Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Barrier Forests

“Our native forests are being rapidly depleted through the operation of several factors. Opinions may differ as to the relative importance of these factors, but the undeniable fact remains that the forests are disappearing at an alarming rate and the denudation has already gone so far on many of our important watersheds as to jeopardize the water supply obtained therefrom.”

“Cattle and Hilo grass are the most potent factors in bringing about the final elimination of our native forest trees, shrubs, vines and ferns.”

“The first problem to be considered in any constructive forestry plan should be the protection and preservation of our native forests; in other words, we should take steps to keep what we still have.”

“To do this we must build fences to keep out animals and plant barrier forests of strong introduced trees to hold back and smother out the Hilo grass.”

“In selecting trees and shrubs for our forest planting, we should give preference to those that show ability to spread spontaneously through the free production of seed that will be carried by natural agencies such as wind and birds.” (Watt, McLennan, Knudsen & Lyon; Hawaiian Planters Record, Vol XX, 1919)

“There are water-conserving native forests still covering areas of considerable extent in these Islands …. These forests are doomed to destruction if prompt protective and constructive measures are not adopted for their preservation.”

“If we would save what is left of our native rain-forests we must eliminate the cattle now present in them, prevent their further invasion by stock with proper fences, and build barrier forests along their exposed edges.”

“These measures should be instituted at once, not in one small area only, but throughout the Islands wherever there is a native forest of any extent.”

“Some seem to think that reforestation in these Islands means the immediate replacement of the native trees with foreign stock. Such a course is altogether inadvisable.”

“We should first save what we still have in the way of forests and create our new forests on the large areas from which the native forests have nearly or quite disappeared.”

“At a recent meeting of the Committee on Forestry of the H. S. P. A., the following resolution was adopted: ‘RESOLVED, That it is the desire of this Committee that the preservation and extension of the native forest be the main consideration in all planting operations undertaken on our forest areas.’” (Hawaiian Planters Record, Vol XX, 1919)

“The primary object of all forest plantings on our watersheds must be to revive and create plant formations, including trees, shrubs, ferns and mosses, which will grow in a harmonious society and afford the greatest possible water-conserving capacity. No pure-culture forest can equal a mixed plant society in this respect.”

“Reforestation as commonly dealt with in text-books on forestry or as practiced by foresters in various parts of the world, aims at the creation of pure-culture forests.”

“Our reforestation problem is, therefore, unique; we have no precedent to go by. Ecological botanists have, however, supplied us with many careful analyses of such forest formations as we desire to create on our own watersheds.”

“Our problem is to build similar forest-formations, using such material as is already available in the Islands, and importing such additional material as is needed to round out our new plant societies.”

“The forest-formations which we must create are of two general types: barrier-forests and deep or interior rain-forests.”

“I employ the term barrier-forest to include the plant formations which must constitute the outer exposed edge of our forests and form the transition from denuded areas to rain-forest.”

“We should first concern ourselves with these barrier-forests, for such forest-formations must be built up along the exposed edges of all the existing remnants of our native rain-forests if these remnants are to be preserved, and they must also be constructed along the margins of any area on which we could create a new rain-forest.”

“It is then quite evident that the barrier-forest must be constructed first in any reforestation project we may undertake. It follows, therefore, that our first problem is to get together the proper components for a barrier-forest formation.”

“Experimental plantings looking toward the building of rainforest formations can be started as soon as plants are available for the purpose.”

“This work must progress more slowly than that in the barrier-forest formations and should be undertaken first on denuded areas where the native forest has nearly or quite disappeared.” (Lyon; Proceedings of the HSPA, 1919)

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Kona Lagoon

“Originally called the ‘Kona Hawaiian Resort,’ the new hotel’s developers renamed it ‘to better reflect its environment and because operations will be under management of Hawaiian Pacific Resorts, operators of Hilo Lagoon.’” (HTH, Nov 9, 1972)

“Located next to the Keauhou Beach Hote on Alii Drive, the new Lagoon is a joint venture between Hawaiian Pacific Management Resorts and Mitsubishi of Japan.” (HTH, May 30, 1973)  The 462-room hotel opened April 6, 1973

“A prime feature of the resort will be a 600 person capacity convention hall in Polynesian longhouse design.” (HTH, May 30, 1973) “With the completion of the Kona Lagoon hotel recently my list of impressive buildings on this island is up not one, but two!”

“Portions of this new hotel are the equivalent of an artistic museum of Hawaiian history. The main lobby is a bifurcated sort of a structure with an ‘island’ in the middle on which there is a pictorial history that really amounts to an art gallery.”

“The presentation is vital and the art good, and with enough variations in style to denigrate any possibility of the boredom that can sometimes come with historic subjects.” (Von Garske, HTH, Agu 4, 1974)

“The Kona Lagoon is the third large-scale resort hotel in Keauhou, joining the 314-room Keauhou Beach Hotel operated by Amfac and the 550-room Kona Surf operated by Interisland Resorts. The Bishop development south of Kailua Village now has nearly 1,500 guest rooms in a project that has cost more than $40 million to date.”

“The Lagoon features a 700-seat convention building known as the Polynesian Long House, a highly decorative structure in front of the hotel along AIii Drive. … The resort has two dining facilities – the Tonga Dining Room and the Wharf Gourmet Restaurant – two bars and a specialty Japanese steak house.”

“Another feature is a salt water lagoon surrounding the hotel with first floor guests encouraged to leap immediately from their rooms into the water.” (HnlAdv, March 21, 1974)

“When the Kona Lagoon Hotel opened its doors, guests and staff reported a wide variety of unexplained phenomena – shadowy figures roaming the hallways, disembodied screams piercing the night, and lights flickering without cause. Such events led to whispers of a curse, a belief that the hotel was built upon land that the living were never meant to inhabit.” (AmericanGhostWalks)

“The property was sold in May 1986 through a foreclosure auction … to Otaka Inc.” (Hnl Adv, May 7, 1988) In 1987, Azabu USA, a subsidiary of Azabu-Jidosha, a foreign car bought the Kona Lagoon from Otaka. (SB, April 17, 1987) About a year later, they announced the hotel would close for a 17-month reconstruction to turn it into an all-suites resort. (SB, April 15, 1988)

“When the hotel closed in 1988, the official reason was because the Japanese owners ran out of money and were unable to obtain additional financing.” (Harry Helms)

“Some people think the Kona Lagoon Hotel was cursed from the start. Surrounded by ancient temples and archaeological sites, it was built on the dwelling place of supernatural twin sisters, ‘aumakua who took the form of lizards, according to Hawaiian legend.”

“Security guards hired to watch the property when the 462-room hotel closed in 1988 were frightened at night, said Joe Castelli, who lives at the neighboring Keauhou Kona Tennis and Racquet Club.”

“They told me that they would see lights up there and hear Hawaiians singing and talking,” Castelli said. “…But when they got there, they didn’t find anything. So they said they just didn’t go anymore.”  (HnlAdv, Oct 14, 2002)

“Construction of the hotel obliterated the legendary Keawehala Pond, once thought to be inhabited by twin sisters who wielded extraordinary powers. These superwomen were the fierce protectors of local fresh water, who could transform themselves into formidable 30-foot lizards known as mo‘o.”

“The giant edifice of concrete and glass also infringed on nearby heiaus, sacred Hawaiian temples. … One of these sacred Hawaiian temples, called a luakini, was specifically dedicated to human sacrifice.”

“This ancient walled structure, built from native volcanic rocks, was 7-feet high. Providing a platform for carved wooden idols called ki‘i, which represent Hawaiian gods, the fortress-like enclosure protected thatched huts that held drums and offerings. This luakini was named Ke‘eku Heiau.” (AmericanGhostWalks)

“Whether or not the property is cursed, it’s true that attempts by landowner Kamehameha Schools and its for-profit subsidiary, Kamehameha Investment Corp., have failed to find a lessee.” (HnlAdv, Oct 14, 2002)  The Kona Lagoon was demolished in 2004.

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Nāuhi Cabin

The early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully in the islands.

Fast forward … Hawai‘i’s economy turned toward sugar in the decades between 1860 and 1880; these twenty years were pivotal in building the plantation system.

Sugar‐cane farming gained this prestige without great difficulty because sugar cane soon proved to be the only available crop that could be grown profitably under the severe conditions imposed upon plants grown on the lands which were available for cultivation.  (HSPA 1947)

In 1876, the legislature of Kamehameha III passed a law declaring all “forest lands” to be government property in an effort to conserve the forests from further encroachment on the seaward side by the plantations’ need for fuel and on the mountain side from grazing animals.

Founded in 1895, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA), dedicated to improving the sugar industry in Hawai‘i, has become an internationally recognized research center.  (It was in 1996 when HSPA expanded its research interest besides sugarcane and acquired its current name Hawai‘i Agriculture Research Center (HARC), expanding its research on tropical crops and forests.)

Interestingly, it was the sugar growers, significant users of Hawai‘i’s water resources, who led the forest reserve protection movement.  On May 13, 1903, the Territory of Hawaiʻi, with the backing of the Hawaiʻi Sugar Planters’ Association, established the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry.  (HDOA)

The Forest Reserves were established as a cooperative arrangement between the Hawaiʻi Sugar Planters Association and the territorial government.

Plantations needed wood for fuel, but they also needed to keep the forests intact to draw mist precipitation from the trade winds, which in turn fed the irrigation systems in the cane fields below.

Their own consumption of fuel had clearly been contributing to the decline of the forest at lower elevations, where flume systems transported large quantities of wood, as well as cane.  (Mills)

The link between tree-planting and the sugar planters can be seen particularly clearly in the career of Harold Lyon, who arrived in Hawai‘i in 1907 as a plant pathologist in the employ of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA).

Lyon was a strong voice for forests; neglect of the islands’ forests would be “suicidal,” for ‘‘everything fails with the failure of our water supply’’.

Johnny Ah San, who worked as a territorial forester, noted, “And then HSPA had a man down at Nāuhi Nursery, and they planted trees. Then before the war [WWII], Roosevelt had the WPA [Works Progress Administration], so the men planted trees in the forest.” (Johnny Ah San; Maly)

The Nāuhi (‘the yams’) facility was interchangeably referred to as a Nursery and Experimental Station (and, apparently, also called Nāuhi Camp). The Hilo Forest Reserve was the site of cooperative reforestation efforts by the HSPA and Territorial foresters and later by the Civilian Conservation Corps under the direction of the Bureau of Forestry.

Over 100 varieties of temperate trees and plants were tested at the Experiment Station at Nāuhi; many of which succeeded to the point of naturally reproducing.

Nāuhi Cabin (a small building with three out-structures) was part of the Nāuhi Gulch Experiment Station, which was established in 1924. It is located in the ahupua‘a of Honohina at about 5,100 feet above sea level.  A nursery that was part of the Experiment Station is no longer standing. (Tuggle)

The purpose of Nāuhi Gulch Experiment Station, which operated until the beginning of World War II, was to “introduce, propagate and plant out in the adjacent forest lands various species and varieties of temperate zone, both northern and southern, trees and other plants”.

To this end, over 78 varieties of fruit trees and over 30 varieties of other temperate zone trees and plants were tested. Surrounding the cabin now is a wild landscape of feral garden flowers like roses, daisies, and nasturtiums, as well as apple, pear, and plum trees.

In 1941, wild pigs in the Nāuhi gulch-Pihā area were noted by Lyon: “Of special interest to us at this time are your remarks regarding the prevalence of wild hogs in the Nāuhi Gulch-Pihā region. They undoubtedly do a great deal of damage there.”

“If, for any reason, this Territory is compelled to produce its own food supply, we could organize a campaign which would remove most of these hogs from the forest and, at the same time, yield a goodly amount of excellent food for our people.” (Tuggle)

The cabin was part of a complex that included several buildings and an orchard on 47 acres of land leased from Lili‘uokalani Trust. In 1945, Territorial forester Bryan reported on the conditions at the by-then abandoned station (Bryan 1945):

“There has been no work done at this station for a considerable period of time, and it is in a run-down state at the present time. Fences are in need of repairs, wild pigs are numerous and have done some damages in the orchard, and it will require considerable labor and effort to bring it back to its former appearance.”

Nāuhi Cabin has been used by the National Biological Survey. Formed in 1993, their mission was to gather, analyze, and disseminate the biological information necessary for the sound stewardship of natural resources and to foster understanding of biological systems and the benefits they provide to society. It is now known as USGS’s Biological Resource Division (BRD).

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Moa

The first birds to be introduced into the Islands came with early Polynesians, who brought the Moa – Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) – for food.

“It is not clearly understood how this species interacted with the terrestrial native birds, how it competed for resources, and what diseases might have been introduced with it, but the introduction of this bird by the Polynesians as a domestic animal probably had some impact.”

“[T]he Red Junglefowl is found in numbers only on Kauai, which lacks the mongoose, but it was formerly established in the wild on all the main islands. Its reproductive potential is high, and it is omnivorous.”

“It seems very likely to us that this species in large numbers could have been a potent competitor to some species of ground-foraging native birds, such as the smaller rails, only one of which survived into historical times.” (Van Riper and Scott)

This “original chicken” is smaller than its domestic descendants and is widespread throughout South and Southeast Asia; can also be found as an introduced species in many regions around the world (especially prevalent on many Pacific Islands, including Hawaii). (eBird)

“Dr. Stanley C. Ball … has studied the Polynesian chickens (moa) and concluded that they were brought from Malaysia to Polynesia, where they were found in all the islands except New Zealand.”

“‘The wooden breast-plates carved by the natives of Rapanui (Easter Island) to represent the cock, and the few traditions which mention this bird, lend weight to the view that the fowl has long been associated with the inhabitants of even the easternmost islands of Polynesia.’”

“‘The Malaysian region, from which fowls were evidently brought to the Pacific islands, was very close to, if not actually the home of, the wild jungle fowl (Gallus gallus),’ Dr. Ball states.”

“It is found from the southern Himalayas, through India, Java, Timor, Lombok, the Philippines, Balabac, Palawan, and Hainan, into Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.”

“Ball believed (and rightly, without doubt) that the chickens brought by Polynesian migrants were already domesticated, and that wild chickens to be found in the Marquesas, Tahiti, Hawaii, and elsewhere have reverted to the wild.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

As noted in Captain Cook’s journal, “The hogs, dogs, and fowls, which were the only tame or domestic animals that we found here, were all of the same kind that we met with at the South Pacific islands. There were also small lizards; and some rats, resembling those seen at every island at which we had as yet touched.”

“Of animal food, they can be in no want; as they have abundance of hogs, which run, without restraint, about the houses; and if they eat dogs, which is not improbable, their stock of these seem to be very considerable … They eat fowls of the same domestic kind as ours, but they are neither plentiful nor much esteemed by them.” (Cook’s Journal)

“Probably Hawaiians regarded their chickens as second-rate fare because chicken meat steamed in an imu is less flavorful for eating with poi than is good fish.”

“We may be sure, nevertheless, that the pioneering voyagers to these islands would not have taken the trouble to keep alive hens and roosters on their long voyages hither if they had not prized them.”

“Mrs. Pukui remembers, however, that even in her childhood older Hawaiians would not eat eggs. ‘It would be like eating the hen’s unborn baby,’ her grandmother said with distaste.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“Mrs. Pukui has, with the help of her mother, Mrs. Pa‘ahana Wiggin, recorded the following colors and names of a variety of native chickens in old Hawaii.”

“The moa of Hawai‘i were smaller than the haole (introduced) chicken, legs shorter, and bodies longer. A pure white moa was called moa-ke‘oke‘o,  -Iawa, or -wakea. A black moa was called a hiwa or hiwa-pa‘a.”

“The moa nene were speckled like the Hawaiian goose (nene) . Those with yellowish-cream feathers were called pua-hau, for the yellow hau flower. Smoky gray ones were called lehu or nalehu. (ashy). Speckled with feathers of variegated colors were the ‘opule-pule (mixed-up-crazily).”

“With a ring of feathers around the neck like the plover, it was the moa ‘a‘i kolea. The ‘ulahiwa ranged in shade from a light red to a deep ocherous red. White with red feathers on the back was termed lawa a‘ea‘e (mixed).”

“(The Pukui-Elbert dictionary, 1957, adds two others: the completely black chicken, similar to the mud hen ‘alae, is called moa ‘alae; the black chicken with red feathers at neck and rump is moa ‘alae hulu ‘ula.)”

“The long, curving, irridescent tail feathers of the cocks are always present. These were prized in the Marquesas for warriors’ headdresses, and in Hawaii for making the tall feather-trimmed standards (kahili) that were emblems of rank.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“We have often heard the shrill crow of wild roosters in the forests around Koke‘e, above Waimea Canyon on the island of Kauai. These cocks are bright-hued. They have crossbred with Indonesian jungle fowl imported some years ago.”

“In the Marquesas the hours before dawn were named ‘first-cock’s-crow,’ ‘second-cock’s-crow,’ and ‘third-cock’s-crow’; in Hawaii likewise: ‘moa-kua-kahi,’ ‘moa-kua-lua,’ ‘moa-kua-kolu.’”

“In Hawaii, if a cock crew much too early it was a sign that canoes might be expected to make an appearance. If a cock came right to the house door to crow, it announced the imminent arrival of visitors and warned the family to make preparations.”

“The Hawaiian fowl is traditionally identified with the Lono-Pele migration, specifically with ‘Olopana, paramount chief of Ko‘olau on Oahu. The first predacious exploit of the doughty Kamapua‘a (‘Hog-child,’ a demigod) was killing jungle fowl belonging to his uncle ‘Olopana.”

“And it was Ka-wa‘u-hele-moa (The-fowl-scratching-as-it-goes), a native sprite in the form of a fowl, who saw the thievery and gave the alarm to ‘Olopana, thus precipitating notable warfare. Ka-wa‘u-hele-moa lived in Palolo Valley, above the southerly shore of Oahu, and plays an active role in several legends.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“Cock-fighting (haka-moa) was a very fashionable sport with the aliis”. (Malo) Chickens were thought to be forms of the mo‘o (reptile) class of ancestral gods (‘aumakua).

“Their greatest importance to Hawaiians was their use as offerings to temple gods and to family gods. Often a chicken of a particular color was called for as an offering in a healing rite. Sacrificed chickens played an important part in any ritual performed to fend off black magic.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

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Hawai‘i Transportation Evolution

The canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi, extensive cross-country trail networks.   Overland travel was on foot and followed the traditional trails.

Then, in 1803, American ship under Captain William Shaler (with commercial officer Richard Cleveland,) arrived with three horses aboard – gifts for King Kamehameha.

In the 1820s and 1830s, more horses were imported from California, and by the 1840s the use of introduced horses, mules and bullocks for transportation was increasing.

In 1825, Andrew Bloxam (naturalist aboard the HMS Blonde) noted in Honolulu that, “The streets are formed without order or regularity.  Some of the huts are surrounded by low fences or wooden stakes … As fires often happen the houses are all built apart from each other.  The streets or lanes are far from being clean …” (Clark, HJH)

By the 1830s, King Kamehameha III initiated a program of island-wide improvements on the ala loa, and in 1847, a formal program for development of the alanui aupuni (government roads) was initiated.

Sidewalks were constructed, usually of wood, as early as 1838.  The first sidewalk made of brick was laid down in 1857 by watchmaker Samuel Tawson in front of his shop on Merchant Street.

It wasn’t until 1850 that streets received official names.  On August 30, 1850, the Privy Council first named Hawaiʻi’s streets; there were 35-streets that received official names that day (29 were in Downtown Honolulu, the others nearby).

At the time, “Broadway” was the main street (we now call it King Street;) it was the widest and longest – about 2-3 miles long from the river (Nuʻuanu River on the west) out to the “plains” (to Mānoa).

It wasn’t until 1852 that the Chinese became the first contract laborers to arrive in the islands.  At about that time, Honolulu had approximately 10,000-residents.  Foreigners made up about 6% of that (excluding visiting sailors).  Laws at the time allowed naturalization of foreigners to become subjects of the King (by about that time, about 440 foreigners exercised that right).

The majority of houses were made of grass (hale pili,) there were about 875 of them; there were also 345 adobe houses, 49 stone houses, 49 wooden houses and 29 combination (adobe below, wood above).  In 1847, Washington Place was built by future-Queen Liliʻuokalani’s father-in-law.

The earliest public transit was the Pioneer Omnibus Line, with a horse-pulled vehicle serving parts of Honolulu for a few years beginning in the spring of 1868.  (Schmitt)

In the quarter century from 1872 to 1896 the population just about doubled in the kingdom from 57,000 to 109,000; Honolulu doubled from 15,000 to 30,000.

In 1884, the legislature passed a law “granting to William R. Austin and his associates the right to construct and operate a street railroad upon certain streets of the city of Honolulu.” Later amended, the law granted authority the Hawaiian Tramways Company, Limited (from England.)  (Kuykendall)

In 1888, the animal-powered tramcar service of Hawaiian Tramways ran track from downtown to Waikīkī. In 1900, the Tramway was taken over by the Honolulu Rapid Transit & Land Co (HRT).

That year, an electric trolley (tram line) was put into operation in Honolulu, and then in 1902, a tram line was built to connect Waikīkī and downtown Honolulu. The electric trolley replaced the horse/mule-driven tram cars.

The first automobiles appeared on the streets of Honolulu on October 8, 1899, the date on which both Henry P Baldwin and Edward D Tenney took possession of their newly arrived vehicles (both described as Wood electrics.)  (Schmitt) 

By 1900, Honolulu had a population of more than 39,000 and was in the midst of a development boom, creating tremendous need for more housing.

“[T]here were only four automobiles on Oahu in 1901 – you lived downtown because you worked downtown, you couldn’t live in Kaimuki or in Manoa.”  (Star Bulletin)

The “first gas-engined automobile complete with steering wheel and tonneau,” acquired by CM Cooke in 1904, and the Honolulu Automobile Club later adopted this date for the “first real automobile” in the Islands.  (Schmitt)

Spurring a boom, in 1903, Henry Ford officially opened the Ford Motor Company and five years later released the first Model T.  In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create “a motor car for the great multitude.”  (pbs)

“The automobile owner uses his car six days a week either in direct pursuit of his business or as a means of quickly transporting himself and others to and from that place of business.”

“The fact that he may take his family out on a Sunday is not a pleasure trip, but a necessary recreation in order, to ‘keep fit’ for his work.”  (McAlpine, Schuman Carriage, Honolulu Star Bulletin, November 3, 1907)

“The census of 1908 gave 259 cars imported into the islands in that year, thus showing that the automobile is in use pretty generally, as it is now estimated that there are nearly seven hundred cars in the islands, an increase of more than 100 per cent in one year.” (Beringer, Overland Monthly, July 1909)

“The automobile is here to stay. If we had better roads there would be more automobiles sold, naturally.”    (Gustav Schuman, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 24, 1916)

The first traffic lights in the Islands were installed at the intersection of Nuʻuanu Avenue and Beretania Street, Honolulu; an overhead signal was put into operation February 19, 1936.

On February 24 the overhead lights were “replaced by side bracket lights, flashing the green go and red stop light from a post at each corner.” The new lights were “operated by the flow of traffic itself.”  (Schmitt)

In 1938 automobile registration stood at 43,785. In 1945 the number of automobiles on island had grown to 52,527; a dozen years later, in 1957, automobile registration stood at 159,227, a 329.8 percent increase since 1945.

This tremendous influx of automobiles resulted in myriad needs having to be addressed, ranging from the reduction of traffic congestion to improved parking, and enhanced traffic safety measures.

The Territory undertook two other major highway projects, the Mauka and Makai Arterials, to divert traffic off downtown streets.  (HHS)

“‘A super highway through Honolulu, 120 feet wide and running mauka of the business district from Kalihi to Kaimuki … would be invaluable in solving Honolulu’s pressing traffic problem,’ engineer John Rush told the City Council in 1939.”

The 1945 Territorial Legislature enacted a liquid fuel tax in order to generate the funds necessary to match the federal funds available for the highway’s construction. This tax was increased to five cents a gallon in 1955 to help offset Hawaii’s match for the increasing federal dollars coming to the islands for highway construction.

From 1952 to 1962, Honolulu officials kept adding to the Mauka Arterial, described as the first road in the state “tailored to the flight patterns of people.”

The Lunalilo Highway project was expanded to become the H-1, a 28 mile roadway running from Palailai at Campbell Industrial Park to Ainakoa Avenue, with the Lunalilo Highway being the section running through Honolulu.  (DOT)

A companion Makai Arterial that would have run past Waikiki, down Ala Moana and along an elevated roadway near the Honolulu waterfront never materialized as planned.  (DOT)

Instead, the eight lane Makai Arterial, named Nimitz Highway, opened to traffic in November 1952, ten years after construction had commenced at the Pearl Harbor gate.  (HHS)

A section of the Federal-Aid to Highways Act of 1959 required that a study be undertaken to consider the eligibility of Hawai‘i and Alaska for interstate highway funding.

As a result of the study, the Hawaii Omnibus Act, which President Eisenhower signed into law on July 12, 1960, removed the language in the Federal-Aid Highway Act which limited the interstate system to the continental US.

It also authorized three interstate highways for Hawaii, H-1, H-2 and H-3 to address national defense concerns, an allowed interstate highway justification which resulted from a 1957 amendment to the original act.  (DOT)

An interesting remnant of apparently changed alignment (and probable interconnection of the Mauka and Makai Arterials) is a stub out to nowhere at the on/off ramps at Kapiʻolani Boulevard to H-1.  (Lots of information here is from DOT, HHS and Leidemann.)

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