Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

First Christmas Tree

Mary Dominis, mother-in-law to Queen Liliʻuokalani, is credited with starting the Christmas tree and Santa Claus traditions in Hawai‘i.

“Christmas Eve was worthily observed in Honolulu by a party at Mrs. Dominis residence which drew together such a crowd of company that no second house could have opened its doors successfully.”

“The ‘Christmas Tree’ was beautiful in its decoration and beautifully covered with fruit such as no other tree can bear, that bent its branches to the ground.” (Polynesian, January 1, 1859)

“The Christmas tree can be traced to the land of Luther. How long it there flourished in the forests of Germany, before Luther’s day, we cannot stop now to enquire.”

“A sprig was brought to the Sandwich Islands few years ago, and it appears to have found genial climate and fruitful soil. It is really wonderful how it flourishes.”

“Like Jonah’s gourd, which came up in night and perished in night, the Christmas-tree makes great display of fruit on the first night of its growth.”

“Mrs Dominis, with her wonted skill for flower-growing and tree-planting, produced Christmas-tree that was much admired, especially by the juveniles, who gathered under its shadow and plucked its ripe fruit ready to drop into their hands, marked and labelled.”

“How much Santa Claus had to do in the wonderful production we cannot say, but he appeared very much at home on the occasion, and seemed to know by name all the little folks that were dancing and kiting about like so many fairies.”

“We congratulate the children of Honolulu that they enjoy so many pleasant gatherings, and we would thank Mrs. Dominis for her expense, trouble and labor to make the young people happy. (The Friend, January 1, 1859)

As further described in the newspaper, “Christmas – passed off in the good old fashioned, style. The eve was ushered in by the assemblage, about 7 o’clock, of a large number of children and their parents at Washington Place, the Mansion of Mrs Dominis …”

“… where Santa Claus had given out that he would hold his court, and distribute the gifts which he had ordered for the occasion. A magnificent “Christmas Tree” had been provided in one of the upper chambers, and the little folks …”

“… as they gathered about it with sparkling eyes and clattering tongues, found it all lighted up with candles and the branches bending under the weight of gifts. …”

“In a moment old Santa Claus was heard at the door, and in a twinkling more he stood before the youthful group, who greeted him with a volley of merry shouts. He came dressed in the garb in which children love to imagine the saintly old elf. …”

“For an hour, or while he was bestowing his gifts with princely lavishness among the hundred children present, there was some of the happiest groups ever witnessed in Honolulu.”

“He bid a gift for every one, and bestowed it with a facetiousness that added much to the enjoyment of the occasion and him a host of friends among the juveniles, who will long continue to talk of Santa Claus of Washington place.”

“After the tree was lightened of its burden of presents, some of which we noticed were quite costly, the old saint bid the little folks a hearty good-bye and vanished.”

“He sprang to his sleigh, to his team he rare a whistle.
And away they ail flew like the dawn of a thistle;
But I heard him exclaim, ere be drove out of sight,
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”

“The whole affair was got up and executed with good taste. After the gifts were distributed the children were invited to a liberal repast prepared by the generous hostess.”

“As the little folks retired to their homes their places were filled with an assemblage of ladies and gentlemen, and the evening was spent in dancing.”

“At 10 o’clock on Christmas forenoon the Episcopal service was performed by Rev Mr Arthy on board the Calypso, which had been gaily decked for the holiday.”

“At half past eleven Episcopal service was also performed by the same gentleman at the Bethel, which was well filled.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 30, 1858)

“The evening was a happy one to every body present, and the hospitality unbounded.” (Polynesian, January 1, 1859)

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Duke Kahanamoku Beach

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku was born in 1890, one of nine children of a Honolulu policeman.

Duke was named after his father who was given the name by Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The elder Duke explains his naming as “Mrs. Bishop took hold of me and at the same time a salute to the Hawaiian flag from the British Battleship in which the (Prince Albert) Duke of Edinburgh arrived”.

“… after I was washed by Mrs. Bishop she gave me the name ‘The Duke of Edinburgh.’” (The Duke of Edinburgh was visiting the Islands at the time (July 21, 1869.))

“The Duke heard and was glad and came to (the) house and I was presented to him and tooke me in his arms. And that is how I got this name.” (Nendel)

Both were born at the Paki property in downtown Honolulu. The Paki (Pauahi’s parents) home was called Haleʻakala (the ‘Pink House,’ made of coral.)

A couple years after Duke’s birth (1893,) the family was living in a small house on the beach at Waikiki where the present day Hawaiian Hilton Village now stands.

Duke had a normal upbringing for a young boy his age in Waikiki. He swam, surfed, fished, did odd jobs such as selling newspapers and went to school at Waikiki grammar school; he would never graduate from high school due to the need to help his family earn enough money to live.

For fun and extra money he and others would greet the boatloads of tourists coming to and from Honolulu Harbor. They would dive for coins tossed into the water by the visitors, perform acrobatic displays of diving from towers on boat days, and explore the crop of newcomers for potential students to teach surfing and canoeing lessons to on the beach.

He earned his living as a beachboy and stevedore at the Honolulu Harbor docks. Growing up on the beach in Waikiki, Duke surfed with his brothers and entertained tourists with tandem rides. (Nendel)

Duke’s love of surfing is what he is most remembered. He used surfing to promote Hawaiian culture to visitors who wanted to fully experience the islands.

Through his many travels, Duke introduced surfing to the rest of the world and was regarded as the father of international surfing.

Back at home, the beach and subsequent lagoon near where he lived now carry his name.

Ownership of the Waikiki property by the Paoa family goes back to Kaʻahumanu as noted in testimony before the Land Commission on December 16, 1847 (LCA 1775:)

“I hereby state my claim for a section of irrigation ditch. I do not know its length – perhaps it is two fathoms more or less. The length of my interest at this place is from the time of Kaahumanu I, which was when my people acquired this place, and until this day when I am telling you, no one has objected at this place where I live.”

“The houselot where we live is on the north of the government fence at Kalia. Some planted trees grow there-five hau and four hala. There is a well which is used jointly.” The Royal Patent for the claim was awarded to Paoa on December 7, 1870 (Royal Patent No. 7033) (Rosendahl)

In 1891, the ‘Old Waikiki’ opened as a bathhouse, one of the first places in Waikiki to offer rooms for overnight guests. It was later redeveloped (1928) as the Niumalu Hotel. Henry J Kaiser bought it and adjoining property and started the Kaiser Hawaiian Village.

The shoreline area was filled and is considered State-owned land. A 1955 lease allowed Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village to dredge and fill areas – in the process the 4.6-acre Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon was created in 1956. To the east of the lagoon is the crescent-shaped Duke Kahanamoku Beach. (In 1961 Kaiser sold to Hilton Hotels.)

Initially, the Territory of Hawaiʻi constructed the ‘Crescent Beach’ project by dredging and filling the nearby ocean shoreline; most of the material that now makes up the banks of the lagoon originated from that project (the beach and lagoon were built at the same time.)

Duke Kahanamoku Beach was crowned the Best Beach in the list of annual ‘Top 10 US Beaches 2024’ by Stephen Leatherman, a.k.a. ‘Dr. Beach’ (and has been on the top 10 list often).

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Drying Tower

On December 27, 1850, King Kamehameha III passed an act in the Privy Council that established the Honolulu Fire Department, the first fire department in the Hawaiian Islands and the only fire department in the US established by a ruling monarch.

In 1870, the tallest structure in Honolulu was the bell tower of Central Fire Station, then-located on Union Street. Spotters would sit in the tower, ready to sound the alarm. Central Fire Station was later relocated to its present site at Beretania and Fort Streets. (HawaiiHistory)

Back in those early days, firefighting equipment was primarily buckets and portable water supplies. As the department grew, several hand-drawn engine companies were added.

But bucket brigades were very labor intensive and very ineffective. Large amount of water would be lost during the passing of these buckets before it could be thrown on the actual fire.

In 1693 the first fire hose (what Dutchmen Jan Van Der Heiden and his son Nicholaas called a “fire hoase”) was a fifty-foot length of leather, sewn together like a bootleg. These inventions allowed firemen a steady stream of water and accurately deliver it directly on the fire.

Leather hose had many disadvantages. It was high maintenance. Leather would dry out and crack. The hose had to be washed, dry and preserved using codfish and whale oil as a preservative.

James Boyd in 1821 received a patent for rubber lined, cotton-webbed fire hose. In 1825 the Mayor of Boston reported that a 100 feet of hose would do the same work as 60 men with buckets and more efficient. In 1827 the Fire Chief of New York City put 30 pumpers in a line to pump water a half mile. (Gilbert)

Hawaiʻi later used the rubber lined, cotton covered hoses.  But the hoses’ cotton could rot, so they needed to be dried to prevent mold.

Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, as they built new fire houses, a drying tower was added to the main fire house, so the hoses could be hung up to dry.

More often than not, there drying towers are mischaracterized as observation or spotting towers; their main purpose was to hang and dry the cotton covered hoses.

By 1912, the first motor apparatus was put into service. Then, three old steam engines at stations 1 (Central,) 3 (Makiki) and 4 (Palama) were replaced by motorized 1,000-gallon capacity combination engines and hose wagons during January in 1916. May 1920 saw the last of the horses, a gray and black team called Jack and Jill.

By the 1920s, the accepted style for most public architecture in Honolulu was Spanish Mission Revival or, more broadly, Mediterranean Revival. Five fire stations built on Oʻahu between 1924 and 1932 illustrate this stylistic design, despite being designed by three different architects.

The prototype for all five appears to have been Palama Fire Station (Fire Engine House #4,) designed by Oliver G Traphagen. The construction of the building was begun late in 1901 (it was completed on July 1, 1902,) which makes it the oldest public structure completed in Hawaiʻi during the Territorial Government period.

It was boasted in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser that the new station was equal to the “best of its class in the States.”

The building included all the latest equipment: an electric automatic door opener with slide poles to connect the upper dormitory quarters with the ground floor. The lower floor interior was occupied by stands for the engine, hose wagon and horses, a feed room, lavatories and hose washing tanks.

There was a horse watering trough near the feed room. Fire Engine House #4 had a 75-foot drying tower with tackle and hood racks immediately above the hose washing tanks.

The Honolulu Fire Department (HFD) operates 44 Fire Stations on the Island of Oʻahu, and in and around Honolulu. Seven current or former stations are on the National Register of Historic Places, of which five are still in use today as fire stations.

Although designed by various architects, the seven fire stations are similar in character. All seven fire stations are box-shaped, two-story structures, with engine bays on the ground floor and dormitories upstairs.

All have prominent towers. The towers, which generally rise approximately sixty feet in height, function as a space in which to hang and dry the cotton sheathed rubber hoses. (NPS)

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Henry Martyn Whitney

Henry Martyn Whitney was the son of the Rev. Samuel and Mercy Whitney, a teacher and mechanic of New Haven, Connecticut, who was a member of the Pioneer Company of missionaries that arrived in Honolulu on the brig Thaddeus in 1820. (His sister, Maria Pogue, was the first white girl born in the Hawaiian Islands.

Whitney was born at Waimea, Kauai, on June 5, 1824; as a very young boy, he left Hawaii to get his education on the continent, staying with relatives in New England. At an early age, he learned the printing trade and practiced his trade on the continent.

Then the opportunity arrived to return to the Islands; Whitney married Catherine Olivia March (1821–1896) in June 1849, and travelled via Panama to San Francisco. He met Dr Garret Parmele Judd who was then travelling abroad with the two young princes who later became the King Kamehameha IV & V.

Judd wanted a practical man to take charge of the Polynesian, the government’s paper; several editors had left the paper to join the Gold Rush in California – Whitney joined the Polynesian.

Hawaiʻi opened a post office in Honolulu and Whitney was appointed Postmaster of Honolulu (December 22, 1850;) the location of the new post office was at the office of The Polynesian.

When Whitney was postmaster, he conceived and produced Hawaiʻi’s first stamps, issued in 1851 (the stamps are now called “Hawaiian Missionaries,’ all printed locally by letterpress at the Government Printing Office.

Whitney later left the Polynesian and started his own newspaper, the Pacific Commercial Advertiser (forerunner of Honolulu Advertiser – first issue July 2, 1856.)

“The whalemen desired an American paper and the white residents wanted one which was not run ‘by authority.’ Whitney gave such a paper to them calling it the Pacific Commercial Advertiser.” (The Independent, August 18, 1904)

“Early in the fifties the writer of this article was strongly urged to publish an independent paper, free from government control. This finally resulted in the establishment of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser; named after the well known New York Advertiser, with which the writer had been connected.” (Whitney, Hawaiian Gazette, August 19, 1904)

“He got from New York a Washington hand press … which had a capacity of only 600 papers an hour and this had to be propelled by hand power. The first number of the paper was a little four page five column sheet. It was weekly.” (The Independent, August 18, 1904)

In its first two and a half months, on its last page, The Pacific Commercial Advertiser ran a Hawaiian-language section, “Ka Hoku Loa o Hawaii” (The Morning Star of Hawaiʻi.) Whitney was fluent in Hawaiian and wrote most of the Hawaiian-language page’s content under his Hawaiianized name, ‘Heneri M Wini.’

In an earlier issue, Whitney wrote in Hawaiian, ‘Aloha, o you close friends living in the towns, the country, the valleys and beaches from Hawaii to Kauai. Great aloha to you. Behold today there is opening the dawn of the Morning Star of Hawaii, to be a torch illuminating your home …’

Whitney did say that the Hawaiian-language page might not survive long. After it ran for 2 ½- months, on September 25, 1856, Whitney announced that he would discontinue the Hawaiian-language page because the newspaper needed space for foreigners when whaling ships arrive in Hawaii. After 5-years, Whitney would publish an entire Hawaiian-language newspaper, Ka Nupepa Kuokoa. (Digital Newspaper Project)

“In 1850 the Polynesian – a weekly owned by the government – was the principal paper here, though there several other small weekly and monthly papers issued, the only one among them that has survived to this date being The Friend, which is really the oldest publication here.”

“The paper had not been established two months before the young publisher had fought and won out of court his first libel suit, in which RG Wylie, Minister of the Interior, was the complainant.” (The Independent, August 18, 1904)

During the Civil War in the US, the cost of cotton rose to “an almost fabulous price.” Whitney received a “quantity of Sea Island cotton seed and distributed the seed widely, at the same time agreeing to purchase all of the seed cotton produced at a good price. For a time the industry flourished.”

“Whitney had set up a number of foot-power gins for removing the seed preparatory to shipping the lint to Boston. The quality of the fiber was considered very fine, and realized upwards of $1.00 in currency per pound. … The customs records show that the largest shipments of cotton made in a single year amounted to a little over 22,000 pounds; this was in 1866.”

“With the decline in prices, the production fell off gradually, until in 1874, the last shipment, amounting to about 2000 pounds, was made.” (Hawaiian Almanac)

Whitney sold the Advertiser in 1870 to Black & Auld, but took charge of it in 1878 and did finally give up his connection with it until 1896. He also (1885) took the editorship of the Planters’ Monthly.

Whitney was also editor and publisher of the Hawaiian Gazette (1873-1878.) In the mid-1870s, the paper turned decidedly anti-monarchy when the views of King Kalākaua and those of the local oligarchy–a powerful contingent of pro-American, pro-annexation sugar interests–began to diverge. (Chronicling America)

Besides the Postmaster General position (1850-1856,) Whitney served in the House of Representatives (1855) and the Privy Council (1873-1891.) Whitney died August 17, 1904 in Honolulu.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … John Kendrick – American Patriot Who Died in Honolulu

Sea Captain John Kendrick was born in 1740 in Cape Cod; he followed his father and went to sea by the time he was fourteen.

Kendrick fought in the French & Indian War in 1762. Like most Cape Codders of the time, he served for only eight months and did not re-enlist.

Family tradition holds that on the rainy night of December 16, 1773, John Kendrick had taken part in the Boston Tea Party band that boarded two East India Company ships at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor.

Kendrick later fought in the American Revolutionary War and commanded three different ships, the Fanny, Count D’Estaing and Marianne.

After the victorious Revolution, an economic depression had settled across the new nation.

The US needed to turn to trade to raise the necessary funding and shipping was a critical component of early commerce.

Kendrick and Robert Gray were selected to lead an expedition to establish new trade with China, settle an outpost on territory claimed by the Spanish and find the legendary Northwest Passage.

In September 1787, Kendrick in the Columbia and Gray in the Lady Washington, along with fifty other men – sailors and tradesmen alike – set sail from Boston.

They became the first citizens of the new nation to sail into the Pacific and lay eyes on the lush and resource-rich Northwest Coast of North America.

The maritime fur trade focused on acquiring furs of sea otters, seals and other animals from the Pacific Northwest Coast and Alaska.  The furs were to be mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain and other Chinese goods that were sold in the US.

Trading ships crossing the Pacific needed to replenish food supplies and water; traders realized they could get these in Hawai‘i.

Within ten years after Captain Cook’s 1778 contact with Hawai‘i, the islands became a favorite port of call in the trade with China.

Kendrick provisioned in Hawai‘i a number of times and is also credited for initiating the sandalwood (‘iliahi) trade there (Hawai‘i’s first commercial export).

Sandalwood became a source of wealth in the islands, trade in Hawaiian sandalwood began as early as the 1790s; by 1805 it had become an important export item.

Unfortunately, the harvesting of the trees was not sustainably managed (they cut whatever they could, they didn’t replant) and over-harvesting of ‘iliahi took place. By 1830, the trade in sandalwood had completely collapsed.

On December 3, 1794, Kendrick returned to Fair Haven (Honolulu Harbor) Hawaiʻi aboard the Lady Washington; a war was waging between Kalanikupule and his half-brother Kaʻeokulani (Kaʻeo.)

Also in Honolulu were British Captain William Brown (the first credited with entering Honolulu Harbor) in general command of the Jackall and the Prince Lee Boo, Captain Gordon.

Kalanikupule sought and obtained assistance from Captain Brown. Brown furnished guns and ammunition, and, as Kaeo continued to advance, the mate of the Jackall, George Lamport, and eight sailors from the English ships volunteered to fight for the Oahu king.”

“In the final battle, between Kalauao and Aiea, the Englishmen were stationed in boats along the shore inside the eastern arm of what is now called Pearl Harbor. Kalanikupule gained a decisive victory and Kaeo was killed.” (Kuykendall)

On December 12, 1794, to celebrate the victory, Kendrick’s brig fired a thirteen-gun salute.  (The tradition of rendering a salute by cannon originated in the 14th century as firearms and cannons came into use. Since these early devices contained only one projectile, discharging them rendered them harmless.)

Brown answered with a round of fire. Unfortunately, one of the saluting guns on Brown’s ship was loaded with shot, killing Kendrick.

“Kendrick was buried at the place where Captain Derby was interred in 1802 and Isaac Davis in 1810.” “[T]he chiefs designated a place for the burial of a foreigner in 1794 [so] it is likely that other foreigners who died in Honolulu would be interred in the same locations.” (Restarick)

On December 12, 2022, the Hawai‘i State Organization of the Daughters of the American Revolution installed a memorial plaque in honor of Captain John Kendrick.  It was placed at a spot that would have been about the shoreline when Kendrick was killed.

Click the links below for general summaries that helps explain it – the file ending with ‘SAR–RT’ is a formatting used by the Sons of the American Revolution for presentations by its members under its Revolutionary Times program:

Click to access John-Kendrick-American-Revolutionary-War-Patriot.pdf

Click to access John-Kendrick-–-American-Patriot-Who-Died-in-Honolulu-SAR-RT.pdf

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