Hawaii Island | Page 2 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

September 24, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kilauea Masonic Lodge

Hawai‘i was first visited by Freemasons as early as the early-1790s, with the visit of George Vancouver (however, some suggest Captain Cook was a Freemason, but the records don’t substantiate that.) Over time, other Freemasons (mariners, merchants and professionals) visited the Islands.

However, it was a French mariner who introduced this British cultural export into Hawai‘i at a time when the Union Jack flew over the kingdom’s capital. On April 8, 1843, during the reign of King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli,) Freemasonry was formally established in Hawai‘i by Joseph Marie Le Tellier, Captain of the French whaling barque “Ajax” when he warranted Lodge Le Progres de l’Oceanie No. 124, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Supreme Council of France.

This was the first Masonic Lodge to be instituted in the Islands; with it, Freemasonry became firmly established in the Sandwich Islands. In Honolulu, the original lodge members were European and American mariners, shopkeepers and farmers.

Membership in Masonic lodges has always served to facilitate business contacts, as well as social ones. By the late-1840s there were about thirty-five merchants and storekeepers in Honolulu, of whom about one third were Masons. Similar ratios existed for the other 150 skilled “mechanics” and professionals in town.

Later, in 1879, King Kalākaua (one of the most active members of the Craft in the Island Kingdom,) conducted a grand Masonic ceremony at the site of the new ‘Iolani Palace, using Masonic silver working tools specially crafted for the occasion.

Then, on the evening of Thursday, December 3, 1896, an informal meeting was held at the home of William Whitmore Goodale, at Papaikou, on the Island of Hawaiʻi. The needs were discussed and it was decided to take the necessary steps for a Masonic Lodge on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

On February 4, 1897, the Grand Master of Masons in California, Thomas Flint, Jr., issued a dispensation to open and hold a Masonic Lodge to be called, “Kilauea Lodge.” The Lodge, with a membership of 16, was granted its charter on October 15, 1897, and was constituted as Kilauea Lodge No. 330, F&AM (Free & Accepted Masons.) (Chausee)

“Andrew Brown, District Inspector, Jos. Little, Arch. Gilfillan and half a dozen other prominent Masons will leave by the next Kinau for Hilo to some work for the order at that place. Mr. Brown will deliver to Masonic Lodge at Hilo, its charter and will direct the installation of officers. The lodge there has been working under dispensation for a year, but will now be firmly attached the Grand Lodge of California.” (Hawaiian Gazette, February 11, 1898)

Kilauea Lodge became “a full fledged lodge, peaceful, prosperous, progressive, and is ably and faithfully fulfilling its mission of brotherly love, relief and truth. They have recently purchased a large lot on Waianuenue street and hope at an early date to see their way clear to follow in the footsteps of Hawaiian Lodge and build for themselves a suitable and comfortable home.” (Freemasons)

“The Masonic Hall Association at its meeting Saturday last decided definitely to built a fine brick and stone building upon their lot recently purchased of the Territory at the corner of Waianuenue and Bridge streets.”

“The building will be two stories in height with basement … The upper story will be used for lodge purposes, while the lower will be constructed for the use of business houses, etc”. (Evening Bulletin, January 18, 1906)

At about this time (1908,) Teddy Roosevelt who was a Freemason was President of the United States; the US Congress authorized the construction of Naval Station at Pearl Harbor; and the Navy’s sixteen new battleships made up the “Great White Fleet” and sailed.

In the local community, the simultaneous event of the completion of the rail link to Honokaʻa, connecting the sugar plantations, their products, and their large working population to Hilo and its port, and the completion of the new breakwater allowing all-weather use of Hilo harbor, provided an expansive business environment for entrepreneurs In the community and across the Island Territory.

Then, the Hilo Masons dedicated their new building. “We have met here today for a specific purpose, namely to solemnly dedicate our masonic hall. Ten or more years ago the Hilo Masonic Hall Association was formed and later on a site purchased, which was farther up Waianuenue street than we are today.”

“Still later negotiations were entered into with the then Governor of the Territory, George B Carter, with a view to making an exchange of sites, the government requiring our uptown lot for school purposes, and giving us in exchange the site that this building now stands on”. (Hawaiian Gazette, March 1, 1910)

“It was finally decided to accept the plans of HE Starbuck, of Oakland. … The cornerstone was laid February 18, 1909. We started out to build a $40,000 building, and have ended up by having one costing double the amount, as nothing but the best of everything would satisfy the boys.”

The structure, which occupies the entire site, consists of three floors and a full basement. The street-level commercial spaces have a reinforced concrete floor, sidewalk freight elevators into the basement and an ingenious natural ventilation system which carried throughout the building.

Though altered in most areas the interiors remaining indicate a high level of decoration, with arched column bays, decorative cast concrete and plaster ceilings and high display windows with operable transoms above. (NPS)

The extensive unbroken tenancy by the Masonic Order (1909-1985) resulted in the second and third floors remaining virtually unchanged (a fire stair was added in 1986.) From the Waianuenue Avenue level lobby an elaborate granite stair with its ornate grained Oak balustrade ascends to the second floor foyer, on to the third level offices, and on again to the former Roof Garden, lauded for its panoramic view of the City of Hilo. (NPS)

The Temple room was two-stories in height with coved ceiling, wainscot, extensive paneling and moldings surrounding the large arch-topped windows, and an Organ Gallery overlooking the room through arched openings; the original suspended lighting fixtures with faceted globes were encased and formed brass frames.

Though ownership of the building has changed hands several times since its construction, the Masonic Order retained its occupancy of the second and third floor spaces until about 1985 when the Issuance of a liquor license to a ground floor tenant forced them to vacate under the rules of the Order which does not allow joint occupancy with liquor establishments.

The Hilo Masonic Temple is among the Hilo’s most substantial and best preserved historic structures. Constructed in 1908-10 in the Renaissance Revival style of reinforced concrete and steel, the building was clearly intended to be a lasting monument to the Masonic Order whose dramatic Lodge Hall and Temple facilities were located on the second and third floors.

The Masonic Temple construction came to completion about the same time as the new Hilo Hotel building was completed, the Hackfeld building nearing completion and with the Volcano Block and S Hata buildings in the planning stages.

July 28, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hale O Keawe

To help tell the story of Hale O Keawe, the following includes quotes from John Papa ʻĪʻi (who became an attendant of Kamehameha I and later a companion and personal attendant to Liholiho (later King Kamehameha II,)) William Ellis (missionary who circled the island of Hawaiʻi in 1823) and Hiram Bingham (missionary.)

“The Hale O Keawe in Honaunau was called Ka-iki-ʻAlealea (The little ʻAlealea,) and was a puʻuhonua. Kaikiholu and Pakaʻalana on Hawaii, Kakaʻe in ʻIao, Maui; Kūkaniloko in Wahiawa, Oʻahu; and Holoholoku in Wailua, Kauaʻi, were also places to which one who had killed could run swiftly and be saved.”

“The person whose writing this is often went about them, including the Hale O Keawe. He has seen this house (hale ʻaumakua iwi) where the bones were deposited, standing majestically on the left (or south) side of Akahipapa.”

“The house stood by the entrance of a wooden enclosure, with door facing inland towards the farming lands of South Kona.”

“The heir to the kingdom entered the Hale O Keawe during his journey around to the various luakini heiau of Kanoa in Hilo, Wahaʻula in Puna, and Punaluʻu in Kaʻū. The journey began in Kailua, thence to Kawaihae and from there on around the island to the Hale O Keawe.“

“The appearance of the house was good. Its posts and rafters were of kauila wood, and it was said that this kind of timber was found in the upland of Napu’u. It was well built, with crossed stems of dried ti leaves, for that was the kind of thatching used.”

“The appearance inside and outside of the house was good to look at. The compact bundles of bones (pukuʻi iwi) that were deified (hoʻokuaʻia) were in a row there in the house, beginning with Keawe’s near the right side of the door by which one went in and out, and going to the spot opposite the door (kuʻono).”

“At the right front corner of the house where the unwrapped bones of those who had died in war, heaped up like firewood. In that pile of bones were the bones of Nahiolea, father of M Kekūanāoʻa. The person whose writing this is saw his own father remove his tapa shoulder covering and place it on a bundle among the other bundles of bones. He must have asked the caretaker about all of them and their names, and they were told to him. That was why he did so.”

“When the writer saw his father doing this he asked, ‘Have we a near kinsman in this house?’ His father assented. There are some people who have relatives in this house of ‘life’, but perhaps most of them are dead. The chiefs were descended from Hāloa and so were their retainers (kauwa kupono). The chiefs were born, such as Lono-i-ka-makahiki and Kama-lala-walu and so on down, and so were the retainers (i.e., the junior members of the family.)”

“After the chief ʻIolani (Liholiho) had finished his visit to the house, a pig was cooked and the gathering sat to worship (hoʻomana) the deified persons there. When that was done, the chief and those who went in with him ate together. After the eating was over, the kapu was removed. The travellers left the Hale O Keawe and sailed by canoe, landing at Kamakahonu in Kailua in the evening. There they met Kamehameha. That must have been in the year 1817.” (John Papa ʻĪʻi)

A few years later (1823,) William Ellis and others visited Honaunau and Hale O Keawe. Ellis documented this, noting, “Honaunau, we found, was formerly a place of considerable importance, having been the frequent residence of the kings of Hawaii, for several successive generations.”

“The monuments of the ancient idolatry, with which this place abounds, were, from some cause unknown to us, spared, amidst the general destruction of the idols, &c. that followed the abolition of the aitabu, in the summer of 1819.”

“The principal object, that attracted our attention, was the ‘hare o Keave’ (house of Keawe,) a sacred depository of the bones of departed kings and princes, probably erected as a depository for the bones of the king whose name it bears, and who reigned in Hawaii, about eight generations back.”

“It is a compact building, 24 feet by 16, constructed with the most durable timber, and thatched with ti leaves, standing on a bed of lava, which runs out a considerable distance into the sea. It is surrounded by a strong fence, or paling, leaving an area in the front and at each end, about twenty-four feet wide, paved with smooth fragments of lava laid down with considerable skill.”

“Several rudely carved male and female images of wood were placed on the outside of the enclosure; some on low pedestals, under the shade of an adjacent tree; others on high posts, on the jutting rocks that hung over the edge of the water.”

“A number stood on the fence at unequal distances all around; but the principal assemblage of these frightfull representatives of their former deities, was at the south-east end of the enclosed space, where, forming a semicircle, twelve of them stood in grim array, as if perpetual guardians of ‘the mighty dead’ reposing in the house adjoining.”

“A pile of stones was neatly laid up in the form of a crescent, about three feet wide, and two feet higher than the pavement, and in this pile the images were fixed. They stood on small pedestals three or four feet high, though some were placed on pillars eight or ten feet in height, and curiously carved.”

“The principal idol stood in the centre, the others on either hand, the most powerful being placed nearest to him. He was not so large as some of the others, but was distinguished by the variety and superior carving of his body, and especially of his head.”

“Once they had evidently been clothed, but now they appeared in the most indigent nakedness. A few tattered shreds round the neck of one that stood on the left hand side of the door, rotted by the rain, and bleached by the sun, were all that remained of numerous and gaudy habiliments, with which their votaries had formerly arrayed them.”

“A large pile of broken calabashes and cocoanut shells Jay in the centre, and a considerable heap of dried and partly rotten wreaths of flowers, branches of shrubs and hushes, and fragments of tapa, (the accumulated offerings of former days,) formed an unsightly mound immediately before each of the images.”

“The horrid stare of these idols, the tattered garments upon some of them, and the heaps of rotting offerings before them, seemed to us no improper emblems of the system they were designed to support; distinguished alike by its cruelty, folly, and wretchedness.”

“…we looked in and saw many large images, some of wood very much carved, others of red feathers, with widely distended mouths, large rows of sharks teeth, and glaring pearl-shell eyes.”

“We also saw several bundles of .human bones, cleaned, carefully tied up, and placed in different parts of the house, together with some rich shawls and other valuable articles, probably worn by those, to whom the bones belonged, as the wearing apparel, and other personal property of the chiefs, is generally buried with them.”

“Adjoining the Hare O Keave, to the southward, we found a pahu tabu (sacred inclosure) of considerable extent; and were informed by our guide, that it was one of the pohonuas of Hawaii, of which we had so often heard the chiefs and others speak. There are only two on the island, the one, which we were then examining, and another at Waipiʻo, on the north-east part of the island, in the district of Kohala.”

ʻThe zeal of Kaʻahumanu led her as early as 1829 to visit the Hale O Keawe at Honaunau, a cemetery associated with dark superstitions, and surrounded with horrid wooden images of former generations. The regent visited the place not to mingle her adorations with her early contemporaries and predecessors to the relics of departed mortals, but for the purpose of removing the bones of twenty-four deified kings and princes of the Hawaiian race….” (Bingham)

“… when she saw it ought to be done, she determined it should be done: and in company with Mr. Ruggles and Kapiolani, she went to the sacred deposit, and caused the bones to be placed in large coffins and entombed in a cave in the precipice at the head of Kealakekua Bay.” (Bingham)

Hale O Keawe is part of the Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park, originally established in 1955 as City of Refuge National Historical Park (renamed on November 10, 1978.)

Hale O Keawe was Depository of the Kings of Hawaii, at Honaunau

Sketch of Hale-o-Keawe by Dampier, 1825

Seawalls at the east end of Hale o Keawe-1921

Robert_C._Barnfield_-_watercolor_painting_of_Hale_o_Keawe-1886

Puuhonua_O_Honaunau-Smith

Puuhonua_O_Honaunau-Kekahuna-SP 201979-map

Puuhonua_O_Honaunau-Hale_O_Keawe-lower_left

Image removed from Hale-o-Keawe and later presented to the Bishop Museum

Hale-O-Keawe

Hale-o-Keawe-(hawaiireporter)

Hale_O-Keawe-(NPS)

Hale_O_Keawe_Platform_and_Vicinity

Hale_o_keawe

Hale O Keawe-Ellis-1823

Hale o Keawe platform after the 1960s restoration-(NPS)

Andrew Bloxam’s drawings of the exterior appearance and interior arrangement of Hale-o-Keawe

July 22, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mauna Loa

Mauna Loa (“long mountain”) is the world’s largest active volcano and probably the largest single mountain mass of any sort on earth. It rises 13,679-feet above sea level, and about 31,000-feet above its base at the ocean floor.

(Of course this relates to surface volcanoes – Tamu Massif, a rounded dome in the northwest Pacific, measures about 280 by 400 miles, or more than 100,000 square miles and lies about 6,500 feet below the ocean surface (Mauna Loa measures about 2,000 square miles.))

Mauna Loa’s volume is of the order of 10,000 cubic miles, as compared to 80 cubic miles for the big cone of Mount Shasta in California. This huge bulk has been built almost entirely by the accumulation of thousands of thin flows of lava, the individual flows averaging only about 10 feet in thickness. (NPS)

The enormous volcano covers half of the Island of Hawai`i and by itself amounts to about 85 percent of all the other Hawaiian Islands combined. (USGS)

Mauna Loa has grown rapidly during its relatively short (600,000 to 1,000,000-years) history. Detailed geologic research on the volcano has nevertheless shown that about 98-percent of the volcano’s surface is covered with lava flows less than 10,000 years old. (USGS)

Since 1832, Mauna Loa has erupted 39 times; its last eruption started in 1984. According to USGS estimates, the volcano has erupted an average of once every 6 years over the past 3000. (SOEST)

The Ahupua‘a of Kapapala encompasses both the summit area and eastern flanks of Mauna Loa; this relatively large ahupua‘a extends from the coastline (Nāpu‘uonā‘elemākule to Keauhou) to the summit of Mauna Loa and Moku‘āweoweo Caldera. (NPS)

The large size of the ahupua‘a may be accounted for because the area contains limited natural resources within its boundaries: coastal resources most likely provided residences with rich marine resources; upland areas were rich in forest resources (e.g. forest birds, canoe material). However, the remaining portions of the ahupua‘a include the vast Ka‘u desert. (NPS)

The first modern climb of Mauna Loa was made by Archibald Menzies, the acclaimed naturalist and botanist serving with Captain George Vancouver on the Discovery.

In February 1794, after receiving advice and assistance from King Kamehameha (guides, attendants and transportation to the southern point of the island,) Menzies and the team reached the summit (fueled by rations consisting of few ship’s biscuits, a bottle of rum, some chocolate and a few coconuts.) (NPS)

Later, between December 1840 and January 1841, the US Exploring Expedition, led by Lt. Charles Wilkes, was the first US exploring and surveying expedition to the South Seas.

“(I)t was my intention to proceed to Hawaiʻi, there to ascend to the top of Mauna Loa; to make the pendulum observations on the summit and at the base of that mountain; to examine the craters and late eruptions”. (Wilkes 1845)

The expedition team was supported by a throng of porters that stretched out across the landscape and Wilkes described the scene as consisting of “…200 bearers of burdens, forty hogs, a bullock and bullock hunter …”

“… fifty bearers of poe (native food), twenty-five with calabashes…lame horses, which, instead of carrying their riders, were led by them; besides a large number of hangers-on, in the shape of mothers, wives, and children, equaling in number the bearers, all grumbling and complaining of their loads…”(Wilkes, NPS)

Once at the summit, a camp (called Pendulum Peak) was set up with rock walls to buttress tents against the extreme weather conditions, and the expedition could carry out observations and mapping.

The expedition mapped the summit region and conducted scientific efforts in the relatively unknown alpine wilderness area. The culmination of the Expedition coincided with the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution and the Natural Museum of Natural History. (NPS)

Land Commission testimony (1845) notes that sandalwood was an important resource, “When the people used to go after sandalwood the Alii of Kapapala Naihe and Aikanaka took it for Kaaumanu.”

“The Kaalaala people went after sandalwood for their chief but the people of the other lands in Kau used to go after sandalwood on Kapapala and take to their chiefs. This was the last gathering of sandalwood for Kamehameha III to pay the debt.” (NPS)

After the Mahele of 1848, the lands of Kapapala were retained as crown lands under Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III). Upon his death, the title to the land was transferred to his successor, Kamehameha IV, who ruled the islands from 1854-1863. The land remained as crown lands until the overthrow of the Hawaii Monarchy in 1893. (NPS)

Others later climbed the mountain: “Struggling, slipping, tumbling, jumping, ledge after ledge was surmounted, but still, upheaved against the glittering sky, rose new difficulties to be overcome. Immense bubbles have risen from the confused masses, and bursting, have yawned apart.…”

“Earthquakes have riven the mountain, splitting its sides and opening deep crevasses, which must be leapt or circumvented. … stepping over deep cracks, which, perhaps, led down to the burning, fathomless sea, traversing hilly lakes ruptured by earthquakes …”

“… and split in cooling into a thousand fissures, painfully toiling up the sides of the mounds of scoriae frothed with pumice-stone, and again for miles surmounting rolling surfaces of billowy, ropy lava – so passed the long day, under the tropic sun and the deep blue sky.” (Isabella Bird, 1875)

Starting in 1906, George Lycurgus (early operator of the Volcano House) and newspaperman Lorrin Andrews Thurston were working to have the Mauna Loa and Kilauea Volcanoes area made into a National Park. In 1912, geologist Thomas Augustus Jaggar arrived to investigate and joined their effort.

In September 1915, Jaggar, Thurston and a US Army representative conducted a survey to determine a route for a trail up Mauna Loa. The following month, a local paper noted, “Soldiers Building Mountain Trail. Negro soldiers of the Twenty-fifth Infantry to the number of 150 are at work constructing a trail from near the Volcano House to the summit of Mauna Loa.”

“It is estimated that three or four weeks will be devoted to this work. The soldiers are doing the work as a part of their vacation exercises.” (Maui News, October 29, 1915)

The Buffalo Soldiers built the 18-mile trail to the summit of Mauna Loa. They also built the ten-man Red Hill Cabin and a twelve-horse stable, so scientists could spend extended periods of time studying the volcano.

On August 1, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the country’s 13th National Park into existence – Hawaiʻi National Park. At first, the park consisted of only the summits of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa on Hawaiʻi and Haleakalā on Maui. On, July 1, 1961, Hawaiʻi National Park’s units were separated and re-designated as Haleakalā National Park and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

June 26, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Morse Field – South Point, Hawaiʻi

Kalae Military Reservation, Morse Field, South Cape Airport, South Point Air Force Station (AFS) – it had a lot of names; it had a relatively short, but varied life. It was on the Island of Hawaiʻi, at Ka Lae, South Point.

In 1933, the War Department designated the airfield as Morse Field, in honor of 2nd Lt. Guy E Morse of the WWI 135th Aero Squadron. Morse was posthumously issued the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action. He and his pilot (Wilbur C Suiter) fearlessly volunteered for the perilous mission of locating the enemy’s advance unit in the rear of the Hindenburg line.

Disregarding the hail of machine gun fire and bursting anti-aircraft shell, they invaded the enemy territory at a low altitude and accomplished his mission, securing information of the greatest importance. They at once returned to the lines and undertook another reconnaissance mission, from which they failed to return. (Suiter Field, the military’s air field that is now Upolu Airport, was named after 1st Lieutenant Wilbur C Suiter.)

Morse Field had a runway and one small barracks. Then, they expanded the facility and it was referred to as Kalae Military Reservation. In 1940, construction was underway on five buildings, runways and access roads at Morse Field. Activities were centralized at this airport inasmuch as its location shortened a routing through Oahu, the trans-Pacific air ferry route to Australia and the Philippines by approximately 200-miles.

The work on runways at Morse Field was suspended shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941 – there were at least 2 fighters stationed at the strip when Pearl Harbor was attacked) and all adjacent smooth ground potential landing areas demolished as a precautionary measure against enemy use.

Blocking of landing areas on the island occupied large amounts of time and manpower due to the extensive areas involved and the comparatively smooth surfaces surrounding the field, which could be used as landing fields.

Later, construction increased the number of buildings to 5, built nine 50,000 gallon fuel tanks, a water line, access roads, and extended the runway to 6,000-feet. Morse Field was an earth field with a Marston Mat (steel grid) runway and was constructed as a temporary facility.

Gun emplacements were also added around the field. By December 28, 1941 gasoline storage facilities were complete, a water line installed and mobilization buildings were more than half finished.

After World War II, Morse Field was declared surplus by the military in 1946 and the Territorial Legislature placed it under the management of the Hawaii Aeronautics Commission (HAC.)

Rancher James Glover made a survey of the airport and found the buildings to be of no value except the corrugated roofing. He said he was in favor of keeping the airport open so that slaughtered cattle could be shipped out. He offered to maintain the airport at his own expense and to keep it open at all times as an emergency landing strip.

On November 3, 1947, the Commission made an application for the South Cape Airport to enter into an agreement with Mr. Glover. The U.S. Army granted a right of entry into Morse Field to the Territory on January 16, 1948.

Because of its remote location the HAC expected very little use by commercial airlines. Since satisfactory sites in this part of the island where aircraft could set down with safety in case of an emergency were non-existent, the Hawaii Aeronautics Commission decided to retain this strip as an emergency landing field.

With minimal maintenance (Hilo Airport staff made quarterly trips to Morse Field to perform minor maintenance and repair work,) by 1952 the field was found to be in bad condition due to erosion around the edges of the mats.

In the meantime, a new Federal Aid Highway project had been completed into Hilo, which caused the entire community to look to the Hilo Airport for their transportation needs. As a result, traffic into the field came to a standstill.

In 1954, the Territorial Director of Aeronautics requested abandonment of the airport; it was abandoned the next year.

In December 1964, the Air Force Systems Command announced that the Air Force would assume control of space tracking and communications from the Navy; the station closed the next year.

It was later reopened to support a sounding rocket probe program to evaluate advanced ballistic reentry system experiments. The close proximity and aspect angle of South Point to the optical site sensors located on the island of Maui were the primary reasons for launching the probes from this location.

In 1979, the Station was divided in two parcels located about 1.5-miles apart. One of the sites was the main operations area, while the other area was used for a radar tower. The Station was under the operational control of the Space and Missile Test Center (SAMTEC).

The short-lived South Point Air Force Station was one of the few Air Force installations in the State of Hawaiʻi that did not fall under the control of the 15th Air Base Wing. It belonged to the Air Force Systems Command (AFSC,) headquartered at Andrews AFB.

That use ended, too; in 1983 the executive orders for the facility were cancelled. Also in the 1980s, there were discussions about a private rocket launching facility here, but those never came to fruition. (Lots of info here from hawaii-gov and Freeman.)

May 30, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Summertime

In a lot of respects, with or without kids, school vacation schedules seem to set how we operate our lives.

Until the middle of the 19th century, Americans used the word vacation the way the English do, the time when teachers and students vacate the school premises and go off on their own. (Siegel; NPR)

Summer … Memorial Day to Labor Day, right? Well, maybe before, but why?

A first thought is the historic reason for the season of summer vacations is so kids can go work on the family farm. There are a number of reasons summer vacation came about, but the farming calendar isn’t one of them.

There used to be two basic school schedules – one for urban areas and the other for rural communities.

In the past, urban schools ran year-round. For example, in 1842 New York City schools were in class for 248 days. Rural schools took the spring off to plant, and the autumn off to harvest. (The summer actually isn’t the busiest time in agriculture.)

Short school years with long vacations are not the norm in Europe, Asia, or South America. Children in most industrialized countries go to school more days per year and more hours per day than in America.

Rural schools typically had two terms: a winter term and a summer one, with spring and fall available for children to help with planting and harvesting. The school terms in rural schools were relatively short: 2-3 months each. (Taylor)

In addition, in rural areas, the summer term was considered “weak.” The summer term in rural neighborhoods tended to be taught by young girls in their mid- to late-teens. On the other hand, schoolmasters, generally older males, taught the winter terms. Because of this, the summer terms were seen as academically weaker. (Lieszkovszky; NPR)

It’s hot in the summer. The school buildings of the 19th-century weren’t air-conditioned. Heat during the summer months would often become unbearable. (Lieszkovszky; NPR)

In 1841, Boston schools operated for 244-days while Philadelphia implemented a 251-day calendar. In the beginning of the 19th-century, large cities commonly had long school years, ranging from 251 to 260 days. During this time, many of these rural schools were only open about 6-months out of the year. (Pedersen)

In the 1840s, however, educational reformers like Horace Mann moved to merge the two calendars out of concern that rural schooling was insufficient and then-current medical theory and concerns over student health in the urban setting.

“(A) most pernicious influence on character and habits … not infrequently is health itself destroyed by over-stimulating the mind.” (Mann)

This concern over health seemed to have two parts. As noted above, there was the concern that over-study would lead to ill-health, both mental and physical; the other concern was that schoolhouses were unhealthy in the summer (heat, ventilation, etc.) (Taylor)

Attendance became another problem. The city elite could afford to periodically leave town for cooler climates. School officials, battling absenteeism, saw little advantage in opening schools on summer days or on holidays when many students wouldn’t show up. Pressure to standardize the school calendar across cities often led campuses to “the lowest common denominator” – less school. (Mathews; LA Times)

In the second half of the 19th-century, school reformers who wanted to standardize the school year found themselves wanting to lengthen the rural school year and to shorten the urban school year, ultimately ending up by the early 20th-century with the modern school year of about 180 days. (Taylor)

Summer emerged as the obvious time for a break: it offered a break for teachers, generally fit with the farming needs and alleviated physicians’ concerns that packing students into sweltering classrooms that would promote the spread of disease. (Time)

While it’s clear historically that 3-month layoff from school was not based on farming needs – for most of the country – in Hawaiʻi there was a farm-based reason for the break from studies, at least from 1932 to 1969.

It happened in Kona.

By the 1890s, the large Kona coffee plantations were broken into smaller (5+/- acres) family farms. By 1915, tenant farmers, largely of Japanese descent, were cultivating most of the coffee. Many hours were spent cleaning and weeding the land, pruning the trees, harvesting the crop, pulping the berries and drying them for the mills.

These were truly family farms. “At that time, we used to work until dark. You see, no matter how young you were, you have to work. Before going to school, we pick one basket of coffee, then go to school. We come home from school and we pick another basket.” (Tsuruyo Kimura; hawaii-edu)

Konawaena was the regional school; it was first established as an elementary school, about 1875. By 1917, they were pushing to get a Kona high school (at the time, Hilo High, established in 1905, was the only high school on the island.)

In 1920, the Territory acquired land for a new school and in 1921, the new Konawaena accommodated students up to the 9th-grade; classes through the senior year were added by the 1924-25 school year.

Konawaena means “the Center of Kona,” and it lived up to its name. “Everything possible has been done to make the community feel that the school belongs to them. A Kona Baseball League has been organized and all league games are played on the school diamond” (Crawford, 1933; HABS)

The Kona area was observed as being “different socially from the rest of the Islands” (Crawford, 1933; HABS.) Coffee farming was the main reason for the difference. This labor-intensive crop thrived best in the steep lava slopes of the Kona districts.

“The labor problem is one that will have to be seriously considered. As coffee culture increases, the need of a greater supply of labor will be strongly felt, particularly at picking time. A large force is then needed for three or four months, after which, if coffee alone is cultivated, there is need only of a small part of the force required for picking.” (Thrum)

These labor and land factors meant a non-industrial, small-farm type of agriculture, very different from the industrial trends in the growing sugar and pineapple plantations that developed in other areas of the Islands.

The school went beyond recreational activities to accommodate the surrounding community.

In 1932, the school’s ‘summer’ vacation was shifted from the traditional Memorial Day to Labor Day (June-July-August) to August-September-October, “to meet the needs of the community, whose chief crop is coffee and most of which ripens during the fall months.” (Ka Wena o Kona 1936; HABS)

In 1935, the legislature recognized the ‘Konawaena Coffee Vacation Plan’ and passed legislation such that “The teachers of the Kona District … shall be paid, under such conditions as the Department of Public Instruction (now DOE) may require, their monthly accruing salaries during the months of September and October of each year during which such plan is in operation.” (Session Laws, 1935)

This “coffee harvest” school schedule and the “coffee vacation” lasted until 1969 (Honolulu Star Bulletin 1969; HABS.)

And now, in Hawaiʻi and across the country, there are varying arrangements for school schedules and vacations. Some areas have lost the 3-month layover; but most are trending with a total 180 to 200-days of instruction, with various schedules in arranging the breaks.