Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kālia

In traditional times, Pi‘inaio Stream was the dominant feature of the western area of Waikīkī.

It entered the ocean as a wide, ribboned kahawai (wide delta,) bringing fresh waters from the mountain valleys and creating an area of abundance. The early-Hawaiians found this plentiful land and marine resources as an excellent place to settle (the early settlers arrived around 600 AD.).

The Stream played a vital role in the geography, and cultural usage, of the ‘ili of Kālia. The meaning of Pi‘inaio is uncertain but it could be an allusion to going inland (pi‘i), to the location of a naio (a sandalwood-like tree – as may have commonly grown in the vicinity.)  (Cultural Surveys)

Waikīkī was famous for its fishponds with one listing citing 45 ponds.  The ten fishponds at Kālia were loko puʻuone (isolated shore fishponds formed by a barrier sand berm) with salt-water lens intrusion and fresh water entering from upland ʻauwai (irrigation canals.)

The shallow relatively-protected reefs of Waikīkī and the availability of the riparian resources of the Pi‘inaio estuary made the back dune ponds easily adaptable into fish ponds.

The inland ponds may have formed along the coast where existing depressions in the sand were chosen to make the loko puʻuone, and brush was cleared out. During traditional times, the ponds were used to farm fish, usually for the Hawaiian Ali‘i (royalty). The ʻamaʻama (mullet) and the awa (milkfish) were the two types of fish traditionally raised in the ponds.

Kālia was once renowned for the fragrant limu līpoa, as well as several other varieties of seaweed such as manauea, wāwaeʻiole, ʻeleʻele, kala and some kohu.

Limu kala was harvested to make lei for offerings.  The lei limu kala was and is still offered at the kūʻula [stone god used to attract fish] by fishermen or anyone who wishes to be favored by or is grateful to the sea.

John Papa ʻĪʻī relates an account from the early-1800s of a catch at a Kālia fishpond: “so large that a great heap of fish lay spoiling upon the bank of the pond.” (The waste was disapproved of.) This abundance of fishponds may have required significant maintenance and would have provided a potentially huge source of food for distribution at chiefly discretion.

The name of the area “Kālia” translated as “waited for” has a sense of “waiting”, “loitering” or “hesitating.” While the nuance is uncertain, one could imagine that the mouth of the Pi‘inaio Stream would be a logical place for travelers to pause.

An ʻōlelo noʻeau (Hawaiian proverb/saying) speaks of the pleasant portion of the coast of Kālia in Waikīkī:  Ke kai wawalo leo leʻa o Kālia, The pleasing, echoing sea of Kālia.  (Pukui)

Kālia is also mentioned in a story about a woman who left her husband and children on Kīpahulu, Maui, to go away with a man of O‘ahu. Her husband missed her and went to see a kahuna (priest) who was skilled in hana aloha (prayer to evoke love) sorcery.

The kahuna told the man to find a container with a lid and then speak into it of his love for his wife. The kahuna then uttered an incantation into the container, closed it, and threw it into the sea. The wife was fishing one morning at Kālia, O‘ahu, and saw the container. She opened the lid, and was possessed by a great longing to return to her husband. She walked until she found a canoe to take her home (Pukui): Ka makani kāʻili aloha o Kīpahulu; The love-snatching wind of Kīpahulu (Cultural Surveys)

In Fragments of Hawaiian History John Papa ʻĪʻī described “Honolulu trails of about 1810,” including the trail from Honolulu to Waikiki. He said that: Kawaiahaʻo which led to lower Waikiki went along Kaʻananiau, into the coconut grove at Pawaʻa, the coconut grove of Kuakuaka, then down to Piʻinaio; along the upper side of Kahanaumaikai‘s coconut grove, along the border of Kaihikapu pond, into Kawehewehe; then through the center of Helumoa of Puaʻaliʻiliʻi, down to the mouth of the Āpuakēhau Stream.

Based on ʻĪʻī‘s description, the trail from Honolulu to Waikiki in 1810 coursed through the makai side of the present Fort DeRussy grounds in the vicinity of Kālia Road. It is likely that this trail was a long-established traditional route through Waikiki.

Toward the beginning of the 1900s, downtown Honolulu was the destination for Hawaiian visitors, who numbered only about 3,000. While Honolulu had numerous hotels, there were few places to stay in Waikiki.

In 1891, at Kālia, the ‘Old Waikiki’ opened as a bathhouse, one of the first places in Waikiki to offer rooms for overnight guests. It was later redeveloped in 1928 as the Niumalu Hotel; the site eventually became the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

In 1911, the Army acquired 70-acres for the construction of Fort DeRussy and started filling in the fishponds which covered most of the Fort – pumping fill from the ocean continuously for nearly a year in order to build up an area on which permanent structures could be built.

Then, as part of the government’s Waikīkī Land Reclamation project, the Waikīkī landscape was further transformed with the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal – begun in 1921 and completed in 1928 – resulted in the draining and filling in of the ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.

Dredging for the project was performed by Hawaiian Dredging Company, owned by Walter F. Dillingham, who then sold the dredged sediments to Waikīkī developers. The dredge produced fill for the reclamation of over 600-acres of land in the Waikīkī vicinity.

The ʻili of Kālia runs from the ʻEwa end of today’s Ala Moana Center (near Piʻikoi Street) to the vicinity of the Halekūlani Hotel (makai of Kalākaua Avenue.)  (Lots of information here from Cultural Surveys.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kona Oranges

The orange is one of the oldest of cultivated fruits; although its nativity is not known, it probably originated in the Indo-Chinese region. It is now widely distributed.

Native to Asia, oranges were introduced to Hawaii by Captain George Vancouver; in 1792 he came from Tahiti, where it had long grown, having received a large store of supplies from the natives there.

Arriving on Hawaii Vancouver left with the native chiefs of Kona a number of valuable seeds and ‘some vine and orange plants.’ A few days later he left some ‘orange and lemon plants’ on the island of Niihau.

It is supposed that these plants were the parents of the famous russet Kona oranges that are such general favorites among islanders. On Molokai, far back in the mountains, an old orange grove was seen in a fairly thrifty state.

Some of the trees were two feet in diameter at the height of my shoulder. Everything about them indicated their great age, and it is highly probable that this grove antidates the introduction of the plants by Vancouver.  (Bryan, Natural History of Hawaii)

As noted in Captain Vancouver’s journal in March 1792:

The retinue of Tianna (Ka‘iana) on this occasion was to consist of a considerable number; part were to attend him on board the Discovery, and, the remainder was to proceed in the Chatham. His residence was a little to the north of Karakakooa (Kealakekua); and as it was proposed his suite should be taken on board the next afternoon …

As Tianna had several goats, I did not present him with any of these animals, but made him very happy by giving him some vine and orange plants, some almonds, and an assortment of garden feeds, to all of which he promised the most particular care and attention. (Vancouver (Vol 1, 1792)

“The orange flourished in the dry climate, similar to that found in the Valencia region of Spain from which the variety originated.”

“Many acres of what came to be known as ‘Kona oranges’ were grown and, for many decades during the nineteenth century, these oranges were a major export from the region.”

“Many of these oranges were bound for the West Coast, with some making their way into the goldfields of California. A few Kona orange trees still exist, bearing fruit to this day.” (Nagata, WHT)

The California gold rush brought an economic boom to Hawaii agriculture; Irish and sweet potatoes, onions, pumpkins, oranges, molasses, and coffee were shipped to the West Coast. (DOA)

Then, “In the late 1880s and 1890s Holualoa was an agricultural region settled by Chinese, Portuguese and Japanese immigrants who planted coffee, cotton, grapes, breadfruit and Kona oranges for export to support their growing community.”

“From 1899 to 1926 coffee was replaced by sugar cane, which then supported their local economy very well. Coffee later saved the Holualoa economy after the sugar market collapsed.” (Burt, Western Express)

Oranges continued to grow and be sold in Kona, “the orange tree branches are real strong. They won’t break, and you can rely on it. We used to climb the trees, pick it by hand.”

“But another thing, what [my father] did was, to save time instead of getting the basket going up, he made basket on the top with a funnel like thing made out of cloth and the thing would drop all the way to the ground.”

“And what we did was, with the basket we just spin the thing round and around, and when we picked the orange, the orange would come down whirling, whirling, no damage to the orange. So, when you get down there, you know no damage.  So that’s the way we were picking the orange.”

“And the biggest success from the orange was when the Second World War came on, the army wanted our oranges and they wanted it real bad. So we just had to go pick, even half-ripe ones, whatever came up to the station up here. The thing just went on the truck and gone. We had four years of good [business].”

[Interviewer Question:] “So wartime, oranges was good then.  [Answer]; Oh yeah, couldn’t keep up. … Yeah, in Kona. Kona Orange. …”

“Well, after school, because we were so busy those days. Coming back from school we had to grade the oranges and watch the store when my mother was cooking. My dad wasn’t around, so we all pitched in and did all the things that had to be done.”

“We were lucky because all our brothers stood by, never did go anyplace. But one of the setbacks was, since we had to work on the farm, my second oldest brother couldn’t volunteer for the army because they classified him 4-F.”

“They wanted somebody to run the farm because my father wasn’t here. So, he stayed back and then my other brothers were drafted. The oldest was [a member of] the 100th [Infantry] Battalion. The other one, he just got into the army when the war was over….”

“Yamagata Store was not only general merchandise, [my mother] went into material, and oranges were sold in the store too. In fact, the oranges had their own place in the veranda. We had a rack made just for the oranges; people would just stop and buy the oranges….”

“Tourists used to stop by because of the oranges, we displayed the oranges. A lot of tourists. … [Question]: So it’s mostly tourists buying the oranges? … [Answer] “Yeah.”

“It’s a small quantity going to the tourists, but most of them we had to ship them out to Honolulu, all over. They used to go out, by the truckload they used to ship them out. So we had to make the crates and everything.”

[Oral History Question]: “It wouldn’t make sense for a Kona person to come buy oranges, yeah?” [Answer]: “We used to give them. You know, when the oranges getting a little too old or something, ‘Here, take ‘em home.’”  (Sukeji Yamagata, N. Yamagata Store, Kona Heritage Stores Oral History)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

John Henry Wise

On a cold Saturday afternoon November 19, 1892, Oberlin’s Yeomen football team took the field in Ann Arbor against the heavily favored Michigan Wolverines (which had trounced them handily the year before.)  Oberlin’s new coach, Johann Wilhelm Heisman, brought an undefeated team with him to Ann Arbor.

(After several successful years of coaching, Heisman became director of the Downtown Athletic Club in Manhattan, New York.  The club awarded a trophy to the best football player east of the Mississippi River.)

(On December 10, 1936, just two months after Heisman’s death, the trophy was renamed the Heisman Memorial Trophy; it’s now given to the season’s most outstanding collegiate football player.)

OK, back to Oberlin and their fateful game.

One of Oberlin’s players was from Hawaiʻi, theology student John Henry Wise, half-Hawaiian and half-German; he came to Oberlin after graduating from Kamehameha Schools (he was part of the KS inaugural class in 1887.)

It is believed Wise was the first Hawaiian to participate in college football.  He was considered their best lineman.

Newspapers noted Wise’s immense strength, reporting that he was “able to run with three men on his back without noticing the extra weight,” and referred to Wise and his fellow lineman ‘Jumbo’ Teeters as “two of the biggest men ever seen on a football field.”

Football was quickly becoming a dominant pastime on college campuses across the country, and this young Hawaiian was one of its rising stars.  (Williams)

It’s not clear what the ‘official’ outcome of the game was.  The team captains agreed on a shortened second half, to end at 4:50 pm, so Oberlin could catch the last train home.  With less than a minute to go it was Oberlin 24, Michigan 22. As Michigan launched its last drive, the referee (from Oberlin) announced time had expired, and the Oberlin squad left the field to catch the train.

Next the umpire (from Michigan) ruled that four minutes remained, owing to timeouts that Oberlin’s timekeeper had not recorded. Michigan then walked the ball over the goal line for an uncontested touchdown and was declared the winner, 26 to 24. By that time the Oberlinians were headed home clutching their own victory, 24 to 22. (oberlin-edu)

(The scoring values in 1892 were five points for a field goal, four points for a touchdown, and two points each for a PAT (point after try) and safety.)

Who really won that game in 1892? The Michigan Daily and Detroit Tribune reported that Michigan had won the game, while The Oberlin News and The Oberlin Review reported that Oberlin had won.  Both schools continue to claim victory.  (oberlin-edu)

But being the first Hawaiian to play college football is only part of Wise’s legacy.

When Wise returned home in 1893, the Islands were in turmoil – Queen Liliʻuokalani was overthrown and a Provisional Government had been formed.  Wise became a key member of the resistance, helping plan a January 1895 counter-revolution to restore Queen Lili‘uokalani to the throne by force.

From January 6 to January 9, 1895, patriots of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the forces that had overthrown the constitutional Hawaiian monarchy were engaged in a war that consisted of battles on the island of Oʻahu.

It has also been called the Second Wilcox Rebellion of 1895, the Revolution of 1895, the Hawaiian Counter-revolution of 1895, the 1895 Uprising in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Civil War, the 1895 Uprising Against the Provisional Government or the Uprising of 1895.

In their attempt to return Queen Liliʻuokalani to the throne, it was the last major military operation by royalists who opposed the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.  The goal of the rebellion failed; Wise and over three hundred royalists (including Prince Kūhiō) were arrested.

On February 5, 1895, Wise was tried under martial law, but refused to testify against his compatriots and pleaded guilty to “misprision of treason” (knowing of a treasonous plot and failing to inform the government.)

He was sentenced to three years’ hard labor.  Wise, though sentenced to a shorter term than many who were freed, remained behind bars. He was part of a final group of eight prisoners released on New Year’s Day 1896. (Williams)

In 1907, Prince Kūhiō, along with other prominent Hawaiian men including Wise, reorganized and restored to public light, the Royal Order of Kamehameha I. In 1917, Prince Kūhiō, along with four other prominent Hawaiian men (John C. Lane, John H. Wise, Noah Aluli and Jesse Ulihi,) established the Hawaiian Civic Clubs.  (ROOK)

Wise got into politics, serving in leadership positions for all three of the major political parties of the era: Independent Home Rule, Democratic and Republican, always as an advocate fighting for the rights of native people. (Williams)

On November 13, 1914, 200-Hawaiians (including Wise) attended a meeting at the Waikīkī residence of Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole and agreed to form the Ahahui Puʻuhonua O Na Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Protective Association), an organization which would work to uplift the Hawaiian people. US Delegate to Congress Prince Kūhiō, together with others, including Wise, were selected to draft the constitution and by-laws of the organization.  (McGregor)

In December 1918, the association’s legislative committee finalized the draft of a “rehabilitation” resolution.  Wise (who was serving as Territorial Representative (and later as Senator)) introduced it when the Territorial legislature opened in January 1919 – this set the foundation for the legislative effort to have the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act passed by Congress.

By April 25, 1919, the Territorial House of Representatives passed the resolution, and Wise was appointed to a Territorial Legislative Committee responsible for carrying the Territory’s legislative package to Congress.

In testimony before Congress, Wise stated, “The Hawaiian people are a farming people and fishermen, out-of-door people, and when they were frozen out of their lands and driven into the cities they had to live in the cheapest places, tenements. That is one of the big reasons why the Hawaiian people are dying. Now, the only way to save them, I contend, is to take them back to the lands and give them the mode of living that their ancestors were accustomed to and in that way rehabilitate them.”

“We are not only asking for justice in the matter of division of the lands, but we are asking that the great people of the United States should pause for one moment and, instead of giving all your help to Europe, give some help to the Hawaiians and see if you can not rehabilitate this noble people.”  (Congressional Record, 1920)

The effort to pass the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act took from December 1918 to July 1921; on July 9, 1921, the bill passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law.  The US Congress set aside close to 200,000-acres of former Crown and Kingdom lands for exclusive homesteading by Hawaiians of at least half Hawaiian ancestry.

It called for the formation of the Hawaiian Homes Commission to administer the homesteading program and noted that lands would be parceled out for homesteading under 99-year leases at a charge of $1 per year.

Wise retired from politics in 1925 and took up the quiet life of a farmer on Moloka‘i, where he raised pigs and grew taro. But he soon returned to Honolulu – there, he helped restore Hawaiian language instruction at his alma mater, Kamehameha Schools.

Frank Midkiff, KS president and later trustee, reminisced: “I thought it would be good to help our young people learn Hawaiian. So we got the trustees to make Hawaiian language a required course. The students were very interested in it and happy. But soon several parents came in and objected. ‘Why do you teach our children Hawaiian? … Before, here, our children were punished if they spoke Hawaiian. They were required to speak English. That is what they need.’”  (Eyre)

Midkiff continued: “I hated to give up what I knew was good for them. I took it to the trustees. … The trustees said, ‘Well, let’s make it elective. Maybe that will be acceptable.’ But before long, after it was made elective, several gave it up and before long the courses had to be withdrawn. All followed the parents’ inclination and the teaching of Hawaiian language and culture was given up for that time being.” (Eyre)

But Midkiff, a speaker of Hawaiian, did not give up. Later that year, he and Wise wrote and published a Hawaiian language textbook, “A First Course in Hawaiian Language.” (Eyre)

One year later, and two years after the first Hawaiian language course was dropped, John Wise was hired and Hawaiian was reinstated in the curriculum, using the Midkiff/Wise textbook.  (Eyre)  In the same year, Wise was also hired by the University of Hawai‘i as its second-ever professor of Hawaiian language. (Williams)

John Henry Wise was born on July 19, 1869 in Kapaʻau, North Kohala; he died of pneumonia on August 12, 1937, at the age of 68.  At a meeting soon after his death, the University of Hawai‘i, which he helped found by sponsoring the bill that created it in 1919, named the school’s athletic field Wise Field (it was torn up and relocated long ago.) (Williams)

Staying on the football theme … we used to have UH football season tickets; now we have Colorado State football season tickets. Today, UH plays CSU in Colorado – we’ll be there. Go RamBows!

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lili‘uokalani Educational Society

“‘Lili‘uokalani Educational Society’ is the name of an association of Hawaiian ladies. Its founder and president is Princess Liliuokalani, the Crown Princess of Hawaiʻi nei. Its other officers are a secretary, a treasurer, and five directresses.”

“None but native Hawaiians, with aboriginal blood in their veins, are admitted to active membership. Others may become honorary members.”

“An entrance fee of fifty cents and a monthly subscription of twenty-five cents are the conditions of membership. Honorary members are admitted on the same terms.” (Daily Bulletin, August 4, 1886)

“(T)he intention of which was to interest the Hawaiian ladies in the proper training of young girls of their own race whose parents would be unable to give them advantages by which they would be prepared for the duties of life.”

“As no such association had ever existed, although there had been frequent cases of private benevolence, it seemed a good time to interest those who had the means in this important work.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“It is the intention to gather up destitute orphans, place them in boarding schools, and furnish them with a plain English education. In the case of girls, they are also to be instructed in needle work and household duties.” (Daily Bulletin, August 4, 1886)

“Therefore I called a meeting, notifying all whom I thought would be likely to attend. The response was very gratifying, and on the appointed afternoon a goodly number of our best ladies assembled in the Kawaiahaʻo church.”

“The meeting was opened with prayer; after which I arose, made a short address, and explained to the audience my purpose in requesting attention to the moral and intellectual needs of those of our sex who were just beginning life.”

“These remarks seemed to meet the approval of all present; but yet, in looking around, it was evident to me that the society would be more prosperous in two divisions, as there were those in attendance who could not work well together.”

“My sister, the Princess Likelike, was of our number; so I suggested that she should be the head or president of one division, and I would take the other. … Both branches then began their work, which went on with results that at one time appeared to be most encouraging.” (Liliuokalani)

Through the Lili‘uokalani Education Society, Liliʻuokalani sponsored many girls in the community in their attendance at the Kawaiahaʻo Seminary.

Queen Lili‘uokalani was not just a benefactor, but was active in school leadership, working collaboratively on many issues, including discipline.

Particularly when the Lili‘uokalani Education Society was paying the tuition, the queen took an active interest in the girls’ progress. (Bonura)

“But my sister did not live a year after this movement had begun, and on her death circumstances operated to impair the efficiency of the society.”

“However, her branch of it came under my personal direction; and the object for which I had called the meeting was never forgotten, nor was the education of the young girls of Hawaiian birth neglected either by myself or by those I had interested in its importance, until the changed conditions of January, 1893, obliged me to live in retirement. (Liliʻuokalani)

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Kawaiahaʻo_Female_Seminary-MissionHouses-400

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pāhoa

Early settlement patterns in the Islands put people on the windward sides of the islands, typically along the shoreline.  However, in Puna on the Island of Hawaiʻi, much of the district’s coastal areas have thin soils and there are no good deep water harbors. The ocean along the Puna coast is often rough and windblown.

As a result, settlement patterns in Puna tend to be dispersed and without major population centers. Villages in Puna tended to be spread out over larger areas and often are inland, and away from the coast, where the soil is better for agriculture.  (Escott)

This was confirmed on William Ellis’ travel around the island in the early 1800s, “Hitherto we had travelled close to the sea-shore, in order to visit the most populous villages in the districts through which we had passed. But here receiving information that we should find more inhabitants a few miles inland, than nearer the sea, we thought it best to direct our course towards the mountains.”  (Ellis, 1823)

An historic trail once ran from the modern day Lili‘uokalani Gardens area in Hilo to Hāʻena along the Puna coast. The trail is often referred to as the old Puna Trail and/or Puna Road. There is an historic trail/cart road that is also called the Puna Trail (Ala Hele Puna) and/or the Old Government Road.

This path was essentially the main thoroughfare through the Puna district before the late-1800s.  Pāhoa was oʻioʻina (a resting place) on the trail.  (Papakilo)  Then it grew to become the principal town of lower Puna.

The evolving trail (first by foot, then by horse, cart and buggy, and finally by automobile) likely incorporated segments of the traditional Hawaiian trail system often referred to as the ala loa or ala hele.  (Rechtman)

The full length of the Puna Trail, or Old Government Road, might have been constructed or improved just before 1840. The alignment was mapped by the Wilkes Expedition of 1804-41.  (Escott)

People who traditionally had lived along the Puna coast were moving toward Hilo and into the more fertile upland areas of Puna in order to find paid work and to produce cash crops for local markets and for export.

The focus began to shift to the center of the Puna District and the developing sugar and related industries near ʻŌlaʻa, Hilo and the volcano region.

Before the turn of the century, railroad operations began – with lines running into Hilo. A main railroad line and several feeder lines were constructed in the early-1900s from Keaʻau to locations in lower Puna District.

The major line ran from Hilo through Keaʻau to the Kapoho area.  A branch line ran from the ʻŌlaʻa Sugar Mill up past present day Glenwood. A second branch line ran to Pāhoa town.

Some suggest this is how Pāhoa received its name.  “Then the train was put in from Hilo to Puna. One spur went up into Pāhoa; it was like a dagger into the forest. I‘m told this is how Pāhoa got its name. (Pāhoa means dagger.)”  (Edwards; Cultural Surveys)

People began to work in the inland areas to grow sugarcane. The new road, the Pāhoa branch of the railroad, sugarcane agriculture and a logging venture all combined to create Pāhoa as a population center in the region.  (Rechtman)

Macadamia nuts and papaya were introduced in 1881 and 1919; at the turn of the century, large-scale coffee cultivation was attempted.  Over 6,000-acres of coffee trees were owned by approximately 200-independent coffee planters.

This fledgling industry couldn‘t compete with more successful ventures located in other districts, and after a few decades the coffee industry in Puna was abandoned.  (Cultural Surveys, Rechtman)

By 1901, sugar dominated the island’s industry and landscape, and Hilo was the epicenter of production and export. Railroads connected sugar mills and sugar plantations in Hilo, the Hāmākua and Puna. The railroad also connected the mills to the wharves at Hilo Bay.

Early on, one of the major export items transported by the railroad was timber.  Starting in 1907, the Hawaiian Mahogany Company began cutting trees to clear land for sugarcane. The logs were brought to Pāhoa Town to be milled, then sent to Hilo Harbor and eventually shipped to the US Mainland as railroad ties for the Santa Fe Railroad.

The lumber mill facilities and the railroad line that served them were located near the center of town where the Akebono Theater is located.

In 1909, the company was renamed Pāhoa Lumber Company. In 1913, the main mill facilities were lost in a fire; it was rebuilt that year the company was renamed the Hawaiian Hardwood Company.

The company closed down in 1916 when the Santa Fe Railroad ended its contract to buy lumber. The defunct company then leased its mill facilities, buildings and railroad tracks to the expanding ʻŌlaʻa Sugar Company.  (Rechtman)

Today, Pāhoa Town has a main street – the former highway route before the construction of the by-pass road – that still retains much of the original street-wall of plantation-era structures, as well as some significant stand-alone buildings.

Most of the uses are commercial or civic.  The County has acquired a large tract of land within Pāhoa Town, which presents a significant opportunity for community revitalization and a possible catalyst for economic activity.  (Puna CDP)

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