Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Kula Hospital

“Man vs. Tuberculosis, the strange, uncanny fight two thousand years of age, is, in Hawaii, in favor of Man. The tremendous exertion, the patience, the attention to incalculable minutae that this mere suggestion indicates is hard to realize unless one is in the fight, but success is on the banners of the Anti-Tuberculosis League of Hawaii at last.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 20, 1913)

Tuberculosis attacks the lungs and organs; in the second decade of the twentieth century it was the leading cause of death in Hawaiʻi, with 400 to 500 annual deaths.  (Nordyke)  (Even today, Hawai’i ranks No. 1 with the highest rate of tuberculosis (TB) in the United States.  (HealthTrends))

The campaign against tuberculosis was inaugurated in Hawaii in 1909 as a result of the interest of James A Rath and others at Pālama Settlement in Honolulu.  Stimulated by the Anti-Tuberculosis League of Hawaiʻi, interest steadily grew – the Territorial Government took over the program in 1920.

A number of years ago – though not so very many – when the present Governor Pinkham was president of the Board of health of Hawaii, it was found necessary to survey the ravages of tuberculosis, a disease which to that time had received little attention. A commission was appointed. In an unofficial way it investigated and made a report. The report was alarming.  (MacKaye, Thrum’s Annual 1917)

Tuberculosis was a graver danger than was believed, although since then it has been shown that even that estimate was short of the mark. Mr. Pinkham referred the report to the various counties and urged them to do something to remedy the situation.”

“There was no answer from Honolulu until several years later, from Kauai not until the present day, and from Hawaii not at all, so far as county government went. (MacKaye, Thrum’s Annual 1917)

But the Maui county supervisors had more vision. There was land available on the slopes of mighty Haleakala and some money that could be spent. The territorial government lent a little bit more. A doctor was employed, a nurse secured.”

“The beginnings of the Kula Sanitarium were made at Waiakoa, on the side of the “House of the Sun,” an appropriate site, for medical science has yet to find a substitute for the sun and fair winds in its combat with consumption. (MacKaye, Thrum’s Annual 1917)

“The sanitarium is located at Keokea, Kula, Maui, at an elevation of some 3,000 feet, and is most singularly fortunate in being so situated that the regular trade winds coming between the Island of Lānaʻi and Molokini have a clear ocean sweep of thousands of miles, and reach this elevated area crisp and heavily laden with pure, unused oxygen.”

“It is free from dust, since it does not pass over one acre of cultivated land, and the view, which adds much to the cheer and content of the patients, is simply magnificent.” (McConkey, Report of the Maui County Farm and Sanitarium to the Board of Health, 1911)

The Kula Sanatorium began as a vision of Dr Wilbur Fiske Boggs McConkey, who was a practicing physician treating tuberculosis patients in the Keokea district. During his long drive across the rough roads of Kula in 1909, Dr. McConkey remarked on Kula’s suitable climate for tuberculosis patients and began his quest to start a tuberculosis facility.  (NPS)

This first attempt at a sanitarium was a modest endeavor, a little shack protected with canvas, alone in the midst of a rather desolate countryside.  (MacKaye, Thrum’s Annual 1917)

“Two tent houses were built, with canvas sides, wooden floors, and corrugated iron roofing.  A cook-house of rough one by twelve inch lumber was thrown together; this had no floor but had a corrugated iron roof and was luxuriously fitted with an open lean-to and a rough board table, which served as the sanitarium dining-room.”

“Canvas cots were used in the sleeping quarters; the lights were humble barn lanterns. The cook, a Korean, was a patient himself. Six patients from the plantations were accommodated, who took care of themselves.”  (Long)

The first patients were admitted into the then-named Maui County Farm and Sanitarium on September 14, 1910.   The June 1911 Official Patient Report reported 12-patients; over the years, the ethnicity of the patients reflected the Islands’ growing diversity, Americans, Australians, Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Porto Ricans, Portuguese and Norwegian.

“We do not encourage the admission of patients suffering from diseases or injuries of a non-tubercular nature, but owing, in the main, to the difficulty which is met with in arranging for the means of transportation of such patients down the mountain to a general hospital, as well as the emergency cases which have been present from time to time, we have found it necessary to admit and care for these in order to avoid what would have caused hardship and extra suffering.” (Report of the Maui County Farm and Sanitarium to the Board of Health, 1913)

“Early in its history Mr. V. Woodburn Herron, a man with some hospital training, took charge as steward, nurse and non-medical superintendent. The sanitarium was a county institution with Dr McConkey regularly constituted physician.”

“This regime lasted some months, when a change of administration brought Mr WE Foster up from Paia to act as superintendent. His wife, a trained nurse, accompanied him. Mr. Foster’s untimely demise – he was himself a victim of the disease – ended this arrangement, but not before he had lighted the way for future progress.”  (Long)

With public funds and by private subscription, the Sanitarium staff and its Board of Supervisors built and equipped a plant for the treatment of tuberculosis very favorably comparable to anything on the mainland.  A favorite method of fund-raising/facility building was the contribution of a cottage for an individual by the latter’s friends. After the patient has passed through the treatment the cottage became the property of the Sanitarium.  (Long)

In 1926, children were admitted into the Preventorium.  The overall facility was expanded into the Charles William Dickey-designed Kula Sanatorium (one of the largest designed by Dickey in his career,) with the first patients moving in on May 27, 1937.

The facility was designed to accommodate 166-patients in wards and 16-patients in private rooms and had facilities on the porches to accommodate 59-more patients in an emergency.  The primary consideration in treatment was rest, “rest to the body, mind, and lungs.”

The layout of the gardens at Kula Sanatorium was a combination of formal plantings and careful use of indigenous plantings. They were designed by the first registered landscape architect in Hawaii, Catherine Jones Thompson and her husband, Robert O Thompson.

In the 1950s when drugs were developed to control tuberculosis, Kula Sanatorium changed its focus to serving long-term care patients.  In 1960, psychiatric patients were admitted on an experimental basis.

In 1975, tuberculosis services were discontinued and on April 9, 1976, the complex was renamed Kula Hospital.  The Kula Hospital & Clinic is a five story Moderne style hospital (“traditionalism and modernism” popular from 1925 through the 1940s) that serves as a general hospital and clinic to residents within the Kula area.

The complex has acute care beds, 24-hour emergency room and outpatient clinic with lab and x-ray services.  Kula Hospital continues to provide long-term care for its residents.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Social History of Kona

In 1980, the University of Hawaii conducted an Ethnic Studies Oral History Project that documents a number of individual oral history interviews with people from Kona.  It is a virtual Who’s Who speaking about the old days in Kona.

It was funded, in part, by the Hawaii Committee for the Humanities (HCH) – I served on the Board of the HCH when this project was proposed and approved.  A two-volume set of books titled “A Social History of Kona” was a result of this project.

“In the late 19th century, Kona gained a reputation as a ‘haven’ for immigrants who broke their labor contracts with the islands’ sugar plantations. Many came to grow, pick, or mill coffee in the area’s rocky farmlands.”

“These early immigrants and others who later joined them helped Kona acquire distinction as the only area in the United States to grow coffee commercially for over 100 years.”

Based on selected oral history transcripts, community meeting discussions, and informal conversations with Kona residents, humanities Scholar, Stephen Boggs, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, prepared a preliminary discussion on values relating to common themes that were identified in the interviews of the Japanese immigrants.

These give you a sense of who these people are. These themes included independence and advancement, tenure and obligation, landownership, economic insecurity, hard work, family responsibility, cooperation between households, isolation and entertainment, and the preservation of ethnic customs.

Independence and Advancement

“The value accorded to independence is clearly indicated in discussions of reasons for migrating to Kona and in comparisons of the meaning of work on coffee farms and plantations.”

“‘Coffee meant freedom’  compared with work on the plantations. Compulsion and demeaning treatment were frequently mentioned as aspects of plantation work.”

“Such are the memories that the first generation frequently passed on to the second.  Compared to this, Kona had the reputation among the first generation as a ‘place, independent, peaceful’ where ‘everyone looked forward to coming.’”

“Work for one’s own benefit made it possible to advance. … Thus, children were encouraged to study as well as work after school, it was said, ‘so they would amount to something.’ The eldest often stayed home to work on the farm so that a younger sibling (usually a brother) could go further in school.”

“Parents encouraged their children to leave farming for higher education, even though they might need them on their farms.  All of this testifies to the importance attached to education, which was assumed to lead to advancement.”

“There is no doubt that advancement was a key value, and even a conscious one, for those who came to Kona.”

Tenure and Obligation

“Advancement was not easy. All that the first generation had when they arrived in Kona was their labor and ingenuity. They had no knowledge of the crops that they would grow, or the growing conditions of Kona.”

“In order to gain access to the necessary land and credit for crop and living expenses, they had to become indebted to merchants, brokers, or other businessmen who bought their crop of coffee.”

“The feeling of obligation to creditors did not depend upon any external sanctions. Instead it was a matter of loyalty: a borrower would be loyal to a creditor above and beyond any contractual obligation.”

There was “the ‘debt adjustment’ of the 1930s. This was a significant historical event in Kona. According to some estimates, hundreds of thousands of dollars which were owed by farmers and could not be repaid because of a long period of low coffee prices worldwide, were forgiven.”

“People in 1980-81 recalled that Amfac was the major benefactor, releasing a million dollars of indebtedness. One can well imagine the relief which this would give to people … In fact people said that the debt reduction probably saved the coffee industry. That was almost the same as saying that it saved the people of Kona, given their strong identification with coffee.”

“The credit system had a beneficial aspect in normal times, as well as creating a burden of obligation. Thus, a farmer could rely upon a creditor when money was needed, unlike those who paid cash only. The credit system thus provided some reassurance.”

Landownership

“Leasing of land was a source of insecurity, although not the most important one. To overcome it people strove to buy land wherever possible. Landownership was thus a value. Even though leases were typically renewed, lease rents could go up, or ownership of the land could change, making continued leasing impossible.”

“Discussing landownership, people added that leasing did not allow you to realize the value of improvements if the lease were terminated. For such reasons, then, people sought to own land.”

Insecurity a Basic Condition

“Plantation workers in Hawaii were largely shielded by their employers from the consequences of fluctuations in prices for sugar and pineapple. They were rarely laid off even during long periods of low prices.”

“But Kona coffee farmers were not protected in this way. World coffee prices often fluctuated severely, with low prices prevailing for a long time. There was no way to avoid the resulting insecurity on the farms.”

“Insecurity was therefore a fundamental condition affecting the development of values in Kona. On the one hand, insecurity heightened the burden of obligation incurred by debt, since even in a good harvest a price drop could make it impossible to repay debts.

“On the other hand, anxiety bred of insecurity caused people to rely even more strongly upon such values as hard work, family responsibility, and cooperation between households, which enabled them to survive. Conversely, however, as security was achieved, support for these values was undercut.”

“When coffee price dropped people took other jobs and planted other crops for income, as well as growing their own food. But income from other crops could not be realized when the entire Kona economy was depressed”.

“Others left Kona to enter other kinds of work. During a three-four year period, when coffee prices were consistently depressed, approximately 80 percent of Kona’s young people and some 54 families abandoned coffee farms in Kona.”

“One can well imagine the insecurity involved in such an exodus, which was faced by those who remained as well as those who left.”

Hard Work

“The first generation and their children worked hard in order to allay the insecurity just described. If their labor and ingenuity were all that they possessed, they made the most of both. Because of reliance upon hard work, it became a value for both generations.”

“We were consistently told in conversations about the old days how hard and long everyone worked. Especially by children describing their parents’ lives. Stories were told: of clearing land and bringing down soil from the forest by hand for planting; of days that began before dawn and lasted until the wee hours of the following day.”

“In those days plantation workers put in ten hours in the fields and twelve in the mills. … During harvests, everyone worked, even the children, partly because their labor was needed, partly in order to teach them to work.”

“People recalled picking as children both before and after school, sometimes as much as two bags. After harvest there was more pruning, cleaning the ground of weeds, and planting subsistence gardens.”

“We were surprised that there were relatively few memories of relaxation during the long season between harvests. The impression given was that people worked all the time, except for holidays and weddings, when there was also work of a different kind, as well as relaxation.”

Family Responsibility

“Working for the family was one of the most cherished values that we encountered. As one person volunteered in one of our earliest meetings, “despite the hardship, coffee was good because the family had to work together, it kept unity in the family, instead of each going their separate ways.’”

“The sense of responsibility was another value that was strengthened by insecurity. Like hard work it provided reassurance, but in a more direct, psychological way.”

“Mention has already been made of children staying back from further schooling in order to send a younger one to school. One result of hard work and family responsibility was that workers from Kona gained a reputation elsewhere for loyalty and good work.”

“Girls especially felt the burden of family responsibility. They more than boys were held back from school to learn to sew and help on the farm. Consequently, fewer girls than boys in the second generation went to high school, some being educated at the Buddhist missions instead.”

Cooperation Between Households

“People knew that they could expect help from one another when problems or difficulties occurred, which was also a strong psychological reassurance.”

“Reliance upon the kumiai [Japanese community groups] when demands exceeded what one family could do led naturally into reliance upon the kumiai for go-betweens to settle disputes.  Members of the kumiai provided other services as well, including repairing machinery, helping to start a balky engine, etc.”

“Mention was made earlier of ingenuity. Many examples of this were shown us and described in conversations. Machinery of all kinds was invented and manufactured on the spot from local materials, a treasure of ‘appropriate technology’ exists in Kona. Such improvements were shared.”

“This was the “Spirit of Kona” fostered by the kumiai. … Given the experience described it was natural for Kona’s Japanese to band together to meet other needs as well.”

“Because of the frequent recourse to kumiai (the term is applied to members as well as the organization) and the principle of mutual help on which it was based, there is little wonder that kumiai was identified with ‘the spirit of Kona’s past.’”

“People also referred to it as ‘the center of the neighborhood’ and used it ‘to get messages through’ when households were widely dispersed and means of transportation and communication difficult or nonexistent.”

“These were not the only organizations promoting the value of cooperation among Kona’s first two generations. Informants and group discussions alike insisted upon the importance of tanomoshi, a form of rotating credit association.”

“Funds of the tanomoshi were crucial before credit unions developed to provide money for emergencies, purchase of land or leases, housing, and other large expenditures.”

Isolation and Entertainment

“Some values had their principal basis in circumstances other than insecurity. One such value was coming together for social celebrations and entertainment.”

“The relative isolation no doubt contributed to the emphasis placed by our informants upon the importance of the rare occasions on which people congregated. Every Community Meeting insisted on including this in their history.”

“People also recalled benches in front of stores, on which people could rest to visit on infrequent visits to the store, now sadly out of style. They also remembered the popularity of Japanese movies and the fact that singing was part of almost every get-together.”

Japanese Customs

“Many practices were brought by the first generation from Japan that undoubtedly functioned to provide continuity and identity. …  These practices represented values in themselves.”

“Ties with the Government of Japan were systematically maintained until World War II broke them. Overseas Japanese were registered by a census – the Jinko-chosa. Children and marriages were also registered in simplified form in the koseki (family household register) so as to maintain Japanese citizenship.”

“There was a celebration for the Emperor’s birthday – Tenchosetsu, when a considerable collection was taken up, as on other occasions, such as military victories. When merchant marine ships from Japan paid courtesy calls at Kailua, young people in a group would go down and perform on the porch of the old Amfac Building”.

“The Nisei did not carry on these practices as the first generation did. Indeed, the transition to American ceremonies started with the latter. … With the outbreak of war all external symbols of Japanese tradition had to be disposed of Kona was occupied by American troops, and relations with them were tense.”

Conclusions: The Significance of Kona

“To Japanese Kona meant coffee farming.  It was obvious from the first that people spoke of coffee when they thought of the first generation. The term ‘coffee pioneers’ describes them.”

“This focus upon coffee almost excludes reference to Kona as a land, a place, in the interviews and discussions. It is not that Kona Japanese do not appreciate the beauty of Kona or feel a bond with the place. At least one informant spoke of Kona as ‘an ideal place to retire’ and predicted that many who left would return.”

“But they speak of Kona as a place rarely, while they speak of coffee in every other utterance. Why is this? The answer tells

us much about the meaning of coffee, and hence of Kona, to the Japanese.”

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Morgan’s Corner

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true.

As with all folklore and mythology, the designation suggests nothing about the story’s genuineness, but merely that it is in circulation, exhibits variation over time and carries some significance that motivates the community in preserving and propagating it.

For one, the scenarios are the same:
  •  A couple parks on a dark, isolated road (or a Lover’s Lane)
  •  The car won’t start
  •  The girlfriend gets spooked
  •  The boyfriend says he’ll go get help
  •  He tells her not to go out, no matter what
  •  He doesn’t return
  •  There’s a strange scratching or tapping sound on the car roof
  •  Finally, the Police help her out, but tells her not to look back
  •  The boy is hanging from the tree

Sound familiar?

It’s the basis for the “Morgan’s Corner” spooky story at the Pali.  It’s also the foundation for similar stories across the country.  It may have some basis of fact some place, but no records indicate this ever happening here in Hawaiʻi.

Having said that, reportedly, some UH folks went to the reputed Morgan’s Corner on the Windward side of Old Pali Road and “took photographs looking up into the tree, and when the film was developed, the seventh frame contained a large white object.”

“The photographer, 10 witnesses and the chemical laboratory that analyzed the image for processing errors vouched for the image’s authenticity. … it appeared to be a body hanging from the tree, photographed from below.”  (Burlingame)

Hmmm.

Wait … there really is a ‘Morgan’s Corner’ (well, sort of.)  And, a murder did happen there; and, it’s on the Old Pali Road (on the town side of the Pali.)

This story ended with a change in a significant law in the Islands.

It happened at the “S” turn on Nuʻuanu Pali Drive.  Dr Morgan lived on the mauka side of the road – but the story is not about him.

Across the street, at 3939 Pali Road (now known as Nuʻuanu Pali Drive – where a condo project now sits, just above the small waterfall) lived Mrs Therese Adele Wilder (widow of William Chauncey “Chan” Wilder.)  That’s where this story took place.

On March 11, 1948, inmates James Majors (21) and John Palakiko (19) escaped from a prison work crew.  They made their way to Nuʻuanu and, looking for food, they came across – and into – Wilder’s home.

Wilder, in her late-60s, was attacked – she died.

“Her hands were bound, she was gagged, and there were traces of what appeared to be dried blood about her nose and mouth. There was evidence of a blow on the head, but (her physician) said that she might have died from suffocation brought about by the gag which the intruders forced into her mouth.”  (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, March 16, 1948)

Majors and Palakiko were charged.  There was public hysteria, irate community leaders, newspaper calls for “swift justice” and, later, confessions from the two.

Both men were convicted and sentenced to hang.

So, what about the significant law change?

Between August 18, 1897 and September 16, 1943, 47 people were executed at Oʻahu Prison under Hawai‘i’s capital punishment law.  All were male.

They ranged in age from 19 to 61. One was Caucasian, 3 were Hawaiian, 24 were Filipino, 10 were Japanese, 6 were Korean and 3 were Puerto Rican.  (hawaii-edu)

The last recorded execution in Hawai‘i had occurred on January 7, 1944.

With respect to the Majors-Palakiko case, while Honolulu attorney Harriet Bouslog had not represented the men at trial she had followed it closely.

On the eve of the scheduled execution, she swiftly took up the death-row appeals after being challenged by a friend at a dinner party: “I’ll bet you can’t do anything about it.”

She convinced Territorial Governor, Oren E Long, to grant a brief stay of execution. Even after “the lengthiest hearing in the history” of the Territorial Supreme Court, Bouslog failed to obtain relief.

She immediately filed an appeal and requested a stay of execution. … It was 4 am. The prisoners were being given last rites.

Appeals to the federal Court of Appeals and to the United States Supreme Court followed without success.  (hawaii-edu)

However, the lengthy legal process enabled a groundswell of public support for the two to develop, especially when folks learned of claims of police brutality and forced confessions.

In 1954, new governor, Samuel W King, granted a commutation of both sentences to life in prison.

Following this, the legislature passed House Bill 706 on June 4, 1957.  It called for revising the law relating to capital punishment by providing “a sentence of imprisonment at hard labor for life not subject to parole.”

Governor King signed it the following day, thus abolishing the death penalty in Hawaiʻi.

Then, in 1962, Governor John Burns pardoned the men (after their executions had been stayed five times.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Keahuolū

The area of North Kona between Kailua Bay and Keauhou Bay to the south is generally recognized as containing the population core and the most fertile agricultural area of North Kona (Kona Kai ʻOpua “Kona of the distant horizon clouds above the ocean”.)  (Maly)

To the north of Kailua Bay, beginning at Honokōhau, is the relatively dry Kekaha district of North Kona, with its barren lava inlands and coastal fishponds (Kekaha-wai-ʻole-nā-Kona (the waterless place of Kona, it’s described as “a dry, sun-baked land.”)

Keahuolū is situated in the transition zone between these two contrasting environmental districts, and is immediately north of Kailua Bay, a center of both political and economic activities since before Western contact.

Keahuolū has been translated in a couple ways, “Ke-ahu-o-Lū” (the ahu (or alter) of Lū) and “Keʻohuʻolu” (the refreshing mists) – similar to the neighboring (to the south) Lanihau ahupuaʻa (cool heaven.)

A hill at Keahuolū and adjoining Kealakehe (to the north) is associated with mists.  “The settling of mists upon Puʻu O Kaloa was a sign of pending rains; thus the traditional farmers of this area would prepare their fields.”  (This notes the importance of rain in this relatively dry area.)  (Cultural Surveys)

Several general settlement pattern models have been generated by researchers that generally divide up the region into five basic environmental zones: the Shoreline, Kula, Kaluʻulu, ʻApaʻa and ʻAmaʻu.

Habitation was concentrated along the shoreline and lowland slopes, and informal fields were probably situated in the Kula and higher elevations, areas with higher rainfall.

The Shoreline zone extends, typically, from the high-tide line inland a few hundred feet. In Kailua this is the area from the shore to approximately Aliʻi Drive.  In this zone, permanent settlement began in Kona c. AD 1000-1200.

Several large and densely populated royal centers were situated at several locations along the shoreline between Kailua and Honaunau.

Several heiau were noted along the coast. Stokes described three coastal heiau sites in Keahuolū: Halepuʻa, Kawaluna and Palihiolo. Halepuʻa was described by Stokes as a koʻa, or fishing shrine, near the shore in a coconut grove.

Kawaluna Heiau was described by Stokes as a rebuilt enclosure located on the beach at Pāwai Bay. Heiau of Palihiolo was at or near the Keahuolū/Lanihau boundary, King Kalākaua had it rebuilt prior to his departure from Hawaiʻi.  (Rosendahl)

The Kula zone (the plain or open country) consisted primarily of dry and open land with few trees and considerable grass cover.

With limited soil, and lots of rock, this land was planted primarily in scattered sweet potato patches.  (This area was around the 500-foot elevation mark, and may extend further, to approximately the 600-800-foot elevation.)

The Kaluʻulu is zone is referred to as the breadfruit zone. Early explorers described this zone as breadfruit with sweet potatoes and wauke (paper mulberry) underneath; it may have been perhaps one-half mile wide. Here walled fields occur at the 600-800-foot elevation, which may be start of this breadfruit zone in this area.

The ʻApaʻa zone is described as a dryland taro and sweet potato zone (1,000-foot elevation and extended to the 2,500-foot elevation.) In historic accounts it is described as an area divided by low stone and earth walls into cleared rectangular fields in which sweet potato and dryland taro were planted. On the edges of the walls, sugarcane and ti were planted.

The ʻAmaʻu zone is the banana zone, which may extend from the 2,000-foot elevation to 3,000-feet, and is characterized by bananas and plantains being grown in cleared forest areas.  (Rosendahl)

William Ellis (1822) noted, “The houses which are neat, are generally erected on the sea-shore, shaded with cocoanut and kou trees, which greatly enliven the scene.”

“The environs were cultivated to a considerable extent; small gardens were seen among the barren rocks on which the houses are built, wherever soil could be found sufficient to nourish the sweet potato, the watermelon, or even a few plants of tobacco, and in many places these seemed to be growing literally in the fragments of lava, collected in small heaps around their roots.”

King Kalākaua later (1869) noted, “Keahuolu runs clear up to the mountains and includes a portion of nearly half of Hualalai mountains.  On the mountains the koa, kukui and ohia abounds in vast quantities.  The upper land or inland is arable, and suitable for growing coffee, oranges, taro, potatoes, bananas &c.”

” Breadfruit trees grow wild as well as Koli (castor-oil) oil seed.  The lower land is adopted for grazing cattle, sheep, goats &c.  The fishery is very extensive and a fine grove of cocoanut trees of about 200 to 300 grows on the beach.”

A sisal plantation was planted in Keahuolu in the late-1890s, a mill was constructed nearby; sisal was used to make rope and other fibers.  Operating until 1924, the McWayne sisal tract included about 1,000-acres of sisal fields in Keahuolu and adjoining Kealakehe.  (You can still see sisal plants, remnants of the sisal plantation, as you drive up Palani Road.)

A fishing village with a canoe landing was at Pāwai Bay.  Makaʻeo (later (July 10, 1949) developed into the Kailua Airport (commercial aviation ended there July 1, 1970)) had a large cocoanut grove, with a coastal trail running through it connecting Kailua Village to the Māmalahoa Trail.

The Kuakini Wall (1830-1844,) built to keep the free-ranging livestock out of the coastal settlements and gardens, extends from Kahaluʻu Bay to the southern portion of Keahuolu (with an average distance of about 1 ½ miles from the coastline.)  It goes to, but not through, Keahuolū at its northern terminus.

The ahupuaʻa of Keahuolū was awarded to Analeʻa Keohokālole ((c. 1816-1869) mother of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani) during the Māhele of 1848. Two walled houselots in Keahuolū had been held by Keohokālole’s ancestors “from very ancient times”.

Keohokālole was a great-granddaughter of both Kameʻeiamoku and Keaweaheulu two of the important chiefs who supported Kamehameha I in his rise to power.

Kameʻeleihiwa states, “Keohokālole was regarded by the Kamehameha clan as an Aliʻi Nui in honor of the great courage and loyalty proffered by her ancestors in their support of Kamehameha.”

As Aliʻi Nui, Keohokālole held the fifth largest number of ʻāina after the Māhele with 50 parcels.  She relinquished 48% of her original 96 ʻāina to the Mōʻī (King) retaining 23-parcels on Hawaiʻi, 25 on Maui and two on Oʻahu. Of her lands on the island of Hawaiʻi, two-thirds were located in the Kona District.  (Wong-Smith)

Keohokālole sold portions of her 15,000-20,000-acre grant to the government and other parties, with the balance being transferred to her heir, Liliʻuokalani.

In her Deed of Trust dated December 2, 1909, which was later amended in 1911, Queen Lili‘uokalani entrusted her estate to provide for orphan and destitute children in the Hawaiian Islands, with preference for Hawaiian children. Her legacy is perpetuated through the Queen Liliʻuokalani Children’s Center.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waikīkī’s Construction Evolution

The present Waikīkī has a land area of approximately 500-acres; it once was a vast marshland whose boundaries encompassed more than 2,000-acres.  Consistent with the character of the watered wetland of ancient Waikīkī, where water from the upland valleys would gush forth from underground, the name Waikīkī, which means “water spurting from many sources.”

Three main valleys Makiki, Mānoa and Pālolo are mauka of Waikīkī and through them their respective streams (and springs in Mānoa (Punahou and Kānewai)) watered the marshland below.

Since Maʻilikūkahi founded Waikīkī as a Royal Center of Oʻahu in the 1400s, Waikīkī served as the site of the royal residence and center of governance until 1809 (when Kamehameha I moved the government to Honolulu Harbor.)

Subsequent Kings and Queens visited and stayed in royal beach cottages in Waikīkī.  Mid- and late-19th century Hawaiian royalty were prominent among the first of the new wave to permanently settle in Waikīkī.  It was a place to escape to, as well as a pleasant location to entertain.

In 1877, Kapiʻolani Park was dedicated; its initial intent, through a 30-year lease, was to make available a limited number of beachfront cottage sites and a race track as an attraction.

In 1896, the Honolulu Park Commission took over management of the park and began to operate the park land and “permanently set (it) aside as a free public park and recreation ground forever.”  (In 1913, the City and County of Honolulu took over the management and operation of the park.)

In the 1890s, Waikīkī drew the elite who constructed Victorian mansions.  Starting with James Campbell, Frank Hustace and WC Peacock, larger mansions began to be constructed in Waikīkī.

The later homes of William Irwin (1899) and James Campbell (“Kainalu,” in 1899) epitomized the extravagance of luxury living.  The wealthy discovered the ultimate destination of Waikīkī.

Starting on a small scale, Waikīkī had a number of small residential tracks.  In February 1895 a small subdivision (13-lots, each approximately 5,000-square feet in size) was developed makai of Waikīkī Road (Kalākaua Avenue) and mauka of the John ‘Ena Road intersection.

Then, in 1897, a subdivision map for the Kekio tract was recorded.  The Kekio Tract, shaped somewhat like a triangle, was bounded by Lili‘uokalani Avenue, Waikīkī Road (Kalākaua Avenue), Makee Road (Kapahulu Avenue) and the lands of Kāneloa (Thomas Jefferson Elementary School).

As time went on, the royal estates were sold and subdivided on the dry areas of Waikīkī.

In 1921 the former estates of James Campbell and George Beckley were offered to perspective buyers by developer Waterhouse Trust Company.  With this subdivision the last of the large, readily-developable landholdings in Waikīkī had been broken up.

Further residential development would have to wait for the drainage of the area by the Ala Wai Canal.  Then, they started “land reclamation” projects on the coastal wetlands.

Back then, nearly 85% of present Waikīkī was in wetland.  The Army began the transformation of Waikīkī from wetlands to solid ground at Fort DeRussy and it served as a model that others followed (1909.)

The Waikīkī wetlands were characterized as, “stretched useless, unsightly, offensive swamps, perpetually breeding mosquitoes and always a menace to public health and welfare”.

The Territory saw the opportunity to drain and fill the land that “was valueless” to be “available for the growth of the business district of the city” and attain “a valuation greatly in excess of the cost of the filling and draining.”

During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape would be transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in the draining and filling in of the remaining ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.  (By 1924, all of the streams were diverted into the canal and stopped flowing through Waikīkī.)

Walter Dillingham’s Hawaiian Dredging Company dredged the canal and sold the material he had dredged to create the canal to build up the newly created land.  (The canal is still routinely dredged.)

With construction of the Ala Wai Canal, 625-acres of wetland were drained and filled and runoff was diverted away from Waikīkī beach.

The completion of the Ala Wai Canal not only created the opportunity for the development of Waikīkī as Hawai‘i’s primary visitor destination, but also expanded the district’s potential for residential use.

Before reclamation, assessed values for property were at about $500-per acre and the same property was reclaimed at ten cents per square foot, making a total cost of $4,350-per acre.  The selling price after reclamation, $6,500 to $7,000-per acre, showed the financial benefit of the reclamation efforts.

In 1924, the first post-canal residential venture, the McCarthy Subdivision, owned by and named for the Territory’s Governor McCarthy, was makai of what would become Ala Wai Boulevard.  The property, roughly triangular in shape and widest on the Diamond Head side, was bisected by Lili‘uokalani, ‘Ōhua and Paoakalani Avenues.

The mid- and late-1920s saw more and more of Waikīkī being subdivided into residential lots until most of the area was gridded into residential plots.  Before and during this time of residential development, there were hotels.

Hawai‘i’s first accommodations for transients were established sometime after 1810, when Don Francisco de Paula Marin “opened his home and table to visitors on a commercial basis … Closely arranged around the Marin home were the grass houses of his workers and the ‘guest houses’ of the ship captains who boarded with him while their vessels were in port.”

By 1820, Anthony D Allen (a former slave from the continent) owned a dozen houses, “within the enclosure were his dwelling, eating and cooking houses, with many more for a numerous train of dependents. There was also a well, a garden containing principally squashes, and in one part, a sheepfold in which was one cow, several sheep, and three hundred goats.”  (Sybil Bingham Journal)

Reverend Charles Stewart notes of Allen’s place in his journal, “… it is a favourite resort of the more respectable of the seamen who visit Honoruru. …”

While these were part of the first hotel uses in the islands, as time went on, downtown Honolulu had the core of the hotel supply, and Waikīkī, two-miles away by foot over dirt roads, was not considered in the accommodation business.

But that changed.

Sans Souci Hotel, a Waikīkī beachfront resort that opened in 1884 and offered private cottages and bathing facilities, turned it into an internationally-known resort after it hosted writer Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote about staying there for five weeks in 1893.

In the late-1890s, with additional steamships to Honolulu, the visitor arrivals to Oʻahu were increasing.  When Hawaiʻi became a US territory (June 14, 1900,) it was drawing cruise ship travelers to the islands; they needed a place to stay.

Hotels blossomed, including Waikīkī’s oldest surviving hotel, the Moana Hotel. Often called the “First Lady of Waikīkī,” the Moana Hotel has been a Hawaiʻi icon since its opening opened on March 11, 1901.

By 1918, Hawai‘i had 8,000 visitors annually, and by the 1920s Matson Navigation Company ships were bringing an increasing number of wealthy visitors.  This prompted a massive addition to the Moana.  In 1918, two floors were added along with concrete wings on each side, doubling the size of the hotel.

On February 1, 1927, the Royal Hawaiian (nicknamed The Pink Palace) was officially opened with the gala event of the decade.  Over 1,200-guests were invited for the celebration that started at 6:30 pm and lasted until 2 am.  Over the subsequent decades, promotional efforts grew and so did the number of visitors.

1955 saw the first of a new wave of hotel construction.  Three high-rise hotels opened in Waikīkī that year: the Princess Kaʻiulani, the Reef Hotel and the Waikīkī Biltmore (which itself became a victim of progress and was imploded to make room for what is now the Hyatt Regency Waikīkī.)

Another hotel – Henry Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village, which was not yet a high-rise, opened its first 70-rooms.

Between 1950 and 1974, domestic and international visitor numbers shot up to more than 2-million from less than 50,000.  Statehood and the arrival of jet-liner air travel brought unprecedented expansion and construction, in Waikīkī and across the Islands.

Construction’s dominant role in the state’s economy dates back to Statehood in 1959, which focused tremendous investment interest, as well as visitor interest, in Hawai‘i. Construction activity accelerated in the mid-1960s, and accounted for 8.2% of the State’s Gross State Product in 1970.

The driving force in this increase in construction was the post-statehood tourism boom and related investment activity.  The industry hit post-statehood peaks in 1960, 1970, 1975, 1980, and 1992. (DBEDT)

The image shows locations and dates of Waikīkī construction evolution (over Google Earth.)

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