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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment
Lyman Herbert Bigelow was born August 16, 1878 in Charlestown, MA; he was the son of Lyman Haven and Elmira J. (Bond) Bigelow. He went Bunker Hill grammar school, Charlestown, MA, 1893; Mechanics Arts high school, Boston, 1896, post graduate 1897; and then Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), B. S Civil Engineer degree, 1901.
Began work as an instructor in surveying at MIT in the summer of 1901. He then worked at a variety of places: as a civil engineer for Merrimac Paving Co of Lowell, MA 1901-02; structural steel draftsman for Phoenix Bridge Co, Phoenixville, PA, Jan.-Sept. 1902.
He then got into government work as sub-inspector of government buildings, US Navy Dept League Island Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA, 1902-05 and as a civil engineer and superintendent of construction, US Quartermaster Dept, US Army (initially at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, following which he was assigned to Hawaii).
Bigelow came to Hawaii as a civil engineer and construction superintendent in the United States army quartermaster corps in 1911, resigning the next year to become construction superintendent for the Honolulu Planing Mill.
In that role he assisted in the building of the Fort Kamehameha Barracks, Fort DeRussy buildings, Pearl Harbor coal station and Kaimuki reservoir on Wilhelmina Rise. On July 14, 1914 he married Henrietta M Tucker in Honolulu.
In 1918, he resigned the federal work and took a position for the Territory of Hawaii as Superintendent of Public Works through an appointment by Gov. Charles McCarthy for a four-year term. During that time, he served as 1st Lieutenant with the Hawaii National Guard. He was reappointed by Governors Wallace Farrington and Lawrence Judd.
Among the projects under Mr. Bigelow’s supervision were the renovation and rehabilitation of Washington Place, the official gubernatorial mansion, the Territorial Capitol, the former Iolani Palace of monarchial days; construction of the Territorial Hospital at Kaneohe and Girls’ Industrial School at Kailua.
He oversaw the Waikiki reclamation and Ala Wai Canal improvements. Bigelow stated, “In 1918 when I was appointed in charge of Public Works, Governor (Charles J. McCarthy told me he wanted me to get busy on the Ala Wai project. We had no money appropriation for the job but we knew something had to be done.”
“Every time there were heavy rains in Makiki and Kaimuki, the whole area was flooded. We found $150,000 in a sanitation fund and decided we would initiate the drainage as a sanitation project.”
“We had the area from Kapahulu Road to Keʻeaumoku St. and from King St. to the sea condemned as unsanitary and began work. The value of the canal and the surrounding filled land has proved itself many times over.” (Bigelow, Hnl Adv, Dec 29, 1965)
The Territorial harbor development plan embracing the modern Honolulu piers, and development of Kapalama basin and wharves; and the modern piers on Hawaii, Maui, Molokai and Kauai.
In other construction across the Islands, he built Waimano Home; Honolulu, and Hilo armories; new Territorial office buildings on Oahu, Maui and Kauai; extension to Honolulu library; new Territorial Normal School; new buildings of Bureau of Agriculture and Forestry; addition to Archives building; reconstruction and additions to Kapuaiwa building.
He oversaw development of Territorial airports, Animal Quarantine Station, Kalakaua Avenue bridge, Volcano road on Island of Hawaii, Haleakala road on Island of Maui, portions of Waianae road, Kalanianaole highway, Kamehameha highway, twin bridges at Waialua and Waimea bridge, all on Oahu; Waimea Canyon road on Kauai, and many other minor projects. (Lots of information here is from Nellist & Siddall)
“Because of the mandatory retirement age, he had to retire on June 30, 1950, but then he was immediately rehired as superintendent on a temporary basis. When that expired, he was given the monumental task of writing a new building code for Honolulu.” (Star Bulletin, June 20, 1966)
Bigelow was on the Hawaiian Homes Commission from August, 1952, to August, 1957, serving most of that time as chairman. While a member of the commission, Mr. Bigelow was an advocate of the Molokai irrigation project of homesteads on Kauai and Maui, and of extension of the Waimanalo program. Through his efforts, they were put into effect. (Star Bulletin, June 20, 1966)
“Years later Mayor Blaisdell paid tribute to Mr. Bigelow in these words: ‘Mr. Bigelow had the difficult and important task of beading the City’s Building Department during and following World War II.’”
“‘In directing the City’s tremendous construction program to catch up with the backlog of building needs and to provide the many new facilities needed after the war, he contributed much to the building of present day Honolulu.’”
“‘The City was indeed fortunate to have had a man like Mr. Bigelow in its service during such a critical period. He gave generously of himself to his work and won not only the high respect but warm regard of his associates.’” (Blaisdell, Star Bulletin, June 20, 1966)
by Peter T Young Leave a Comment
Traditions on the island of Oʻahu note Mā’ilikūkahi was a ruling chief around 1500 (about the time Columbus crossed the Atlantic.) Māʻilikūkahi is said to have enacted a code of laws in which theft from the people by chiefs was forbidden.
A son of Mā’ilikūkahi was Kalona-nui, who in turn had a son called Kalamakua. Kalamakua is said to have been responsible for developing a large system of taro planting across the Waikīkī-Kapahulu-Mōʻiliʻili-Mānoa area. The extensive loʻi kalo were irrigated by water drawn from the Mānoa and Pālolo Valley streams and large springs in the area.
In 1792, Captain George Vancouver described Mānoa Valley on a hike from Waikīkī in search of drinking water: “We found the land in a high state of cultivation, mostly under immediate crops of taro; and abounding with a variety of wild fowl chiefly of the duck kind …”
“The sides of the hills, which were in some distance, seemed rocky and barren; the intermediate vallies, which were all inhabited, produced some large trees and made a pleasing appearance. The plains, however, if we may judge from the labour bestowed on their cultivation, seem to afford the principal proportion of the different vegetable productions …” (Edinburgh Gazetteer)
One century later, before it was urbanized, Mānoa Valley was described by Thrum (1892:) “Manoa is both broad and low …”
“… with towering hills on both sides that join the forest clad mountain range at the head, whose summits are often hid in cloud land, gathering moisture there from to feed the springs in the various recesses that in turn supply the streams winding through the valley, or watering the vast fields of growing taro, to which industry the valley is devoted.”
“The higher portions and foot hills also give pasturage to the stock of more than one dairy enterprise.”
Handy (in his book Hawaiian Planter) writes that in ancient days, all of the level land in upper Mānoa was developed into taro flats and was well-watered, level land that was better adapted to terracing than neighboring Nuʻuanu. The entire floor of Mānoa Valley was a “checkerboard of taro patches.” “The terraces extended along Manoa Stream as far as there is a suitable land for irrigating.”
The well-watered, fertile and relatively level lands of Mānoa Valley supported extensive wet taro cultivation well into the twentieth century. Handy and Handy estimated that in 1931 “there were still about 100 terraces in which wet taro was planted, although these represented less than a tenth of the area that was once planted by Hawaiians.” (Cultural Surveys)
Mānoa Valley was a favored spot of the Ali‘i, including Kamehameha I, Chief Boki (Governor of O‘ahu), Haʻalilio (an advisor to King Kamehameha III,) Princess Victoria, Kanaʻina (father of King Lunalilo), Lunalilo, Keʻelikōlani (half-sister of Kamehameha IV) and Queen Lili‘uokalani. The chiefs lived on the west side, the commoners on the east.
Queen Kaʻahumanu lived there; her home was called Pukaʻōmaʻomaʻo (Green Gateway.) It was situated deep in the valley (lit., green opening; referring to its green painted doors and blinds – It is alternatively referred to as Pukaʻōmaʻo.)
“Her residence is beautifully situated and the selection of the spot quite in taste. The house … stands on the height of a gently swelling knoll, commanding, in front, an open and extensive view of all the rich plantations of the valley; of the mountain streams meandering through them … of the district of Waititi; and of Diamond Hill, and a considerable part of the plain, with the ocean far beyond.” (Stewart; Sterling & Summers)
It was doubtless the same sort of grass house which was in general use, although probably more spacious and elaborate as befitted a queen. The dimension in one direction was 60 feet. The place name of the area was known as Kahoiwai, or “Returning Waters.”
“Immediately behind the house, and partially flanking it on either side, is a delightful grove of the dark leaved and crimson blossomed ʻŌhia, so thick and so shady … filled with cool and retired walks and natural retreats, and echoing to the cheerful notes of the little songsters, who find security in its shades to build their nests and lay their young.”
“The view of the head of the valley inland, from the clumps and single trees edging this copse, is very rich and beautiful; presenting a circuit of two or three miles delightfully variegated by hill and dale, wood and lawn, and enclosed in a sweep of splendid mountains, one of which in the centre rises to a height of three thousand feet.”
“In one edge of this grove, a few rods from the house, stands a little cottage built by Kaahumanu, for the accommodation of the missionaries who visit her when at this residence. … (It) is very frequently occupied a day or two at a time, by one and another of the families most enervated by the heat and dust, the toil, and various exhausting cares of the establishment at the sea-shore.“ (Stewart; Sterling & Summers)
“Not far makai … High Chief Kalanimōku, had very early allotted to the Mission the use of farm plots thus noted in its journal of June, 1823: “On Monday the 2d, Krimakoo and the king’s mother granted to the brethren three small pieces of land cultivated with taro, potatoes, bananas, melons, &c. and containing nineteen bread-fruit trees, from which they may derive no small portion of the fruit and vegetables needed by the family.” (Damon)
Then, in mid-1832, Kaʻahumanu became ill and was taken to her house in Mānoa, where a bed of maile and leaves of ginger was prepared. “Her strength failed daily. She was gentle as a lamb, and treated her attendants with great tenderness. She would say to her waiting women, ‘Do sit down; you are very tired; I make you weary.’” (Bingham)
“The king, his sister, other members of the aliʻi and many retainers had already arrived at Pukaomaomao and had dressed the large grass house for the dying queen’s last homecoming. The walls of the main room had been hung with ropes of sweet maile and decorated with lehua blossoms and great stalks of fragrant mountain ginger.”
“The couch upon which Kaahumanu was to rest had been prepared with loving care. Spread first with sweet-scented made and ginger leaves, it was then covered with a golden velvet coverlet. At the head and foot stood towering leather kahilis. Over a chair nearby was draped the Kamehameha feather cloak which had been worn by Kaahumanu since the monarch’s death.” (Mellon; Sterling & Summers)
“The slow and solemn tolling of the bell struck on the pained ear as it had never done before in the Sandwich Islands. In other bereavements, after the Gospel took effect, we had not only had the care and promise of our heavenly Father, but a queen-mother remaining, whose force, integrity, and kindness, could be relied on still.”
“But words can but feebly express the emotions that struggled in the bosoms of some who counted themselves mourners in those solemn hours; while memory glanced back through her most singular history, and faith followed her course onward, far into the future.” (Hiram Bingham)
Her death took place at ten minutes past 3 o’clock on the morning of June 5, 1832, “after an illness of about 3 weeks in which she exhibited her unabated attachment to the Christian teachers and reliance on Christ, her Saviour.” (Hiram Bingham)
by Peter T Young Leave a Comment
by Peter T Young Leave a Comment
“We have built this building so that everyone who looks upon it will say, not: ‘Is that a library, or a club house, or a school, or city hall?’ but, promptly and without question, ‘That is a church!’”
“And we have built it after the colonial style of architecture so that all might say with equal assurance, ‘And it is a church with a New England background!’- for we wanted this church to be a fitting tribute to the missionaries who came to these Islands from New England over a century ago bringing Christian civilization with them.”
“We were greatly pleased when Ralph Adams Cram, our artist-architect, assured us that the colonial style was fitting for our climate because its essential elements had grown up in the semi-tropic lands around the Mediterranean and it had been used successfully in the extreme South as well as in New England.”
“We have put this building not on some noisy dusty corner but in a beautiful eight acre garden. One comes back from Japan deeply impressed by the beautiful setting of the temples of that beautiful land.”
“Why not, in Hawaii also where things grow so wonderfully, why not a Christian Church surrounded by the beauty of nature? And so the garden around the church is a symbol of natural religion. We come to worship through the beauty of nature and we say with the poet, as we approach the sanctuary,
‘A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Rose plot, fringed pool,
Ferned grot! The veriest school
Of peace. And yet the fool
Contends that God is not—
Not God? In gardens? When the eve is cool?
Nay, but I have a sign
‘Tis very sure God walks in mind!’
“For a long time we were uncertain as to whether or not we could afford a spire. Now that it is built we all realize how incomplete would have been the picture without the spire like ‘a sacrament of hope,’ as Dr. Ross called it, pointing above the trees of the garden. How wonderfully Mrs. Frear has caught the symbolism of it in her poem!
‘Lo here among the palm-trees
Our isle has flung a spire—
A slender bud of beauty
Pointing higher, higher—
A lifted torch awaiting light
From Heaven’s altar fire.”
“At the entrance to the church is a broad and simple porch of welcome – yet only one door, with a cross above the grille work. That door stands open every day and is the symbol of Christ who says, ‘I am the door, by me if any man shall enter in, he shall be saved; and shall go in and out, and shall find pasture!’”
“But the approach to the door is through four columns and lighted by three great lanterns. The columns are the four gospels through which we come to know the character of Christ and hear his voice and, as to the three lanterns, they may symbolize the mystery of the Trinity – one God, one light, yet revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or …”
“… if you are practically minded rather than theological, let them stand for the three Christian graces of faith and hope and love which, seen from afar and shining upon the church, shall draw men unto the door.”
“High in the lantern of the spire is another light shining out over land and sea as though One said, ‘I am the Light of the world – he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness.’ “And above the spire flies the dove as a weather-vane – the dove of peace and symbol of the Holy Spirit.”
“Once inside, each man can make his own interpretation for this is a church of freedom in the quest of truth, but, if you are interested, I will give you mine. I find a symbolism of world fellowship in the different countries represented in the wonderfully beautiful interior.”
“The general design is clearly English, yet the chaste white beauty of it all reminds me of churches in Holland. The basilica form and vaulted ceiling are Roman but the columns speak of Greece and, back of that, of Egypt. Corinthian are the capitals, yet the details are copied not from the acanthus but from the pineapples and coconut palm fronds of Hawaii.”
“New England contributed the small paned, round topped windows but the redwood pews and chancel are from California and the lighting fixtures are old Italian sanctuary lamps, slightly modified to burn electricity in place of oil.”
“‘What a mixture!’ one might say who reads this in cold type. But look about you – all is harmonious, all fits together as a symbol of the unity of all men and races in Christ Jesus.”
“To continue the symbolism may I suggest that the twelve great columns shall stand here as long as the church shall last calling to mind the twelve apostles and that the thirteen lamps represent thirteen churches – the lamp has ever been a symbol of the church.”
“You can make up your thirteen any way you choose. Take the seven churches of Asia and add those others which figure so largely in Paul’s letters – Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, Rome. Think of their light shining down upon us through the centuries!”
“Or take thirteen churches of today – the Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, Quakers, Presbyterians, Disciples, Lutherans, Unitarians, Christian Scientists, Episcopalians, Dutch Reformed, Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholic. Let them all shine with the light of a common love of Jesus Christ.”
“Even though we may not follow them in all details of liturgy or doctrine we will welcome their light upon the world – ‘Many are the lamps, but the light is one.’”
“There are four plain panels at the rear of the church. It might be perilous to paint pictures on them in reality but let us paint them there in our imagination. On one will be Buddha, meditating on the sorrows of life beneath the sacred Bo tree, on another Confucius writing down the wisdom of China, on a third Moses coming down from Sinai and on another Mohammed kneeling in prayer. All to remind us that there is a kinship and a common aspiration in all religions.”
“You may notice that there are ten glass doors opening directly out into the garden – five on either side. They are the ten commandments – we look out into life through the clear and transparent doors of the moral law.
“‘Oh,’ someone says, ‘But here is another door at the mauka end of the aisle upon the right.’ Yes and over that door the eyes of faith see written: ‘A new commandment I give you, that ye love one another even as I have loved you!’”
“Above the doors are fourteen windows through whose clear glass we look up to the blue sky and flying clouds of heaven. They are for the saints and heroes of the faith who served their day and generation and are now delivered from the labors and struggles of this life. Let us put them there, not in colored glass, but in the fairer colors of our imagination.”
“Here above the choir is St. Paul and around the corner, still to the left of the pulpit, St. Augustine. Looking directly down into the pulpit, to remind the preacher of all humility and tenderness, is St. Francis of Assisi and just beyond, to make him brave and fearless, come Joan of Arc, Savonarola, Wyclif and John Huss.”
“On the other side of the church stand Luther, John Robinson, the pastor of the Pilgrims, David Livingstone, the representative of all missionaries, Florence Nightingale and General Booth.”
“Above the gallery is a triple window reserved for the saints of our own land. Just now we will place in the center panel Abraham
Lincoln and on either side Booker Washington and Alice Freeman Palmer.”
“But these are not all the windows. High in the clerestory are twelve more. We will put no names upon them. They are reserved for the future! New saints and heroes must arise in the new days that lie ahead.”
“We reserve one for some American Pasteur who shall win the battle against cancer and tuberculosis. One for some prison reformer who shall make our jails true hospitals for moral disease. One for some social leader who shall solve the conflict of capital and labor and bring justice and good-will to industry.”
“Another shall yet be dedicated to some President or Senator who shall lead America out into fellowship with an organized world. Another is reserved for some Saint who shall so reveal the awfulness of the city slums that the conscience of the people shall be aroused to abolish them, and yet another window awaits the great prophet who shall burn into the souls of his generation the folly and impiety of race-prejudice and make humanity to be a real brotherhood at last.“
“Do not forget, young men and women of the future, these unnamed windows high above you. They set the goal for
tasks yet unaccomplished and challenge you with unattained ideals.”
“As one approaches the chancel in this beautiful church home of ours the symbolism deepens. Here is the lectern with the Bible on it, reminding us of what we owe to the inspiration of the past. Here is the pulpit – for the prophetic message looking toward the future. And here in the center and focus of it all is the Communion Table ever reminding us of the mystic presence of the Christ who says, ‘Lo, I am with you alway.’”
“High above all is the cross, the supreme symbol of our holy religion – a symbol of suffering, yet a symbol of hope. It is not a crucifix with a dead Christ upon it. Our cross is empty.”
“Our Christ is not holden of death- He is risen and triumphant. Our cross has trefoil ends that touch it with a beauty that was not present at Calvary because for us the cross is not a symbol of defeat but of victory – Even as the text says, high above it, we hold the sublime faith that, even though crucified, ‘Love never faileth.’”
“One word more! It says in Acts, ‘God dwelleth not in temples made by hands’ and again in First Corinthians, ‘Ye are a temple of God.’”
“It is not the buildings that make the city but the people in it and no church can serve apart from the men and women who gather beneath its over-arching roof. Not only the church must stand in friendly welcome in its garden in the midst of the city – its members must have the friendly heart as well.”
“It is not enough to write ‘Love never faileth’ upon its walls – we who worship here must believe it and practice it. Even the uplifted cross may be mute to men who do not find its power changing the lives of those who look upon it.”
“‘Ah, friend, we never choose the better part
Until we set the cross up in the heart.’”
“How long will this church endure and speak its magic unto men? Only so long as the people who use it are themselves first of all temples of the living God!” (All here is, in part from a sermon preached by Albert W. Palmer, D.D., LL.D., Litt.D. Central Union Church, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 1, 1924.)