Place Names | Page 95 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 14, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hōlua

Certain pastimes were restricted to the chiefs, the most spectacular being hōlua sledding. A track of rock, layered with earth and made slippery with grass, was made for tobogganing on a narrow sled.

Hōlua sledding was the most dangerous sport practiced in Hawai‘i. The rider lies prone on a sled the width of a ski and slides down a chute made of lava rock.

The sled or papa consisted of two narrow and highly polished runners (three inches apart,) from 7- to 18-feet in length, and from two to three inches deep. The papa hōlua (canoe sled) is a reflection of the double-hulled canoe.

The two runners were fastened together by a number of short pieces of woods varying in length from two to five inches, laid horizontally across the runners.

“Coasting down slopes… Sliding on specially constructed sleds was practiced only in Hawaii and New Zealand,” wrote historian Kenneth Emory. “The Maori sled, however, was quite different from the Hawaiian… One of the Hawaiian sleds, to be seen in [the] Bishop Museum, is the only complete ancient sled in existence.”

“The narrowness and the convergence of the runners toward the front should be noticed. Coasting on these sleds was a pastime confined to the chiefs and chieftesses.”

The Reverend Hiram Bingham provides a descriptive account of this sport: “In the presence of the multitude, the player takes in both hands, his long, very narrow and light built sled, made for this purpose alone, the curved ends of the runners being upward and forward, as he holds it, to begin the race.”

“Standing erect, at first, a little back from the head of the prepared slippery path, he runs a few rods to it, to acquire the greatest momentum, carrying his sled, then pitches himself, head foremost, down the declivity, dexterously throwing his body, full length, upon his vehicle, as on a surf board.”

“The sled, keeping its rail or grassway, courses with velocity down the steep, and passes off into the plain, bearing its proud, but prone and headlong rider, who scarcely values his neck more than the prize at stake.”

The primary archaeological feature of Keauhou was its monumental Holua Slide, a stone ramp nearly one mile in length that culminated at He‘eia Bay.

In 1913, H.W. Kinney published a visitor’s guide to the island of Hawai‘i, including descriptions of the land at the time, historical accounts of events, and descriptions of sites and practices that might be observed by the visitor.

At Keauhou, he notes, “Mauka of the village is seen the most famous papa hōlua in the Islands, a wide road-like stretch, which was laid with grass steeped in kukui-nut oil so as to allow the prince and his friends to coast down in their sleighs constructed for the purpose.”

The Keauhou hōlua is one of the largest and best-preserved hōlua course. The remains are about 1290 feet long of the original that was over 4000 feet long. When in use, it was covered in dirt and wet grass to make it slippery.

Contestants reached treacherous speeds on their narrow sleds by adding thatching and mats to make the holua slippery. When the waves were large, crowds would gather on a stone platform at He‘eia Bay to watch as hōlua contestants raced against surfers to a shoreline finish.

A portion of the hōlua is visible on Alii Drive, directly mauka (inland) of the golf clubhouse entrance.

Kekahuna, who mapped and studied the Keauhou Hōlua notes, “The starting point is a narrow platform paved level, succeeded by a slightly declined crosswise platform 36-feet long by 29-feet wide, and is followed by a series of steep descents that gave high speed to the holua sleds.”

“Great care seems to have been exercised in the building of this huge relic of the ancients. Practically the whole slide is constructed of fairly large ‘a‘a rocks, filled in with rocks of medium and small-sized ‘a‘a. The base walls on the north and south vary in height according to the contour of the land. The width of the runway varies considerably.”

“The length of the slide, measured through the middle from the present lower end, is 3,682-feet. It may have extended about 3,000-feet farther, as it is said that in ancient days the now missing lower part extended along the point north of Keauhou Bay nearly to the Protestant open chapel by beautiful He`eia Bay.”

“On completion of their slides the chiefs would have their close attendants (kahus) transport them and their surfboards by canoe to a point about a mile offshore and a little to the north, from where they would ride in He‘eia on the great waves of the noted surf of Kaulu.”

Kauikeauoli, born at Keauhou and later to become ruler of the entire island chain (as Kamehameha III,) was reportedly a great athlete and especially enjoyed hōlua sliding.

As Baker, in the 1916 Hawaiian Annual, wrote, “At Keauhou, on a pretty little bay part way between the other bays, is a well-preserved papa holua, a broad, well-built, undulating toboggan-like slide, built before his reign for Kamehameha III to slide down on sleds, with his friends, over the grass-covered slide made slippery with kukui-nut oil.”

“The slide used to pass out behind the chapel on the north arm of the bay. There the prince and his friends would take surf-boards and return by water to the head of the bay.”

“After the prince had started the sport, others might slide as well. Originally, the slide was over a mile long, about three-quarters of a mile still being in good condition. It is fifty feet wide for the entire distance, and across one it is raised ten feet.”

There are other hōlua in the islands. One, on Kaua‘i, has two slides crossing each other on a pu‘u, northwest of Kōloa; another is a well-preserved 400- to 500-foot long hōlua near Kapua, South Kona.

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Keauhou-Holua_Slide-(KeauhouResort)
Holua_at_Keauhou_Shopping_Village-(KeauhouResort)
Holua_Sled-(BishopMuseum)
Holua_Slide-(HerbKane)
Detail_of_Holua_Sled-(National Library of Medicine (NLM))

August 8, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hawai‘i State Library

The earliest libraries in Hawaiʻi appear to have been reading rooms provided for ships officers and crews. In Lāhainā, the Seamen’s Chapel and Reading Room was built in 1834 following an appeal by William Richards and Ephriam Spaulding (it was built two years later.)

In Honolulu, the Sandwich Islands Institute, organized in November 1837, fitted up a room at the Seamen’s Bethel in downtown Honolulu as a library and a museum of natural history and Pacific artifacts.

A newspaper article in October 1840 referred to this as a “Public Library, three to four hundred volumes” and also listed a “Reading Room for Seamen,” presumably at a different location.

A decade later, in 1850, residents of Honolulu organized the Atheneum Society, which for a year or two maintained a reading room and library. The Atheneum was succeeded in 1853 by the Honolulu Circulating Library Association.

In 1879, a group of men founded the Honolulu Library and Reading Room Association. In the local newspaper, the Commercial Pacific Advertiser, editor JH Black wrote, “The library is not intended to be run for the benefit of any class, party, nationality, or sect.”

Some of the founders wanted to exclude women from membership, but Alexander Cartwright disagreed, writing to his brother Alfred: “The idea keeps the blessed ladies out and the children. What makes us old geezers think we are the only ones to be spiritually and morally uplifted by a public library in this city?”

It wasn’t long before the committee changed the wording of the constitution to make women eligible for membership.

Early in its history, the organization had established a solid economic foundation, and over time it was able to obtain the moral and financial support of both the Hawaiian government and wealthy citizens.

King Kalākaua, Queen Kapiʻolani, Queen Emma, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Regent Lili‘uokalani, Minister of the Interior F. W. Hutchinson and Charles R. Bishop were just a few of its notable and highly influential supporters.

From 1879 to 1912, library service was provided by the Honolulu Library and Reading-Room Association.

In 1909, Governor Frear helped pass the “Act to Provide for the Establishment of the Public Library of Hawaii”. On May 15, 1909 the Honolulu Library and Reading Room and the Library of Hawaiʻi signed an agreement by which the former agreed to turn over all books, furnishings and remaining funds to the latter.

A few months later, the Honolulu Library and Reading Room, Library of Hawaiʻi and the Historical Society jointly signed and submitted a letter to Andrew Carnegie requesting a grant for the construction of the Library of Hawaiʻi.

The request to Carnegie was for funds to build the new Library; Carnegie responded that the sum of $100,000 would be made ready as soon as a site was selected and plans drawn up.

The building’s final location, though, was not immediately settled. Several possible sites were considered. Ultimately, Governor Frear made a lot available on the corner of King and Punchbowl streets.

He picked a site that in 1872 had been purchased by the Government of Prince Lunalilo and transferred its control to the Board of Education.

The site was the location of Hāliʻimaile, the residence of Boki and Liliha and later Victoria Kamāmalu and her father and brothers before they ascended Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V.

In 1874, the government-supported Pohukaina School for Girls was started. Just up the street was the Royal School for Boys.

In order to accommodate the new Library of Hawaiʻi, after 36-years at King and Punchbowl, Pohukaina School was moved to Kakaʻako; the new school opened in 1913.

Ultimately, the Library of Hawaiʻi was completed at a cost of $127,000, with the local legislative funding providing the difference.

The building opened its doors on February 11, 1913, and Hawaiʻi at last joined those states of America that offered free library services to their communities. The library, now known as the Hawaiʻi State Library, still stands today.

Greco-Romanesque columns in front mark it as a Carnegie library, and within its lobby, a bust of Andrew Carnegie, the man who made it possible is on the grounds.

In 1921, the County Library Law established separate libraries on the islands of Kauaʻi, Maui and Hawaiʻi, under minimal supervision by the Library of Hawaiʻi, which restricted its services to Oʻahu. Even so, the latter quickly outgrew its quarters.

In 1927, the Territorial legislature approved funding to expand and renovate the building. Construction was completed in 1930. Architect CW Dickey tripled its size by adding new wings to create an open-air courtyard in the center.

After statehood in 1959, the Hawaiʻi State Legislature created the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System, the only statewide system in the United States, with the Hawaiʻi State Library building as its flagship branch.

My grandmother worked at the State Library, from 1920 to 1948; she retired after serving as Assistant Head Librarian and Director of the Extension Department. Part of her duties included the expansion of the Library to the Neighbor Islands in 1921. My mother received a degree in Library Science and was archivist at Punahou School.

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Home_of_the_Library_of_Hawaii,_before_1910

Bethel_Church,_Honolulu,_Hawaii

The_Seaman’s_Bethel_Church

Pohukaina School-hhs3049gs-1875

Hawaii_State_Library_from_King_and_Punchbowl

HawaiiStateLibrary-annex

HawaiiStateLibrary

Lahaina-Master’s Reading Room

August 5, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Makauwahi Cave

The Makauwahi Cave (“fear, break through”) is the small portion of the largest limestone cave found in Hawaii.

It lies on the south coast of the island of Kauai, in the Māhāʻulepū Valley close to Māhāʻulepū Beach, and is important for its paleoecological and archaeological values.

It is reached via a sinkhole and has been described as “…maybe the richest fossil site in the Hawaiian Islands, perhaps in the entire Pacific Island region”.

The pale rock ridge that houses the sinkhole started as a field of sand dunes.

Over time, rainwater seeped through the sand, converting it chemically into limestone rock.

Underground water ate away at the lower parts of the limestone, forming an extensive complex of caves, and finally one large section of cave roof collapsed, creating a feature known as a sinkhole.

The feature is as much as 100 yards long from the entrance to the most distant known cave, and as much as 40 yards wide, but it may contain other caverns whose entrances are buried.

Paleoecological and archaeological excavations of the sediment that has filled the pond in the sinkhole put its age at some 10,000 years.

More importantly, the findings show how the first humans that inhabited Kauai affected the pre-human natural environment.

It is one of only a handful of sites in the world that show such impact.

Before the first Polynesian settlers set foot on Kauai, Hawai‘i was a strange Eden, empty of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, because none had ever made it across the vastness of the Pacific to these remote islands.

The sinkhole contains nearly 10,000-years of sedimentary record; since the discovery of Makauwahi as a fossil site, excavations have found pollen, seeds, invertebrate shells and Polynesian artifacts, as well as thousands of bird and fish bones.

An array of native birds that had evolved in splendid isolation filled every kind of niche.

More than 40 species of extinct native bird fossils have been excavated from Makauwahi, including an odd long-legged owl, which specialized in hunting small forest birds, and a nocturnal duck with shrunken eyes.

Among the bones discovered at Makauwahi were those of one lumbering flightless duck with a heavy bill designed to graze like a tortoise on short, tough grass and vegetation from rocks.

Bones of the endangered Hawaiian hawk and Laysan duck have also been discovered at the sinkhole. Today, these two species survive on single islands distant from Kauai, but the fossil discoveries suggest they were once more widespread throughout Hawaii.

Evidence from a full millennium of human activity chronicles the details of life nearby and its considerable impact on the island environment.

The Makauwahi Cave site provides a rich record of life before and after human arrival, and preserves many artifacts and food remains, including perishable cultural items.

Oral traditions said to extend back as far as the fourteenth century in some cases show good agreement with the archaeological and paleoecological record.

Following European contact, additional environmental impacts, including a drastic increase in erosion and many additional biological invasions, are documented from the site.

Paleoecologist David Burney and his wife Lida Pigott Burney, with help from hundreds of local volunteers, has found 10,000-year-old buried treasure in the Makauwahi Cave and wrote a book on the subject, Back to the Future in the Caves of Kauai, A Scientist’s Adventures in the Dark.

Makauwahi Cave is one of the Points of Interest in the Holo Holo Kōloa Scenic Byway. We assisted Mālama Kōloa and Kōloa Community Association with the preparation of the Corridor Management Plan for the Scenic Byway.

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Makauwahi Sinkhole

An active archeological dig with 10,000 years of preserved fossils found. The entrance requires crouching and head bumping is an initiation injury.

Makauwahi Sinkhole

Makauwahi Sinkhole (TGI)

A view of the open-air cave from the entrance.

Makauwahi Sinkhole (hawaii-edu)

Makauwahi Cave-Image-Map-(cavereserve-org)

Mahaulepu_Heritage_Trail-(7-Makauwahi_Cave)-Map

August 2, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hōlualoa Royal Center

In the centuries prior to 1778, seven large and densely-populated Royal Centers were located along the shoreline between Kailua and Hōnaunau on the Island of Hawai‘i.

The compounds were areas selected by the ali‘i for their residences; ali‘i often moved between several residences throughout the year. The Royal Centers were selected for their abundance of resources and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored.

Chiefly residences are known to have changed over time and an ali‘i would expand or modify a residential complex to meet his or her needs and desires.

Traditional histories record the lands at Hōlualoa as a chiefly residence and Royal Center.

Three major occupation sequences have been identified based on the association with various ali’i: AD 1300 (Keolonāhihi), AD 1600 (Keakamahana and Keākealaniwahine) and AD 1780 (Kamehameha I) – it appears very likely that the Hōlualoa Royal Center grew and changed over time.

Hōlualoa offered a wealth of agricultural products from the Kona Field system, offshore marine resources and the surf site off Kamoa Point in Hōlualoa Bay.

The Hōlualoa Royal Center was split into two archaeological complexes, Kamoa Point/Keolonāhihi Complex and Keākealaniwahine Residential Complex.

The Hōlualoa Royal Center contained a total of several heiau structures that were constructed and dedicated for a range of religious functions that are representative of Hawaiian cultural traditions and practices.

The functions of these heiau include surfing (Hale ‘A‘ama), warrior training (Kanekaheilani Heiau), medicine and healing (Hualani Heiau), fertility (Mo‘ipe Heiau) and preparation of ali‘i for burial (Burial Heiau and Haleokekupa).

Oral traditions suggest that the Hōlualoa Royal Center was constructed as early as A.D. 1300 by the Chiefess Keolonāhihi and her husband, Aka.

Keolonāhihi was either the daughter or niece of Pā‘ao. Pā‘ao brought the Kū religion, along with a highly stratified social system, to Hawai‘i from Tahiti, circa AD 1300.

These sites included the women’s features (Keolonāhihi Heiau, Hale Pe‘a and Palama), the sports heiau (Kanekaheilani) and the grandstand at Kamoa Point to view the surfing and canoeing events in Hōlualoa Bay.

Keākealaniwahine’s Residence, the 16-acre mauka parcel with its 28 recorded archaeological sites – this complex contains many religious sites, including three heiau.

Much of the site’s history relates to the occupation of the Royal Center by Chiefess Keakamahana and her daughter, Chiefess Keākealaniwahine, in the 17th Century. These two women were the highest-ranking Ali‘i of their dynastic line and generation – traditional histories suggest they expanded the compound mauka.

The residence of Keakamahana and Keākealaniwahine is believed to be the large walled enclosure on the mauka side of Ali‘i Drive.

Later, Kamehameha lived with his mother Kekuiapoiwa II and his guardians, Keaka and Luluka, at Pu‘u in Hōlualoa during the rule of Kalani‘ōpu’u.

At Hōlualoa, Kamehameha learned to excel in board and canoe surfing (circa 1760s to early 1770s.) “Lyman’s” at Hōlualoa Bay remains a popular surf spot, today.

Later, Kalani‘ōpu’u took Kamehameha to Ka‘u and there is no evidence that Kamehameha maintained a residence at Hōlualoa during his reign.

Kamehameha used the Keolonāhihi complex for religious purposes; after his rise to power, he stored his war god, Kūkaʻilimoku, at Hale O Kaili in the Hōlualoa Royal Center.

While I was at DLNR, we submitted nomination (and received) designation of the Hōlualoa Historic District and expanded the site through the purchase of an adjoining property.

In addition, we were involved in discussions that ultimately led to the BLNR approval of a Curator Agreement for the Keolonāhihi Complex with the Betty Kanuha Foundation.

The Hōlualoa Royal Center was one of the important Points of Interest in the Royal Footsteps Along the Kona Coast Scenic Byway Corridor Management Plan that we prepared.

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Holualoa_Bay-Looking_At_Keolohahihi-1890

Holualoa_Bay-Across_to_Keolonahihi

Coastal frontage at Keohonahihi (Andy Bohlander)

Clearing of invasive kiawe trees at Keolonahihi (Andy Bohlander)

Ruins of perimeter wall at Hōlualoa Royal Center

Holualoa-Keolonahihi-coastal wall formation

Keolonahihi_Complex-site_layout-1300s

Keolonahihi_Complex-site_layout-1600s

Keolonahihi_Complex-site_layout-1780

Keolonahihi_Complex-site_layout-1890

Keakealaniwahine_Complex-site_layout

Holualoa_Royal_Center-Kekahuna_Map-Bishop_Museum

Holualoa-Historic-District-location-map

July 30, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Thomas Square

On January 22, 1850, the King’s Privy Council addressed “Another suggestion to set apart a day for marking out the boundaries of the square on the Plains of Waikiki to be called by the name of Admiral Thomas was also approved of by vote.” (Privy Council Minutes, January 22, 1850)

Then, on the anniversary of sovereignty restoration that year, “At sunrise a gun was fired, His Majesty’s large standard was hoisted at the Palace, the Hawaiian ensign on the Fort, on the Hill, and on all Hawaiian vessels.”

“At eight o’clock all the Foreign Consuls displayed their flags. The foreign vessels in port hoisted their ensigns, and some of them were beautifully decorated with flags, private signal, pendants, &c.”

“Amongst them all, was conspicuous HBM’s schooner Cockatrice, being dressed out with great taste, and having the Hawaiian ensign flying from the fore, during the day.”

“The merchant’s offices, warehouses, stores, and shops were more generally closed, than during any preceding anniversary.”

“It being generally known that it had been the King’s intention, had health permitted, to have ridden out in state, to the plain, and there given the name of Thomas Square, to the exact spot on which the gallant admiral of that name, restored his Flag, numerous parties on horseback, during the day, visited the spot.” (Polynesian, August 3, 1850)

“The restoration of the Hawaiian Monarchy in July 1843 – ending the five-months-long illegal seizure and occupation by the Englishman, Lord George Paulet – created the chief, and indeed the only, notable site in Kulaokahu‘a.”

“The exact locale – the future Thomas Square – leaped into history with, literally, a bang. On the morning of July 31, two pavilions decorated with greens and a flagstaff stood on the plain east of town.”

“On the street line to the west, tents from warships in port punctuated their arid surroundings. A thick mat of rushes paved the line of march. Thousands waited for the ceremonies of the day.”

“At 9:30, Rear Admiral Richard Thomas of the British navy called on the King to sign official documents. A half hour later, several companies of English sailors and marines were drawn up on a line facing the sea, with an artillery corps on their right.”

“Admiral Thomas and his staff arrived in the King’s state carriage, while the Monarch himself came on horseback, accompanied by the household troops. The artillery honored His Majesty with a 21-gun salute.”

“At a given signal, the British flag officer bowed his colors; the British flag was then lowered and the Hawaiian flag raised amid salvos, first from Thomas’s HMS Carysfort, then from English and American warships, merchantmen and whalers, and finally from the Honolulu fort and the Punchbowl battery.”

“A great cheer arose as the wind caught the folds of the Hawaiian flag. Admiral Thomas read a long declaration, after which marines, sailors, and artillery passed in a review witnessed by Commodore Lawrence Kearney and officers of the USS Constellation. Hawaii’s sovereignty had been restored.” (Greer)

Later, the Kingdom was looking for ways to replenish a budget shortfall. “In its search for additional funds, the official eye rested on Kulaokahu‘a, also called the Waikiki Plain or just The Plain.”

“This unpalatable stretch of real estate sprawled between the American mission and Makiki Stream. An area which an overheated promoter might have referred to as one of sweeping vistas, Kulaokahu‘a was best known for dust storms and impressive nothingness.”

“It was so empty that after Punahou School opened in July 1842, mothers upstairs in the mission house could see children leave that institution and begin their trek across the barren waste. Trees shunned the place; only straggling livestock inhabited it.” (Greer)

The government proposed to raise funds by selling lots in Kualokahu‘a and placed an advertisement in the Polynesian, “Building Lots – The Minister of the Interior is prepared to sell or lease Building Lots between Honolulu and Waikiki, on application being made according to law. [Nov. 14,1846]”

“In advance of this announcement, the government had built three roads with arched stone bridges. The former were extensions of King, Young, and Beretania Streets; the bridges spanned Makiki Stream. At about the same time certain lots were surveyed and numbered”.

“These preliminary sales hardly constituted a stampede. At this rate, great civilizations might have waxed and withered away ere the Waikiki Plain became a blooming, peopled suburb.” (Greer)

“Hoping to project a more urban image of The Plain, government decreed that after May 4, 1850 no horses, cattle, or other animals could run at large there. The creatures thus addressed could not decipher this message, and more than 30 years later agents were being appointed to take up strays.”

“As 1853 ended, the lots were ‘not in demand,’ a phrase repeated by Bishop in April 1855. Apparently Kulaokahu‘a’s desert environment transmitted dry rot to land values there.”

“Bishop wrote in 1856 that he had sold his two lots at auction for $25 each. Kulaokahu‘a plots were in mid-1858 almost worthless, only two or three of all sold having been improved.”

“In the early 1850s, some ceremonies celebrated the Restoration, but the practice faded away. As a recreational mecca, the dusty waste of the Square had the pull of a sauna in the Sahara. The Pacific Commercial Advertiser in 1864 called for a public park.”

“The unfenced and unimproved Thomas Square could have been made into an ornament of the city and a lever to raise property values around it. But this decorative hoist did not materialize. Nine years later, some small prospect of a park appeared.” (Greer)

“Honolulu now had a paper park in a paper subdivision.”

“But events move slowly in this Kingdom, except in the way of contracting debt, and for a long time Thomas Square was only a name.”

“In 1882 the Legislature appropriated a small sum of money for the improvement of Thomas Square, and every session since then money, in scant supply, has been voted for the same object.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 7, 1887)

“Very fortunately the control of Thomas Square was given to the Hon. A. S. Cleghorn, whose knowledge of landscape gardening is only equalled by his desire to beautify all public parks and grounds about Honolulu.”

“In the sixties little or no attention was paid to it, and it was soon overgrown with weeds. About 1875 I took charge and had the Square laid out and piped for water, and also had a band stand erected.” (Cleghorn; Thrum 1909)

“The Banyans now growing there are from ‘Ainahau,’ while most of the other trees are from the Government Nursery. There were crotans planted round the band stand and also in clusters about the grounds.” (Cleghorn; Thrum 1909)

“The square of seven acres had been laid out to scale in circles and half circles by the Hon. Robt. Stirling, and Mr. Cleghorn worked upon these plans.”

“Walks were laid out; valuable trees, flowering shrubs and flowers were planted, and an untiring supervision was given to the work, until today Thomas Square, at a trifling expenditure of money, is one of the most agreeable places of public resort to be found anywhere in the world compressed into the same limited space on a dead level.”

“But this did not suffice. Mr. Cleghorn, when the grounds had been sufficiently improved, went around among his friends in the city and raised sufficient money to build a grand stand for the band and provide seats for several hundred people in the grounds.”

“The grand stand was erected by Mr. F. Wilhelm, and is in every respect an improvement upon that in Emma Square. It is about double the size of the latter, and has a ceiling and sounding board.”

“There are thirty-four seats on the ground, ten of which are iron, recently imported from England. The remainder are of wood and were made to order here. They are fixtures.”

“The seats were placed in position yesterday. Hon. Mr. Cleghorn personally superintended the distribution of the seats, which afford shade during the day and an opportunity of enjoying the music by night. As a convenient and agreeable resort for all classes of citizens Thomas Square will be found unrivalled.”

“A wide path, close to the outer fence on its four sides is being opened, so that pedestrians may enjoy the luxury of an agree able promenade instead of walking along the dusty road.”

“The Royal Hawaiian Band, as already stated, plays at Thomas Square for the first time this evening. We bespeak a large and enthusiastic attendance.”

“Only one word of warning: do not touch plant or flower. These are grown for public gratification and should be held sacred. Let persons in charge of children remember this.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 7, 1887)

In 1925, a Joint Resolution of the legislative session set aside Thomas Square as a public park and placed it under the management of the Park Board of the City and County of Honolulu. It remains this today. It was recently refurbished by the City and a statue of Kamehameha III erected.

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