Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Beauty Hole

Laniloa Point (or Lāʻie Point) is a protrusion of rock separating Lāʻie Beach to the south from Laniloa Beach to the north. Laniloa, literally means “tall, majesty.”

In ancient times this point was a moʻo (lizard-like creature,) standing upright; Lua Laniloa was a hole that was the home of the moʻo, who “menaced all travelers pausing to refresh themselves beside his pool.”

The moʻo were slain by the demi-hero Kana and his brother Nīheu. When the brothers killed the monsters, they chopped them up into the five islands off shore of Mālaekahana and Lāʻie.

The moʻo hole has been confused with a pool known as the “Beauty Hole,” which formed in the 1930s during construction of Kamehameha Highway when excavation led to the collapse of a sinkhole. (Cultural Surveys)

“The mere mention of the Beauty Hole brings tears to the eyes of those who remember it fondly. It might not have looked like much to the passerby … but to people like Phyllis Kuamoʻo, ‘it was our Natatorium.’”

“Indeed, the chance to jump into the refreshing water was a reward that had to be earned … making it all the more cherished. Phyllis remembers going directly from Lāʻie Elementary School in the afternoons to the taro patch, where she and her siblings would get hot and muddy pulling taro. It was only after she pulled her share that her dad might offer the chance to jump in the swimming hole.”

“Vatau Galeai Neria also holds happy memories of the Beauty Hole. Coming from Sāmoa in 1952, she never learned to swim. That is, until her friends encouraged her to try out the Beauty Hole, which she did by boldly jumping in the first time.”

“Thankfully, there was a ‘learner’s section,’ where you could doggie paddle from rock to rock and never stray into the center.”

“Of course there were always the dare devils. Using a hand made diving board, some adventurous young swimmers would dive down to where the water was dark and deep, fill a glass soda bottle with water that was noticeably colder, and offer proof to friends waiting on the surface of how close to the bottom they’d been.”

“Young people and families from Lāʻie would flock to the swimming hole where, inevitably, musicians would set themselves up on a nearby mound for an impromptu concert, and many would feel blissfully connected and carefree.” (Hoʻomua)

“The pond was not much more than twelve or fifteen feet in diameter. And of course, when you’re used to it, you don’t become frightened. But I learned to swim there by having someone throw me in, and that’s the way many of us swim.”

“They’d throw us in the pond and it was supposedly bottomless, but you could swim around the edges.” (Adam Forsythe, BYUH Oral Histories)

“The beauty hole … was an indentation, the origins of which are somewhat obscure, but people do remember it back as far as present memory can go. The accounts have been that it was possibly uncovered as a result of digging off the end of Lāʻie point during road construction.”

“(T)hat’s where our swimming hole was and this is where Hawaiian boys and girls – myself – learn how to swim. I’ve been living here seventy-two and I never noticed any drowning in here.”

“And this beauty hole here has produced two boys they was raised in Laie and they called themselves Kelii brothers and they were once-upon-a-time champion swimmers in 1925, ’26, ’27, ’29; they were champion swimmers. It was from the Beauty Hole they learned it from here.”

“Close to the road you cannot touch there; it’s very deep, but close to the wall, you can. It is only about twenty feet deep and this is the pool where I used to make a lot of money like diving for nickels twenty-five cents. Oh, yes especially on Sunday.”

“This one Sunday I didn’t go to priesthood meeting but I made a lot of money … When you throw the money you don’t jump on the money you jump on the side because when you jump on the money you just find bubbles coming up.”

“So that’s how I beat the other boys. So they named me Five-Cents, so today I’m still Five-Cents. Well I’m glad I’m Five-Cents because if you raised me up twenty-five cents, then the government tax me more.”

“We had three little diving boards … that’s where we learned how to dive on that high tower.” (Thomas Au (‘Uncle Five-Cents,’) BYUH)

Some say Beauty Hole got its name because a beautiful old woman with long grey hair would come to swim during each full moon, and then sit on a rock under the moonlight and comb her hair.

She had apparently found solace in that spot after losing her daughter. Whether or not the story is true is irrelevant, because for all those who long ago got to swim there, it was unquestionably a place of beauty. (Hoʻomua)

Located across from where Foodland is now, the Beauty Hole eventually got covered over in the 1960s and built on.

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Junior … Intermediate … Middle

The arrival of the first company of American Protestant missionaries in Hawaiʻi in 1820 marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy.

The missionaries were scattered across the Islands, each home was usually in a thickly inhabited village, so that the missionary and his wife could be close to their work among the people. The missionaries established schools associated with their missions .

On July 14, 1826, the American missionaries finalized a 12-letter alphabet for the written Hawaiian language, using five vowels (a, e, i, o and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p and w.) That alphabet continues today.

Planning for the written Hawaiian language and development by the missionaries was modeled after the spoken language, attempting to represent the spoken Hawaiian sounds with English letters.

Interestingly, these same early missionaries taught their lessons in Hawaiian to the Hawaiians, rather than English. The missionaries learned the Hawaiian language, and then taught the Hawaiians in their language. In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English-speaking Hawaiians.

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)

The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

“Statute for the Regulation of Schools” passed by the King and chiefs on October 15, 1840. Its preamble stated, “The basis on which the Kingdom rests is wisdom and knowledge.”

“Peace and prosperity cannot prevail in the land, unless the people are taught in letters and in that which constitutes prosperity. If the children are not taught, ignorance must be perpetual, and children of the chiefs cannot prosper, nor any other children”.

The 1840 educational law mandated compulsory attendance for children ages four to fourteen. Any village that had fifteen or more school-age children was required to provide a school for their students.

William Richards, a missionary, was appointed Minister of Public Instruction and helped develop a highly-organized educational system. He was later replaced by missionary Richard Armstrong. Richard Armstrong is known as the “the father of American education in Hawaiʻi.”

In 1855 the office of Minister was replaced by the Board of Education, whose members were appointed by the King, and the department was named the Department of Public Instruction.

The educational system and means of instruction evolved over time, in the Islands and across the continent. Younger learners were first in ‘preparatory’ or ‘grammar’ schools in the Islands (we now generally refer to these as elementary schools.)

Older learners were in ‘colleges’ (i.e. Oahu College (Punahou,) St Louis College;) these are now typically called high schools.

Historically, grades K-8 were considered ‘elementary.’ In 1888 on the continent, Charles Eliot launched an effort to reorganize schooling, arguing that the last years of elementary school was a waste and students should be working on college preparatory courses instead. Rather than grades 7 and 8 as part of elementary, the push was to put them in the high school.

Then, on July 6, 1909, the Columbus, Ohio, Board of Education authorized the creation of the first junior high school in the US. (Ohio History Central)

In the Islands, between 1909 and 1920 the education system underwent a series of changes. In 1909, school agents were replaced by supervising principals; in 1913 the building and maintenance responsibilities of the school agents were transferred out of the department to the Counties. (State Archives)

In 1920, a report was published on the survey of schools conducted by the Bureau of Education of the Federal Department of the Interior.

The report noted that on the continent typical middle-class families in America were sending their children to public secondary schools, but in Hawai‘i, public schools were so few and geographically isolated, that many had to go to private schools or were forced to drop out.

Therefore, the commission recommended the establishment of secondary or Junior high schools which should offer more academic and vocational choices to feed various high schools. (NPS) There was a rapid increase in the establishment of Junior high schools.

By 1922, there were six in the rural parts of the state. In 1928, Central Grammar School became Central Junior High School with an enrollment of approximately 1,200 students and 47 teachers. It was one of 5 Junior high schools in Honolulu (with Lincoln, Washington, Kalākaua and Lili‘uokalani.) (NPS)

Then, in 1932, the board of education changed all formerly-named Junior High Schools to Intermediate Schools. (NPS) The education department continued to maintain a policy of naming Intermediate schools after American Presidents or members of the Hawaiian Royal family.

Then, a new reform movement took place with the Junior/Intermediate-aged students (~11-13;) rather than have a focus on college preparatory, school reformers were looking for an educational program to meet the intellectual, emotional, and the interpersonal needs of young adolescents. (Jadallah)

In 1963, William Alexander first used the expression middle school to describe the schools between elementary and high school. Alexander, regarded as the ‘father of the middle-school,’ led the movement to create middle-schools and a middle-level curriculum that would meet the unique needs of young adolescents. (McFarland)

The Carnegie Corporation (1989) issued a report that profoundly affected the education of young adolescents. ‘Turning Points’ advocated reforms intended to make their education more personalized, supportive, and active: interdisciplinary teams, cooperative learning, involvement with families and community, mentoring, and active teaching. (Daniels)

With a new program, school names started to change again. While no wholesale change took place (as happened with the Junior High to Intermediate,) Intermediate schools in the Islands started adopting the ‘Middle School’ philosophy and label.

Today, while the Junior High School reference is long gone, there are many Intermediate and Middle Schools across the Islands.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Ossipoff Meets Mid-19th Century

The Walter Irving Henderson House in Kona was featured in a 1958 edition of Sunset Magazine – they said, “The house is small but takes care of a large number of guests without crowding.”

It is a combination of classics – the first floor structure was built, circa 1864, as a small church or meeting house; in 1953, the deteriorated church was renovated and the second floor was added, for use as a beach house.

The first-floor stone walls were part of the original Kahului Church building, and were constructed in a style that was typical of the Kona District in the mid-19th century.

Lava rock was a plentiful raw building material in Kona, while other construction materials such as wood were not as readily available. Once missionaries arrived, and began to build permanent houses of worship, they found that building with stone was the most economical and expeditious means of constructing what they needed.

These buildings were constructed with local lava rock held together with lime mortar produced with coral, typically burned on site. In some cases, the stones used came from local heiau. (It is not known if that was the case here, though there are records of heiau nearby.)

It is also not known who built the Kahului Church. One of the most well-known builders of Kona’s nineteenth century stone churches was the Reverend John D Paris, an American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions Protestant missionary who was first in charge of the mission’s Kaʻū area, and then the North Kona area.

Many church buildings constructed in the Kona area are attributed to Paris; however this is thought to be a former Catholic church.

The first floor stone walls were constructed circa 1864 when the land was granted to Kapae in Royal Land Grant #2961, and the Kahului Church building is believed to have been constructed.

It is likely that the readily available lava rock building material allowed the missionaries to build in a similar style to Paris. For example, this type of construction was also used in the larger St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Kailua town.

An 1892 map shows Kahului Church, along with a nearby structure labeled “Makuakane” (which translates approximately to “father” in English, giving a strong indication that this was likely a Catholic priest’s house.)

The structure was modified from the original one-story church form to its existing two-story appearance in 1953; the entire second floor and interior of the first floor were designed by celebrated local architect Vladimir Ossipoff.

Ossipoff’s design for the Henderson House was innovative, and created an extremely unique house that, though it does not look like most of his other work, nonetheless embodies the majority of his aesthetic and philosophy of design.

Ossipoff was a prominent architect in the Islands, working between the 1930s and 1990s. He was recognized locally, nationally and internationally for his designs. He is best known for his contribution to the development of the Hawaiian Modern movement.

This style is characterized by the work of architects who “subscribed to the general modernity of the International Style while attempting to integrate the cultural and topographical character of the (Hawaiian) region.” (Sakamoto)

The main portion of the first floor of the house is one large open room, and has a scored, finished concrete floor, painted plastered walls, and an open beamed ceiling that exposes the floorboards of the second floor.

The thick stone walls create deep niches at the door and window openings; the center-opening doors and shutters installed do not extend beyond the width of the walls.

The property perimeter has a dry stack rock wall, dating possibly to the early- to mid-1800s. This was when a government commission began requiring formal property boundaries be erected by the year 1862.

Walls of this type, comprised of stones fitted together without mortar to hold them in place, had commonly been constructed in pre-contact times for a variety of uses.

As early as Kamehameha I in the 1820s, dry-stack walls were used in the Kona area as barriers to prevent wandering cattle. As ranching grew in the later part of the nineteenth century, more walls were needed to contain the growing number of cattle.

In Kona building and repairing dry-stack stone walls was common until the 1930s, but diminished throughout the Territory of Hawaii with the greater availability of alternate materials for walls and fences at that time. (Most of the information here is from Jones, NPS.)

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Waikapū

Maui is the second largest of the Hawaiian Islands, and covers about 730 square miles. Maui consists of two separate volcanoes with a combining isthmus between the two.

The Mauna Kahālāwai (West Maui Mountain) is probably the older of the two; Haleakala (East Maui) was last active about 1790, whereas activity on West Maui is wholly pre-historic.

The island of Maui is comprised of 12-moku (districts,) that are made up of a number of ahupuaʻa. The moku of Wailuku makes up an area known as Nā Wai ʻEhā (“The Four Great Waters”) – Waiheʻe River, Waiehu Stream, Wailuku (ʻĪao) Stream and Waikapū Stream. (Waikapū Stream is the only Nā Wai ‘Ehā stream that drains to the southern coast of Maui.)

“From Waiheʻe to Waikapū there is much good land below and bounding the ancient terrace area on the kula and in the lower valleys which would be ideal for sweet potato culture, but it is said that little was grown in this section because there was so much taro.” (Handy; Hana Pono)

“For generations the small, slowly growing population clustered around shore sites near streams that supplied them with water. Such sites are best for inshore fishing.”

“When they acquired taro, they no doubt rapidly cleared away the jungle along the streams to make room for taro patches, and there was a beginning of terraced flats that could be irrigated directly from the stream.” (Handy; Hana Pono)

The fertile kalo terraces, complex system of irrigation ʻauwai (ditches) and abundant fresh water from this area sustained Hawaiian culture for 1,000-years. Due to abundant water and fertile lands, there was substantial settlement between the 300- and 600-foot elevation at Waikapū.

The terraces were irrigated with water brought in ditches from springs and streams high in the valleys, allowing extensive areas of the valleys to be cultivated. The irrigation ditches and pondfields were engineered to allow the cool water to circulate among the taro plants and from terrace to terrace, avoiding stagnation and overheating by the sun, which would rot the taro tubers.

An acre of irrigated pondfields produced as much as five times the amount of taro as an acre of dryland cultivation. Over a period of several years, irrigated pondfields could be as much as 10 or 15 times more productive than unirrigated taro gardens, as dryland gardens need to lie fallow for greater lengths of time than irrigated gardens. (Kelly)

In Waikapū, there are different stories associated with the name of this valley and ahupuaʻa; the story of Puapualenalena and the conch shell may be the earliest known.

It was said that in ancient times a conch shell would ring out from the valley, heard around the island it was so loud and resounding. On the opposite, northern side of the stream a dog named Puapualenalena was infatuated with this conch and wanted it for himself.

One day, the owners of the conch had been careless and Puapualenalena gained entrance to the cave on the southern side of the stream that hid the conch, and from that point on it no longer sounded through the valley. The area was so named for the conch (Pu), The Water (Wai) of the Conch (Ka Pu.) (Nupepa Kuokoa, 1872; Hana Pono)

Some say the name comes from Kamehameha after the famous battle of Kepaniwai, when the defeated the forces of Kalanikūpule. Two versions are told.

One is Wai-ka-pu (the Water of the Conch,) for the place where Kamehameha sounded the Pu to begin the battle for Maui. The second is Wai-Kapu (the Sacred Water.) “Kamehameha landed at Kalepolepo, and a kapu was put upon the nearest stream. It became sacred to royalty, as was the custom and is known as Wai-kapu to this hour-that is, the forbidden water”. (Stoddard; Hana Pono)

The lower isthmus (between Mauna Kahālāwai and Haleakala) was sandy. “We passed through Waikapū in the middle of the isthmus …. Between this place and the northern shore, we walked over a bed of sand (a part of an extensive plain).” (Bingham)

In more modern times, the Waikapū ahupuaʻa and surrounding lowlands were given to Henry Cornwall for a sugar plantation, Waikapū Sugar Company, which eventually merged with others to become Wailuku Sugar Company (and later consolidated into the Alexander & Baldwin lands.).

Starting in about the 1850s, sugar cultivation destroyed the extensive terracing; by the mid-1900s, only remnant representations remained.

By 1866, a letter published in the Hawaiian language newspaper Nūpepa Kūʻokoʻa lamented “the current condition of once cultivated taro patches being dried up by the foreigners, where they are now planting sugar cane”.

“A permanent railroad was laid to Waiheʻe and to Waikapū connecting at Wailuku, from whence the cane was carried to a mill above Kahului. Another permanent line connected the other plantations. From these portable lines were laid into the fields, and it was thus possible to dispense with hundreds of mules and cattle and drivers heretofore used.” (Girvin)

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Four Horsemen

“Kuhio was not an heir-born but a created prince by royal proclamation at the coronation ceremonies of King Kalākaua and Queen Kapiʻolani in February, 1883, as was also his brother, the late David Kawananakoa. They were nephews of Kapiʻolani, the queen consort; sons of David Kahalepouli Piʻikoi, a high chief of Kauai, and Kinoiki Kekaulike.”

“Kuhio Kalanianaʻole was born at Kapaʻa, Kauai, March 26th, 1871, a lineal descendant of the last king of the islands of Kauai and Niʻihau. He married Elizabeth Kahanu K Kaauwai, a chiefess of the old regime, October 9th, 1896”. (Thrum)

“The last great work of Prince Kalanianaʻole was for his people. He labored ceaselessly for more than a year on a scheme of rehabilitation through which it is hoped the Hawaiian may be returned to the land of his ancestors, to live as fisherman and farmer.”

“Against formidable and aggressively active opposition the Prince managed to consummate his plans, and the ‘Rehabilitation Bill’ is now a law.”

“Through its operation large tracts of land … will be allotted to those of Hawaiian blood who desire to return to husbandry. Each will receive a sizeable farm and a sum in cash sufficient to put it under cultivation and sustain a family until the crops begin to yield…” (Mellen; Hitt)

A few years before the passage of the Rehabilitation Law, and a few days after the return of the Delegate Prince Kuhio from Washington, four Hawaiians, assembled at Pualeilani at Waikiki to discuss the subject “Rehabilitation of the Hawaiians.”

Dubbed the Four Horsemen, Kuhio, Rev Stephen Langhern Desha, Sr, John Carey Lane and Henry Lincoln Holstein had their pictures taken so Kuhio could show to his fellow congressmen at Washington his backers that brought up this important matter for rehabilitating its people.

Later other friends joined, and they were John H Wise, Noa Aluli, Akaiko Akana, Emil Muller, Attorney CK Breckons, and several others, and they planned to first pass the measure in the local legislature.

It was introduced by John Wise in the senate and backed by Senator Desha and John Lane, and it was introduced in the House by Speaker Holstein. It was through their efforts that it became a law and it was approved by congress at Washington. (Star-Bulletin)

Rev Stephen Langhern Desha, Sr had an unusual combination of ministry of the gospel, service in legislative bodies and publisher of a newspaper. He was behind the ‘Desha Bathing Suit Law,’ requiring all over 14 to cover up ‘at least to the knees,’ or be fined.

Desha began his career as pastor of the Napoʻopoʻo church, Kona and served Haili Church in Hilo for 45-years; he was a supervisor of the County of Hawaii and later elected to the senate of the Territory; and he was editor and business manager of the Hawaiian newspaper, ‘Ka Hoku o Hawaii.’

“Rev SL Desha is in a class by himself. One may listen to this man and watch him with much enjoyment without understanding a single word of what he says. … In eloquence of gesture, no speaker of any race I have seen can equal the Rev Desha when talking in Hawaiian.” (Hawaiian Star, October 10, 1908)

John Carey Lane was a member of the territorial senate from 1905 to 1907 and introduced the bill establishing the City and County of Honolulu. He was elected by an overwhelming majority to serve as Mayor of Honolulu from 1915 to 1917.

He was an avowed Royalist supporting Queen Liliʻuokalani, and Lane “was at her side when they usurped control and dethroned her in 1893, and he was among those who took part in the counterrevolution in 1895 with the hope of restoring her throne and native Hawaiian rule”. (Mellen; Advertiser, 1954)

Henry Lincoln Holstein served in the Senate of the Republic of Hawaiʻi from 1896 to 1898 and later as Speaker of the House in the House of Representatives of the Territorial legislature. Holstein served as the executor of Queen Liliʻuokalani’s estate.

The provisions of the Hawaiian Rehabilitation Act (Hawaiian Homes Act (HHCA)) are embodied the desires to (1) build up in Hawaiʻi a class of independent citizen farmers, and (2) place the Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian people back upon the land. (Rehabilitation in Hawaiʻi, 1922)

Passed by Congress and signed into law by President Warren Harding on July 9, 1921, the HHCA provides for the rehabilitation of the native Hawaiian people through a government-sponsored homesteading program. Native Hawaiians are defined as individuals having at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood.

DHHL provides direct benefits to native Hawaiians in the form of 99-year homestead leases at an annual rental of $1. In 1990, the Legislature authorized the Department to extend leases for an aggregate term not to exceed 199 years.

Homestead leases are for residential, agricultural or pastoral purposes. Aquacultural leases are also authorized, but none have been awarded to date. The intent of the homesteading program is to provide for economic self-sufficiency of native Hawaiians through the provision of land.

Other benefits provided by the HHCA include financial assistance through direct loans or loan guarantees for home construction, replacement, or repair, and for the development of farms and ranches; technical assistance to farmers and ranchers; and the operation of water systems.

“The last great work of Prince Kalanianaʻole was for his people. He labored ceaselessly for more than a year on a scheme of rehabilitation through which it is hoped the Hawaiian may be returned to the land of his ancestors…” (Mellen; Paradise of the Pacific, 1922)

On January 7, 1922, six months after he had succeeded in having the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act passed, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaʻole passed away. (hawaii-edu)

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