Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Crossing Anahulu Stream

When the Reverend John Emerson and his wife Ursula arrived in Hawai‘i in 1832, they were assigned to establish an American Protestant missionary station in Waialua. (Clark)

“[T]wo new houses are building which we shall occupy as soon as they are finished. Only a few rods from them is a fine spring of running water, which feeds a small river large enough for canoes.”

“This is the Anahulu which, bending and broadening, empties about a third of a mile away into Waialua Bay, where the ocean waves roll in upon a sandy beach.” “The home was known thereafter as ‘Waipuolo,’ ‘The Bubbling Spring.’” (Emerson)

“The Anahulu river (cave of the hulu – a kind of fish) is a narrow estuary averaging forty feet wide, which makes up from Waialua Bay a mile or more to the mouth of the Kawailoa stream.”

“On its opposite banks were two homes facing each other. On one side were the Gulicks, and on the other the Emersons. In each family there were seven boys and a younger sister, the Gulicks ranging three or four years older than the Emersons.” (Emerson)

Later it was found that a “need of the Waialua farmers was easier access to the Honolulu market, which could only be reached by a horse-trail leading through deep gulches and streams, or by small coasters that had to contend with currents and baffling winds.”

“Accordingly, after much urging, it was decided by the Government to develop the horse-trail into a road and bridge the streams. Of course this work required supervision. The only man at hand who could plan it and handle both native and white workmen, was my father, so he was asked to add to his other duties that of being the road supervisor of the district.”

“During the two years my father held this office, the road up and down the sides of five gulches was graded and made fit for carriages and oxcarts, and over the streams five bridges were built. Eighteen miles of roadway were constructed to connect with the road already built from Honolulu to Ewa.”

“Some of the time my father had a gang of fifty or more natives under him making the road, and several white carpenters at work building the bridges. When all was finished, business in Waialua began to boom.” (Emerson)

Later, “the law declares that vehicles weighing more than 15 tons shall not cross public bridges or traverse public roads … (Star Bulletin, July 22, 1915) The bridge crossing Anahulu Stream in Haleiwa was designed to carry horse-drawn carriages.  (Griffin)

Then, “traffic was stopped … when the Anahulu bridge between Waialua and Waialee collapsed under the weight of a twenty two ton plow tractor owned by the Waialua plantation.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 20, 1915)

Around-the-island traffic stopped, “The Anahulu bridge, over the Anahulu stream at Waialua on the main road between Haleiwa and Kahuku; will be closed to traffic until further notice.” (Star Bulletin, July 20, 1915)

Then a new reinforced concrete bridge was planned across Anahulu Stream. George E Marshall was given a $62,000 contract to build the double arched span (each 80 feet long). (Advertiser, Aug 26, 1920)

During construction, the bridge was almost lost. “Working in the pouring rain from 9 o’clock Thursday night to 2 o’clock Friday morning, a gang of workmen directed by George e Marshall saved the new Haleiwa bridge, for which Marshall is the contractor, from probable destruction.”

“[T]he stream, usually low, became a raging torrent due to the kona storm, and was fully 100 yards wide and 10 feet deep. Masses of sugar cane, wooden flumes, boards and debris of various kinds were buried against the bridge by the storm waters and desperate work was necessary to keep the debris from backing up the flood.” (Star Bulletin, Dec 27, 1920)

The bridge later faced a different threat, “The old bridge channels through itself all the life around it. Spanning the Anahulu River, it pulls together the banks of Haleiwa.”

“It remembers the old and sees the new.  Its too-narrow arches funnel the tide of progress filtering through the town. ‘Slow down’ it says ‘look at me.’  Built in 1921 when Haleiwa was a sleepy town, the bridge tries to lessen the pace of the traffic it channels through the still sleepy town.”

“The bridge still hears the plop of boots through the taro patches and the lap of waves against the orange and white sampans. The shrill whistle of the cane train is gone, and the clanking rumble of the Tournahauler is fading.”

“The bridge heard the Big-City folk call its neighboring buildings ‘delapidated’  but only scoffed. ‘Old things are good things,’ it said. ‘They allow the old to remember and the young to learn.’

“The bridge feels the surge of the tide below and the stain of red mud on its once-white arches. It feels the weight of small boys jeering the long tour cars or quietly fishing.”

“As the new small boat harbor was carved into the earth at its side, the bridge watched in wonder. Man diverted its river.  Man cut off a chunk of the ocean for quiet waters. Man could easily have blown up the too-narrow bridge. Fortunately he didn’t.”

“Beautification once meant to the bridge a new coat of white paint. Now it may mean survival to the matron of Haleiwa, the guardian of the rotting buildings.”

“Like all structures the bridge once faced destruction in the face of bigger and more modern thoroughfares. But plans were changed. The new highway that will bring new faces in search of recreation will pass through Haleiwa nearer the mountains.”

“The old Kamehameha Highway will become a scenic route, a roadway of the past, if the young people of Haleiwa have their way.”

“The rebuilding and new construction in Haleiwa will take on a theme, so have decided the young men who once fished from the bridge. The most dominant scene will be the harbor, the sampans, the fishing village. The other scene, further up the river,  will be the taro patches, the small riverside vegetable farms.”

“The new life that grows up along the shores of the river and beaches will share the laziness and quiet of the old life. And standing as a guardian between the two scenes will be the bridge, listening, seeing, feeling.”  (Star Bulletin, Feb 14, 1967)

Due to its shape, it earned the name ‘Rainbow Bridge’ – a little more appealing that its technical name, ‘Kamehameha Highway Bridge #603.’  It is one of the most recognized symbols of Hale‘iwa. (Historic Hawai‘i Foundation)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Settling in at Kawaiaha‘o

When the missionaries arrived on O‘ahu in April 1820 they lived in the grass houses provided by traders and ship captains in an area just mauka of the fort (mauka of what is now the Aloha Tower area). The king controlled all construction in the Kingdom, and had given orders to Boki, the Governor of Oʻahu, to construct a group of houses for the missionaries.

Governor Boki delayed building any hale pili [grass house] for the missionaries. Governor Boki wanted no interference and rejected the mission’s requested location just inland of the main village. Boki argued that his farmers already used the land for growing kalo. (Leineweber)

April 22, 1820. “The governor [Boki] does not yet step forward to furnish us with houses of any kind, and we are a little embarrassed. Find some difficulty in procuring store rooms for all our baggage, because those storehouses, which are safe, are generally occupied; and we fear to expose many articles, in what are generally termed ‘straw-houses;’ as these are so liable to destruction by fire, and so easily broken open.”

“Part we have deposited in a framed house of capt. Babcock, two stories high, inclosed in the governor’s yard; – part in Mr. Oliver’s mud-house; – part in Mr. Beckley’s; – part in Mr. Marin’s straw house; and the rest, in the different houses where we lodge.” (Missionary Herald, 1821)

May 8. “Capt. Starbuck and capt. Pigot offered to make a vigorous effort to build us convenient houses, and to promote our more comfortable establishment; the governor neglecting to build for us, but giving us leave to choose our ground where we pleased, on the uncultivated plain.”

May 9. “Selected a pleasant spot, back of the village, for the site of our buildings. Concluded that a united effort to erect them might be secured with the least exposure to suspicion, by calling a general meeting, and proposing the object publicly.”

May 10. “Boka [Boki] presented us a patch of taro, and proffered such assistance, in the way of supplies, as we might, from time to time, be disposed to ask of him.”

“A circular was issued this morning, which invited the co-operation of the friends of humanity and truth, and requested the European and American residents, both temporary and permanent, masters and officers of vessels of different flags, together with the chiefs of the island, to assemble at the house of Mr. Bingham, and hear a statement of our views, and of the views of the government, with respect to our enterprise.”

“The meeting would then take measures to secure such immediate and efficient aid to our object, as our friends might be inclined to render; and, if it should be thought advisable, would appoint a committee to superintend whatever might be undertaken. At five o’clock, P. M. a general meeting was assembled, and organized by choosing capt. Adams moderator, and brother Loomis scribe.”

“The business of the meeting having been proposed, and explained by an interpreter, to the governor, he replied, that, in regard to the houses, he intended to superintend the building of them himself; as he had orders from Rehoreho [Liholiho], to build them.”

“It was then stated, on our part, that, although the government were friendly to our object, and disposed to patronize it; yet, as we knew, that, at present, they were embarrassed with other claims; as we wished neither to become burdensome to them, or detrimental to the claims of foreign traders, whom they owed …”

“… and as several gentlemen stood ready to lend a friendly hand, in the erection of buildings for the promotion of our object; – we desired to give all the opportunity to afford whatever assistance their kindness should dictate, and their ability allow.”

“The governor again said, No. He chose to build the houses himself, according to the orders from the king.”

“Capt. Pigot then inquired, whether the governor intended soon to build comfortable houses for the mission entirely free of our expense; and he answered plainly that he did.”

“Thus far the business was settled. A committee was then appointed to consult with Boka [Boki], respecting the place, the form, and the manner of building.”

“He said that the ground, which we had chosen, could not be granted us, because it belonged to the farmers; but named a particular part of the plain, where he thought it would be best for us to have our houses.”

May 11. “Today the village of Hanaroorah [Honolulu] has been in an uproar; but we have been unmolested. There has been considerable commotion in the streets; but our habitations have enjoyed peace.”

“We are happy in the assurance that neither we, nor the efforts which were made yesterday to promote our benevolent objects, were the cause of this commotion; though the lion might take occasion to roar, at this time, to prevent the good intended.”

“The prevalence of multiplied jealousies gives currency to invidious declarations and reports; and the collision of opposite interests is often followed by agitation and violence.” (Missionary Herald, 1821)

Boki suggested a spot, “three quarters of a mile from H[onolulu] on the high road to Witeti [Waikīkī] on an extensive plain with a view of the open sea in front & lofty mountains & fertile valleys in the rear.”

It was “on the arid plain, about half a mile east of the landing, then some distance from the village, but now included in it. After a few months, he erected three temporary habitations for the mission family, residing on that island.” (Bingham)

Maria Loomis saw the benefits of Boki’s suggested location, as it would put them away from the bustling activity of the harbor and village.

The curious and social nature of the Hawaiians challenged the women, and being further away from the town had its advantages. In the traders’ houses, Loomis recorded, “our doors and windows are daily darkened by gazing natives.”

Boki began to build this row of connected houses some three months after their arrival. The typical construction of several weeks moved into several months. In late September, the mission family finally moved from the houses of the ship captains to the new hale pili [grass houses]. This line of buildings became known as Missionary Row. This was at a place called Kawaiaha‘o.

By this time Samuel Whitney and Samuel Ruggles and their wives had left to begin a Mission Station on Kauai and Elisha Loomis to Kawaihae.

So only Hiram Bingham, Daniel Chamberlain with his wife and five children and Maria Loomis and child needed to be housed in the new location. The women immediately adapted each house to their own spatial requirements. (Leineweber)

“[W]e took possession of the premises assigned us by the government, and the buildings which had been chiefly erected by Boki, in the course of four months from our landing.”

“These houses, cottages or huts, tabernacles, barns or sheds, for it is somewhat difficult to say what term would give the true idea of the structure, were built in the usual style of Hawaiian architecture, by natives; the light timbers being brought on their shoulders some 14 miles, and the grass three.”

“Had we paid for them, as they came from their hands, they might have cost us sixty dollars each.”

“To describe them justly, would be to describe, in the main, the habitations of the whole nation – which may, perhaps, as well be done here as anywhere. The Hawaiian mode of building habitations was, in a measure ingenious, and when their work was carefully executed, it was adapted to the taste of a dark, rude tribe, subsisting on roots, fish, and fruits, but by no means sufficient to meet their necessities, even in their mild climate.”

“Round posts, a few inches in diameter, are set in the ground about a yard apart, rising from three to five feet from the surface. On a shoulder, near the top, is laid a horizontal pole, two or three inches in diameter, as a plate; on this, directly over the posts, rest the rafters. A point of the post, called a finger, rises on the outside of the plate, and passes between two points of the rafter projecting over the plate and below the main shoulder.”

“The joint thus constructed is held together partly by the natural pressure of the roof, and partly by lashings of bark, vines, or grassy fibres beaten, and by hand twisted and doubled into a coarse twine, and put on manifold so as to act as four braces – two from the post, and two from the rafter, extending to the plate, all being attached six to twelve inches from the joint.”

“Three poles or posts, about three times the length of the side posts, are set in the ground, one in the centre of the building, and the others at the ends, on which rests the nether ridge pole, supporting the head of the rafters. These crossing each other, the angle above receives the upper ridge pole, which is lashed to the nether and to the head of the rafters.”

“Posts of unequal length are set at the ends of the building, sloping a little inward and reaching to the end rafters, to which their tops are tied. A door-frame, from three to six feet high, is placed between two end or side posts.”

“Thatch-poles are tied horizontally to the posts and rafters, from an inch to three inches apart, all around and from the ground to the top ridge pole. At this stage the building assumes the appearance of a huge, rude bird cage. It is then covered with the leaf of the ki, pandanus, sugarcane, or more commonly (as in the case of the habitations for us) with grass bound on in small bundles, side by side, one tier overlapping another, like shingles.”

“A house thus thatched assumes the appearance of a long hay stack without, and a cage in a hay mow within. The area or ground within, is raised a little with earth, to prevent the influx of water, and spread with grass and mats, answering usually instead of floors, tables, chairs, sofas, and beds. Air can pass through the thatching, and often there is one small opening through the thatch besides the door, for ventilation and light.”

“Such was the habitation of the Hawaiian, – the monarch, chief, and landlord, the farmer, fisherman, and cloth-beating widow, – a tent of poles and thatch – a rude attic, of one apartment on the ground – a shelter for the father, mother, larger and smaller children, friends and servants.”

“Such a habitation, whose leafy or grassy covering readily contracted mould, dust, and vermin, was insufficient to secure the inmates from dampness and the oppressive heat of the vertical sun. Such houses, snugly built and in prime order, and much more, thousands of the same model, small, indifferently built …”

“… or falling to decay, by the force of wind, rain, and sun, or the rotting of the thatching, flooring, and the posts in the ground, – are ill adapted to promote health of body, vigor of intellect, neatness of person, food, clothing or lodging, and much less, longevity.”

“They cannot be washed, scoured, polished, or painted to good purpose, nor be made suitable for good furniture, pantry, or wardrobe, nor for the security of valuable writings, books, or treasures.”

“Nothing, therefore, would be more natural than that a heathen people occupying such habitations, and going bare-headed in the sun, should feel a depression or heaviness, – a tendency to listlessness, and even lethargy, which demands the stimulus of tobacco, rum, or awa, to give a temporary relief, or to add a zest to the few low pleasures within their reach.”

“Such habitations being erected for the pioneer missionaries, they introduced some improvements – partitions, window-frames, shutters, &c. (which have been copied to some extent), and afterwards gave them better models.”

“About as destitute of chairs, at first, as any of the natives, we made long seats of plank by the sides of one room, which we used for a school and for social and public worship for a time.” (Bingham, 21-years)

To help remember and learn from the past, as well as best portray the mission experience, Hawaiian Mission Houses has a Hale Pili under construction on the Hawaiian Mission Houses grounds, in about the same place as the hale pili of Missionary Row.

It is a representation of the hale described in journals and letters of William and Clarissa Richards, Charles and Harriet Stewart, and Betsey Stockton, all of whom lived in the hale that this reproduction represents. The dimensions primarily follow the Richards’ description.

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lāhainā Banyan

“The places in the garden where I find myself lingering and staring with unsoundable pleasure are those where it looks to me as though, with the shafts of light reaching and dividing through the trees, it might be deep in the forest.” WS Merwin

“The Banyan (Ficus Indica) is indigenous to India only. I call it one of the ‘kings of the forest,’ because no other of the vegetable giants ever measured a tithe of five acres in circuit, or afforded shelter from the torrid sun at one time to one-tenth of an army of ten thousand men.”

“No one who ever spent the long noontide of an Indian day under the capacious shadow of a banyan-tree, or slept uninjured during successive nights under the protection from dews and rains of its shingled foliage, or strolled leisurely for hours along avenues and foot-paths bordered by flowering shrubs and cooled by gurgling streamlets …”

“… all within the boundaries of the repeating branches of a single tree, will be disposed to dispute the claims of the banyan to be counted as one of the three monarchs of the woods.” (Dodge, Alama News, Mar 19, 1873)

The word “banyan” comes from the Gujarati language meaning merchant. The Portuguese used the word for Hindu traders selling their wares under the shade of the tree. Then English writers adopted the word in starting in the 16th century, when “banyan” became the term for the trees themselves.

Banyan trees are unique in that they not only grow vertically, but also horizontally. Thin roots grow to the surface of the ground and then can extend forming a new trunk. Here, it can thicken and weave along the original trunk and continue to branch out. A banyan is a kind of fig tree. (Panda)

Some context to the Lahaina Banyan …

The 1806 “Haystack Prayer Meeting” by “the Brethren,” a group of several students at Williams College, Williamstown, MA is credited as the informal beginning of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM).

The Board was officially chartered June 20, 1812 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Four fields of missionary activity were identified: (a) peoples of ancient civilizations, (b) peoples of primitive cultures, (c) peoples of the ancient Christian churches, and (d) peoples of Islamic faith.

The first mission of the ABCFM was in 1813 to Marathi of western India, headquarters in Bombay. (Congregational Library)  “If ever I see a Hindoo a real believer in Jesus, I shall see something more nearly approaching the resurrection of a dead body than anything I have yet seen.” (Henry Martyn, American Board in India and Ceylon, Bartlett)

“But God knows how to raise the dead. And it was on this most hopeless race, under the most discouraging concurrence of circumstances, that he chose to let the first missionaries of the American Board try their fresh zeal. The movements of commerce and the history of missionary effort naturally pointed to the swarming continent of Asia.” (Bartlett)

In 1870, the work of the American Board of Foreign Commissioners in western India was transferred to the Board of Foreign Missions. Thereafter, that field was known as the West India Mission.

In addition to the inherited station at Kolhapur, succeeding stations were opened at Ratnagiri in 1873, in Sangli in 1884, in Miraj in 1892, in Vengurla in 1900, in Kodoli in 1893, in Islampur in 1906 and in Nipani in 1910. (Gale)

The ABCFM mission to Hawai‘i …

In the Islands, over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period,”) the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) sent twelve Companies of missionaries – 184-missionaries; 84-men and 100-women – to the Hawaiian Islands.

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived (1820,) Kamehameha I had died (1819) and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished, through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho, his son,) with encouragement by his father’s wives, Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother.)) Keōpūolani later decided to move to Maui.

The Second Company of missionaries arrived in the Islands on April 27, 1823.  “On the 26th of May (1823) we heard that the barge (Cleopatra’s Barge, or “Haʻaheo o Hawaiʻi,” Pride of Hawaiʻi) was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen (Keōpūolani) and princess (Nāhiʻenaʻena;) and that the queen was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her”.

“A meeting was called to consult whether it was expedient to establish a mission at Lahaina. The mission was determined on, and Mr S (Stewart) was appointed to go: he chose Mr R (Richards) for his companion … On the 28th we embarked on the mighty ocean again, which we had left so lately.”  (Betsey Stockton Journal)

Keōpūolani is said to have been the first convert of the missionaries in the Islands, receiving baptism from Rev. William Ellis in Lāhainā on September 16, 1823.  Keōpūolani was spoken of “with admiration on account of her amiable temper and mild behavior”.  (William Richards)   She was ill and died shortly after her baptism.

Commemorating the mission in Lahaina …

On April 24, 1873, while serving as Sheriff on Maui, William Owen Smith (a missionary son) planted Lāhainā’s Indian Banyan to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first Protestant mission in Lāhainā. 

Later, when not filling public office, Smith had been engaged in private law practice and was affiliated with various law firms during his long career.  Smith and his firm wrote the will for Princess Pauahi Bishop that created the Bishop Estate.

As a result of this, Pauahi recommended to Queen Liliʻuokalani that he write her will for the Liliʻuokalani Trust (which he did.)  As a result, Liliʻuokalani and Smith became lifelong friends; he defended her in court, winning the suit brought against her by Prince Jonah Kūhiō. (KHS)

Speaking of his relationship with the Queen, Smith said, “One of the gratifying experiences of my life was that after the trying period which led up to the overthrow of the monarchy and the withdrawal of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the Queen sent for me to prepare a will and deed of trust of her property and appointed me one of her trustees”.  (Nellist)

Smith was also a trustee of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate from 1884-1886 and 1897-1929, the Lunalilo Estate, the Alexander Young Estate and the Children’s Hospital.

Back to the Lahaina Banyan …

The tree was apparently a gift from the missionaries in India to the missionary descendants in Hawai‘i; it was about 8-feet when it was planted.

 After settling in, the tree slowly sent branches outward from its trunk. From the branches, a series of aerial roots descended towards the earth. Some of them touched the ground and dug in, growing larger until eventually turning into trunks themselves.

Over the years, Lahaina residents lovingly encouraged the symmetrical growth of the tree by hanging large glass jars filled with water on the aerial roots that they wanted to grow into a trunk. In time, what was once a small sapling matured into a monumental behemoth. (Lahaina Restoration Foundation)

Today, shading almost an acre of the surrounding park and reaching upward to a height of 60 feet, this banyan tree is reportedly the largest in the US.

Its aerial roots grow into thick trunks when they reach the ground, supporting the tree’s large canopy. There are 16 major trunks in addition to the original trunk in the center.

Other notable Banyans in Hawai‘i include the Indian Banyan tree on the mauka side of the Iolani Palace grounds.  The tree was a gift from Indian Royalty to King Kalākaua.  Reportedly, Queen Kapiʻolani planted the tree there.  Cuttings from the tree were planted at each end of Kailua Bay in Kona.

Starting on October 24, 1933, notable politicians, entertainers, religious leaders, authors, sports figures, business people, adventurers and local folks planted Banyans along Hilo’s Walk of Fame.

Filmmaker Cecil B DeMille was in Hilo filming scenes for ‘Four Frightened People.’  The Hilo Park Commission asked him and some of the actors from the film (Mary Boland, William Gargan, Herbert Marshall’s wife (Edna Best Marshall) and Leo Carillo) to plant trees to commemorate their visit.  (Pahigian)

Shortly after (October 29, 1933,) George Herman ‘Babe’ Ruth added a tree; he was in town for an exhibition baseball game against the Waiākea Pirates.  In an earlier game in Honolulu, “Babe Ruth hit the first ball pitched to him for a home run when the visiting major league players defeated the local Wanderers here yesterday, 5 to 1.” (UP, El Paso Herald, October 23, 1933)

Initially, eight trees were planted in October 1933; there have been over 50-trees planted at what is now known as Banyan Drive on the Waiākea peninsula, traditionally known as Hilo-Hanakāhi.

At the time, Banyan Drive was a crushed coral drive through the trees. Forty trees were planted between 1934 and 1938, and five more trees were planted between 1941 and 1972. In 1991, a tree lost to a tsunami was replaced.  (Hawaiʻi County)

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Prefab Construction in Hawaiʻi

The 1821 Frame House at Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives was one of Hawaiʻi’s early prefab houses.  They precut the lumber on the continent, then delivered it to Hawaiʻi and erected the house.  It’s still there.

The timbers of Maine white pine were cut and fitted in Boston in 1819 and came around the Horn on the brig Thaddeus with the Pioneer Company in April 1820, arriving first in Kona.  The frame of the house arrived in Honolulu on Christmas morning of that year on board the ship Tartar.

Construction of the house wasn’t necessarily smooth – it was some weeks before the King would permit its erection.  Construction did not begin until April, and the frame had by that time been injured by exposure to the tropical sun.

The boards for the roof could not be found, and it was concluded that they were never put aboard ship. Other lumber had been damaged enroute, and some was stolen after arrival at Honolulu. The balance had to be eked out by boards purchased locally.

During the shingling, the scaffolding collapsed, injuring one of the men. The siding of rough feather-edged boards proved leaky, and attempts were made to stop the cracks with rags soaked in tar.  (Mission Houses; Peterson)

The Frame House was used as a communal home by many missionary families who shared it with island visitors and boarders.  It is the oldest wood frame structure still standing in the Hawaiian Islands.

It wasn’t until the California Gold Rush (1848) that prefab housing started to really catch on, on the West coast of the continent and elsewhere.

As news spread of the discovery, thousands of prospective gold miners traveled by sea or over land to San Francisco and the surrounding area; by the end of 1849, the non-native population of the California territory was some 100,000 (compared with the pre-1848 figure of less than 1,000.)  They needed places to stay.

Ralph Waldo Emerson noted the gold seekers brought ‘framed houses’ with them, “Suddenly the Californian soil is spangled with a little gold-dust here and there in a mill … the news flies here and there, to New York, to Maine, to London, and an army of a hundred thousand picked volunteers”.

“(T)he ablest and keenest and boldest that could be collected, instantly organize and embark for this desart, bringing tools, instruments, books, and framed houses, with them.  Such a well-appointed colony as never was planted before arrive with the speed of sail and steam on these remote shores, bringing with them the necessity that the government”.  (Emerson, 1849)

Framed houses were also an early article of overseas trade, and before long the American colonies, in their turn, were making and shipping houses to the Caribbean sugar islands. After that both Europe and our Eastern Seaboard produced them for the settlement of Australia and California.

At the height of the Gold Rush in 1849 port cities around the world were sending large numbers of buildings to San Francisco. Hawaiʻi  – and especially Honolulu – was soon to share them.  (Peterson)

The Polynesian notes, “A New Article in Commerce. From all parts of the world we hear that HOUSES, in perfect order to be set up in a short time, are being constructed for California. From the humble wooden tenement of a single room, to immense iron and framed buildings of three stories”.

“Belgium, France, England, the British Colonies the South American States and China, are all sending their quota … from New York and immediate vicinity alone, 5,000 houses have been … shipped for El Dorado.”  (Polynesian, March 2, 1850)

A century later, the Islands saw the proliferation of ‘pre-designed’ homes built by Harold Hicks.  In 1949, Hicks brought his family to the Islands and started his own residential construction company in the laundry room of his house.

Hicks designed and built homes for the ‘First Time Buyer,’ as well as for subdivision developers. He wanted to offer affordable homes to the working families of the islands and would build one home or 100 at a time.  (BIA)

One dozen efficient model home designs offered the homeowners a range of flexibility in bedrooms and bathrooms. Sizes ranged from a one-bedroom 576-SF model to a four-bedroom 1,208-SF home.

Consistent features in a Hicks’ home include clear heart redwood interior and exterior single walls, oak flooring and jalousie windows … and the white roof (no matter the model or square footage, the roof was always white.)

Hicks wanted his customers to be able to “select a home model just as a shopper could select items in a department store”.  Since 1950, 17,000 Hicks homes have been built in the islands and the working families of Hawaiʻi have experienced their homes for generations. (BIA)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Early Sugar Use … Rum

The early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.  In 1802, sugar was first made in the islands on the island of Lānai by a native of China.

He came here in one of the vessels trading for sandalwood, and brought a stone mill and boilers and, after grinding off one small crop and making it into sugar, went back the next year with his fixtures, to China.

But it wasn’t development of a sweetener that was one of the first popular uses of the canoe crop (that later ended up changing the landscape and social make-up of the Islands.)

“In short it might be well worth the attention of Government to make the experiment and settle these islands by planters from the West Indies, men of humanity, industry and experienced abilities in the exercise of their art would here in a short time be enabled to manufacture sugar and rum from luxuriant fields of cane equal if not superior to the produce of our West India plantations.”  (Menzies, 1793)

Rum is a beverage that seems to have had its origins on the 17th century Caribbean sugarcane plantations and by the 18th century its popularity had spread throughout world.  Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane byproducts by a process of fermentation and distillation.

The origin of the word ‘rum’ is generally unclear. In an 1824 essay about the word’s origin, Samuel Morewood suggested the word ‘rum’ might be from the British slang term for ‘the best,’ as in “having a rum time.  … it would be called rum, to denote its excellence or superior quality.” (Samuel Morewood, 1824)

According to Kamakau, “The first taste that Kamehameha and his people had of rum was at Kailua in 1791 or perhaps a little earlier, brought in by Captain Maxwell. Kamehameha went out to the ship with (John) Young and (Isaac) Davis when it was sighted off Keāhole Point and there they all drank rum.”

“Then nothing would do but Kalanimōku must get some of this sparkling water, and he was the first chief to buy rum.”

Shortly thereafter, while in Waikīkī, after having tasted the “dancing water,” Kamehameha I gained the apparent honor of having spread the making of rum from Oʻahu to Hawaiʻi island. (Kanahele)

After he saw a foreigner make rum in Honolulu, he set up his own still. Spurred by his own appetite for rum, he soon made rum drinking common among chiefs and chiefesses as well as commoners. (Kanahele)  Many of the subsequent royalty and chiefs also drank alcoholic beverages (several overindulged.)

Within a decade or so, Island residents were producing liquor on a commercial basis. “It was while Kamehameha was on Oʻahu that rum was first distilled in the Hawaiian group,” wrote Kamakau.

“In 1809 rum was being distilled by the well-known foreigner, Oliver Holmes, at Kewalo, and later he and David Laho-loa distilled rum at Makaho.”  Several small distilleries were in operation by the 1820s.

By November 1822, Honolulu had seventeen grog shops operated by foreigners.  Drinking places were one of the earliest types of retail business established in the Islands.

“For some years after the arrival of missionaries at the islands it was not uncommon in going to the enclosure of the king, or some other place of resort, to find after a previous night’s revelry, exhausted cases of ardent spirits standing exposed and the emptied bottles strewn about in confusion.” (Dibble)

In 1825 an English agriculturist named John Wilkinson, who in his younger years had been a planter in the West Indies, arrived at Honolulu on the frigate Blonde. He had made some arrangement with Governor Boki, while the latter was in England, to go out and engage in cultivating sugar cane and coffee and in making sugar and, probably, rum.  (Kuykendall)

A plantation was established in the upper part of Mānoa valley. Six months after beginning operations Wilkinson had about seven acres of cane growing, Untimely rains raised the stream and destroyed a dam under construction at the mill site. (Kuykendall)  His partners constructed a still and began to make rum from molasses.  (Daws)

Boki’s trade in entertaining the visiting ships and distilling liquor ran him afoul of the missionaries and Kaʻahumanu.   Kaʻahumanu had him fined in 1827 for misconduct, intemperance, fornication and adultery, apparently in connection with his brothels and grog-shops.  (Nogelmeier)

Kaʻahumanu ordered the sugar cane on his Mānoa plantation to be torn up when she found it was to be used for rum.  When Boki could no longer provide the cane for distilling and Kaʻahumanu had the sugar crop destroyed, Boki turned to distilling ti-root.    (Nogelmeier)

In March 1838, the first liquor license law was enacted, which prohibited all selling of liquors without a license under a fine of fifty dollars for the first offense, to be increased by the addition of fifty dollars for every repetition of the offense.  (The Friend, December 1887)

All houses for the sale of liquor were to be closed at ten o’clock at night, and from Saturday night until Monday morning.  Drunkenness was prohibited in the licensed houses under a heavy fine to the drinker, and the loss of his license to the seller.  (The Friend, December 1887)

In 1843, the seamen’s chaplain, Samuel C. Damon, started ‘The Temperance Advocate and Seamen’s Friend;’ he soon changed its name to simply “The Friend.”   Through it, he offered ‘Six Hints to seamen visiting Honolulu’ (the Friend, October 8, 1852,) his first ‘Hint,’ “Keep away from the grog shops.”

However, that was pretty wishful thinking, given the number and distribution of establishments in the early-years of the fledgling city and port on Honolulu.

In 1874, a legislative act was passed that allowed distillation of rum on sugar plantations.  According to a report in ‘The Friend,’ “the only planter in the Legislature voted three times against the passage of the Act.”  The first export of Hawaiian rum was made on May 15, 1875 – the product of Heʻeia Plantation.  (Today, others are making a comeback.)

The sweetener production focus of sugar caught hold. The first commercially-viable sugar plantation, Ladd and Co., was started at Kōloa on Kaua‘i.  On July 29, 1835 (187 years ago, today,) Ladd & Company obtained a 50-year lease on nearly 1,000-acres of land and established a plantation and mill site in Kōloa.

Hawai‘i’s economy turned toward sugar in the decades between 1860 and 1880; these twenty years were pivotal in building the plantation system.  A century after Captain Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi, sugar plantations started to dominate the landscape.

At the industry’s peak in the 1930s, Hawaii’s sugar plantations employed more than 50,000 workers and produced more than 1-million tons of sugar a year; over 254,500-acres were planted in sugar.  That plummeted to 492,000 tons in 1995.

With statehood in 1959 and the almost simultaneous introduction of passenger jet airplanes, the tourist industry began to grow rapidly.  A majority of the plantations closed in the 1990s.  As sugar declined, tourism took its place – and far surpassed it.  Like many other societies, Hawaii underwent a profound transformation from an agrarian to a service economy.

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