Peter T Young

September 18, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Day 036 – November 27, 1819

November 27, 1819 – no entry. (Thaddeus Journal)

Sabbath 27th. Whilst our dear American friends are enjoying the rich entertainments of the sanctuary of God, I hope they will not imagine that we are destitute of spiritual blessings and enjoyments. I believe this is the pleasantest sabbath we have enjoyed since our departure, the weather is mild and the health of the family such as that all are able to attend public worship on- deck without preparing beds for any. Have had. preaching three times since we came on board. Brother B. has preached to-day for the first time; text “And the time of this ignorance God. winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent”. The presence of God is not confined to temples made with hands but in every place, he that feareth God and worketh riteousness is accepted of him. Yes, dear friends, God is evidently with us and grants us constant supplies of his supporting grace:
O that I could add that we enjoy the special influences of his spirit upon our hearts. 0 that I could tell you that the ships company (whose studidity and ignorance seem to be not far removed from the heathens themselves) are brought to bow to Immanuel’s and acknowledge him as their Lord and their God. (Samuel and Nancy Ruggles)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

September 17, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Dream City”

In 1843, as kids, Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin, sons of pioneer missionaries, met in Lahainā, Maui. They grew up together, became close friends and went on to develop a sugar-growing partnership that spanned generations and left an indelible mark on Hawaiʻi.

Fast forward 100-years to 1949, Alexander & Baldwin formed Kahului Development Co., Ltd. (KDCo) (the predecessor of A&B Properties, Inc.) to serve as a development arm of the agricultural-based entity.

This timing coincided with the sugar company’s plan to close down some plantation camps. To provide for housing for its sugar workers, as well as meet post-WWII housing demand, KDCo announced a new residential development in Central Maui, in the area we now refer to as Kahului.

“Dream City,” a planned residential community was launched and over the next couple decades 3,500+ fee simple homes were offered for sale in 14-increments of the new development.

While the community originally was planned to house the company’s workers from Hawai‘i Commercial and Sugar (mills and plantations) and Kahului Railroad Co., the company decided to not limit ownership to their own employees.

Part of the prior plantation philosophy was to house imported laborers in camps, usually segregated by ethnic groups. However, one goal of Dream City was to bring together the then-existing 25 plantation communities into a single planned modern urban setting.

Planning for the project took 2-years, under the services of Harland Bartholomew of Harland Bartholomew & Associates, St. Louis – a nationally recognized planning firm.

The first task was to identify the housing and living problems in central Maui, then develop a master plan on how best a new community could be designed.

Under this 25-year plan, Kahului quickly became one of the first and most successful planned towns west of the Rockies – and the first in Hawai‘i.

The homes were concrete and hollow-tile construction and thoroughly modern. There are 17 different designs available. Each had three bedrooms and a floor space of 1,090 square feet, plus a garage.

The price (generally $6,000 to $9,200 – with terms of $600 down and payments of $50 per month) included all the bathroom fixtures, the kitchen sink, laundry trays, clothesline, all the fixtures, including switches and floor plugs.

The price did not include the landscape or furniture or kitchen appliances. The landscape work was to be done under the direction of the University of Hawaiʻi agricultural extension service, Maui branch.

The plan for Kahului included spaces for modern business and shopping centers, schools, churches, playgrounds and recreation facilities. In 1951, the company built and opened the Kahului Shopping Center – Hawaiʻi’s third shopping center (behind Aloha (in Waipahu) and ʻĀina Haina.)

In January of 1948, Franklin D Richards, Director of the Federal Housing Administration described the new Kahului town housing project as the Nation’s “outstanding” development.

Mr. Richards said, “That house in Kahului is absolutely the best of its kind I have seen in 15 years’ experience as head of the FHA. I sincerely believe the Kahului home to represent the maximum in low-cost housing. There is nothing better in my experience in the continental United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico, or Hawaii.”

Reportedly, on July 25, 1950, Masaru Omuri carried his wife Evelyn over the threshold of their new home. It made the headlines in the local paper. The Omuris were the first of many residents to move into the Dream City (the “new Kahului.”)

As the development proceeded, the plantation villages were closed down, one by one, according to a schedule that gave the workers and the workers unions ten years’ advance notice.

It was announced that the plantation planned to be out of the housing business within ten years of the start of the project, and February 1, 1963, was the date it was all supposed to shut down. It took a little longer than that, but the schedule was implemented pretty much as planned.

The first homes were built along each side of Puʻunene Avenue on lots between 9,000 and 10,000 square feet. The average price of these homes, as announced in July, 1949, was $7,250 each.

The development outpaced all of the planners’ expectations. At its peak, it was reported, houses and lots were being sold every two minutes.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Kahului-Dream_City-Master_Plan-(co-maui-hi-us)-1947

Puunene Store (left) and Kahului Railroad Station and post office (right). Kahului, Maui (KatsugoMiho)

Waialeale, Inter-Island Steamship. Pier 2. Kahului, Maui. Pre-World War II-(KatsugoMiho)

Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Amaral and Son, “'Dream City,' Maui, 1958

Kahului_Town_Development-1st_Increment-1949

Kahului_Town_Development-2nd_Increment-1951

Kahului_Town_Development-3rd_Increment-1952

Kahului_Town_Development-4th_Increment-1953

Kahului_Town_Development-5th_Increment-1955

Kahului_Town_Development-6th_Increment-1960

September 17, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Day 037 – November 28, 1819

November 28, 1819 – Today we have been favored not only with the privilege of a prayer-meeting in the cabin, but with public worship on deck. Sermon on Repentance from Acts 17:30. by Br. B. The audience attentive and so hope benefitted. The Lord follow with his blessing the exhibition of his truth. (Thaddeus Journal)

Nov. 28th. Public worship at 10 a.m., in the cabin, and at meridian on deck for all hands. (James Hunnewell)

Nov. 28th. Calm, peaceful, and, I think, soul-cheering has been this sabbath. Awoke, and tho languid in feeling, did still feel that the day was the Lord’s. Such it has been to me. Yet, 0, the listlessness, which follows me all my days, in serving GOD,–my covenant GOD my reconciled GOD and Father i This day now closing, like all others, must find-me in despair, were it not Jesus has died—that through this dear Interceptor, I shall find acceptance. In the morning, at ten, our Mission family met in the cabin for social conference—at twelve, assembled on deck, when all belonging to the vessel, were present, to attend divine service. A canopy put up to shield us from the sun—the waters tranquil and serene. Mr. B— was enabled to address us from the word of GOD. A double blessing did it seem to me, to be permitted, under such circumstances, to hear divine truth, and to hear it from that dear friend who had, these many days, languished under much bodily weakness. Had with him, this evening, conversation of a most interesting nature, relative to scenes which may be before us. The subject was tender. By frequently taking such a view of our future path, may we be at once led to the infinite fountain of divine support, for provision for the hour of trial. (Sybil Bingham)

28th Lat. 29 Lon. 32. We are frequently lead to inquire why we are not borne more rapidly towards the place of our destination but it becomes continually to remember that all is for the best. May this motto ever be mine, may it be ours. Nothing remarkable has transpired to-day. (Samuel & Nancy Ruggles)

28. Nothing remarkable has occurred for several days. This is the fifth Sabbath we have spent on board and had but 3 sermons. This appears more like the sabbaths I have spent at home than either of the preceding. Brother B preached from access Acts XXII 30 to an attentive audience. May the blessing of God follow & repentance be ever found here in the midst of the seas. It affords us much comfort to think that at this time our prayers are ascending from us from a thousand altars in America. (Samuel Whitney Journal)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

September 16, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Historic Curbs and Sidewalks

As early as 1838, sidewalks along Honolulu streets were constructed, usually of wood. Paved streets were unknown until 1881; in that year, the first, Fort Street, was paved.

The first sidewalk made of brick was laid down in 1857 fronting a shop on Merchant Street; Hawaii’s first concrete sidewalk was poured in front of a store on Queen Street in 1886.

Here are a couple stories about some ‘historic’ curbs and sidewalks in Honolulu. (Remember, State law, §6E-2 says “Historic property” means any building, structure, object, district, area, or site, including heiau and underwater site, which is over fifty years old.)

As a UH graduate, I am very familiar with the area known as “the Quarry” on the UH campus. We still go down to that area of the campus to watch UH athletics.

From 1889 to 1949, Mōʻiliʻili Quarry provided the stone that was used to build Honolulu’s streets, sidewalks and curbstones, as well as some of its prominent buildings.

Holes were cut into the rock wall, using pneumatic drills. Dynamite was fitted into the holes, and its detonation would bring the entire face of the wall down, then they took the rock to the crushing plant within the Quarry site.

The University wanted the Quarry site for campus expansion and the Hawaiʻi legislature authorized the purchase in 1945

The first major and permanent construction of facilities in the Quarry began in 1956; and in 1957 Klum Gym, Team Lockers-Varsity Building, Locker Building, classrooms and an indoor enclosed boxing room were completed.

As you walk along Honolulu streets, look at the old lava rock curbs; it’s very likely these came from the Mōʻiliʻili Quarry. These curbs are historic and serve as examples of the distinctive method of street construction in Honolulu during the late-1800s and the early-1900s.

These curb stones are rough-hewn below grade, but squared at their exposed surfaces. The width and height of the exposed surfaces are typically about 6 inches, but the buried depth is several feet. They are of varying lengths, from 2′ to over 5′. Some curbs at intersections exhibit a slight curvature to follow the contour of the street corner.

In the mid- to late-19th century, sailing vessels from China or the continent bound for Honolulu to pick up sandalwood or sugar cane would fill their holds with granite as ballast (it added stability to the sailing vessels and weren’t needed when loaded with heavy cargo.)

As more and more ships dumped their granite ballast on the docks, someone came up with the idea to use them for sidewalks. These blocks are scattered throughout Chinatown, and many were used in the construction of a few buildings.

The original stones were several inches thick and were placed side by side with no gap between them – many of these are still around. However, today, there are reproductions of these sidewalks on Maunakea Street

In the early 1900s, the city of Honolulu was engaged in modernizing its streets and replacing dusty footpaths with broad sidewalks. The following appeared in the Hawaiian Annual of 1900:

“Official notice had been published requiring property owners to construct concrete sidewalks throughout the city, as far out as Thomas Square, according to specifications. This public improvement is in progress, to be followed by the re-macadamizing (paving) of many streets.”

John Walker (later, the firm Walker-Moody) pursued this business and soon his sidewalks proliferated throughout the city. Unlike modern sidewalks, his were a very dark gray due to the addition of charcoal, and were given a smooth, almost polished finish, many of them labeled with the name John Walker etched in the curbstones (few remain.)

Back then, the name John Walker was virtually synonymous with sidewalks. So well known was the name the unemployed men, when asked, “Who are you working for”, often answered, “John Walker”. In other words, they were pounding the sidewalks looking for work.

Again, historic property is generally defined as something that is over 50-years old. In addition to criminal penalties, State law may impose Civil Penalties on any person who violates the law with fines up to $10,000 for each separate violation (each day of each violation constitutes a separate violation.)

Rather than remove the stones, when contractors are making repairs to City streets, they are required to reinstall the curbing after the completion of the work. If reinstallation isn’t possible, contractors are required to salvage the stones and hand them over to the city for storage and later reuse on other city road projects.

When I was at DLNR, we were involved with a case where historic curb stones were being used as part of a decorative walkway in a private garden. (They were ultimately returned.)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Sidewalk Stamp Downtown Honolulu-John_Walker-(walker-moody-com)

Sidewalk Stamp Downtown Honolulu-John_Walker-(walker-moody-com)-1971

Moiliili Quarry (C&C-Honolulu-hawaii-edu)-1923

Moiliili Quarry site-Tantalus is in the background-(star-bulletin)

September 16, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Day 038 – November 29, 1819

November 29, 1819 – no entry (Thaddeus Journal)

Nov. 29th. Weather, to-day, peaceful, tho our progress not yet rapid. The quietude of the pleasant evening interrupted by domestic troubles. The steward unfaithful to his trust—convicted of having squandered, and abused, to his own hurt, things committed to his charge, leading others also into evil. 0, my soul how wilt thou stand when thy Lord reckonest with thee? This poor servant took the reward due to his crime—on him were inflicted stripes—none to stand in his stead. 0, my dear Redeemer, why is not my heart, by this little incident, led more feelingly to thee, who didst stand in the sinner’s place, receiving the stripes which divine Justice required, even such as drank up thy spirit, and overwhelmed thy holy soul, causing thee to cry out. “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me!” O, the amazing, the astonishing ingratitude of this stubborn heart, which yet does even hope the demands of Justice were satisfied against it by these stripes I Blessed Sacrifice, let thy blood be applied not only to acquit from condemnation, but to melt this icy heart. (Sybil Bingham)

29. For several days past our passage has been much retarded by contrary winds, but it is a sweet reflection that God will carry us to the heathen in his own time. This evening commenced singing meetings to be held regularly every Tuesday evening. (Samuel Whitney Journal)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger