Buildings | Page 52 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 5, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Pine City’

After methodically buying up individual parcels, by 1907, Charles Gay, youngest son of Captain Thomas Gay and Jane Sinclair Gay, acquired the island of Lānaʻi (except for about 100-acres.) He was the first to establish the single-ownership model for Lānaʻi (with roughly 89,000 acres.)

Around 1919, Gay experimented with planting pineapple on a small scale. In November 1922 James Dole’s Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Ltd (HAPCo) acquired nearly the entire island and began the subsequent establishment of its pineapple plantation.

HAPCo was incorporated in 1901 by Dole and began its pineapple operations at Wahiawa on the Island of Oahu. Over the next two decades, the company grew in scale and prospered. Production increased from 1,893 cases of canned pineapple in 1903 to over 1,700,000 cases in 1920.

The acquisition of Lānaʻi “means that (the) pineapple business which has grown so rapidly into large proportions may safely grow much further. The future of canned Hawaiian pineapple looms large.” (HAPCo, 25th Anniversary)

Plans for building Lānaʻi City were drawn up in early 1923, as Dole and his partners set out to make Lānaʻi the world’s largest pineapple plantation.

Dole contracted Hawaiian Dredging Co of Honolulu to ‘establish a small town … with suitable water supply, electric lights, sewerage, etc,’ build a harbor with a breakwater and wharf at Kaumālapaʻu, and a road from there to the site of the new city. (HABS)

Dole had originally proposed that his main town on Lānaʻi be named Pine City. He preferred this name for the town as a shortened version of Pineapple City.

When the US Postal service began to set up postal operations there, it informed HAPCo that it would not allow the use of the name Pine City (apparently that name was already over-used on the US mainland). The main town was instead named Lānaʻi City. (HAPCo, 25th Anniversary)

With Hawaiian Dredging Co. contracted to build much of the infrastructure, it fell to HAPCo engineers to formulate the design of the new city’s layout and its buildings. For this task they turned to HAPCo plantation engineer David E Root and his assistant James T Munro.

Root was plantation engineer for HAPCo on Lānaʻi from 1923 to 1926. HAPCo hired Munro in 1923 to assist Root by taking charge of the ‘development and operation of the water system and other responsibilities.’ In 1926 Munro took over as plantation engineer, a position he held until 1939 when he was transferred to the Honolulu office.

Building construction in Lānaʻi City began in 1923 using Japanese work crews under the direction of Kikuichi Honda, who was a contractor on Maui before coming to Lānaʻi City to work for HAPCo.

Honda and his crew worked on buildings (mostly residences) into 1924. Honda left Lānaʻi in mid-1924 for reasons unknown and did not return to do any more construction work.

In his stead, he appointed a member of his 1923-24 construction crew, Masaru Takaki as the crew leader for building on Lānaʻi. Takaki directed building from 1924-1929. (HABS)

“Lānaʻi is about 60 miles from the cannery. So we needed a harbor. By cutting away the cliffs on one side, running a heavy breakwater into the ocean on the other and then dredging, we got it.”

“Then a road for heavy trucking – seven miles back and 1600 feet up into the island. That was built. Water was brought across the mountain range on the windward side of the island to a reservoir near the town.”

“A city was needed where laboring families and overseers could live happily. Lānaʻi City stands (as) a model community of its kind – population already past 1,000 and complete even to stores, bank, schools, hospital, Buddhist temple, ‘movies’ and ‘Mayor!’”

“The island is completely organized and is in daily touch with the cannery by radio telephone.” (HAPCo, 25th Anniversary) (Lānaʻi City would ultimately house about 3,000 HAPCo employees and their families.)

Under Dole’s tenure, the Lānaʻi plantation and city grew, and at one time the island supported nearly 20,000 acres of cultivated pineapple, making it the world’s largest plantation.

Lānaʻi City blossomed upon the landscape; most of the buildings and streets which we still see today were constructed during this short period.

By March 1924, the general layout of Lānaʻi City was established and some 40 buildings—many of which remain in the present-day Lānaʻi City—were built or were under construction.

In the early years of the plantation, the largest group of immigrant laborers was made up of skilled Japanese carpenters and stone masons. Their initial work was undertaken on an almost barren landscape, overgrazed by years of sheep, goat, and cattle pasturing.

Lānaʻi City was the first planned community in the Territory of Hawaii and today is the last intact plantation town in Maui County.

It was laid out and built using the contemporary principles of the Garden City planning concept developed in the 1890s and adopted in the 1920s by the HSPA.

This was a rejection of the model of worker housing as an industrial slum. It embraced the idea that a well planned and laid out city in the midst of a greenbelt with open spaces and tree-lined streets was more conducive to worker productivity.

For seventy years, from 1922 to 1992 when the last harvest took place, the name “Lānaʻi” was synonymous with pineapple.

Early photographs of Lānaʻi City do not show it to be appreciably superior to other, contemporaneous plantation towns.

However, the wide streets and commodious-looking structures eventually enhanced by thousands of Norfolk pine trees make Lānaʻi City now one of the handsomest small towns in Hawaii. (HABS) (Lots of information here is from Lānaʻi Culture & Heritage Center, HABS and HAPCo 25th Anniversary.)

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September 14, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pleasanton Hotel

“The premises of the late (Henry) Alexander Isenberg, at the corner of Punahou and Wilder avenue are to be opened today by Mrs JW Macdonald as a family hotel, to be called the Pleasanton.”

“For the purpose there is no more suitable place in Honolulu and Mrs. Macdonald’s experience in catering to the better class of patrons fits her to the duties she will perform as hostess of the larger establishment.”

“The place has been leased by her for a term of years and the lower part of the house has been engaged by guests who had apartments in the Hawaiian and Moana hotels, the closing of which warranted the opening establishment and its spacious grounds.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 1, 1908)

Henry Alexander Isenberg was born “in the islands in 1872 and was sent to Bremen, Germany, to be educated. After leaving college he served in the army for one year and then entered a mercantile establishment, where he remained a short time.”

“He then went to England, also following commercial pursuits there for one year and returned to the islands in 1894. Mr. Isenberg entered the house of H Hackfeld & Co, Ltd” (Logan, 1907,) “going through every clerical position and finally becoming the head of the establishment.” (Evening Bulletin, November 7, 1905)

“As German Consul he entertained both in his consular and private capacities, in a lavish manner. In 1897 Mr. Isenberg married Miss Virginia Duisenberg of San Francisco, daughter of Chas AC Duisenberg, the first German Consul of San Francisco, who arrived there in 1849.”

“The late Hon. Paul Isenberg, formerly of H Hackfeld & Co., Ltd., who died in 1903, was HA Isenberg’s father. … Mr Isenberg came into a large estate on his father’s death and his interests in the H Hackfeld concerns were substantial.” (Evening Bulletin, November 7, 1905)

The Isenberg home-turned-hotel “is in the most beautiful residential portion of Honolulu – Punahou. Lovely grounds occupying five acres of tropical garden surround the palatial building. The O‘ahu College is close by and the entrance to the exquisite and historic valley of Mānoa is reached by the cars running past the hotel.” (CowCard)

It appears shortly after the Macdonald announcement, the Isenbergs took control of the property and planned for expansion. “Mrs. Alexander Isenberg and two sons, Rudolph and Alexander, and maid, and Miss Duisenberg, are aboard the Pacific Mail steamship Mongolia en route to Honolulu to spend the winter at the Hotel Pleasaston, after an absences of about two years.”

“Mrs. Isenberg is coming down, not only to renew old friendships, but to look over the improvements at the Pleasanton. Although many improvements are under way there under the direction of Mrs. Duisenberg, Mrs Isenberg contemplates even more additions.”

“The Pleasanton ‘s business has been increasing rapidly and there are now fifty guests, although the room space is rather limited.”

“A three-story building is in course of erection in the mauka portion of the grounds. This was planned for a bachelors’ house, but owing to the demands for rooms this will be thrown open to general business and will accommodate about fifty people.”

“A cottage on College street has been leased to house additional guests. Another building may yet be erected. The one under construction will be ready in less than a month.”

“The swimming pool is to be remodeled and the building over it enlarged to accommodate numerous bathrooms. The tennis court is to be rebuilt and surrounded by tall iron posts, so that a canvas cover can be drawn over it.”

“A pergola will connect the old building with the annex and at the center, just opposite the tennis court, a bandstand will be built. Spectators will occupy seats on the tennis court. A dancing floor, built in sections, will be built for use on the tennis court.”

“The main entrances to the grounds will be beautified by stone posts surmounted by electroliers.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 24, 1909)

It was promoted as, “on the car lines at Punahou Street and Wilder Avenue, within 12 minutes of the business center, pos toffice
and government buildings.”

“The pleasanton is situated in a tropical garden covering five acres on the at the foot of beautiful Mānoa valley whence it receives the delightful mountain breeze day and night.”

“in this garden are palms and other flowering plants in all the grandeur peculiar to the tropics, affording a most delightful outdoor retreat for guests.” (Hawaiian Star, December 10, 1910)

In 1950, the Lutheran Church purchased part of the old Alexander Isenberg/Pleasanton Hotel property. On another portion of the property the YWCA built ‘Fernhurst’ (in 1952,) offering nightly shared accommodations. Between them is a high-rise condominium building that retains the memory of the old hotel in its name: The Pleasanton.

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Pleasanton Hotel

Pleasanton Hotel Honolulu, HI

Pleasanton Hotel

Pleasanton Ad-PCA-Oct 28, 1909

Pleasanton Hotel

September 6, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Alexander House

Reverend Richard and Clarissa Chapman Armstrong and Reverend William and Mary Ann McKinney Alexander were members of the Fifth Company of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM.)

They sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts, November 26, 1831, whaleship ‘Averick,’ Captain Swain, and arrived at Honolulu, May 17, 1832, a voyage of 173 days.

“Honolulu, Friday, May 18, 1832.-Yesterday morning at day-break I found the island, Oahu, but a few miles distant. With a favorable wind, we rounded Diamond Head, and cast anchor in the outer harbor, before eight o’clock AM. ‘The town looked like a city of hay-stacks; only grass houses were to be seen; I believe there were one or two frame houses’.

“Soon we were surrounded by natives in their canoes, bringing milk and eggs for sale, some of them altogether naked, except the malo.” (Alexander Diary)

“Saturday, May 19.-We were introduced to the young king to-day (not yet king, for there was a regent). He received us very politely, welcomed us to the Hawaiian shores, acknowledged the great good the nation had received from missionary labors, and expressed great pleasure at the increase of their numbers.”

“A short address made to him in the name of the newly-arrived missionaries was interpreted to him by Brother Bingham. Then accompanied by the king and his chiefs we’ walked to the house of Kaahumanu. … She received us with tears of joy. She was very ill and unable to speak much; we therefore soon withdrew.” (Alexander Diary)

Shortly after arrival, Clarissa wrote about a subject most suspect was not a part of the missionary lifestyle … On October 31, 1832, she noted, “Capt Brayton has given me a little beer cask – it holds 6 quarts – Nothing could have been more acceptable.”

“I wanted to ask you for one, but did not like to. O how kind providence has been & is to us, in supplying our wants. The board have sent out hops – & I have some beer now a working. I should like to give you a drink.”

Reverend Alexander visited the Marquesas and the Society Islands with Messrs. Whitney and Tinker in 1832 investigating it as the possible site for a missionary station.

The Alexanders, Armstrongs and Parkers made an attempt to establish a station in the Marquesas, July 2, 1833 – May 12, 1834; that mission was surrendered to the London Missionary Society. (The arrangement had been made that the equator should be the dividing line between the English and American missions.) They returned to Hawai‘i.

After a few mission assignments in the Islands Armstrong was assigned on Maui and built a house, there in in 1836 (the Armstrongs lived there for three years. (The Armstrongs later moved to O‘ahu where he replaced Hiram Bingham as the pastor of Kawaiahaʻo Church in 1840.)

The Armstrong house has walls of field stones 20 inches thick; the coral and sand used in the construction were burned to make lime and hauled to the site from the ocean by ox car. It has ohia rafters. The two-story, stone residence is termed “the oldest building in Wailuku.”

Alexander was stationed at Waiʻoli, 1834-1843, and at Lahainaluna from 1843 to 1856. For reasons of health, 1856, by advice of physicians, Alexander resigned his post at Lahainaluna, after having there labored thirteen years, and took charge for a few months of the ranch of Ulapalakua, as an excellent place to recruit his health.

In 1849, Alexander was granted by the mission one year of respite from school teaching. He spent this year in surveying land for the Hawaiian Government in Kamaole, on East Maui. Here, at an elevation of twenty-five hundred feet above the sea, he lived in a tent, and was engaged in cutting trails through the forest to divide the country into sections for sale to the Hawaiians.

He preached regularly on Sundays in this district. He also did surveying during the vacations of the school, and thereby both recruited his health and obtained the means to educate his children. In 1851 he stopped receiving financial support from the ABCFM, thereafter continuing his work with local recompense.

He worked at Lahainaluna on Saturdays for money to educate his nine children (five sons and four daughters) and when his health failed he did surveying to be out of doors. He accepted a call from the church at Wailuku where he preached first on December 25, 1856 and was installed in January, 1857.

The Alexanders visited the United States seeking funds and a new president (Cyrus Mills) for O‘ahu College (Punahou School), 1858-1860. In 1863 Mr. Alexander founded the Theological School at Wailuku.

He resigned his pastorate in 1869 to give more time to the Theological School, continuing to preach, however, and assisting in the pastoral work of the church. (HMCS) In 1874 he was obliged, by failing health, to relinquish the Theological School, and it was removed to Honolulu.

The quaint old Alexander mansion “became a sort of ideal home, beautiful with many varieties of tropical fruit trees, with palms and ornamental shrubbery and flowering vines, delightful as the center of a large circle of children, dwelling mostly on the same island, and as a place of unbounded hospitality, and attractive by the magnetic kindness, the sunny humor, and the beauty and power of the piety there displayed.”

“In this home the desire long previously expressed by Mr. Alexander, for a reunion of his family, was at length fulfilled; and in 1873 a gathering was held of all his family, the first and the only complete gathering of them ever held, then twenty-nine in number, counting parents, children and grandchildren, amongst whom there had not yet been a single death.” (Alexander)

A long cherished plan of visiting his son Samuel, in California, led Mr. Alexander and his wife to leave Wailuku on the 26th of April, 1884. Mr. Alexander took walks every day, sometimes going a distance of two miles, and was in better health and spirits than for several years previous, until his last sickness suddenly occurred.

“Wednesday, August 13.-The long conflict is over. Father lies by me at rest, not father though, he is above with a crown of victory. Oh, what a terrible long valley of the shadow of death he had to pass through to victory!”

“He kept his consciousness to the last, but his power of speech failed. … He breathed very peacefully at the last, the breath growing fainter and fainter, until we hardly knew when he ceased to breathe.” (Samuel Alexander)

The Armstrong house was the home of missionaries William and Mary Alexander between 1856 and 1884. Sugar planter HP Baldwin married Emily Whitney Alexander in the home in 1879.

After the death of Mr. Alexander the building passed into the hands of Mr. Bailey until 1905, when the property came into the possession of Mrs. HP Baldwin. It had been her girlhood home.

Her children bought it and presented it to her. The house was restored and fitted up to be the parsonage home of the Hawaiian Board’s missionary for central Maui. Rev. and Mrs. RB Dodge lived there.

In 1919, Mrs. Baldwin deeded this property to the Maui Aid Association with the understanding that it should continue to be used as a parsonage for the Board’s missionary. (Gossin, The Friend, December 1, 1922)

The building is currently occupied by the Maui Architectural Group, but is not open to the public. It is located on Main Street near the intersection with High. (Lots of information here is from HMCS, Alexander, Bishop and The Friend, December 1, 1922.)

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Alexander House-Wailuku

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August 24, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻIolani Palace ‘Fountain’

Water supply was relatively primitive in the early days of Honolulu. The residents commonly relied on the water from springs and streams, sometimes carrying calabashes of water great distances over rugged terrain.

Wm R Warren reportedly made the earliest attempt to dig a well in Honolulu, around 1820, but failed to find water. The first successful well was dug two years later by Joseph Navarro in his yard near the Bethel.

Visiting Honolulu about the same time, in 1822, Tyerman and Bennet recorded that “good fresh water is obtained from wells sunk eight or ten feet through the coral reef.”

The first unit of a public water system was completed by March 31, 1848, using lead pipe acquired from Ladd & Co. the previous September.

According to the Minister of the Interior, “a water tank, for the convenience of shipping, was placed in the basement of the new Harbor Master and Pilots’ Office, near the wharf (foot of Nu‘uanu street), and it was supplied through a leaden pipe from a reservoir at Pelekane….” (Schmitt)

After the completion of the Bates Street reservoir in 1851, nearby businesses and homes were connected with the main. The system was further expanded in 1860-1861, eventually covering most of the city.

The first artesian well in the Islands was drilled in the summer of 1879 near James Campbell’s ranch house in Ewa and on September 22, a good flow of water was obtained. On April 28, 1880, an artesian well was successfully completed on the land of A. Marques near Punahou. (Schmitt)

To supply water for ʻIolani Palace, Kalākaua authorized a well on Palace grounds. “On Saturday morning (January 27, 1883) at 5 o’clock the water was reached in the well sunk in the Palace yard.”

“No means were available to stop or check the flow, and the whole grounds were soon covered with water. Alakea and Richard streets, from King street to the sea, were flooded all day.” (Daily Bulletin, January 29, 1883)

“Water was struck at the artesian well which is being sunk at the Palace grounds by Messrs McCandless and Braden … an increased flow was struck at a total depth of 760-feet the water rising fully six inches above the top of the 8 3/8 iron pipe.”

“Very little obstruction has been encountered during the sinking of the well, the soil being mostly of a clayey description. The stream whistles which announced the strike of water, both on the morning and evening, sent many people wandering to the wharves to look for the Suez.” (Hawaiian Gazette, January 31, 1883)

However, concern was raised on the impact of the Palace well on the city’s water supply. “During the last three weeks the water in the well in the Palace yard has fallen two inches. That is, it now rises to one foot below the height to which it rose when it was first bored.”

“At this rate it would take less than 10 years to lower the water to such an extent that no Artesian well on the would flow.”

“And that calculation is based on the supposition that no more wells will be bored and that no greater consumption of water will be found during that time than at present.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 13, 1883)

“On Monday the well in the Palace yard was connected with the mains along Hotel street to Nu‘uanu, and up Fort, Richard, and Alakea streets to Beretania, so that we have that additional supply.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 13, 1883)

Later, “During those periods when there was a shortage in the water supply of Honolulu, especially in the hot summer months and at which time the Water Department of the City and County of Honolulu limited the hours in which irrigation was permitted …”

“… the grass and trees in the Capitol (ʻIolani Palace) Grounds suffered and decidedly showed it from lack of sufficient water. For this reason it was deemed advisable to utilize this re-cased artesian well to supply water for irrigating said grounds.”

“As the ordinary pump house seemed rather out of place and would be somewhat of an eyesore to the Capitol Grounds, it was decided to construct the pump house under-ground and make that portion projecting out of the ground a large ornamental flower pot, enclosed in which is located the pressure tank.”

“The pump house will be circular in section measuring 8 ft. inside diameter and 6 ft. high, on top of which is located the pressure tank 6 ft. inside diameter and 3 ft. high, lined with galvanized iron and ornamented and so constructed that ferns or flowers may be planted in same.”

“There will be a small fountain in the top and an iron manhole for access to the pressure chamber. Access to the pump chamber will be by a winding staircase. The entire structure except as noted will be constructed of reinforced concrete.”

“The pressure tank will be connected to a piping system laid around the Capitol Grounds, which has been so laid out that different sections of the grounds may be irrigated independently by operating the proper valves.”

“The work of installing the piping, pump, etc., and placing this system in operation, will be paid for out of funds appropriated by the 1921 Legislature for that purpose. It is hoped that with this system in operation there will be an abundance of water for irrigation purposes even in the driest periods.” (Report of the Superintendent of Public Works, 1921)

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Iolani Palace Artesian_Well-Pump

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Iolani Palace Artesian Well-Pump

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ʻIolani Palace ‘Fountain’

August 3, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kong Lung Store

The formation of Kilauea Plantation on Kauai goes back to the 1860s when American settler Charles Titcomb bought the ahupua‘a of Kilauea from Kamehameha IV for about $3,000 and moved there from Hanalei in 1863.

He had been growing sugar in Hanalei, but gave it up and built a homestead and cattle ranch at Kilauea which grew into the town of Kilauea. He later bought the adjoining ahupua’a of Nāmāhāna.

Kilauea Plantation began in 1877 with the planting and purchasing of mill equipment. EP Adams and Robert A Macfie Jr. (son of a Liverpool sugar refiner) were majority investors. William Green and Sanford B. Dole (later governor of Hawai‘i) held minority
interests.

In 1880 the four men incorporated the Kilauea Sugar Company as a Hawai‘i corporation, just a few years after the Reciprocity
Treaty between the Hawaiian Kingdom and the U.S. created a boom in sugar plantation development. (MacLennan)

Plantation life throughout the islands was centered on a landscape of buildings that reflected the system of tight control over workers and production. Typically, beyond the fields and mill, there was a plantation store, housing, medical, recreational facilities for the workers.

Ethnic groups included Portuguese, Puerto Rican, Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Korean workers, and haole managers and supervisors. (MacLennan)

Lung Wah Chee was among the first group of Chinese immigrants that arrived on Kauai in 1876 to work for the Kilauea Sugar Company. He was born in Cheong Kong, China, September 15, 1860.

During 1894-1895 he had a contract with the Kilauea Sugar Company to load cane into cars with his own laborers. He was also required to furnish houses and firewood for the laborers. (NPS)

In the 1890s, Lung Wan Chee (aka LC Achee) operated a general merchandise store on the site of the Parish Hall (Japanese Language School) in Kilauea.

In 1902, Kilauea Sugar Plantation Co. decided to get out of the retail business and rented Chee their building; a bill of sale dated November 4, 1903, indicates that the plantation company sold to Kong Lung and Company a partnership for the sum of $8,534.29, including ‘all … the goods, wares and merchandise, stock-in-trade, show cases, scales, and Implements, in, upon and about the store.’ (NPS)

Later, Kong Lung Store moved into a former plantation building, it was the last of the stone structures built by the Kilauea Sugar Company. It was constructed around 1941 to replace an older wooden frame building at the same site.

The building measures 117-feet by 67-feet and is constructed of field stone up to the lower portion of the gable. The upper section is built of wood and has five ventilating jalousie windows at each end.

The store and the lanai are on a concrete slab. The front elevation is of five bays. The two end bays step forward, while the central three are an Inset lanai. The lanai has three stone piers which help to support the roof. Entrance to the store is through two screen doors.

The 1941 and later Kong Lung Store contained general merchandise, a barbershop, butcher shop, and post office. During the war, there was a lunch counter/diner to serve the many soldiers in the vicinity. Wages for store employees were about $40/month.

Workers for the store were said to have awoken at 2 am to work in the store. Then, at 5 am, they would go to work in the fields. Merchandise for the store arrived in the cane cars returning from Kahili Bay after delivering cane to freighters.

The raw sugar which was processed and bagged into 125 pounds at the mill was shipped to Honolulu by way of Kahili bay (or Kilauea Bay). The train hauled the sugar to Kahili then it was transferred on small boat then onto the Freighter which was anchored out in the bay.

The supplies for the Sugar Co and merchandise for Kong Lung Co. which was the only store in Kilauea at that time, came back by way of the empty cane cars. (Gushiken)

“Customers in the supermarket were plantation people. Groceries and dry goods, general hardware is what we went into. In those days, people were working six days a week, nine and ten hours a day. They would have no time for shopping. We had a delivery service then. No frozen goods.”

“The Sugar Plantation had its own dairy, between the store and the lighthouse. The slaughter was done there too. We had raw milk, no pasteurized. Everyone had their own vegetables, and rice was grown down in Kahili and Kalihiwai Valley and all the families made their own bread, raised their own chickens and pigs.” (Chow Lung, NOS)

The Store was managed by Kwai Chew ‘Chow’ Lung (son of the founder) and a partner. In 1955 they bought the building from the plantation and operated the business until 1979 when the property was sold to Tim King and Kelsy Maddox-Bell.

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