Peter T Young

May 19, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waialua High and Intermediate School

Waialua (two waters) may refer to the two large stream drainages (Anahulu and Helemano-Poamoho-Kaukonahua) that were once used to irrigate extensive taro fields in the ahupua‘a of Kamananui, Pa‘ala‘a and Kawailoa, the more populous ahupua‘a on the eastern side of the district.

The ahupua‘a of Keālia, Kawaihāpai, and Mokulē‘ia, on the western side of the district, were more arid, and were not as well-watered as the three eastern ahupua‘a. (Cultural Surveys)

In 1813, Waialua was described by John Whitman, an early missionary visitor, as: “…a large district on the NE extremity of the island, embracing a large quantity of taro land, many excellent fishing grounds and several large fish ponds one of which deserves particular notice for its size and the labour bestowed in building the wall which encloses it.” (Cultural Surveys)

Later (1826,) Levi Chamberlain noted, “The whole district of Waialua is spread out before the eye with its cluster of settlements, straggling houses, scattering trees, cultivated plats & growing in broad perspectives the wide extending ocean tossing its restless waves and throwing in its white foaming billows fringing the shores all along the whole extent of the district.” (Cultural Surveys)

In 1865, Levi and Warren Chamberlain started a sugar plantation in Waialua that ultimately failed, and Robert Halstead bought the Chamberlain plantation in 1874 under the partnership of Halstead & Gordon.

Gordon died in 1888, and the plantation was managed by the Halstead Brothers, Robert and his two sons, Edgar and Frank. In 1898, Castle & Cooke formed the Waialua Agricultural Company and purchased the plantation from the Halstead Brothers. (The mill stayed in operation up until 1996.)

By 1898, the OR&L railroad was constructed along the coast through the Waialua District, with stations in both Kawaihāpai and Mokulēʻia. By the early-1900s, sugarcane plantations and large ranches came to dominate the lands of western Waialua.

“Waialua is reached either by railroad, a distance from Honolulu of 58 miles, or wagon road, 28 miles. The plantation lands extend along the seacoast 15 miles and 10 miles back toward the mountains. The plantation has a good railway system.” (Louisiana Planter, 1910)

To serve the growing population, in 1914, Waialua had a one room school known as Mokulēʻia School with Miss Eva Mitchell as principal. The school served students from Waialua, Haleiwa, Mokulēʻia, Pupukea and Kawailoa. Then, on May 1, 1924, Waialua Agricultural Co. donated five-acres of land where six new classrooms were built.

In 1927, the school was renamed the Andrew E Cox School (Intermediate) in memory of the benefactor who gave the 15-acre tract of land on which Waialua High and Intermediate now stands.

When the County governance structure was adopted in the Territory of Hawaiʻi (1905,) Cox was the first member of the County Board of Supervisors, representing Waialua. He also served as Deputy Sheriff. (Andrew Cox died January 29, 1921 after an illness of several years at the age of 53.)

For a while, Leilehua High School was the only high school in this part of the Island had. Then, in 1936, the Cox Intermediate School was enlarged to include a high school division and the school was renamed Waialua High and Intermediate School.

Charles Nakamura attended Waialua Elementary, Andrew E. Cox Intermediate, and Waialua High Schools. He was Waialua High’s first student body president and member of its first graduating class in 1939. (UH)

Waialua resident Charles Nakamura said high school graduation has been a major event in the Oʻahu community of fewer than 4,000 since the first commencement at the old Andrew E. Cox Auditorium on June 7, 1939. (Honolulu Advertiser)

By 1950, the school enrollment reached 745 students, with a staff of 30 teachers. Today, enrollment is approximately 600 (grades 7-12.)

Waialua High School is an accredited school and offers a curriculum comparable to any high school in the island. Students who are preparing for college have courses such as physics, chemistry, biology, plain and solid geometry, trigonometry, algebra and three language courses to choose from.

For students who are interested in entering the business field, the school offers courses such as shorthand, typing, business math, bookkeeping, office practice and general business. If a student is interested in the technical or vocational field, he/she has shop, agriculture and homemaking to help further his studies.

Waialua High and Intermediate is recognized nationally as one of 11-medal-winning schools from Hawaiʻi (recognized by US News, for performing well on state exit exams, based on students’ mastery of college-level material – all 11-schools received Bronze medals.)

Waialua has had an award winning robotics team (Na Keiki O Ka Wa Mahope (The Children of the Future) aka Hawaiian Kids; Team 359.) The team motto is “It’s not about winning … It’s about teamwork, commitment and responsibility.” Team 359 was 7-0-0 in official play in 2026.

May 18, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pulukai

“There is no doubt that it was a result of Kuakini’s cordiality toward the missionaries’ work that the first mission station on Hawai‘i Island was established shortly after the delegation‘s tour.”

“The Rev. Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy returned to Kailua in November of 1823 to take up the work that they had had to abandon in 1820 …”

“… the following January, they were joined by the Rev. Artemas Bishop and his wife. Kuakini gave houselots to both couples, and the ‘government,’ as represented by Ka‘ahumanu, gave them a part of Hienaloli for the mission’s support.” (Marion Kelly)

“In 1824 the Rev. Asa Thurston reported a population of not less than 20,000 inhabitants along a 30-mile stretch of the Kona coast, including the 3,000 at Kailua itself. Most of the people lived close to the seacoast, with another belt of residence about 2 miles inland.” (Marion Kelly)

As noted in Lucy Thurston’s writing, in 1829 “a new and general excitement commenced. At the dawn of day they tapped at our doors with the anxious inquiry, ‘What shall I do.’”

“All regulations were prostrated, and from day-break till ten o’clock at night, one company succeeded another in rapid succession.”

“Mr Thurston has only been able to command time for his meals.”

“From morning till night he has been in his study chair, with an individual or a cluster at his feet; sometimes a company of fifty or sixty, which entirely filled the room.”

“Some days we have received calls from several hundreds. I devote as much time to the instruction of the women as I can redeem from my family.”

“My labors are more particularly directed to the members of the Friday Female Meeting. Two years ago their names were enrolled and a discipline introduced. A moral standard was raised.”

“Whoever wished to join the Society must forsake all their former vile practices, and pay an external regard to the Word and Worship of God.”

“They must uniformly have a full covering for their persons, both at home and abroad, and follow whatever is lovely and of good report.”

“Such has since been the change in public opinion, that scenes which were then familiar to the eve, would now be scouted out of the village as shameful indecencies.”

“This Society has prospered; for in two years, from seventy it has increased to fifteen hundred.”

“The names of five hundred have been enrolled within the last three weeks. These are all divided into classes, and each class has a particular teacher to whom to look for instruction. The number of female teachers has risen to twenty, all hopefuly pious.”

“This is my class. I teach them what I wish them to teach others. The men’s society is conducted on the same plan. Two large thatched houses have been erected for the accommodation of these societies.”

“I will introduce you to one of the many in whom I feel most interested, named Pulukai. Not that he is the most important character among us, yet in works of love none surpass him.”

“I know not where he acquired his politeness, but probably abroad, as he has visited foreign ports. He is here nearly every day, yet he never comes into our presence but he bows, presents his hand to his face, and all so heartily, and with so much reverence (as if some great personage stood before him for the first time) that it always makes me smile.”

“His presence never fails to give me pleasure.”

“The other day he spoke with tears of his former state and feelings. He said: ‘I returned home from the north-west coast, and found my former friends were all dead.’”

“‘One day I went back into a solitary place, and there I remained, and walked, and wept. It was not for my soul, – I neither knew nor thought about that, – but I wept for my body …’”

“‘for if I should die, I had no friend that would bury it; it would lie and decay on the face of the earth, and when any person passed along and asked, ‘Who is that?’ – the reply would be: ‘It is Pulukai.’”

“‘But now I have many friends. They give me food and clothes. They are kind to me while I am living, and they will take care of my body when I am dead. It is because the love of God is in their hearts.”

“During the sickness of Mrs. Bishop, his anxieties were employed about that part which is of more importance than his poor body.”

“I shall ever remember, that one day as I went to the door to smooth the couch for her emaciated form, and stood seeing her borne away, reflecting that the manele [a couch for conveyance, having men placed at the head and foot, who carry it by means of poles resting on their shoulders] must soon be exchanged for the bier …”

“… that Pulukai, who had been watching his opportunity for a word of instruction, came up to me, saying, he had passed three sleepless nights thinking about his sins, and his exposure to eternal death.”

“It was a short time after, that the love of Jesus became his theme and his life and conversation have since given abundant evidence that he was taught of God.”

“Humility and love were the characteristics of Pulukai, and they shed a luster over the tawny features of our humble friend.” (Lucy Thurston, 1829)

May 17, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lydia Panioikawai Hunt French

“’We are fortunate; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ These were her last words. She did not say anything until the day she left, then she said clearly: Aloha, three times, and her body’s work was done.” (Kuokoa, March 6, 1880)

Let’s look back …

Lydia Panioikawai Hunt French (Panio) was born in Waikele, Ewa, on the 15th of July, 1817. She married her husband, Mr. William French (Mika Palani) in 1836 at Kailua, Hawai‘i. Governor Kuakini was the one who married them.

William French arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1819 and settled in Honolulu. He became a leading trader, providing hides and tallow, and provisioning the whaling ships that called in Honolulu. Financial success during the next decade made French known as “the merchant prince.”

It “was with this husband who she lived in aloha with until death separated them. The two of them had three children—a daughter that is still living, and a mother that is admired along with her husband and four children—and twin sons, one who has died, and one who is living in China.” (Kuokoa, March 6, 1880)

French had property on the Island of Hawaiʻi, with a main headquarters there at Kawaihae, shipping cattle, hides and tallow to Honolulu; he hired John Palmer Parker (later founder of Parker Ranch) as his bookkeeper, cattle hunter and in other capacities. (Wellmon)

When French made claims before the Land Commission regarding one of the properties (identified as “slaughter-house premises” that he bought from Governor Kuakini in 1838,) testimony supporting his claim noted it was “a place for a beautiful house which Mr French would not sell for money. … It was enclosed by a stone wall. There were two natives occupying houses on his land.” (Land Commission Testimony)

The 2.8-acre property is in an area of Waimea known as Pu‘uloa; French built a couple houses on it, the property was bounded by Waikoloa Stream and became Parker’s home while he worked for French. (In addition, in 1840, this is where French built his original home in Waimea. (Bergin))

At Pu‘uloa, Parker ran one of French’s stores, which was nothing more than a thatched hut. Although this store was less grandiose than the other one at Kawaihae, it became the center of the cattle business on the Waimea plain.

French, like other merchants in the Islands at the time, grew concerned about decisions and laws that started to be made that affected their ability to trade. These changes also affected French citizens, especially the French Catholics.

On July 21, 1838, the French minister of the navy dispatched orders to Captain Cyrille-Pierre-Theodore Laplace, who at the time was already en route to the Pacific on a voyage of circumnavigation. Laplace received these orders, along with supporting documents, at Port Jackson, Australia, in March 1839.

The plight of French Catholics in Hawai‘i being distressingly similar to that of French Catholics in Tahiti, these orders read: “… What the English Methodists are doing in Tahiti, American Calvinist missionaries are doing in the Sandwich Islands.”

“They have incited the king of these islands, or rather those who govern in his name, to actions that apply to all foreigners of the Catholic faith – all designated, intentionally, as ‘Frenchmen.’”

“They found themselves prohibited from practicing their religion, then ignominiously banished from the Island … You will exact, if necessary with all the force that you command, complete reparation for the wrongs that they have committed and you will not leave those shores until you have left an indelible impression.”

In addition to the religious persecution, “Our wines, brandies, fabrics, and luxury goods find ready purchasers in Honolulu as well as in Russian, British, and Mexican settlements; but these articles are imported by American merchants (or replaced by substitutes of American manufacture).”

“French wines and brandies are subject to excessively high duties, on the grounds that bringing them into the Sandwich Islands would be harmful to the morals of the native population. American rum, on the other hand, is brought in—whether legally or illegally, I do not know—and consumed in prodigious quantities.” (Laplace; Birkett)

Captain Laplace and his fifty-two-gun frigate L’Artemise arrived in the Hawai‘i in July 1839. Laplace was the first Frenchman to visit the Islands with specific instructions from Paris to enter into official diplomatic relations with the Hawaiian government.

“It was my task to end this prohibition so detrimental to our commercial interests. I succeeded in doing so through a convention with the king of the Islands where he agreed that in the future French wines and brandies would be subject to no more than a 6 percent ad valorem duty when imported under the French flag.”

“The American missionaries raged and fumed at me, claiming that I was anti-Christian. They brought down on me all the curses of New and Old World Bible societies, to whom they depicted me as championing drunkenness among their converts …”

“… as if the way in which they were running things allowed these poor people to earn enough to buy Champagne, Bordeaux, or even Cognac brandy. Despite these diatribes, as unjust as they were treacherous, I carried my project to completion.” (Laplace; Birkett)

Here’s a portrayal of Panio by Danielle Zalopany during a presentation at Mission Houses– she gives some background on the family, as well as the ‘Laplace Affair.’
https://youtu.be/cCc8dQk1YmQ

William French died at Kawaihae on November 25, 1851. “Many who have made their fortunes in these Islands have owed their rise in the world to the patronage of Mr French.” (Polynesian, December 6, 1851)

“On the 24th of February past (1880,) Panio left this life, at the home of her daughter in Ka‘akopua, after being in pain for several weeks. In her sickness, her great patience was made clear, along with her unwavering faith in the goodness of the Lord, her Redeemer, and her Savior; and she was there until the victorious hour upon her body.” (Kuokoa, March 6, 1880)

May 16, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawaiian Colonization

“The question of colonization in the Hawaiian Islands has, during the last few months, virtually absorbed all smaller issues touching our material welfare, and at present is justly made the leading topic of public thought and newspaper discussion.”

“While colonization has long been talked of, it has never before been put into practical working shape by practical responsible men, in whom the people at home have entire confidence.”

“The status and practicability of the present scheme, backed as it is by our largest capitalists and business men generally, will be a guarantee of the good faith of the promoters and the practical utility of the scheme, which will attract and retain the support of both home and foreign capital.”

“The present colonization scheme is too large an investment to be entirely handled by home capital. It is not only too large for our present population, but it is large enough to satisfy the standard idea of both American and English capitalists.” (Daily Press, December 16, 1885)

Let’s look back …

On August 5, 1885, Honolulu businessman James Campbell offered Benjamin F Dillingham a one-year option to purchase his Kahuku and Honouliuli ranches on Oahu, ‘including no fewer than nine thousand cattle for the sum of $600,000.’

Shortly afterward, Dillingham issued a ‘preliminary prospectus’ for what was to be called the Hawaiian Colonization Land and Trust Company.

The prospectus proposed the formation of a joint stock company to buy and then divide the properties. The lands totaled 63,500-acres in fee, and 52,000-acres of leased land; and 15,000 head of cattle and 260 head of horses. (Forbes)

Dillingham was the chief promoter; others involved were James Campbell (owner of Honouliuli and Kahuku estates;) John Paty of Bishop Bank (primary owners of Kawailoa and Waimea estates; and M Dickson and JG Spencer (part owners of Kawailoa and Waimea ranches.) Those properties made up the bulk of the land in the offering. (Forbes)

“The ‘Preliminary Prospectus of the Hawaiian Colonization Company’ has already attracted a good deal of notice and has been widely, but by no means exhaustively discussed in the columns of every paper in Honolulu.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 15, 1885)

“The inducements which are offered to settlers under the present scheme that be briefly summed up as follows : There will be a sure market for all products raked ; there are 17,000 acres of fine sugar land in the Honouliuli ranch alone, which includes the 10,000 acres set aside for colonization purposes.”

“Seven thousand acres of this tract forms an alluvial plain lying along the seashore; abundant water can be obtained, by sinking artesian wells, as has already been practically illustrated, the 7,000 acres, one half of which nowhere lies more than 35 feet above the sea level …”

“… cheap and practical dams, as have already been constructed on the Kawailoa ranch, can be thrown across the gulches of the foothills of the Waianae mountains, which will drain immense watersheds into perpetual reservoirs, and will do away with the possibility of droughts …”

“… the land will be offered to responsible cultivators in lots of from 5 to 500 acres, for sugar cane cultivation ; it is proposed that the cane shall be raised upon shares, as set forth in the Colonization Company’s circulars ; the cane land will yield an average of from five to seven tons to the acre.”

“The Company proposes to furnish the land and give small cultivators five-eighths of the profit, which, at a low estimate for five-acre lots of cane land, will net the cultivator $1,500 per year, after all deductions are made and expenses paid. This amount is the practical result of the figures given by practical sugar men.” (Daily Press, December 16, 1885)

“The company proposes to build the mills, furnish the water supply and build tramways for transporting the cane and sugar. For this work the Company will lay out at least $300,000.”

“This will put the scheme in working order and will give the cultivator immediate returns upon his labor without the outlay of capital. It is a scheme for the development of Hawaii and the up-building of the labor interests.”

“The scheme, however, is not confined to sugar raising, and those colonists who prefer can take up land for stock raising in lots of 200 to 1,000 acres, or even more. The land could be either bought or leased.” (Daily Press, December 16, 1885)

“‘The Hawaiian Colonization, Land and Trust Company,’ and a preliminary prospectus issued, which has been given enormous circulation through the newspapers, the Planters’ Monthly, and detached pamphlets by the thousand.”

“These efforts to present the scheme to the public at home and abroad have already yielded good promise of ultimate success. Letters of enquiry have crossed continents and oceans to reach the promoters.”

“Friends and agents of the kingdom in foreign lands arc encouraging the project, and looking about them for capital to start it, and for settlers to occupy the available territory and build up the nation.”

“Applications in large number have already been received for apportionments of land. That all these gratifying results should have been obtained within so short a period speaks well for the intelligent devotion of the gentlemen who have assumed the undertaking”. (Daily Bulletin, January 2, 1886)

While, initially, things went well, eventually the project ‘fell flat.’ (Forbes) While Dillingham couldn’t raise the money to buy the Campbell property, he eventually leased the land for 50-years. Dillingham realized that to be successful, he needed reliable transportation.

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.

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 for Dole.

May 15, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Winne Units

OK, this one brings back some memories …

“These halls, this learning environment, launched the academic careers of tens of thousands of Punahou students.” (Punahou President Jim Scott – speaking at an event at the Mary Persis Winne Elementary Units)

The Mary Persis Winne Elementary Units, built between 1950 and 1955, were designed by the renowned architect Vladimir Ossipoff.

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)

This very frequently included an attempt to integrate the interior of buildings with the outdoors, and minimizing the dividing line between the building and the site.

In 1954, Ossipoff told the Star Bulletin, “Modern facilities comparable to contemporary Mainland school construction can be built for considerably less in Hawai‘i.” He was referring to the construction of the Winne Units.

Back then cost of construction averaged $15 per square foot nationally, the first phase of the Winne Units was built for $8.27 per square foot. In the article, Ossipoff credited the lack of heating and insulation as factors in the lower costs. (Leong, Punahou)

But, there were other cost savings.

According to Shaver F. “Jack” Stubbart who was a teacher of Mechanical Drawing, Industrial Arts (1948-1965) and the Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds (1965-1982), the Navy offered, and Punahou accepted, surplus heart redwood water tanks that were milled for use in the construction. (Gartley, Punahou74)

The first of three building phases originally contained Damon Library, with its own working fireplace that children could gather around for storytelling, replicating the fireside tales of centuries past. Then-Junior School Principal Donald Reber called it the “living room of the school.”

Reber and his faculty worked closely with Ossipoff to create a complex of elementary school buildings that departed sharply from the idea of the traditional school building (with its self-contained, enclosed environment where seats and desks were often fixed to the floor.)

Two design principles, “unity with the outdoors” and “adaptability to progress,” shaped what the elementary school became: a place that felt safe, where it was hard to say where the classroom stopped and the rest of the world began.

The first phase of this new elementary school inspired a new term: it wasn’t a building or a hall, but a “unit” – the Mary Persis Winne Elementary Units, a name that eventually extended to include the entire complex.

Phases two and three followed, incorporating improvements suggested by the faculty who had taught in the first wings (such as bug-proof lunchbox storage.)

The Winne Units housed 25-classrooms in 9-single story wings that radiate from the main entrance that accommodated 625 students (K through 5.) The units are structure by steel-pipe columns and steel I-beams. (Support facilities/offices were included.) (Sakamoto)

The office became a daily gathering place for teachers in the days before there were phones and computers in every classroom, and the intercom system meant that not only could every classroom hear a speaker in the office, but the office could hear what was going on in the classrooms.

Each class had reversible blackboards, its own lanai with a wall of sliding doors and its own garden. (Lanais were used as classroom extensions for messy or outdoor work, where students practiced art on easels.)

Born in 1876 in Carson City, Nevada, Miss Mary Persis Winne had ties to Punahou as the granddaughter of Reverend Asa and Lucy Goodale Thurston.

The Thurstons were in the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands, arriving in Kailua-Kona on the Thaddeus in 1820.

Winne came to Punahou as a second grade teacher in 1898, and rose to become the principal of the then newly formed Punahou Elementary School in 1918.

The Winnes lived in the old Mcintosh house on Nuʻuanu near Judd Street. Miss Jane Winne has charge of the chorus singing at Punahou, and Mr. James Winne is with Alexander & Baldwin. (HMCS, 1917)

Miss Winne was the first Punahou faculty member to serve 25 years. By the time she retired in 1941 she had served generations of Punahou students for 42 years.

“At no time did I ever see her overlook the emotional, spiritual or academic needs of individual children. She embraced the best in modern philosophies and practices, giving freely of herself ….”

“Hours meant nothing to her when dealing with both parents and children. In return she received the greatest loyalty from people of all ages or races that I have ever witnessed.”

During her tenure Miss Winne was instrumental in introducing the best of new educational methods. Of particular interest was the implementation of new practices for teaching children to read and write.

Miss Anna Gillingham and Miss Bessie Stillman, recognized experts from New York, were brought to the school to train teachers and provide remedial tutoring to students. It was from these efforts that pioneering contributions were made in the treatment of dyslexia.

Punahou replaced the Winne Units with new facilities for grades 2-5. (Lots of information here is from Punahou, Leong and Gartley.)