bell in popular culture through George Lippard’s 1847 fictional story ‘Ring, Grandfather, Ring’, when the bell came to symbolize pride in a new nation. Beginning in the late 1800s, the Liberty Bell traveled across the country for display at expositions and fairs, stopping in towns small and large along the way. (NPS)

In the 1950s, Hawai‘i had two Liberty Bells …

In 1950, a Liberty Bell replica was presented to the Territory “by the US Treasury Department and toured the Neighbor Islands on US savings bond campaigns.” (Star Bulletin, Aug 11, 1959) (A significant number of other replicas have been made by others.)

The Treasury Department created 55 replica Liberty Bells for the “Save Your Independence” bond drive in 1950. Bells were delivered to States, Territories and the District of Columbia to support the bond program. (US Treasury)

“The bell, made in France, is an exact replica of the original Liberty Bell in every detail, except the crack. It is of the same size and weight (2,080 pounds), made of the same materials and by the same process as the original.” (Star Bulletin, Jun 26, 1950)

“Island residents along with their fellow Americans on the Mainland are sounding a new note of independence on the Liberty Bell in a US Savings Bond campaign that will reach its climax on the Fourth of July.”

“Today, its replicas in the American States and Territories are proclaiming the independence of the individual to be had through orderly savings that will provide him with freedom from want in his declining years.” (Advertiser, May 23, 1950)

“Honolulans had their first hearing of the sounds of the Liberty Bell as Hawaii’s replica was rung 49 times at Iolani Palace this morning and again at a US savings bonds rally at King and Bishop street.” (Star Bulletin, Jun 27, 1950)

Starting on February 9, 1951 at Lincoln school, “Hawaii’s replica of the famous Liberty Bell will start a 97 day tour to schools on Oahu. … The bell will remain at each public and private school on the island for a 24 hour periods. Each school is to present an appropriate program in connection with the visit.” (Star Bulletin, Jan 11, 1951)

“Last summer, at least ten million Mainlanders heard and/or saw Hawaii’s 3,000 pound replica of the Liberty Bell. … This was, indeed, small service relative to the total statehood effort of many years duration. … Hundreds of pictures were taken, and the bell rang more than 50,000 times.” (Advertiser, Mar 3, 1959)

The bell went to bolster Hawaii’s unsuccessful bid for Statehood last year. (Apparently, sometime after 1959, a crack was drilled into the Hawai‘i bell.) Hawai‘i’s replica Liberty Bell is on the front lawn of the Hawaii State Capitol building facing Beretania.

Around 1953, someone used adhesive tape to simulate the crack in the Hawai‘i bell; in 1953, that was replaced by a “streak of bronze paint outlining exactly the split” in the original bell. (Sat Bulletin, July 14, 1953) Later, a simulated crack was drilled int to the Hawai‘i replica.

Then, later in the decade, a second Liberty Bell came to Hawai‘i … “The newest thing in commercial passenger planes chased the sun across the Pacific over the week end and didn’t lose by much. The spinning world moves the sun’s rays westward from Honolulu to Tokyo in five hours.”

“Pan American World Airways’ big new plane made the 4,200-mile chase in 9 hours and 33 minutes, Including 48 minutes on the ground at Wake Island.

The plane put into commercial Pacific service with this flight is the intercontinental Boeing 707 with 2,000 miles more range and greater size and seating capacity that the 707s in use before this. The flight was a milestone in aviation …”

The “plane is [named] the ‘Liberty Bell’ and it’s been ringing around the world. It’s been to Moscow (carrying the press for Nixon’s visit), to London, Seattle, Tokyo (from San Francisco via the Great Circle), no-stop Seattle to Rome, Hawaii twice.” (Geroge Chaplin, Advertiser, Sep 7, 1959)

Click the links for more on the Liberty Bell:

Click to access Liberty-Bell-SAR-RT.pdf

Click to access Liberty-Bell.pdf

May 31, 2025 by Peter T Young 6 Comments

“Take it all except the Cannon Club”

When the Vice-President of Kapiʻolani Community College visited the Army headquarters at Schofield Barracks in 1965 to ask for the former Fort Ruger lands, the general was said to have replied “Take it all except the Cannon Club.” (Cultural Surveys)

Whoa … we’ve already gotten waaay ahead of ourselves. Let’s look back.

In 1884, Diamond Head went from private royal ownership to government property. Under King Kalākaua, the Diamond Head crater and part of the surrounding lands were transferred from the estate of King Lunalilo to the Hawaiian government. In 1904, the US government acquired 729-acres of Diamond Head as public domain.

From 1904 until 1950, Diamond Head was closed to the public at large. During this period of exclusive occupation, significant construction occurred within the crater. Bunkers, communication rooms, storage tunnels and coastal artillery fortifications were built. (LRB)

Between 1909-1921, the Hawaiian Coast Artillery Command had its headquarters at Fort Ruger and defenses included artillery regiments stationed at Fort Armstrong, Fort Barrette, Fort DeRussy, Diamond Head, Fort Kamehameha, Kuwa‘aohe Military Reservation (Fort Hase – later known as Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi) and Fort Weaver.

The forts and battery emplacements batteries were dispersed for concealment and to insure that a projectile striking one would not thereby endanger a neighbor.

Fort Ruger Military Reservation was established at Diamond Head (Lēʻahi) in 1906. The Reservation was named in honor of Major General Thomas H Ruger, a Civil War hero and, later, superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

The fort included Battery Harlow (1910-1943); Battery Birkhimer (1916-1943); Battery Granger Adams (1935-1946); Battery Dodge (1915-1925); Battery Mills (1916-1925); Battery 407 (1944); Battery Hulings (1915-1925); and Battery Ruger (1937-1943).

Also at Fort Ruger was the Cannon Club, a social club with a restaurant built in 1945 for the officers and their families at Fort Ruger and other military installations.

“It wasn’t the fanciest place on the island, but it was the sort of old-style officers’ club that crisply preserved the illusion that each guest there, for the evening at least, was important and deserved some extra attention.”

“It was a place where people said “Sir” and “Ma’am” a lot; where you got fruit cocktail and thick juicy slabs of Porterhouse or prime rib, along with buttery rolls and piping hot baked potatoes heaped with real bacon bits … or watch the grown-ups glide across a dance floor that was open to the balmy breezes and the lambent sky, keeping time to the strains of a live band.” (Cultural Surveys)

The conclusion of World War II and the advent of nuclear and missile warfare made the coastal batteries obsolete. Thus in December 1955 the majority of the Fort Ruger land was turned over to the State of Hawai‘i.

The club, however, could not keep up with the times. Under a 1987 federal law, military clubs had to be self-sustaining to remain open, and the Army had to close the Cannon Club in 1997 as a result. For a few years, there was hope that the restaurant could reopen under private contractors, but the funding for the project fell through. (Cultural Surveys)

In 2001, the State acquired the 7.8-acre property across from the Kapiʻolani Community College campus (which is situated on former Fort Ruger land.)

A few years later, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved a direct lease of the Cannon Club site to the University of Hawaiʻi for the Culinary Institute of the Pacific (under KCC) that was executed in August 2004. (I was Chair of DLNR at the time.)

Kapiʻolani Technical School was established near the Ala Wai in 1946; their first program was food service. In 1965, programs were realigned to fit the UH community college system (it was then renamed Kapiʻolani Community College – and eventually relocated to its present campus on the mauka slopes of Diamond Head.)

The Culinary Institute of the Pacific was formed in 2000 as a UH Community College System-wide consortium. Its mission is to provide career, technical and cultural culinary education. It is a collaboration with the Culinary Institute of America (CIA).

The new 65-year lease enables “the university to develop new instructional and restaurant facilities for KCC’s Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Diamond Head.”

“The Culinary Institute will expand opportunities for current students, past graduates and industry professionals seeking advance degrees in the culinary arts and managerial positions.” (Governor Lingle; UH)

The UH, through KCC, is developing new certificate and degree programs in culinary arts to serve State needs for advanced culinary instruction and training. Currently, the Community Colleges offer two-year Associate of Science degrees or non-credit culinary arts programs.

Based at the former Cannon Club, the new programs serve the needs of students completing the two year degree, industry professionals requiring advanced culinary education, and students from outside Hawai‘i seeking training in Hawai‘i Regional Cuisine. (UH)

The Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Diamond Head is a state-of-the art, environmentally sustainable culinary campus that will include a signature restaurant open to the public, competition kitchen, demonstration theater, advanced Asian culinary lab, a patisserie classroom, imu pit and theme garden plots. (Restaurant Week) (The restaurant is opening in the fall of 2025.)

Cannon Club-(vic&becky)

Fort_Ruger_Pool-(vic&becky)

Culinary_Institute_of_the_Pacific-KCC-Proposed-Layout-UH-PBR

Fort_Ruger_Tunnel-BWS

Fort Ruger Tunnel-BWS

May 30, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Summertime

In a lot of respects, with or without kids, school vacation schedules seem to set how we operate our lives.

Until the middle of the 19th century, Americans used the word vacation the way the English do, the time when teachers and students vacate the school premises and go off on their own. (Siegel; NPR)

Summer … Memorial Day to Labor Day, right? Well, maybe before, but why?

A first thought is the historic reason for the season of summer vacations is so kids can go work on the family farm. There are a number of reasons summer vacation came about, but the farming calendar isn’t one of them.

There used to be two basic school schedules – one for urban areas and the other for rural communities.

In the past, urban schools ran year-round. For example, in 1842 New York City schools were in class for 248 days. Rural schools took the spring off to plant, and the autumn off to harvest. (The summer actually isn’t the busiest time in agriculture.)

Short school years with long vacations are not the norm in Europe, Asia, or South America. Children in most industrialized countries go to school more days per year and more hours per day than in America.

Rural schools typically had two terms: a winter term and a summer one, with spring and fall available for children to help with planting and harvesting. The school terms in rural schools were relatively short: 2-3 months each. (Taylor)

In addition, in rural areas, the summer term was considered “weak.” The summer term in rural neighborhoods tended to be taught by young girls in their mid- to late-teens. On the other hand, schoolmasters, generally older males, taught the winter terms. Because of this, the summer terms were seen as academically weaker. (Lieszkovszky; NPR)

It’s hot in the summer. The school buildings of the 19th-century weren’t air-conditioned. Heat during the summer months would often become unbearable. (Lieszkovszky; NPR)

In 1841, Boston schools operated for 244-days while Philadelphia implemented a 251-day calendar. In the beginning of the 19th-century, large cities commonly had long school years, ranging from 251 to 260 days. During this time, many of these rural schools were only open about 6-months out of the year. (Pedersen)

In the 1840s, however, educational reformers like Horace Mann moved to merge the two calendars out of concern that rural schooling was insufficient and then-current medical theory and concerns over student health in the urban setting.

“(A) most pernicious influence on character and habits … not infrequently is health itself destroyed by over-stimulating the mind.” (Mann)

This concern over health seemed to have two parts. As noted above, there was the concern that over-study would lead to ill-health, both mental and physical; the other concern was that schoolhouses were unhealthy in the summer (heat, ventilation, etc.) (Taylor)

Attendance became another problem. The city elite could afford to periodically leave town for cooler climates. School officials, battling absenteeism, saw little advantage in opening schools on summer days or on holidays when many students wouldn’t show up. Pressure to standardize the school calendar across cities often led campuses to “the lowest common denominator” – less school. (Mathews; LA Times)

In the second half of the 19th-century, school reformers who wanted to standardize the school year found themselves wanting to lengthen the rural school year and to shorten the urban school year, ultimately ending up by the early 20th-century with the modern school year of about 180 days. (Taylor)

Summer emerged as the obvious time for a break: it offered a break for teachers, generally fit with the farming needs and alleviated physicians’ concerns that packing students into sweltering classrooms that would promote the spread of disease. (Time)

While it’s clear historically that 3-month layoff from school was not based on farming needs – for most of the country – in Hawaiʻi there was a farm-based reason for the break from studies, at least from 1932 to 1969.

It happened in Kona.

By the 1890s, the large Kona coffee plantations were broken into smaller (5+/- acres) family farms. By 1915, tenant farmers, largely of Japanese descent, were cultivating most of the coffee. Many hours were spent cleaning and weeding the land, pruning the trees, harvesting the crop, pulping the berries and drying them for the mills.

These were truly family farms. “At that time, we used to work until dark. You see, no matter how young you were, you have to work. Before going to school, we pick one basket of coffee, then go to school. We come home from school and we pick another basket.” (Tsuruyo Kimura; hawaii-edu)

Konawaena was the regional school; it was first established as an elementary school, about 1875. By 1917, they were pushing to get a Kona high school (at the time, Hilo High, established in 1905, was the only high school on the island.)

In 1920, the Territory acquired land for a new school and in 1921, the new Konawaena accommodated students up to the 9th-grade; classes through the senior year were added by the 1924-25 school year.

Konawaena means “the Center of Kona,” and it lived up to its name. “Everything possible has been done to make the community feel that the school belongs to them. A Kona Baseball League has been organized and all league games are played on the school diamond” (Crawford, 1933; HABS)

The Kona area was observed as being “different socially from the rest of the Islands” (Crawford, 1933; HABS.) Coffee farming was the main reason for the difference. This labor-intensive crop thrived best in the steep lava slopes of the Kona districts.

“The labor problem is one that will have to be seriously considered. As coffee culture increases, the need of a greater supply of labor will be strongly felt, particularly at picking time. A large force is then needed for three or four months, after which, if coffee alone is cultivated, there is need only of a small part of the force required for picking.” (Thrum)

These labor and land factors meant a non-industrial, small-farm type of agriculture, very different from the industrial trends in the growing sugar and pineapple plantations that developed in other areas of the Islands.

The school went beyond recreational activities to accommodate the surrounding community.

In 1932, the school’s ‘summer’ vacation was shifted from the traditional Memorial Day to Labor Day (June-July-August) to August-September-October, “to meet the needs of the community, whose chief crop is coffee and most of which ripens during the fall months.” (Ka Wena o Kona 1936; HABS)

In 1935, the legislature recognized the ‘Konawaena Coffee Vacation Plan’ and passed legislation such that “The teachers of the Kona District … shall be paid, under such conditions as the Department of Public Instruction (now DOE) may require, their monthly accruing salaries during the months of September and October of each year during which such plan is in operation.” (Session Laws, 1935)

This “coffee harvest” school schedule and the “coffee vacation” lasted until 1969 (Honolulu Star Bulletin 1969; HABS.)

And now, in Hawaiʻi and across the country, there are varying arrangements for school schedules and vacations. Some areas have lost the 3-month layover; but most are trending with a total 180 to 200-days of instruction, with various schedules in arranging the breaks.