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Lasting Legacies

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Lahainaluna

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Mission Memorial

April 7, 2020 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

O‘ahu Sugar Company

“‘I doubt if any plantation was ever confronted from its very inception with a more Herculean task in clearing the land than we have seen,’ Ahrens reported.”

“‘Ridding ourselves of the tangled masses of lantana and mimosa were mere child’s play compared to that which did not show on the surface — stones, big stones, and close together. In fact, stones as big as houses.’”

“But in 1899, the harvest of O‘ahu Sugar’s first crop signaled the birth of a new plantation town.” (Star Bulletin)

“The idea of a 10,000-acre sugar company was inspired by a prospectus written by Benjamin F. Dillingham in 1894. The idea took root, and, led to the incorporation of O‘ahu Sugar Company.”

“The company was to be situated on the slopes of the Waianae and Koolau mountains, east of Honolulu … this arid land was mostly covered with rocks, lantana and guava.” (Plantation Archives)

Dillingham partnered with J Hackfeld and Company (Paul Isenberg) and Mark Robinson (who provided land for the mill site) to form the company, which was incorporated in March 1897.

“The O‘ahu Sugar Company … is one of the new plantations that is creating wide-spread interest. Having many natural advantages that are lacking in some other estates, O‘ahu is expected to be a great money maker.”

“The corporation was organized four years ago and 13,000 acres of land were secured, mostly leased, for sugar growing. Planting commenced at once under the supervision of August Ahrens, manager, who had then been connected with sugar plantations nineteen years.”

“There are now only 6,500 acres under cultivation, but some of it will yield ten tons to the acre, satisfactorily to the farmer in almost every instance. Some Japanese will clean up $300 at the end of the year and are ready to go back to Japan with their families. Prosperity in this case depends almost entirely upon the industry of the laborer.” (Paradise of the Pacific, April 1902)

The Company’s managers from 1897-1940 were: A. Ahrens (1897-1904); E.K. Bull (1904-1919); J.B. Thomson (1919-1923); E.W. Greene (1923-1937); and Hans L’Orange (1937-1956). (Plantation Archives)

The O’ahu Sugar Company (OSC) plantation and mill began in Waipahu as a development project of Benjamin F. Dillingham, who had leased land from James Campbell, prompting noted historian Muricio Michael’s observation: “The town of Waipahu is a child of O‘ahu Sugar [Company].”

O‘ahu Sugar Company’s first harvest was in 1900 and yielded 7,900 tons of raw sugar. The population of Waipahu grew as the plantation increased production and required more field and mill laborers, tradesmen, supervisors, and engineers.

By the late 1920s, Waipahu extended southward along Waipahu Road with a business district centered at Waipahu Depot Street, while residential areas were located both north of the mill and to the east along Waipahu Road.

By the 1930s, Waipahu “included second and third generations” that “had grown up on the plantation and considered Waipahu their home”. In 1940, Waipahu had a population of 6,900. (NPS)

The skilled employees at O‘ahu Sugar came primarily from Germany. As typical of plantations during this time period, O‘ahu Sugar faced a shortage of unskilled laborers with the exception of a small number of Hawaiian workers. Mostly laborers came from the Philippines, Japan, China, Portugal, and Norway.

Each employee received a house free of charge, complete with firewood, fuel, and water for domestic purposes. By the 1930s, garbage collection, street cleaning and sewage disposal were provided.

The plantation store sold produce and retail goods to employees at cost. Other store buildings were rented to tenants of various nationalities to give employees a wide choice in the selection of goods.

O‘ahu Sugar provided clubhouses, athletic fields, and playgrounds. Baseball was a favorite past time and O‘ahu Sugar’s team maintained an outstanding record in plantation league tournaments.

A hospital was built in 1920 and the services of a resident physician were provided free of charge to unskilled employees. There was a moderate charge to skilled employees and “outsiders”, people not employed with OSC, who sought medical assistance.

By 1925, the population of the plantation ranged between 9500-10,000 people. There were approximately 2,850 names on the payroll and it was estimated that at least ¾ of the residents of Waipahu earned a living in connection with the production of sugar.

The greatest portion of work performed at Oahu sugar was done on the “contract” or piecework system. For example, cutting and piling cane was paid for by the ton; plowing and planting was by the acre; irrigation, cultivation, and general care of the fields was based on crop yield. (Plantation Archives) Oahu Sugar Company operated until 1995.

The Company donated labor and materials to local schools. One lasting legacy of the plantation is the August Ahrens Elementary School.

Founded on September 1, 1924 to serve students from the surrounding sugar plantation area, August Ahrens opened its doors to 605 students and 13 teachers.

August Ahrens Elementary School continues to provide educational services for pre-kindergarten through sixth grade on its 14-acre campus in Waipahu. It is the largest single-track elementary school in the state with approximately 1,500 students and 220 faculty and staff.

March 25, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

University of Hawaiʻi – Mānoa

“An act to establish the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts of the Territory of Hawai‘i” was passed by the Hawai‘i’s Territorial Legislature and was signed into law by Governor George Carter on March 25th, 1907.

The University of Hawaiʻi began as a land-grant college, initiated out of the 1862 US Federal Morrill Act funding for “land grant” colleges.

The Morrill Act funded educational institutions by granting federally-controlled land to the states for them to develop or sell to raise funds to establish and endow “land-grant” colleges.

Since the federal government could not “grant” land in Hawaiʻi as it did for most states, it provided a guarantee of $30,000 a year for several years, which increased to $50,000 for a time.

Regular classes began in September 1908 with ten students (five freshmen, five preparatory students) and thirteen faculty members at a temporary Young Street facility in the William Maertens’ house near Thomas Square.

The Territory had just acquired the Maertens’ property as a potential site for a new high school. Instead, it became temporary quarters for the new college.

Planning for a permanent University campus originally called for Lahainaluna on Maui as the site; Mountain View, above Hilo, was also considered.

The regents chose the present campus location in lower Mānoa on June 19, 1907. In 1911, the name of the school was changed to the “College of Hawaiʻi.”

The campus was a relatively dry and scruffy place, “The early Mānoa campus was covered with a tangle of kiawe trees (algarroba), wild lantana and panini cactus”. It appears the first structures built were a poultry shed and a dairy barn.

1909 marked the beginning of the school’s first football team, called the Fighting Deans; the team played its opening game against McKinley High School … and won.

In 1912, the college moved to the present Mānoa location (the first permanent building is known today as Hawaiʻi Hall.) The first Commencement was June 3, 1912.

The “orienting” of the new campus was determined by the Morrill Act, which saw “land grant” colleges as occupying large squares or rectangles, arranged by surveyors along the cardinal points of the compass. Thus the original quadrangle of so many campuses (including UH) is laid out on a true compass base, ignoring in the process our mauka/makai orientations, ignoring the flow of the trade winds.

With the addition of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1920, the school became known as the University of Hawaiʻi. The Territorial Normal and Training School (now the College of Education) joined the University in 1931.

The University continued to grow throughout the 1930s. The Oriental Institute, predecessor of the East-West Center, was founded in 1935, bolstering the University’s mounting prominence in Asia-Pacific studies.

World War II came to Hawaiʻi with the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Classes were suspended for two months and gas masks became part of commencement apparel. In 1942, students of Japanese ancestry formed the Varsity Victory Volunteers and many later joined the 442nd Regiment and 100th Infantry Battalion.

Statehood brought about a significant shift in the relationship of the University to the land it occupied. Under territorial government, the land was really on loan; the Territory had title.

The new state constitution stated, “The University of Hawaii is hereby established as the state university and constituted a body corporate. It shall have title to all the real and personal property now or hereafter set aside or conveyed to it. … ”

One effect has been that now the State may occasionally choose to lease land to the University, rather than set it aside, because once given, such land becomes University property.

UH Mānoa’s School of Law opened in temporary buildings in 1973. The Center for Hawaiian Studies was established in 1977 followed by the School of Architecture in 1980.

The School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology was founded eight years later and in 2005 the John A Burns School of Medicine moved to its present location in Honolulu’s Kakaʻako district.

From its initial enrollment of 10 in 1907, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa now schools over 20,000.

In the 1950s, after three years of offering UH Extension Division courses at the old Hilo Boarding School, the University of Hawai‘i, Hilo Branch, was approved; the UH Community Colleges system was established in 1964.

1910s

Hawaii_Hall_(UH-Manoa)-1915

Hawaii_Hall-(UH-Manoa)-1915

1920

1926

1930

1932

1937

1948

1955

March 6, 2020 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Try And Leave This World A Little Better Than You Found It

The Boy Scout movement was founded in England by Sir Robert Baden-Powell in 1908. As a military officer, he had noticed that soldiers in his regiment, while well educated in the classroom sense, were ill prepared for the field: “Tell one of them to ride out alone with a message on a dark night and ten to one he would lose his way.”

While stationed in India, he discovered that his men did not know basic first aid or the elementary means of survival in the outdoors. Baden-Powell realized he needed to teach his men many frontier skills, so he wrote a small handbook called Aids to Scouting, which emphasized resourcefulness, adaptability and the qualities of leadership that frontier conditions demanded.

Baden-Powell wanted to develop men who were more at ease in the world. “I wanted them to have courage, from confidence in themselves and from a sense of duty; I wanted them to have knowledge of how to cook their own grub; in short, I wanted each man to be an efficient all-round reliable individual.”

In August 1907, he gathered about 20 boys and took them to Brownsea Island in a sheltered bay off England’s southern coast. They set up a makeshift camp that would be their home for the next 12 days.

The next year, Baden-Powell published his book Scouting for Boys, and Scouting continued to grow. That same year, more than 10,000 Boy Scouts attended a rally held at the Crystal Palace; two years later, membership in Boy Scouts had tripled.

Because of growing demand for the scouting experience by younger boys, in 1914, Baden-Powell began implementing a program for them that was based on Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. The Wolf Cub program began in 1916, and since that time, Wolf Cubbing has spread to other European countries with very little change.

A strong influence from Kipling’s Jungle Book remains today. The terms “Law of the Pack,” “Akela,” “Wolf Cub,” “grand howl,” “den” and “pack” all come from the Jungle Book. At the same time, the Gold and Silver Arrow Points, Webelos emblem and Arrow of Light emblem are taken from American Indian heritage.

The seeds of Scouting were growing in the United States. On a farm in Connecticut, a naturalist and author named Ernest Thompson Seton was organizing a group of boys called the Woodcraft Indians; and Daniel Carter Beard, an artist and writer, organized the Sons of Daniel Boone.

But first, an American businessman had to get lost in the fog in England. Chicago businessman and publisher William D. Boyce was groping his way through the fog when a boy appeared and offered to take him to his destination. When they arrived, Boyce tried to tip the boy, but the boy refused and courteously explained that he was a Scout and could not accept payment for a Good Turn.

Intrigued, the publisher questioned the boy and learned more about Scouting. He visited with Baden-Powell as well, and became captured by the idea of Scouting. When Boyce boarded the transatlantic steamer for home, he had a suitcase filled with information and ideas. On February 8, 1910, Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America.

That same year, a Hawaiʻi artist and outdoorsman by the name of David Howard Hitchcock discovered Scouting in California, and brought it home to Hawaiʻi.

“The boy scout movement, so popular in England, and which aims to develop patriotism, discipline, courage, thrift, helpfulness and cheerfulness in boys is described by Francis Buzzell in an illustrated article in the August Popular Mechanics.”

“He says: “The general organization, and the symbolism of the scout movement are essentially military, but the strict military discipline, and especially the routine of incessant military drill, are almost entirely lacking.”

“General Baden-Powell, chief scout of all the boys In the British Empire, appoints scout commissioners to organize branches, Inspect scout corps, and help scout masters.” (Hawaiian Star, July 27, 1910)

“The ‘Boy Scout’ movement has spread to Hawaii. … The movement was founded in America by Ernest Thompson Seton, but did not attract much attention until the foundation of a similar organization in England by Sir Robert SS Baden-Powell, the hero of Mafeking. General Powell’s organization spread like wildfire and over 400,000 boys are enrolled in England.”

“The object of the movement, as defined by Sir Robert, “is to seize the boy’s character in its red-hot stage of enthusiasm and to weld it into the right shape and encourage and develop its individuality, so that the boy may become a good man and a valuable citizen for our country.” (Hawaiian Star, September 3, 1910)

A newspaper article noted the first meeting: “The Boy Scout movement in Honolulu will be started tonight at the meeting at the K. of P. (Knights of Pythias) Hall. All the parents in the city are invited to hear Colonel Bullard of the regular army tell about the boy scouts of America at eight o’clock in the K. of P. Hall.” (Honolulu Star, September 20, 1910)

Within months of returning home, Hitchcock, a Punahou School graduate, set up Hawaii’s first local troop – Scout Troop 1, the famed Rainbow Patrol (because of the wide range of nationalities represented in its membership) sponsored by Punahou and still in existence today.

The first troop included Hitchcock’s sons, Harvey (1917) and Dickson (1920) Hitchcock, Dudley Pratt (1918,) Walter (1919) and Fred (1920) Vetlesen, Ronald von Holt (1917,) Fred Waterhouse (1918,) Sam Wilder III (1917) and Donald Young (1918.)

According to Hitchcock: “About 1910 I went to California and saw boys in pairs and in small groups camping out as Boy Scouts but with no such organization back of them as now exists.”

“Visiting such men as could be found who were interested, I obtained all the data then available with a series of photographs from the East illustrating (Boy Scout) activities and with these came back to Honolulu where I proceeded to organize a troop which at first consisted of one patrol.”

In later years the patrol was renamed Troop 1 to codify its status as Hawaiʻi’s original Boy Scout troop; it includes not only the students of Punahou, but also boys attending schools located all over the island of Oahu.

Hawaiʻi has a royal link to Boy Scouts. In 1913, Queen Lili‘uokalani presented a silk Hawaiian flag with her royal crest “Onipaa” (Lit., fixed movement – steadfast, established, firm, resolute, determined) and the lettering in gold “The Queen’s Own Troop,” which she had sewn herself. That flag was recently donated to the Bishop Museum.

“This flag symbolizes the Queen’s recognition of Scouting as a positive and productive outlet to encourage young men and women to become leaders for life and contributing citizens who give back to their community,” Rick Burr, executive director of the Aloha Council said. (Bishop Museum)

At the time of the Queen’s death, “Roger Burnham, Scout commissioner, sent a letter to Colonel CP Iaukea, stating that inasmuch as the Queen had given the Boy Scouts a flag they wanted to do what they could to help in the funeral exercises.”

“Colonel Iaukea accepted their offer and the Scouts will have a place assigned them in the funeral procession. The Scouts will doubtless also be used as messengers throughout the week.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 13, 1917)

Perhaps the most unique aspect of Scouting is that – unlike many other activities –it doesn’t focus on competition – it focuses on achievement. Something everyone experiences in Scouting and strives for in their day to day lives.

To not only Be Prepared – but to do a good turn every day. To be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent – as well as to do one’s duty to God and country.

Because of this early community support Scouting was quickly organized and grew. And because of those early community leaders Scouting established a deeply rooted heritage in Hawaiʻi.

Scouting has grown in the United States from 2,000 Boy Scouts and leaders in 1910 to millions strong today. From a program for Boy Scouts only, it has spread into a program including Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, Webelos Scouts, Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, and Venturers.

The Aloha Council is flourishing geographically as well – encompassing not only Hawaii, but Guam, American Samoa, Marianas, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau. In all – the Aloha Council covers the largest geographical area in the world – over 8,000,000-square miles on both sides of the equator and date line.

After Baden-Powell’s death in 1941, a letter was found in his desk that he had written to all Scouts. It included this passage: “Try and leave this world a little better than you found it.” (Lots of information here from Troop 1 and Aloha Council.)

February 2, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lahainaluna High School

The missionaries who arrived in Lāhainā in 1823 explained to the Hawaiian Royalty the importance of an educational institution.

In 1823, Kalākua Kaheiheimālie (ke Aliʻi Hoapili wahine, wife of Governor Hoapili) offered the American missionaries a tract of land on the slopes surrounding Puʻu Paʻupaʻu for the creation of a high school.

Betsey Stockton from the 2nd Company of Protestant missionaries initially started a school for makaʻāinana (common people) and their wives and children on the site.

Later, on September 5, 1831, classes at the Mission Seminary at Lahainaluna (later known as Lahainaluna (Upper Lāhainā)) began in thatched huts with 25 Hawaiian young men (including David Malo, who went on to hold important positions in the kingdom, including the first Superintendent of Schools.)

When Lahainaluna High School first opened, Lāhainā was the capital of the kingdom of Hawaiʻi, and it was a bustling seaport for the Pacific whaling fleet.

In September 1836, thirty-two boys between the ages of 10 and 20 were admitted as the first boarding students, from the neighbor islands, as well as from the “other side of the island”; thus, the beginning of the boarding school at Lahainaluna.

The boarding program became coed in 1980. The two dorms are David Malo Dormitory for the boys and Hoapili Dormitory for the girls. Previously, Hoapili housed both genders. Lahainaluna is one of only a few public boarding schools in the nation.

The missionaries soon saw that the future of the Congregational Mission in Hawaii would be largely dependent upon the success of its schools. The Mission then established “feeder schools” that would transmit to their students’ fundamental reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and religious training, before admission to the Lahainaluna.

Initially, Hawaiian was the language used in instruction; in 1877, there was a shift to English. The students engaged in a variety of studies including geography, mathematics and history to prepare them for leadership roles in the Hawaiian community.

Lahainaluna was transferred from being operated by the American missionaries to the control of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1849. By 1864, only Lahainaluna graduates were considered qualified to hold government positions such as lawyers, teachers, district magistrates and other important posts.

A notable structure on the campus is Hale Paʻi (the house of printing,) a small coral and timber building. Starting in 1834, it served as the home of Hawaiʻi’s first printing press. Hale Paʻi is associated with a number of “firsts” in Hawaii.

The first actual publishing in Hawaiʻi was done in Honolulu in 1822. It was at Lahainaluna, however, that the first newspaper ever printed in the Hawaiian Islands was published on February 14, 1834. This paper, called Ka Lama Hawaii (The Hawaiian, Luminary) was also the first newspaper published anywhere in the United States or its territories west of the Rocky Mountains.

Also published at Hale Paʻi for the first time were many portions of the first Hawaiian translation of the Bible, the first English translation of the first Hawaiian Declaration of Rights, the first Hawaiian Constitution, the first set of Hawaiian laws on property and taxation, the first Hawaiian school laws, the first paper money engraved and printed in Hawaiʻi, the first history of Hawaiʻi printed in Hawaiian and the first history of Hawaiʻi printed in English appearing in the Islands.

In 1834, Lahainaluna students first began engraving on copper plates. The initial purpose of this engraving was to provide maps for study, not only at the Seminary, but at schools throughout the Islands.

In the 1840s commercial development in Hawaiʻi – both trade and agriculture – began to take off. As business grew, so did the need for money.

At this time, the nation had no official currency of its own, relying instead on a variety of foreign coins and bills which circulated at an agreed rate of exchange based on the U.S. dollar. As early as 1836, private Hawaiian firms began to issue paper scrip of their own redeemable by the issuing company in coins or goods.

In early 1843, apparently, Lahainaluna first printed and issued its own paper money. Its primary purpose was evidently to pay the students for their work on the campus (up to 25 cents per week,) which was then used for payment of their rent and tuition.

Later, counterfeiting of the school’s currency was discovered. Then, the faculty, in accordance with their vote of January 8, 1844, called in and destroyed all the paper money they could find. Then, authorized the addition of secret marks to all the new currency and re-issued it.

In 1903, Lahainaluna became a vocational trade school and, in 1923, a technical high school, admitting both girls and boys as day students. It continues today as Lāhainā’s public high school.