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January 11, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Glimpse of Honolulu Life in early-1870s

The following is from a ‘Story’ by Clara Lydia (Moseley) Sutherland (granddaughter of Hiram Bingham and daughter of Hiram’s first child Sophia – and, my great grandmother). She gives glimpses of life as a teacher at Kawaiahaʻo Female Seminary and a look of Honolulu in the early-1870s.

Before she “was fifteen, a wonderful thing happened to me which probably changed the whole course of my life. Two of my mother’s sisters, Aunt Lydia and Aunt Lizzie, returned to Honolulu, the home of their birth and engaged in teaching in a school for Hawaiian girls which was called Kawaiahaʻo Seminary.”

“My Aunt Lydia was Principal of this school and she wrote to my mother asking if she couldn’t spare me and let me come out and teach music to her girls, knowing that I was musically inclined.”

She left her home in Union City, Michigan to join them. “Uncle Hiram (II) met us at the wharf that Sunday morning we arrived, and when we reached the house my three aunts gave me such a warm and cordial welcome that I was no longer homesick, but oh! so glad to be here on terra firma.” (Clara Lydia Sutherland)

“Very soon after my arrival in Honolulu I began taking piano lessons from Mr. Mueller, a German teacher. I also took some French lessons from him.”

“Aunt Lydia wished to give me every advantage in the way of music, so she had me take pipe organ lessons from Mr. Atkinson, the organist at Kawaiaha‘o Church.”

“The organ then in use had to be pumped by hand, so when I went over to the church to practice I always took one of the school girls to do the pumping.”

“After I had gained some confidence in the use of the pedals I substituted occasionally for Mrs. Agnes Judd, who was the regular organist at Fort Street Church.”

“This church was thus named because it stood on the corner of Fort and Beretania streets nearly opposite the Catholic Church. Mr. Frear, father of Judge Frear was its pastor at that time.”

“Some years after, it merged with Bethel Church of which Rev. S. M. Damon was pastor. They built a beautiful church on the corner of Beretania and · Richards St. and named it Central Union, and Dr. Beckwith was its first pastor.”

“About two miles out from town at the entrance of Manoa Valley was a school called Punahou (meaning ‘new spring’) and thus named because of the spring which has existed there from time immemorial.”

“This property, consisting of several acres, was given by Boki, one of the chiefs, to my grandfather for educational purposes, so in 1842, a school was started there for the benefit of the children of the missionaries.”

“When I came to the Islands in 1872 this was as yet a small school, compared to its present status. There were only about fifty pupils and there were only two buildings, both built of adobe.”

“One of these was for the Principal and the three teachers and the few pupils who came from the other Islands. The other was the Schoolhouse. The latter is still in existence and is now used by the Music Faculty and called ‘Old Music Hall’.”

“At that time the upper floor was one big schoolroom, and the rooms downstairs were used for classrooms. Mr. E. P. Church was the Principal, and his wife and Miss Haven and Mr. Chickering were the other three teachers.”

“Here I went to school for two years, and it is one of my happy memories, as I loved my teachers and my studies and made friendships which have lasted all my life.”

“Mr. Chickering, my Latin teacher, was my ideal of all that was fine and noble and manly, and I nearly lost my heart to him even at the age of 16.”

“There were no street cars in Honolulu in those days, so the school kept two omnibuses driven by boys living at the school. One went up Nuʻuanu Valley to pick up all the scholars living in that section, and the other took those of us who lived in town, and in the few scattered houses on the plains between Punahou and town.”

“There was not much to be seen but algeroba (kiawe) trees on that dry and dusty plain. King Street was the only thoroughfare.
There was no one living in Manoa Valley except a few natives in their grass huts.”

“That was only a place where we went for picnics on horseback. The bus called for some of us about 8:30 am as school began at 9 o’clock. We used to have some pretty jolly times riding back and forth, and I can remember how certain girls would have a crush on the driver and want to sit up next to him.”

“Human nature has not changed since time began, and there was plenty of flirtation and romance in those days, but we would have been considered very discreet and modest by the present generation.”

“We would take an orange or banana to school to eat at noon, but no regular lunch, so I used to come home between two and three PM nearly starved.”

“They always kept my dinner warm for me in the oven and how I did enjoy the taro! We had it nearly every day instead of potato or rice. That is probably what made me gain in weight so fast, as I had not then learned to eat poi.”

“I was a very busy girl at this time, for besides my school and my piano and organ practice I was giving piano lessons to ten or twelve of the girls in my aunt’s school.”

“I would give one before going to school in the morning, and one or two more in the afternoon. There was an old piano in the dining room where I taught, and on which the girls practiced.”

“In the back parlor was a new one, belonging to Sally King, a half white, and one of my pupils. She and I did our practicing on this.”

“Our nearest neighbors were the Castles and Cookes. The Castles lived next door and the Cookes just across the street in the old Mission House, where my grandparents and some of the other missionaries had lived.”

“This was the first frame house erected in Honolulu, the material for it having been sent around Cape Horn in 1821. It is still in existence, having been carefully preserved by the friends of the missionaries on account of its associations.”

“‘Mother Cooke’, as she was lovingly called by all who knew her, was living here at this time with her three sons, Charlie, Frank and Clarence.”

“The three daughters and oldest son, Joe, had all left the family roof, and were living in homes of their own. Charlie was married but living in the same house with his mother and occupying a three room apartment or wing which had been built onto the east end of the house.”

“These rooms should have been called ‘Honeymoon Haven’ as it is where each of Mother Cooke’s four sons began their married life.”

“The Castles were a large family of nine children, and I came to know them very well, especially the younger ones, George, James, Carrie, Helen and Henry.”

“Carrie, who was nearest my age, was as fond of music as I, and we enjoyed playing duets together …. Mr. Barnard, Clerk of the Court, an elderly gentleman who played the violin, used to give us each an evening a week when he would come to the house and play with us, thus helping us greatly in reading and in our appreciation of good music.”

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Punahou School, Photograph attributed to Charles Burgess-1866
Punahou School, Photograph attributed to Charles Burgess-1866
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Punahou Omnibus
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Punahou Omnibus-1890
Kawaiahao Church in 1885-Look towards Diamond Head
Kawaiahao Church in 1885-Look towards Diamond Head
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Kawaiahaʻo_Female_Seminary,_Honolulu,_c._1867
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Filed Under: General, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Place Names, Schools, Economy Tagged With: Sophia Bingham, Kiawe, Nuuanu, Manoa, Kawaiahao Seminary, Kulaokahua, Hiram Bingham, Hawaii, Clara Sutherland, Punahou, Kawaiahao Church

December 17, 2021 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mid-Pacific Institute

“Mid-Pacific Institute is unqualifiedly Christian. It is the fruitage of missionary enterprise and cherishes the legacy which the mission fathers and mothers have passed on to it.”

“Even possible educational advantage such as good teachers, supervised study, small classes, and an uplifting home environment, are afforded its pupils but its real claim for its right to exist and receive the support of its friends is the emphasis it places upon Christian character-building.”

“The land, buildings and endowment are the gifts of Christian men and women; the love, vision and faith which gave it birth are Christian; its purpose and ideals are Christian. Many of the students come from non-Christian homes and their first introduction to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ is received here.”

“All students attend Sunday School and Church services in the city churches. Daily chapel services are held in each department while live Christian Endeavor and Mission societies give the students ample opportunity for self-expression.”

“Mid-Pacific Institute owes its birth to the vision, enthusiasm and tireless energy of Francis W Damon. With an abiding faith in the need of such an institution he persistently and patiently urged its claims until others caught his spirit and in 1905 the Hawaiian Board of Missions sanctioned it and appointed the first Board of Managers.”

“Unlike most institutions Mid-Pacific came into life full-grown, for it was made up of schools which had already made valuable contributions to the education of Hawaii’s youth – Kawaiahaʻo Seminary for girls and Mills School for boys.”

“Mills School came into being through the efforts of Mr. Damon, who was then Superintendent of Chinese work for the Hawaiian Board, to make it possible for worthy Chinese boys from the country districts to find both a school and a home.” (John Hopwood, Mid-Pacific President, April 1923)

Kawaiaha‘o Female Seminary

In 1863, missionaries Mr. and Mrs. Luther Gulick started a boarding school for girls in Kaʻū. This was continued at Waiohinu for two years, but was moved to Oʻahu. The Gulicks’ school was established “to teach the principles of Christianity, domestic science, and the ways and usages of western civilization.”

Mrs. Gulick felt that her opportunity had come. No one else could begin the school. She had been longing for more missionary work to do, and now the door was open. She writes: “Opened school this morning with eight scholars.” (The Friend)

In 1867, the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society (HMCS – an organization consisting of the children of the missionaries and adopted supporters) decided to support a girls’ boarding school. An early advertisement (April 13, 1867) notes it was called Honolulu Female Academy.

It started with boarders and day students, but after 1871 it has been exclusively a boarding school. “Under her patient energy and tact, with the help of her assistants, it prospered greatly, and became a success.” (Coan)

At first the school was designed to prepare Hawaiian girls to become ‘suitable’ wives for men who were at the same time preparing to become missionaries and work in the South Seas.

This objective took the back seat to industrial education as new industrial departments were added. This included sewing, washing and ironing, dressmaking, domestic arts and nursing.

Kawaiahaʻo Seminary continued to grow over the years and the student body was drawn from all over the islands and from all racial groups; some of the scholars included members of the royal family. (Attendance averaged over a hundred per year, with the largest number of pupils appears to have been in 1889, when 144 names were on the rolls.)

Mills School for Boys (Mills Institute)

Mills School for Boys was started as a small downtown missionary school in 1892, by Mr. and Mrs. Francis W Damon (descendant of missionary Rev Samuel C Damon), who took into their home a number of Chinese boys with the aim of giving them a Christian education.

Frank Damon, who was born in Hawai‘i, toured the world with Henry Carter, and married Mary Happer, a missionary’s daughter, who had been born and reared in Kuangzhou, China, and spoke fluent Cantonese. Frank Damon was appointed by the Hawaiian Evangelical Association as the superintendent of Chinese work in 1881. (Fan)

“(S)ix Chinese youths fired with the passion for knowledge, knocked at the door of the Damon home in Honolulu and asked to be taken in and taught. A room was found, instruction began, the six multiplied slowly until they have become more than four hundred who have found Mills a blessed home of light and truth.”

“The influence of this school upon our Territory can never be told. Its graduates are found in all walks of life, occupying positions of influence here, on the Pacific coast and in China.” (The Friend, October 1905)

Bringing The Two Together

Kawaiahaʻo Seminary and Mills School had much in common – they were home schools; founded by missionary couples; and had boarding of students.

With these commonalities, in 1905, a merger of the two was suggested, forming a co-educational institution in the same facility.

In order to accommodate a combined school, the Hawaiian Board of Foreign Missions purchased the Kidwell estate, about 35-acres of land in Mānoa valley.

Through gifts by GN Wilcox, JB Atherton and others, on May 31, 1906, a ceremony was held in Mānoa Valley for the new school campus – just above what is now the University of Hawaiʻi (the UH campus was not started in the Mānoa location until 1912.)

By 1908, the first building was completed, and the school was officially operated as Mid-Pacific Institute, consisting of Kawaiahaʻo School for Girls and Damon School for Boys.

Initially, while the two schools moved to the same campus, they essentially went their separate ways there for years; they had different curricula, different academic standards and different policies.

Finally, in the fall of 1922, a new coeducational plan went into effect – likewise, ‘Mills’ and ‘Kawaiahaʻo’ were dropped, and by June 1923, Mid-Pacific became the common, shared name.

In November 2003, the school decided to terminate its on-campus dormitory (which had existed since 1908). Epiphany School, established in 1937 as a small mission school by the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, merged with Mid-Pacific Institute in 2004.

© 2021 Hoʻokuleana LLC

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Mid_Pacific_Institute
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Honolulu and Vicinity-Dakin-Fire Insurance- 05-Map-1906-Former_Mills_Institute_Site-noted
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Kawaiahaʻo_Female_Seminary,_Honolulu,_c._1867
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Honolulu and Vicinity-Dakin-Fire Insurance- 28-Map-1906_the_YWCA_Homestead-Castle_Estate-(former_Kawaiahao_Seminary_Site)
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Filed Under: Schools, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Prominent People Tagged With: Mid-Pacific Institute, Hawaii, Damon School for Boys, Oahu, Mills Institute, Gulick, Lydia Bingham Coan, Luther Gulick, Missionaries, Francis Damon, Manoa, Kawaiahao Seminary, Lydia Bingham, Lizzy Bingham

November 20, 2021 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Saint Anthony School, Wailuku, Maui

St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii was established by the Fathers of the Order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whose arrival from France on July 7, 1827, marked the start of the Catholic Mission in Hawaii.

Saint Anthony of Padua was born in Lisbon, Portugal on August 15, 1195. He came from a wealthy family who did not support his desire to enter into religious life. He became a Franciscan friar in 1221 and joined the order in hopes of spreading God’s Word to the people of Morocco in spite of facing a possible martyr’s death.

Instead, he became a respected teacher and orator who gained fame for his miracles. He was a holy man who had apparitions of the Infant Jesus and of St. Francis of Assisi. This is why he is often depicted holding the baby Jesus in his arms.

He is a patron saint of the poor and oppressed and is often invoked as a finder of “lost articles and missing persons”. He died in Padua, Italy on June 13, 1231, at the age of 36 and was canonized a saint less than a year later. He was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII in 1946.

After more than two decades of political and social upheaval as well as religious persecution, the first High Mass was celebrated at St. Anthony in Wailuku on July 13, 1848 in a thatched structure.

Beginning in 1848, St. Anthony School grew from a one-room schoolhouse erected by the Sacred Heart’s Fathers on the grounds of St. Anthony Church.

In 1854, St. Anthony was built in wood to replace the native church. It was reported that 6000 baptisms were recorded on Maui that year.

In 1858-59, King Kamehameha IV deeded 16 acres of land in Wailuku to Bishop Louis Maigret and on May 3, 1873, under the direction of Father Lenore Fouesnel, SS.CC., the third church (now in stone) that took six years to build, was blessed.

It is said that it was at this event that Father Damien de Veuster SS.CC, made his commitment to go to Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement and thus, began his remarkable journey to sainthood.

Founded in 1873, St. Anthony Grade School is a Catholic Parish co-educational school offering a Kindergarten to Fifth Grade education.

The Brothers of Mary had founded the Wailuku School for Boys in 1883 at the invitation of the Sacred Heart’s Fathers and staffed what later would become St. Anthony Junior-Senior High School.

The church building continued to be improved and expanded over the years. In 1919, it was remodeled into a gothic style with a sanctuary, semi-rotund baptistery and bell tower. In 1940, it was enlarged on both sides under the direction of Father Bruno Bens and stood majestically as a major landmark in Wailuku for over a century.

The Sacred Hearts Fathers (SSCC), established St. Anthony parish school in 1883. On September 5, 1883, the Society of Mary (Marianists) arrived in Wailuku and initiated the beginning of their long years of service to the parish and school. The first of three Brothers opened the school September 10, 1883.

The Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, New York, staffed the girls’ school beginning in 1884. The Maryknoll Sisters, began teaching at St. Anthony in 1928 at the request of Bishop Alencastre. Dedicated lay persons assisted in the teaching beginning September 1958.

Chaminade and Damien Hall were erected in 1925. It houses the school administrative offices as well as ten classrooms and two computer labs.

Maryknoll Hall was built in 1940 and encompasses eight classrooms, an art studio, and counseling offices. Marian Hall, the cafeteria, was built in 1959.

The Bishop Sweeny Memorial Library was built in 1965. The library was renovated in 2002 and now houses the Harry C. and Nee Chang Wong Media Center. The science facility was completed in 1967. The science labs were completely renovated and rededicated as the E. L. Weigand Science Building in 2005. (St Anthony School)

In 1968 the school became coeducational and the junior high was added in 1971. Today, St. Anthony School is the only Catholic School on the island of Maui that ranges from Preschool to High School.

In 1976, the Society of Mary (Marianists) assumed leadership of St. Anthony Parish from the Sacred Heart Fathers. A year later, on November 1, 1977, the historic church was destroyed by an early morning fire set by an arsonist.

The present, modern structure was dedicated on June 13, 1980, St. Anthony’s feast day, just three years after the tragic fire. (St Anthony Maui)

It is a diocesan, coeducational institution under the Bishop of Honolulu, governed by the St. Anthony School Board, and sponsored by the members of the Society of Mary (Marianists).

© 2021 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Schools Tagged With: Maui, Wailuku, St Anthony

May 30, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

St. Andrew’s Priory

At the invitation of King Kamehameha IV, the Anglican Church mission came to Hawaiʻi in 1862; the invitation was extended to both the Church of England and the Episcopal Church in the Unites States. The Church of England gave a favorable response.

At the time, the American Protestants, through the Congregational Church, and Roman Catholic Church were established and active in the islands. Each had also established schools within the islands.

Queen Emma recognized the educational needs of the young women of her island nation. Her mission of establishing a girls’ school in Honolulu took her to England to seek the counsel of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Under his authority, the Sisters of the Church of England returned to Hawai’i with Queen Emma to begin their work.

Queen Emma was raised in the Anglican faith and envisioned a school where Hawaiian girls would receive an education equivalent to the education that was traditionally offered only to boys.

St. Andrew’s Priory School was founded on Ascension Day, May 30, 1867, by Queen Emma, wife of King Kamehameha IV, and Mother Priscilla Lydia Sellon of the Society of the Most Holy Trinity of Devonport, England.

St. Andrews Priory was named in honor of St. Andrew, which was also the dedication of the Cathedral. This name had been chosen for the Cathedral because St. Andrews Day, November 30, was the anniversary of the death of Kamehameha IV, for whom the building was a memorial.

The Society of the Most Holy Trinity used the Benedictine terminology, whereby the mother house of a religious order was called an abbey and a branch house a priory. Therefore, the school became St. Andrew’s Priory School for Girls.

The school opened with 11-boarders and a few day students; by the end of the year, 17-boarders had registered. Most of the boarders were aliʻi.

Priory was eligible and received government grants; in doing so, it had to follow government regulations. As such, curriculum included the required reading in English or Hawaiian, writing, arithmetic grammar, geography and training in industrial work,

Good English was the Priory’s chief objective, so all instruction was in English and the girls were not allowed to speak Hawaiian, even on the playground. The girls learned sewing and embroidery, music, drawing, in addition to the academic subjects. Religious classes were part of the school curriculum. (Heyes)

The Board of Education encouraged early entrance, before age 10, to English schools, so that students may learn English in their formative years. The Priory’s first 17-boarders ranged in age from four 1/2 to sixteen. In 1871, a 2 1/2-year old Kauaʻi student (McBryde) was admitted with her two older sisters.

The girls slept in dormitories (they furnished their own beds and bedding.) The girls had poi every day. Initially, the girls wore their own clothes, there was no uniform (however, every girl had a white dress for Sundays and special occasions – uniforms started sometime after 1918.)

By 1876, the school was well established; dormitory space had been almost doubled, making room for forty boarders. The number of day students also increased and in that year to a total of 118-students.

In the 1880s, the Royal Hawaiian Band played concerts twice a week in Queen Emma Square. “One of our pleasant diversions was to go to and hear Captain Berger’s band play at Emma Square every Saturday afternoon. … we all went and sat in the carriage just outside the park. There was usually a crowd there, as it was very popular.” (Sutherland Journal)

With the formation of the Republic of Hawaiʻi, the educational policy favored establishing the American system of free public schools for everyone. Government aid to private schools was forbidden. (However, private schools continued to flourish.)

In 1902, the school transferred to the jurisdiction of the Episcopal Church of the United States and was run by the Sisters of the American Order of the Transfiguration. The school was then dependent financially on tuition and gifts from friends.

Even with these changes, there was no basic change in the purpose of the school. An education suited for the “probable life circumstances” of the girls still placed high emphasis on the homemaking arts, as well as preparing the girls for teaching, nursing and secretarial work. (Heyes)

In 1903, a high school department was opened offering the girls an opportunity to receive secondary education, placing the Priory at the forefront of the secondary school movement in Hawaiʻi. At the time, the only other secondary education options for girls were Honolulu High School (later known as McKinley) and Punahou.

There was significant new construction between 1906 and 1914; in 1909 the cornerstone for the new Dickey-designed Priory was laid for a two-story building made of steel and concrete (the first of its kind in the islands.)

The Sisters of the American Order of the Transfiguration operated the school until 1969. Since that time, the school has been under the leadership of a head of school.

In 1976, the Priory became a non-profit corporation with a Board of Trustees and a charter of incorporation that continues to provide an official link with the Episcopal Church.

Founded as a school for girls, the Priory remains dedicated to this legacy. Today, the Priory provides girls in grades K-12 a college preparatory education within a Christian environment so that in any future community they will be self-confident, capable, participating members. (Lots of information here from Heyes.)

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Filed Under: Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Schools Tagged With: Hawaii, Honolulu, Oahu, Kamehameha IV, Queen Emma, Royal Hawaiian Band, St. Andrews Priory, Episcopal

May 21, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waialeʻe Industrial School

The legislature, on December 30, 1864, approved “An act authorizing the board of education to establish an industrial and reformatory school for the care and education of helpless and neglected children, as also for the reformation of juvenile offenders”.

“The only object of the said industrial and reformatory schools shall be the detention, management, education, employment, reformation, and maintenance of such children as shall be committed thereto as orphans, vagrants, truants, living an idle or dissolute life, who shall be duly convicted of any crime or misdemeanor”. (Hawaiian Commission, Annexation Report, 1898)

“The first notice of a reform school is contained in the report of M. Kekuanao’a, president of the board of education, in 1866. The legislature in March, 1865, voted an appropriation of $6,000 for an industrial and reform school.” (Report to the Governor, 1903)

The department of public instruction established an industrial and reformatory school at Keoneula, Kapālama, Oʻahu and had authority to establish other industrial schools across the Islands.

In 1899, a proposal was made to establish a new school at Waialeʻe on Oʻahu’s North Shore, but action wasn’t taken until 1901 when the land was deeded over to the department of education. It was built to replace an older school.

On the May 13, 1902, the last of the boys of the reformatory school in Honolulu – 68 in number – were moved down to the new buildings at Waialeʻe, the institution was thereafter known as the Waialeʻe Industrial School.

The Waialeʻe Industrial School was situated on 700-acres of land, about 5-miles from Kahuku and 8-miles from Waialua. It had a coast line of over a mile, and it extended back to the mountain ridge.

School improvements were built about ½-mile from the ocean on low land between a series of bluffs. Taro patches were built above the beach; there was a large pond supplied by “never-failing springs.”

This site enabled the school to carry on agriculture, dairy farming and fishing, besides giving instruction in carpentering, blacksmithing, the manufacture of poi and general school work.

In 1903, four taro patches had been made and planted; a fifth is about ready to plant. A vegetable garden was planted with onions, tomatoes, com, beans, lettuce, radish, beets, and carrots.

There have also been planted 220 banana plants and about 500 trees for windbreaks and firewood. The trees planted are eucalyptus, gravillea robusta, ironwood, kamani, poinciana, tamarind, alligator pear and mango.

A terrace was built, extending 30 feet around the main building, and planted with grass. A considerable area has been cleared of lantana and stones.

For the dining hall 8 tables and 24 benches have been made, 3 safes for the pantry, a table and cupboard for the kitchen, a table and cupboard for the hospital, and 42 desks have been set up and placed in the schoolroom.

The following buildings were built by the boys: a clothes and store room, 18 by 48 feet, a closet with 10 compartments, 5 by 30 feet, with urinals and latticed screen, a carpenter shop, 20 by 40 feet, and a poi house of corrugated iron with cemented floor, 13 by 15 feet.

In 1903, there were a total of 78-boys in the Waialeʻe Industrial School. (At that time, their attendance was noted as: In school 73; In hospital 1; In Oahu jail 3; and Escaped 1.)

Their offenses included: Truancy 18; Vagrancy and homeless 11; Disobedience to parents 15; Common nuisance 1; Trespass 3; Assault and lottery 2; Larceny 25; Housebreaking 1; and Burglary 2. (Reportedly, an average of 180-boys lived at the school at any given time.)

All was not pretty at the place. “Members of the education committee of the house of representatives are of the opinion that the so-called dark cells or dungeons are improper and should be abolished.” (Star-Bulletin, 1919; as noted in Honolulu Weekly)

Another Star-Bulletin article reveals excerpts of a journal discovered by then-superintendent Morris Freedman that covers most of the inmates from 1899 to 1908. “Disobedience to the moral suasion of parents [resulted in] a man-sized term of 3 to 5 years . . . Runaways were not few and far between . . . Ball and chain were used.” (As noted in Honolulu Weekly)

A related article on the “Boys of Waialee” notes an unpublished piece by Freedman between 1935–1939 that notes corporeal punishment: “Oregon boots, shackles, leg irons, cat-o-nine tails, straps soaked in vinegar and salt, terrific lashings and beatings were the order of the day.”

“In 1921, when Mr. Wesson [took over] the school his first act was to destroy these vestiges of the Dark Ages era [and he] discontinued the use of dark cells which were built below the level of the street surface … his treatment was by far more humane than it had been before.”

A September 3, 1953 editorial in the Honolulu Record notes, “70 per cent of the Oahu Prison inmates comes from Waialee Training School for Boys, which is supposedly a correction and rehabilitation home.”

“This does not include prisoners at Honolulu Jail who “graduated” from Waialee, many of them asking in early youth while at Waialee to be transferred to the jail rather than withstand the brutality and bestiality of the administration staff at the boy’s school.”

The school was operational for approximately 50-years; the boys were moved to facilities on the windward side (above Kailua.)

Later, Crawford’s Convalescent Home operated mauka of Kamehameha Highway. On about 135-acres of the makai lands (below the highway) UH-Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) operated the Waialeʻe Livestock Experiment Station, an animal research and demonstration facility.

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Wailaee (OYS-HYCF)
Youth Garden Program-(OYS-HYCF)
Youth Shop Program-(OYS-HYCF)
Waialeʻe Industrial School For Boys-(ghosttowns)-1906
Waialeʻe Industrial School For Boys-(ghosttowns)-1930s
Waialeʻe Industrial School For Boys-1940
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IMG_2276
IMG_2277
IMG_2278
IMG_2279
IMG_2280
Waialeʻe Industrial School For Boys-(historichawaiifoundation)
Waialeʻe Industrial School For Boys
Waialeʻe Industrial School For Boys-band_room-front; jail-middle; poi_factory-back-(ghosttowns)
Waialee, dinning hall
Waialee, dinning hall
Waialee Trainning School - infirmery
Waialee Trainning School – infirmery
Waialeʻe Industrial School
Waialee_Industrial
Waialeʻe Industrial School For Boys-Nationality-Offenses-Length_of_Terms-1903

Filed Under: General, Schools Tagged With: Hawaii, Oahu, Waialee Industrial School, Koolau Boys Home, North Shore, Crawford Convalescent Home

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