“Agriculture is deeply rooted in Maui history and will continue to be an important industry from an economic, social, and environmental perspective.”
“Although the face of Maui agriculture has evolved over the years, the important role it plays in the islands economy, environment, and way of life remains consistent, if not increasingly significant in the light of steady growth and expanding urbanization. Agriculture will continue to gain importance in shaping the form of future growth on Maui.”
“A strong agricultural sector is an important component of a balanced, diversified, and sustainable economy. Agriculture is an integral element of Maui’s economy, and community, cultivating a diversity of jobs, generating tax revenues, and producing a variety of crops for different local and export markets.” (Maui County Dept of Agriculture)
Two early commercial agricultural crops, sugar and pineapple, dominated, and the Baldwins (and others) had a hand in each, as well as the Maui Agricultural Company (which also grew and produced each).
Dwight Baldwin was born on September 29, 1798 to Seth Baldwin (1775 –1832,) (a farmer) and Rhoda Hull Baldwin in Durham, Connecticut, and moved to Durham, New York, in 1804. He was the second of 12 children. (Baldwin Genealogy)
He was introduced by a friend to Charlotte Fowler, daughter of Deacon Solomon Fowler of North Branford, Connecticut, and a few weeks later was married to her on December 3, 1830. Twenty-five days later they set sail with the Fourth Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi on the ship ‘New England;’ they arrived at Honolulu, June 7, 1831. (Baldwin)
Dwight and Charlotte had eight children: David Dwight (1831–1912), Abigail Charlotte (1833–1913), Charles Fowler (1837–1891), Henry Perrine (1842–1911), Emily Sophronia (1844–1891) and Harriet Melinda (1846–1932). A daughter, Mary Clark died at about 2½ years of age in 1838; a son, Douglas Hoapili, died at almost 3 in 1843.
Between 1836 and 1861 there was an initial flurry of sugar planting and refining throughout Hawaii; however, lack of capital and an adequate market forced many planters out of business.
Henry Perrine Baldwin, the most successful sugar producer of the Hawaiian Islands (Mid Pacific, February 1912,) was born on August 29, 1842 in Lahaina, Maui.
It was Mr. Baldwin’s intention – he was 21 years of age at the time – to earn enough money to enable him to go to Williams College to take a medical course. (His father was a physician.) His youthful ambition to be a doctor was never realized.
Once launched in the sugar industry he continued in it, an increasingly important figure, for the remainder of his life. Baldwin was particularly successful as an agriculturist, a developer of plantations.
Christopher H Lewers founded Waiheʻe sugar plantation on Maui. It the mid-1860s it was managed by Samuel Thomas Alexander. Henry Perrin Baldwin took a ‘Luna’ (foreman) job with Alexander. (HP Baldwin and Alexander grew up together as kids in Lāhainā and became close friends.)
In 1869, Baldwin and Alexander became business partners and bought 12-acres in Hāmākuapoko (an eastern Maui ahupuaʻa (land division.)) (They later formed Alexander & Baldwin, one of Hawai‘i’s ‘Big Five’ companies – and the only Big Five still in Hawai‘i.)
In 1876, with the signing of the Hawaiian Reciprocity Treaty, the islands received the final catalyst necessary to drive the Hawaiian sugar industry into the future. The treaty with the United States allowed for duty free admission of Hawaiian sugar, resulting in a substantial increase of profits for island growers.
With this economic boost, growers immediately began increasing cultivation of sugarcane. On Maui, acres cultivated in sugarcane expanded from 5,080 in 1867 to 12,000 in 1880, an increase of 136 percent.
Maui’s Historic Sugar Plantations were Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S) (Puunene); Maui Agricultural Company (Paia); Pioneer Mill Company (Lahaina); Wailuku Sugar Company (Wailuku); and Kaeleku Sugar Company (Hana). Maui Island Plan)
“A heavy expansion of Alexander and Baldwin came with the acquisition of control of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. of Puʻunene, Maui, formerly operated by the late Claus Spreckels.”
“Mr. [HP] Baldwin took personal charge of this plantation in 1902 and made it one of the most successful and productive estates in Hawaii. Today it ranks as one of the world’s finest and most modern sugar plantations.” (Orr)
“As manager of the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company, Mr. Baldwin had the satisfaction of seeing it become one of the greatest sugar plantations of the world, with other plantations under the control of his company ranking very high according to their size.” (Mid Pacific, February 1912)
“In 1900 Alexander & Baldwin incorporated as an agency for sugar plantations such as Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company and Maui Agricultural Company, Ltd., an A&B creation and managed by H.A. [Henry “Harry” Alexander] Baldwin.” (Orr)
In 1917 Maui Agricultural Company, Ltd. built the first distillery in the US for producing alcohol from molasses; the plantations vehicles operated on molasses alcohol instead of kerosene or gasoline during World War I. (Orr)
“Mr. [HP] Baldwin married Emily W. Alexander, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. William Patterson Alexander, early missionaries, and a sister of Mr. Baldwin’s partner, S. T. Alexander, at Wailuku, Maui, on April 5, 1870.”
“Eight children were born to them, Harry A Baldwin, Frank F Baldwin, Mrs. Maud (Baldwin) Cooke, Arthur D Baldwin, Dr WD Baldwin, Mrs Charlotte (Baldwin) Rice, Fred Baldwin and AS Baldwin.” (Orr)
“Historically Maui’s second largest industry, pineapple, has also played a large role in forming Maui’s modern day landscape. The pineapple industry began on Maui in 1890 with Dwight D. Baldwin’s Haiku Fruit and Packing Company on the northeast side of the island.”
“West Maui was also cultivated with pineapple in the early 1900s by Baldwin Packers. Within just thirty years, the pineapple industry grew steadily; by 1930, over 28 percent of Maui’s cultivated lands were dedicated to pineapple.” (Maui Island Plan)
Baldwin Packers started pineapple canning in 1914 and at first its cannery was located close to its pineapple fields in the Honolua section. Difficulty in securing labor in the busiest seasons of packing and the distance of the haul from the cannery to Kaʻānapali, which was then its shipping point, made it advisable to secure a location nearer town.
Baldwin Packers pineapple cannery was eventually located at Lāhainā, this addressed transportation (proximity to Mala Wharf) and labor concerns. At Mala, the cannery was eight or ten miles from the fields and the fruit is transported to the plant by rail and truck.
The Baldwins’ growing and canning operations in Lāhainā continued for many decades. However, in 1962 the Baldwins’ east and west Maui holdings and pineapple operations were united when Baldwin Packers merged with Maui Pineapple Company. It was around that time that the Baldwin Packers pineapple cannery in west Maui was closed.
In 1987, the Lāhainā Cannery Mall was built on the same site where the original plant once stood; it was designed to look like a pineapple cannery with the corrugated style and factory-like open conduits inside were adopted for the design.
