Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Historic Curbs and Sidewalks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Sidewalk Stamp Downtown Honolulu-John_Walker-(walker-moody-com)
Sidewalk Stamp Downtown Honolulu-John_Walker-(walker-moody-com)-1971
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Moiliili Quarry (C&C-Honolulu-hawaii-edu)-1923
Moiliili Quarry site-Tantalus is in the background-(star-bulletin)

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Star Spangled Banner

Often overlooked, twenty-nine years after the end of the American Revolution, conflict between the new United States and Britain flared up, again.

The War of 1812 broke out for a variety of reasons, including Britain’s seizure of American ships, forced taking of American sailors into the British navy and restriction of trade between the United States and France.

In June 1812, James Madison became the first US president to ask Congress to declare war (he sent a war message to the Congress on June 1, 1812 and signed the declaration of war on June 18, 1812.)  (The conflict ended with the Treaty of Ghent, in 1815.)

The tensions that caused the War of 1812 arose from the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815).

During this nearly constant conflict between France and Britain, American interests were injured by each of the two countries’ endeavors to block the United States from trading with the other.

In Hawaiʻi, the issue of interest was the export of sandalwood – the War of 1812 interfered with trade in the Pacific.

Exports were interrupted by the battling nations as warships were sent to protect their own commerce and destroy that of the enemy.  Hawaiʻi was blockaded during the war.

In addition, several Hawaiians served with the US in the war, including Humehume (Prince Kaumualiʻi, son of King Kaumualiʻi,) Thomas Hopu and William Kanui (all three were also on the Thaddeus with the first missionary company to Hawaiʻi, in 1820.)

A lasting legacy of the War of 1812 was the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the US national anthem.  They were penned by the amateur poet Francis Scott Key after he watched American forces withstand the British siege of Fort McHenry (named for James McHenry, Secretary of War, 1796 – 1800.)

Following the Burning of Washington and the Raid on Alexandria, Key set sail from Baltimore aboard the ship HMS Minden, flying a flag of truce on a mission approved by President James Madison. Their objective was to secure the exchange of prisoners.

On September 13, 1814, nineteen British ships aimed their cannons and guns on the fort.  Amazingly, an estimated 1,500 to 1,800 British cannonballs failed to cause any significant damage to a fort which was unable to fire back on the ships because they were positioned just out of range of the American guns.

During the rainy night, Key had witnessed the bombardment and observed that the fort’s smaller “storm flag” continued to fly, but once the shell and rocket barrage had stopped, he would not know how the battle had turned out until dawn.  By then, the storm flag had been lowered and the larger flag had been raised.

Key was inspired by the American victory and the sight of the large American flag flying triumphantly above the fort.  That morning, he penned the poem that eventually became our country’s National Anthem.

The flag, with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, came to be known as the Star Spangled Banner Flag and is today on display in the National Museum of American History in the Smithsonian Institution.

The song gained popularity throughout the nineteenth century and bands played it during public events, such as July 4th celebrations.

On July 27, 1889, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy signed General Order #374, making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the official tune to be played at the raising of the flag.

I was fortunate to have attended a Coastal States Organization meeting in Baltimore, Maryland while I served as Director at DLNR.  I took the time to visit Fort McHenry to better see and understand what it looked like.

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

A Parting Address

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), based in Boston, was founded in 1810, the first organized missionary society in the US … “and was incorporated, by the Legislature of Massachusetts, June 20, 1812. Its beginnings, as is well known, were small, and the anticipations of its supporters not remarkably sanguine:”

“but its resources and operations have regularly increased, till, in respect to the number of its patron – the amount of its funds – and the extent of its influence, it is entitled to a place among the principal benevolent institutions of the earth.”

They decided to send a Company of missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands. “Messrs. Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston, from the Andover Theological Seminary, were ordained as missionaries at Goshen, Conn., on the 29th of September, 1819. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Heman Humphrey, afterwards President of Amherst College, from Joshua xiii. 1: ‘There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.’”

“Besides these, the mission contained a physician. Dr. Holman; two schoolmasters, Messrs. Whitney and Ruggles; a printer, Mr. Loomis; and a farmer, Mr. Chamberlain. All these were married men, and the farmer took with him his five children.” (Anderson, 1872)

“Within two weeks after the ordination in Goshen, the missionary company assembled in Boston, to receive their instructions and embark. There, in the vestry of Park Street Church, under the counsels of the officers of the Board, Dr. S Worcester, Dr. J Morse, J Evarts, Esq., and others, the little pioneer band was, on the 15th of Oct., 1819, organized into a Church for transplantation.” (Hiram Bingham)

“The members of the mission, at the time of receiving their public instructions from the Board in Park-Street Church, were organized into a mission church, including the three islanders. There existed then no doubt as to the expediency of such a step.” (Anderson, 1872)

“The next morning, Saturday, October 16, at 10 o’clock, Mr. Thurston delivered a farewell address in the same church to a large congregation of friends of missions from various parts of New England. A portion of his words were as follows:

“Permit me, my dear friends, to express the sentiments and feelings of this missionary company on the present occasion. We would express our gratitude to the Great Head of the Church, for the provision He has made for the souls of men, and for the evidence which He graciously gives us, that we are severally interested in this great salvation.”

“We bless God that we live in this interesting period of the world-that so much has been done, and that so much is still doing to extend the blessings of the Redeemer’s kingdom to the ends of the earth.”

“The present is emphatically styled a day of action. The Church is opening her eyes on the miseries of a world lying in wickedness. Her compassion is moved, and her benevolence excited to alleviate human sufferings, and to save the soul from death. We have felt that the Savior was speaking to us, and our bosoms· have panted for the privilege of engaging in the blessed work of evangelizing the heathen.”

“We have voluntarily devoted ourselves to this great object, and have been set apart to go forth and labor for its accomplishment. In a few days we expect to leave this loved land of our nativity, for the far distant isles of the sea, there to plant this little vine, and nourish it, till it shall extend through all the islands, till it shall shoot its branches across to the American coast, and its precious fruit shall be gathered at the foot of her mountains.” (Asa Thurston, as noted by Lucy Thurston)

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from the northeast United States, set sail from Boston on the Thaddeus for Hawai‘i.

After 164-days at sea, on April 4, 1820, the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi. Hawai‘i’s “Plymouth Rock” is about where the Kailua pier is today.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Park Street Church

The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), based in Boston, was founded in 1810, the first organized missionary society in the US.

“Messrs. Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston, from the Andover Theological Seminary, were ordained as missionaries at Goshen, Conn., on the 29th of September, 1819. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Heman Humphrey, afterwards President of Amherst College, from Joshua xiii. 1: ‘There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.’”

“Besides these, the mission contained a physician. Dr. Holman; two schoolmasters, Messrs. Whitney and Ruggles; a printer, Mr. Loomis; and a farmer, Mr. Chamberlain. All these were married men, and the farmer took with him his five children.”

“The members of the mission, at the time of receiving their public instructions from the Board in Park-Street Church, were organized into a mission church, including the three islanders. There existed then no doubt as to the expediency of such a step.” (Anderson, 1872)

“Within two weeks after the ordination in Goshen, the missionary company assembled in Boston, to receive their instructions and embark.”

“There, in the vestry of Park Street Church, under the counsels of the officers of the Board, Dr. S. Worcester, Dr. J. Morse, J. Evarts, Esq., and others, the little pioneer band was, on the 15th of Oct., 1819, organized into a Church for transplantation. The members renewed their covenant, and publicly subscribed with their hands unto the Lord, and united in a joyful song (Happy Day).”

“In these solemn and memorable transactions, the parties cherished the delightful expectation, that the prayer then offered by one of the Missionaries, ‘that this vine might be transplanted and strike its roots deep in the Sandwich Islands, and send forth its branches and its fruits till it should fill the land,’ would not only be heard in Heaven, but ere long, be graciously answered to the joy of the Hawaiian people, and of their friends throughout Christendom.”

“The object for which the missionaries felt themselves impelled to visit the Hawaiian race, was to honor God, by making known his will, and to benefit those heathen tribes, by making them acquainted with the way of life, – to turn them from their follies and crimes, idolatries and oppressions, to the service and enjoyment of the living God, and adorable Redeemer, – to give them the Bible in their own tongue, with ability to read it for themselves, – to introduce and extend among them the more to fill the habitable parts of those important islands with schools and churches, fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings.”

“To do this, not only were the Spirit and power of the Highest required, – for, ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it,’ but, since he will not build his spiritual house, unless his laborers build it, the preacher and translator, the physician, the farmer, the printer, the catechist, and schoolmaster, the Christian wife and mother, the female teacher of heathen wives, mothers, and children, were also indispensable.”

“Nor could this work be reasonably expected to be done by a few laborers only, at few and distant points, and in the face of all the opposition which Satan and WIcked men would, if possible, naturally array against them.”

“In conformity with the judgment of the Prudential Committee, the pioneer missionary company consisted of two ordained preachers and translators, a physician, two schoolmasters and catechists, a printer and a farmer, the wives of the seven, and three Hawaiians.” (Bingham)

Instructions from the ABCFM

The Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM,) In giving instructions to missionaries headed to the Hawaiian Islands, noted (in part:)

“Dearly Beloved in the Lord, The present is a moment of deep interest to you, and to us all. You are now on the point, the most of you, of leaving your country, and your kindred, and your father’s houses, and committing yourselves, under Providence, to the winds and the waves, for conveyance to far distant Islands of the Sea, there to spend the remainder of your day”

“It is for no private end, for no earthly object that you go. It is wholly for the good of others, and for the glory of God our Saviour.”

“Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization; of bringing, or preparing the means of bringing, thousands and millions of the present and succeeding generations to the mansions of eternal blessedness.”

“You are to abstain from all interferarnce with the local and political interests of the people. The kingdom of Christ is not of this world, and it especially behoves a missionary to stand aloof from the private and transient interests of chiefs and rulers. Inculcate the duties of justice, moderation, forbearance, truth and universal kindness. Do all in your power to make men of every class good, wise and happy.”

“The points of especial and essential importance to all missionaries, and all persons engaged in the missionary work are four: — Devotedness to Christ; subordination to rightful direction; unity one with another; and benevolence towards the objects of their mission.”

Park Street Church

The beginnings of Park Street Church date to 1804 when a ‘Religious Improvement Society’ began holding weekly lectures and prayer meetings in Boston. (Congregational Library)

In 1809, fourteen men and twelve women founded the Church. At that time, Thomas Jefferson was completing his second term in office, many other heroes of the American Revolution, including Paul Revere and John and Abigail Adams, were still alive. Only 15-states, all east of the Mississippi River, had joined the Union. The population of Boston was not quite 34,000. (Rosell)

Park Street Church was the tallest building in the city from the time it was built (1810) until 1867 (prior to that, the Old North Church was taller). Before the water surrounding Boston was filled in to create Back Bay and other neighborhoods, someone arriving by water could see the steeple from all directions. (Park Street Church)

Park Street Church quickly became the site of significant historical events including the founding of the Handel and Haydn Society in 1815, the American Temperance Society in 1826, the Animal Rescue League in 1889, and the NAACP in 1910. It also served to host William Lloyd Garrison’s first anti-slavery speech in 1829 and Charles Sumner’s famous address, ‘The War System of Nations’, in 1849. (Congregational Library)

On July 4, 1831, Park Street Church Sunday school children performed America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee) for the very first time. The tune – which you might recognize also as God Save the Queen – was adapted by Park Street organist, Lowell Mason, to fit the lyrics penned by Samuel Francis Smith. Listen here to the congregation of Park Street Church sing this hymn.

Click HERE for Park Street Church My Country Tis of Thee.

Above text is a summary – Click HERE for more information on Park Street Church

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Park Street Church-tallest building in Boston until 1867-ParkStreetChurch
Park Street Church-tallest building in Boston until 1867-ParkStreetChurch
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Park Street Church Boston_ca1890-WC
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Park Street Church-1904-WC
Overview of Common, with Park St. Church (left) 1850-WC
Overview of Common, with Park St. Church (left) 1850-WC
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ParkStreetChurchInterior-2007-WC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Green Flash

As the sun sinks slowly in the West, there is cause for pause by people as they wish their luck in seeing the elusive “green flash.”
 
I remember the daily ritual on our deck in Kahaluʻu mauka in Kona (as we were growing up, it was the only home we ever lived in with a western orientation and view of the Pacific Ocean.)
 
Scientists say green flashes come in two common forms; these were described by James Prescott Joule in a letter to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1869.
 
First, he noted that “at the moment of the departure of the sun below the horizon, the last glimpse is coloured bluish green.” This “last glimpse” flash is associated with the inferior mirage, familiar on asphalt roads on sunny days.
 
It is best seen from a few meters above sea level, and becomes compressed to a thin line at the horizon when seen from considerable heights.
 
Joule also observed that “Just at the upper edge, where bands of the sun’s disk are separated one after the other by refraction, each band becomes coloured blue just before it vanishes.”
 
This second form of flash is associated with a mock mirage, which is caused by a thermal inversion below eye level; so it is mainly seen from elevated positions.
 
As light passes from the vacuum of space into the atmosphere, which acts like a prism, it slows down and causes the light to bend or refract towards the surface of the earth.
 
The white from the sun is made up of many different colors of light, all of which have a different wavelength. The wavelength (or color) of light affects how much it is refracted on entering the atmosphere, with red light refracted the most and blue least (as in rainbows).
 
Imagine the image of the sun as being made up of red, green and blue images. Light from the ‘red image’ will be refracted more than that from the green and blue.
 
So, the ‘red image’ will appear lower than the green, which will similarly appear lower than the blue. At sunset, or sunrise, this effect is intensified as light travels through a slightly thicker atmosphere.
 
As the sun disappears below the horizon, the ‘red image’ will disappear first and the blue last.
 
The atmosphere causes blue light to be scattered more than red or green – the reason why the sky appears blue – so light from the ‘green image’ … the ‘green flash’ … will normally be the last thing you see as the sun disappears below the horizon.
 
On very rare occasions, the atmosphere may be clear enough to allow some of the blue light to reach us and cause a ‘blue flash’ as the sun sets.
 
The phenomenon lasts only a fraction of a second, so unless you know where to look and when, the chances of seeing one are very slim. Viewing conditions need to be just right, too.
 
Watching the sun set over an ocean horizon on a clear evening creates optimal viewing conditions.
 
Your line of sight should be almost parallel to the horizon and you need to really concentrate at the top edge of the sun as it is about 98% set.
 
If you are lucky, you will see the top edge of the sun turn green for a brief moment, before disappearing below the horizon.
 
Jules Verne’s 1882 novel “Le Rayon Vert” (The Green Ray) popularized the green flash, described as “a green which no artist could ever obtain on his palette, a green of which neither the varied tints of vegetation nor the shades of the most limpid sea could ever produce the like! If there is a green in Paradise, it cannot be but of this shade, which most surely is the true green of Hope”.
 
Be careful.  Even with the sun low in the sky, concentrated observation with the naked eye can cause damage to your eyesight.

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  • At sunset, the sky is often painted with an array of oranges, reds and yellows, and even some shades of pink. There are, however, occasions when a green flash appears above the solar disc for a second or so. One such occurrence was captured beautifully in this picture taken from Cerro Paranal, a 2600-metre-high mountain in the Chilean Atacama Desert, by ESO Photo Ambassador Gianluca Lombardi. Cerro Paranal is home to ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The green flash is a rather rare phenomenon; seeing such a transient event requires an unobstructed view of the setting (or rising) Sun and a very stable atmosphere. At Paranal the atmospheric conditions are just right for this, making the green flash a relatively common sight (see for example eso0812). But a double green flash such as this one is noteworthy even for Paranal. The green flash occurs because the Earth’s atmosphere works like a giant prism that bends and disperses the sunlight. This effect is particularly significant at sunrise and sunset when the solar rays go through more of the lower, denser layers of the atmosphere. Shorter wavelength blue and green light from the Sun is bent more than longer wavelength orange and red, so it appears slightly higher in the sky than orange or red rays from the point of view of an observer. When the Sun is close to the horizon and conditions are just right, a mirage effect related to the temperature gradient in the atmosphere can magnify the dispersion — the separation of colours — and produce the elusive green flash. A blue flash is almost never seen as the blue light is scattered by molecules and particles in the dense blanket of air towards the horizon. The mirage can also distort the shape of the Sun and that of the flash. We see two bands of green light in this image because the weather conditions created two alternating cold and warm layers of air in the atmosphere. This stunning photo was taken by ESO Photo Ambassador Gianluca Lombardi on 28 March 2011. The phenomenon was captured on camera as the Sun was setting on a sea of clouds below Cerro Paranal.