Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kenichi Maehara

“After 20 years of service as clerk in the Hilo post office, K Maehara will retire to private life at the end of this month.  He is leaving the postal service on account of impaired eyesight and will devote his entire attention to the management of the Camera Craft Shop at Kamehameha Ave.” (Star Bulleting, May 21,1921)

Born in Japan on April 2, 1880, Kenichi (also Kenzo) Maehara was a prominent Hawaiian photographer who owned the Camera Craft Shop in Hilo.  He also held the photography concession in the Hawai‘i National Park (now known as the Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

He built and operated the Volcano Photo Studio adjacent to the on-site hotel, the Volcano House, near what is today’s Kīlauea Visitor Center.  (He also operated an “up-to-date portrait studio” in the Osorio building in Hilo.

Maehara specialized in developing, printing, enlarging, coloring, and framing pictures, photographs, and lantern slides of park and island scenes. He also sold postcards, some from photographs taken by others.

Maehara came to Hawai‘i from Hiroshima, Japan in 1896 and over his 30-year career grew to become a renowned and respected local businessman whose photos of volcanic eruptions were published and distributed around the world.

He photographed the Kilauea 1924 eruption; then, Mauna Loa (“Long Mountain”) began erupting at 6:20 pm on November 21, 1935.

Lava flows from Mauna Loa were generally fast-moving and voluminous.  Lava moved relentlessly at a rate of five-miles each day; it pooled up between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa at about where the Saddle Road is situated.

The ponded lava eventually began to follow the lay of the land, a natural drainage … Then, things “got interesting.”  Lava was heading directly toward Hilo. (USGS)

Dr. Thomas A Jaggar Jr, the government volcanologist, estimated that the flow would reach Hilo by January 9, 1936. He suggested using dynamite to collapse lava tubes near the source of the flow in order to stop or divert it.

Explosives were first suggested as a means to divert lava flows threatening Hilo during the eruption of 1881.  However, Jaggar’s plan of mule teams hiking the explosives up the mountain would take far too long – the lava flows were moving a mile a day.

It was suggested to use US Army Air Corps bombers to precisely deliver explosives. Jaggar agreed, and the call was made. The US Army Air Corps approved, and the mission and plans to strategically bomb Mauna Loa were set into motion.

Maehara took photos of the lava bombing on request from the director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.  Ironically the same photos that were commissioned by the US government.

As it turned out, after the Japanese military attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Maehara was arrested and detained under suspicion of disloyalty to the United States.  Evidence used against him included photos he took of the 1935 US military bombing of a Mauna Loa lava flow. 

Because of this and his participation in the local Japanese community, Maehara was declared a security threat. Army intelligence officers discovered a significant amount of cash at his premises as well as a large number of pornographic pictures, which, apparently, he had sold regularly to visiting soldiers.  (Chapman)

Maehara was sent to detention facilities in Honolulu, and he was later transferred to an internment camp in the state of New Mexico.

Shortly thereafter, the newspaper reported, “The permit of K Maehara to operate a photographic concession in the Kilauea section was cancelled December 31 and will not be renewed. Mr Maehara, a Japanese alien, is interned by the authorities.” (Star Bulletin, August 12, 1942)

With the photography concession canceled on December 31, 1941, the Park’s chief clerk deposited the former concessioner’s cash; NPS employees removed his equipment to a vacant park residence, and boarded up the concession building for the time being.  (Chapman)

In 1943, while he was still interned, Maehara’s Volcano Photo Studio was demolished. He would never return to the national park in an official capacity.

He returned to the Islands. In 1950, Kenichi and his wife Matsue Maehara changed their names to Yokoyama (Honolulu Advertiser Sep 25, 1950) Daughter Masako Yokoyama received her PhD from Yale in 1949; she married Floyd G Lounsbury and joined her husband teaching at Yale. (Lots here is from NPS.)

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

A Haven for Whalers and World Travelers

In the Lāhainā region, the kula kahakai (near-shore lands) were thickly populated, chiefly residences and places of worship dominated the landscape. There were also found across this landscape, fishponds, taro pond fields and groves of selected trees of importance in various facets of Hawaiian life.  (Maly)

On the kula (gentle sloping flat lands) that extend behind the coastal region and reach to the valleys and mountain slopes, were found extensive agricultural fields planted in both wet land and dry land methods. (Maly)

The primary valleys behind Lele (original name for area now known as Lāhainā) included Kahoma, Kanahā and Kaua‘ula. The natural stream alignments from these valleys were modified and extended in ancient times, with large and small ʻauwai (irrigation channels) constructed to feed thousands of lo‘i kalo (taro pond fields) in which the primary food crop of the Lāhainā region residents was grown.    (Maly)

Over the centuries, a sophisticated system of ʻauwai, lo‘i kalo and loko i‘a kalo (fish and taro ponds) was engineered, and extended across the otherwise arid kula lands, down to the near-shore settlements.     (Maly)

Near the central area of the present Lāhainā Town is an area that was once a taro patch – it was King Kamehameha III’s personal taro patch, which he tended to regularly.  Reportedly, he felt “that common work has dignity.”

The natural waterways supplying these taro patches were eventually re-routed to provide fresh water for the community as Lāhainā grew.

“We found Lahaina very much like all that we had ever heard of—Lahaina.  Its citizens hospitable, its streets magazines of red dust, its taro patches green, its trees ambrosial, and its breezes refreshing.”  (The Polynesian, July 18, 1846)

Lāhainā’s Pioneer Hotel (as it was initially known) was built by George Alan Freeland on a portion of what has been referred to as ”Āpuakēhau,” the King’s Taro Patch (a remaining part can be seen near the water’s edge and is part of the Ala Hele Moʻolelo O Lāhainā (Lāhainā Historic Trail.))

Born in Cobham, England, Freeland was a miner, a provincial police officer and in the livery and grocery business in Canada.  He married Amabel Kahuhu of Lānaʻi and settled in Lāhainā to raise three sons and four daughters.  (star-bulletin)

Starting as a modest 10-room hotel with a common bathroom down the hall when it was initially completed in late-1901, it remains open today with 34-modern guest rooms.

New construction in 1965, that matches the 1901 waterfront wing and removal of the theater behind the hotel, added two sides and two wings to the block. Of the two new wings, the lower floors are businesses and the upper are hotel rooms.  The original wing retains offices, restaurant and bar.

Several suggest that later-renamed Pioneer Inn was the first Lāhainā and West Maui hotel; however, a 1901 Maui News report notes that the Lāhainā Hotel was open before the Pioneer.  While not the oldest, it is one of the oldest hotels in the islands still in operation (Volcano House started in the mid-1800s.)

A notice in the Hawaiian Star, October 9, 1901, noted “New Hotel For Lahaina. Articles of association were filed yesterday by the Pioneer Hotel Company, with the principal place of business at Lahaina, Island of Maui.”

“The object of the association Is to conduct a general hotel and restaurant business, and billiard tables. … The officers and principal stockholders are J. J. Newcomb, president, twenty-five shares; A Aalberg, secretary, twenty-five shares; P. Nicklas, treasurer, two shares; George Freeland, thirty-five shares.”

Three weeks later, the newspaper reported “George Freeland, manager of the Pioneer hotel at Lahaina, is in town for the purpose of purchasing supplies and furniture for the establishment. He will return to Lahaina nest Tuesday.  (Honolulu Republican, October 31, 1901)

“Lahaina now boasts two new and up-to-date hotels. Matt. McCann has just finished and moved into his new hosterie (Lahaina Hotel,) and is not able to handle all the travel at present, consequently he is compelled to turn away guests this week.”

“The Pioneer Hotel is practically completed and under the management of Mr. Freeland, will be thrown open for the reception of guests about December 1.”  (Maui News, November 23, 1901)

While short on hotels, “there is a plethora of saloons in Lahaina and now that a man can get a drink whenever and almost wherever he wants it …”

“… the people seem to care less about getting drunk, judging from the fact that there have been fewer arrests for drunkenness in Lahaina during the past month than for any previous month this year.”  (Maui News, November 23, 1901)  (McCann and Freeland each had a liquor license for their hotels.)

Almost immediately following the completion of his hotel, Freeland began forming subsidiaries of the Pioneer Hotel Company; the Pioneer Saloon, the Pioneer Theatre, the Pioneer garage and the Pioneer Wholesale Liquor Company.

Later, prohibition on the continent meant that George was forced to shut down his liquor company. The saloon became the hotel’s business office.

Before Lahaina Harbor was built in the 1950s, the ocean channel fronting Pioneer Inn was barely navigable during high surf; passengers who rode on dinghies to board ships faced the possibility of being swamped. “You took your chances through the surf.” (star-bulletin)

In the attached image album note the old Pioneer Inn menu and the tag line at the bottom, “A Haven for Whalers and World Travelers.”

Over the past 100 years, Pioneer Inn has hosted scores of famous names, such as Hawaiʻi’s last queen (Liliʻuokalani,) Mark Twain, Jack London, Sun Yat-sen, Jackie Kennedy and author Tom Robbins.  (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

The Pioneer Inn was later joined by resort development at Kāʻanapali Beach Resort (Royal Lāhainā 1961, then the Sheraton, 1962) and the Kapalua Resort (Kapalua Bay Hotel, 1978) – and a lot of other development along the West Maui Coast.

Here is a related story on the Lahaina – Lanai connection of the Pioneer Inn:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/pioneer-inn-maunalei-sugar-connection/

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waikīkī Streams

The present Waikīkī has a land area of approximately 500-acres; it once was a vast marshland whose boundaries encompassed more than 2,000-acres.

Consistent with the character of the swampy land of ancient Waikīkī, where water from the upland valleys would gush forth from underground, the name Waikīkī, which means “water spurting from many sources.”

Three main valleys Makiki, Mānoa, and Pālolo are mauka of Waikīkī and through them their respective streams (and springs in Mānoa (Punahou and Kānewai)) watered the marshland below.

As they entered the flat Waikīkī Plain (and merge and separate,) the names of the streams changed; the Mānoa became the Kālia and the Pālolo became the Pāhoa (they joined near Hamohamo (now an area mauka of the Kapahulu Library.))

While at the upper elevations, the streams have the ahupuaʻa names, at lower elevations, after merging/dividing, they have different names, as they enter the ocean, Pi‘inaio, ‘Āpuakēhau and Kuekaunahi.

The Pi‘inaio (Makiki) entered the sea at Kālia (near what is now Fort DeRussy as a wide delta (kahawai.))

The ‘Āpuakēhau (Mānoa and Kālia,) also called the Muliwai o Kawehewehe (“the stream that opens the way” on some maps,) emptied in the ocean at Helumoa (between the Royal Hawaiian and Moana Hotels.)

The Kuekaunahi (Pālolo) once emptied into the sea at Hamohamo (near the intersection of ‘Ōhua and Kalākaua Avenues.)  The land between these three streams was called Waikolu, meaning “three waters.”

The early Hawaiian settlers, who arrived around 1000 AD, gradually transformed the marsh into hundreds of taro fields, fish ponds and gardens.  Waikīkī was once one of the most productive agricultural areas in old Hawai‘i.

Beginning in the 1400s, a vast system of irrigated taro fields and fish ponds were constructed.  This field system took advantage of streams descending from Makiki, Mānoa and Pālolo valleys which also provided ample fresh water for the Hawaiians living in the ahupua‘a.

By the time of the arrival of Europeans in the Hawaiian Islands during the late eighteenth century, Waikīkī had long been a center of population and political power on O‘ahu.

Following the Great Māhele in 1848, many of the fishponds and irrigated and dry-land agricultural plots were continued to be farmed, however at a greatly reduced scale (due to manpower limitations.)

In the 1860s and 1870s, former Asian sugar plantation workers (Japanese and Chinese) replaced the taro and farmed more than 500-acres of wetlands in rice fields, also raising fish and ducks in the ponds.

By 1892, Waikīkī had about 550-acres planted in rice, representing almost 12% of the total 4,700-acres planted in rice on O‘ahu.

Nearly 85% of present Waikīkī (most of the land west of the present Lewers Street or mauka of Kalākaua) were in wetland agriculture or aquaculture.

However, drainage problems started to develop in Waikīkī from the late nineteenth century because of urbanization, when roads were built and expanded in the area (thereby blocking runoff) and when a drainage system for land from Punchbowl to Makiki diverted surface water to Waikīkī.

During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape would be transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in the draining and filling in of the remaining ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.

Soon after, in 1928, the construction of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel was completed (joining the Moana Hotel (1901,) marking the beginning of Waikīkī as a world-class tourist attraction.

The image shows a Google Earth base image with the streams, ponds and loʻi/rice fields that were noted on an 1893 map of the region.

(The dark blue notes the streams (Piʻinaio, Āpuakēhau and Kuekaunahi (L to R)) – the far right water feature is part of Kapiʻolani Park, including McKee Island.)  The light blue notes the fishponds and the green notes the areas that were once in taro loʻi and then rice cultivation.  The yellow line notes the shoreline in 1893.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Wasinetona Hale

In 1674, George Washington’s great-grandfather, John Washington, secured a land grant along the Potomac River. The land was passed down the Washington line until it came into the possession of Augustine Washington, George Washington’s father.

In 1734, Augustine Washington moved his family, including a two-year-old George, into a new one-and-a-half story home built on a property called Little Hunting Creek. This home would become the core of the Mount Vernon mansion.

Augustine and his family lived at Little Hunting Creek for several years and then moved to Ferry Farm, across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg, Virginia.

When Augustine died in 1743, Little Hunting Creek passed to his son Lawrence Washington, the half-brother of George Washington.

Lawrence renamed Little Hunting Creek “Mount Vernon” in honor of the British Admiral Edward Vernon under whom Lawrence had served as a commander of Virginia colonial troops in the War of Jenkins’ Ear.

After Lawrence died of pneumonia, George Washington began renting Mount Vernon from Lawrence’s widow. When she died in 1761, Mount Vernon officially passed into George Washington’s ownership.

George Washington expanded the house that his father had built by first adding a full second story, and then erecting a wing onto each side of the house.

By 1787, George Washington had transformed the 3,500 square foot home that had been built by his father into an 11,000 square foot mansion. Washington also modified the outside appearance of the mansion.

Using a technique called rustication, yellow pine boards were carved to look like cut blocks of stone and then covered in wet paint and sand. The end result was a wooden structure that appeared to be made of stone. (Battlefields-org)

Following George and Martha Washington’s deaths (1799 & 1802), the estate passed to four successive heirs, the last of whom deeded it to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association in 1860.

While still in private hands, the property nonetheless attracted thousands of visitors each year, most of whom arrived after a fifteen-mile overland trek from Washington, D.C. With the establishment of regular steamboat access in the 1850s, the numbers swelled to ten thousand annually.

The public claimed Mount Vernon as its own. In the words of a nineteenth-century Washington family member, “the Nation shares it with us.”

In the Islands, Captain John Dominis was an Italian-American ship captain and merchant from New York who had been trading in the Pacific since the 1820s. 

In the 1840s, he purchased property on Beretania Street.  There, he started to build a home for his family, Mary Lambert Dominis (his wife) and John Owen Dominis (his son.)

The original central portion, built in 1844-1847, was designed and executed in Greek Revival Style, with supplies ordered from Boston.

Captain Dominis reportedly embarked on several trading voyages while the house was being built, using the profits to pay off accumulated debts and resume operations (it’s not clear how many trips were required to build the new home.)

Designed and constructed by Isaac Hart, the elegant Greek-Revival house rose on the fringe of the village of Honolulu, towering over the barren landscape and native thatched houses.

Hart built another grand mansion around this time that would become the royal palace of King Kamehameha III when he moved the capital from Lahaina to Honolulu in 1845.

As Captain Dominis’ house drew near completion in 1846, he sailed for China on a trade mission. The tragic disappearance of his ship at sea left Mary Dominis a widow and she found it necessary to rent suites in her new mansion.

The grounds were said to have been planted “by Mrs. Captain Dominis as the first private garden in Honolulu, carefully watered until the yard was a handsome, cool retreat.” By 1848 the garden was sufficiently interesting for a visitor to ask for a list of the plants in the yard.

Mary Dominis then rented out the spare bedroom to American Commissioner Anthony Ten Eyck.  Inspired by its stately elegance, he sought to christen the home in 1848, in honor of the “great, the good, the illustrious Washington,” and the memory of his countryman, Captain Dominis.  (Washington Place Foundation)

The following is an extract of his February 22, 1848 note to Mr. Wyllie, “I have much pleasure in making the following semi official announcement to you.”

“In honor of the day which gave birth to him, who was ‘first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen’ – the great, the good, the illustrious Washington …”

“… the United States Commissioner, with the assent of its much esteemed and hospitable proprietress, has this day christened the beautiful, substantial and universally admired mansion of Mrs. Dominis, Washington Place.”

“Thus let it hereafter be designated in Hawaiian Annuls and long may it remain in this distant isle of the Pacific, a memento of the eminent virtues of the ‘Father of his country’ and of the enterprise, and the distinguished excellencies of its much lamented projector.”

Then, published in the Polynesian of February 26, 1848, with the authoritative notice looked for, which are herewith presented in like manner:

“Official Notice. ‘It has pleased His Majesty the King to approve of the name of Washington Place, given this day by the Commissioner of the United States, to the house and premises of Mrs. Dominis, and to command that they retain that name in all time coming’ (Sgd.) Keoni Ana. Home Office, Feb. 22, 1848.”

Liliʻuokalani visited Washington Place in 1860 during her courtship with her future husband John Owen Dominis. Washington Place became the home at which Liliʻuokalani and her husband started their life together in marriage on September 16, 1862.”

When Mary Dominis died in 1889, the Washington Place property was passed on to John Owen Dominis. The Queen ascended to the throne in 1891 and her official residence ʻIolani Palace.

John Owen Dominis was in failing health and chose to remain at Washington Place due to the numerous stairs at ʻIolani Palace. In August of 1891, Washington Place was passed on to the Queen upon the death of John Owen Dominis.

It would remain her residence for 55 years, a home she fondly described as “a large, square, white house, with pillars and porticos on all sides, really a palatial dwelling, as comfortable in its appointments as it is inviting in its aspect… a choice tropical retreat in the midst of the chief city of the Hawaiian Islands.”

Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, one of the heirs to the estate of Queen Liliʻuokalani, suggested that the Territory acquire Washington Place as the Executive Mansion. The Legislature appropriated funds for the purchase and the property was acquired by the Territory.

In 1922, major additions were made. These included the glassed-in lanai, the porte-cochere and the rear one-story wing with Dining Room and Kitchen. Family bedrooms were added to the second-story of this wing, later.

Across the street from the State Capitol on Beretania Street, Washington Place was the executive mansion for the territorial governors from 1918 to 1959, and, after Hawaiʻi became the 50th state, the state governor’s mansion, from 1959 to 2002.

Washington Place remains the official residence of the governor however, a new house, built on the property in 2002, is now the personal residence of the Governor of Hawai‘i.

A March 16, 1895 article in Kuokoa refers to the home as Wasinetona Hale. (Lots of information here is from Washington Place Foundation and Governor’s website.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The ‘Big House’ at Riverside Park

Within what is now called Hilo Bay is a small bay referred to as ‘Reed’s Bay.’  It is named after William H Reed. Born in 1814 Belfast, Ireland, Reed was a businessman. He created Reed’s Landing, which he used to moor boats carrying lumber for one of his businesses.  (Hawaiʻi County)

Reed arrived in the Islands in the 1840s and set up a contracting concern specializing in the construction of wharfs, landings, bridges and roads.  Other interests included ranching, trading and retailing.  (Clark)

Across Hilo Bay, on January 1, 1856, Reed leased a 26-acre island – originally known as ‘Koloiki’ (‘little crawling,’) – it was once surrounded by the Wailuku River and Waikapu Stream.

Reed cleared a portion of the site and had a cattle pasture; he then purchased the island for $200 on February 18, 1861, and it became known as Reed’s Island.  (Warshauer)

Reed married Jane Stobie Shipman on July 8, 1868 (she was a widow, previously married to William Cornelius Shipman, a missionary assigned to Waiʻōhinu in the district of Kaʻū.  Shipman died in 1861, leaving Jane with her three children, William Herbert, Oliver Taylor and Margaret Clarissa.)

(Son William Herbert (1854-1943) was an important businessman on the Island of Hawaii; son Oliver Taylor (1857-1942) became a tax assessor and county supervisor, and daughter Margaret Clarissa (1859-1891) married politician Lorrin Thurston who organized the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Jane was born in Scotland. At an early age she came to the US with her parents, lived in Quincy, Illinois, and was educated to be a teacher; and in 1853 was married to Reverend Shipman.  (The Friend, December, 1902)

Following his death, Jane moved to Hilo, with her three children and maintained the family by keeping a boarding school until 1868 (when she was married to Reed.)  (The Friend, December, 1902)

William Reed died on November 11, 1880 with no children of his own; Jane inherited the Reed land holdings.  (In 1881, Reed’s stepson William Herbert Shipman and two partners (Captain J. E. Eldarts and Samuel M Damon) purchased the entire ahupuaʻa of Keaʻau, about 70,000-acres from the King Lunalilo estate.)

“[B]efore Reed’s Island was in demand for residence sites DH Hitchcock grew a crop of pineapples there that was sufficient to supply the demand in Hilo.” (Hawaii Herald, June 29, 1899)

Apparently, upon the death of Reed, the land was under the control of his stepson, WH Shipman, who sold the island to AB Loebenstein.   (Warshauer)

The November 6, 1897 Hilo Daily Tribune reported that “Mr CS Desky has purchased Reed’s Island, in the Wailuku River, and the same will be subdivided and sold.  It is proposed to construct a fine bridge to span the stream, and lay out streets and otherwise make this pretty spot an ideal one for homes.” For a while the development was renamed Riverside Park.

JR Wilson, owner/operator of the Volcano Stables, who operated a daily stage between Hilo and Volcano, “purchased of Bruce Waring & Co the celebrated lot on the Riverside Park, on the point near the bridge”.  (Hilo Daily Tribune, March 11, 1899)

The April 6, 1899 Hawai‘i Herald reported, “The handsome steel bridge over the Wailuku was finished last week.” It goes on to report, “JR Wilson was the first person to drive over the bridge at Riverside Park and the around the Island.  In spite of this Mr Pratt felt that it is necessary to test the bridge by running the steam roller over it.”

On April 20, 1899, the Hawaii Herald reported, “The recent improvements made by Bruce Waring & Co upon the Riverside Park property, commonly called Reed’s Island, makes this by far the most attractive residence property in Hilo.”

“The plans for the Wilson residence are to be placed in the hands of local contractors this week … a representative of this paper was permitted to see the plans drawn by a local architect [KL Kerr] and which Mr Wilson took with him to Honolulu for revision, and they show a residence unique and attractive in every way designed especially for the lot, which commands a view extending over the harbor on the east, and the mountains westward.”

“It promises to be the handsomest residence in town at present, and the interior plans show it to be as commodious and convenient as it is handsome.”  (Hilo Daily Tribune, May 27, 1899)

Wilson’s was the first house to be built in the new subdivision. They moved into the house in mid-April, 1900. (Hawaii Heald)  “The Wilson residence built where it commands a view of all Hilo and the country from the sea to mountain is completed and Mr Wilson and family are enjoying ‘all the comforts of a home.’” (Hawaii Herald, April 19, 1900)

Then, on March 1, 1901, the newspaper reported, “Mr WH Shipman has purchased the Wilson residence at Riverside Park, for $12,000.”  (Hilo Daily Tribune, March 1, 1901)

The newspaper further noted, “Mr Shipman had previously been contemplating the erection of a new home on the site of is present dwelling, at Waiakea, but for various reasons has decided to make a home nearer town.” (Hilo Daily Tribune, March 1, 1901)

The ‘Big House,’ as the early Shipmans called it, stands at the lower end of Reed’s Island, a landlocked area within walking distance of downtown Hilo but cut off by the deep gulches of the Wailuku River and the Waikapu Stream. (Thompson)

Around this time, Wilson was formulating and developing the Ho‘olulu Race Track.  “Hilo is going to have a race track and base ball grounds. … Mr Wilson selected a site at Waiakea … The track will be almost circular in form”. (Hawaii Herald, March 1, 1900)  The baseball field was located inside the race track.  (Hilo Daily Tribune, March 17, 1900) That venture was considered a success.

A possible motivation for selling the home after only 1-year was noted in the newspaper, “JR Wilson has disposed of his interests in the Volcano Stables Co and will retire from the management of the corporation on April 1 next. The change on the part of Me Wilson was made solely on account of his health which has not been good since his return from the Coast.”  (Hawaii Herald, January 17, 1901)

Several April 1901 notices in the paper noted, “During my absence from the islands WS Wise will act for me under full pwer of attorney.” (Dated April 3, 1901) (Hawaii Herald)  In 1902, the paper reported, “JR Wilson formerly of this city, now in Nevada …” (Hilo Tribune, March 7, 1902)

(So, the land that had once been owned by his stepfather and, then, at the stepfather’s death transferred to his mother and WH Shipman sold it in 1897 to Loebenstein and Wilson built a house on the best part of it, returned back to WH Shipman and became his home.  The house is still owned by members of the Shipman family.)

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