Hawaii | Page 316 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 12, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Queen’s Hospital

The Queen’s Hospital (now called The Queen’s Medical Center) was founded in 1859 by Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV.

In King Kamehameha IV’s initial speech to the legislature in 1854, the King voiced his desire to create a hospital for the people of Hawaiʻi.

At that time, the continued existence of the Hawaiian race was seriously threatened by the influx of disease brought to the islands by foreign visitors.

Queen Emma enthusiastically supported the dream of a hospital, and the two campaigned tirelessly to make it a reality. They personally went door-to-door soliciting the necessary funding.

Through six generations, The Queen’s Medical Center has become a major provider of health care to the people of our State and a part of the cultural fabric of Hawaiʻi.

The Queen’s Medical Center, located in downtown Honolulu, is largest private hospital in Hawaiʻi, licensed to operate with 505 acute care beds and 28 sub-acute beds. The medical center has more than 3,000 employees and over 1,200 physicians on staff.

Its Mission Statement is, “To fulfill the intent of Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV to provide in perpetuity quality health care services to improve the well-being of Native Hawaiians and all the people of Hawaiʻi.”

The first official building of Queen’s Hospital was erected on the same site where Hawaiʻi’s leading medical center stands today. It was a two-story structure made of coral blocks and California redwood that held 124 beds.

This original building stood for more than 60 years and was called “Hale Mai O Ka Wahine Ali‘i,” or “Hospital of the Lady Chief.”

Most of the buildings on the Queen’s campus have been given Hawaiian names to honor Hawaiian Royalty or other prominent citizens in the hospital’s development.

Nalani Wing (a shortened version of Queen Emma’s name, Kaleleonalani) is all that remains of a structure built in 1922, over the spot where the original hospital stood.

The Nalani facade remains today, with its ornate crest emblazoned over the entrance to the main lobby. Still visible are the now-sealed arched windows which originally lined open walkways, welcoming the trade winds and cooling the occupants within.

The Bishop Wing was an 1893 building that was razed in 1989, making way for a new addition to the Queen Emma Tower, which now houses Hawaiʻi’s largest Magnetic Resonance Imager (MRI).

The first Pauahi Wing stood in the same location as the present-day building, which was constructed in 1971. Its name honors Bernice Pauahi Bishop, whose husband, Charles Bishop, donated the wing in memory of his wife.

Maluhia was the location of the first Emergency Department and means “Peace” or “Rest” in Hawaiian. Maluhia was razed in 1998 to make way for the new Emergency Room and Same Day Surgery Center.

Edward Harkness of New York donated more than half the cost of the Harkness building in 1932 for the original School of Nursing, and as a residence for nurses. It remains virtually unchanged in its appearance and is now home to many administrative offices.

Kīna‘u was the name of King Kamehameha IV’s mother. Built in 1945, it has housed a wide variety of patient services and units.

The first open heart surgery in Hawaii was performed in the Kamehameha Wing (constructed in 1954 and named for the co-founder of Queen’s, King Kamehameha IV,) which was considered the most advanced surgical center in the state for over 30 years.

Iolani means “royal hawk” in Hawaiian, and was one of King Kamehameha’s names. The Iolani Wing was completed in 1960. It houses the Pathology department, patient rooms, Emergency department and administrative offices.

The Hawaiʻi Medical Library was established in 1913 and moved to the Queen’s campus in 1916. It has served the medical community for over 83 years.

Kekela was the name of Queen Emma’s mother, and this building, built in 1973, honors her memory. The University of Hawai‘i School of Medicine occupies the upper floors and Queen’s Mental/Behavioral Health Services is on the lower floors.

Naea was the name of Queen Emma’s High Chief father. The building bearing his name is the home of the Radiation Therapy department and its three linear accelerators.

Paahana means “hard working,” and this building, built in 1981, is the site of the hospital’s utility services plant. It supplies the infrastructure services necessary to operate the facility.

Manamana was originally an apartment building; this structure now houses administrative offices and housing units for patients and their families who have traveled to Oahu for treatment.

Named in honor of Queen’s founder, the Queen Emma Tower was constructed in 1985. Its unique design features a triangular shape with an open central core.

Its ten stories are filled with patient care units and services. The top-most floor is occupied by the Maternity Department, where the charm of the birthing suite’s decor won a designation as “the most beautiful hospital room in Honolulu.”

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King Kamehameha IV & Queen Emma went door to door seeking donations to build what became the Queen’s Medical Center

The original Queen’s Hospital, shortly after being built, was sparsely surrounded in 1860

An early façade (1861) of The Queen’s Hospital

The main hospital building as it stood in 1898

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June 10, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pūowaina

Pūowaina (hill of placing [human sacrifices]) was formed some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago during the Honolulu period of secondary volcanic activity. A crater resulted from the ejection of hot lava through cracks in the old coral reefs which, at the time, extended to the foot of the Ko‘olau Mountain Range.

A 1916 article in Scientific Monthly described it: “The Hawaiian name for this venerable crater is Pu-o-Waina and it has a tragic significance. The original form, from which the modern spelling is abbreviated, was Puu O waiho ana, literally the hill of offering or sacrifice.”

The people “were dominated by the dreadful tabu system that once ruled all Polynesia. The penalty for any violation of its intricate regulations was death. Pu-o-waina was one of the places near Honolulu where the bodies of the offenders were ceremoniously burned” (the penalty for any violation of kapu.)

Later, during the reign of Kamehameha dynasty, a battery of two cannons was mounted at the rim of the crater. “There were only three men in the fort … The guns were mounted on a platform at the very edge of the precipice that overlooked the harbor and town.”

“They were thirty-two pound caliber. … The situation is very commanding, and notwithstanding the distance, the battery would be formidable to an enemy in the harbor.” (Lieutenant Hiram Paulding, USN, 1826)

Early in the 1880s, leasehold land on the slopes of the Punchbowl opened for settlement and in the 1930s the crater was used as a rifle range for the Hawaii National Guard (the military references to uses include Reservation, Punchbowl Battery or Fort Kekūanaō‘a.)

Punchbowl Battery under King Kalākaua consisted of six four-pounders, though the “fort” was no longer manned; an observer noted that upon this “novel promontory…a few rusty old cannon slumber in the ruins of what may have been once considered a fort.” (Hemenway 1887)

During the late 1890s, a committee recommended that the Punchbowl become the site for a new cemetery to accommodate the growing population of Honolulu.

The idea was rejected for fear of polluting the water supply and the emotional aversion to creating a city of the dead above a city of the living.

Toward the end of World War II, tunnels were dug through the rim of the crater for the placement of shore batteries to guard Honolulu Harbor and the south edge of Pearl Harbor.

In 1943, the governor of Hawaiʻi offered the Punchbowl for use as a national memorial cemetery; in February 1948 Congress approved funding and construction began. The first interment was made Jan. 4, 1949.

The cemetery opened to the public on July 19, 1949, with services for five war dead: an unknown serviceman, two Marines, an Army lieutenant and one civilian—noted war correspondent Ernie Pyle.

Initially, the graves at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific were marked with white wooden crosses and Stars of David; however, in 1951, these were replaced by permanent flat granite markers.

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific was the first such cemetery to install Bicentennial Medal of Honor headstones, the medal insignia being defined in gold leaf. On May 11, 1976, a total of 23 of these were placed on the graves of medal recipients, all but one of whom were killed in action.

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific contains a memorial pathway that is lined with a variety of memorials that honor America’s veterans from various organizations – most commemorating soldiers of 20th-century wars, including those killed at Pearl Harbor.

More than five million visitors come to the cemetery each year to pay their respects to the dead and to enjoy the panoramic view from the Punchbowl.

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A scenic view of Waikiki from high up on Punchbowl provided for a leisure drive in the early 1900s.

Puowaina (Punchbowl) 1940

Directional and distance markers embedded on Punchbowl-PP-39-1-024-Oct 1 1934

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June 9, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ni‘ihau Lakes

Ni‘ihau was formed from a single shield volcano approximately 4.89-million years ago, making it slightly younger in age than Kaua‘i.

It is approximately 70-square miles or 44,800-acres, and sea cliffs are a prominent feature of the eastern coast. Approximately 78-percent of the island is below 500-feet in elevation.

Ni‘ihau has no perennial streams. Among Ni‘ihau’s most unique natural features are several intermittent lakes.

Halulu Lake is a natural freshwater lake covering approximately 182 acres and Halāli‘i Lake is an intermittent lake covering approximately 841 acres (considered the largest lake in Hawai‘i.)

These lakes are sometimes called “playa” or “intermittent lakes.” This is because the water comes from rainfall, which only averages between 20 to 40 inches per year on Ni‘ihau. During dry years, the lakes are typically dry.

The lakes provide habitat for ‘alae ke‘oke‘o (Hawaiian coot), ae‘o (Hawaiian stilt) and koloa maoli (Hawaiian duck).

The lakes and island fit into a story about the 1941 Pearl Harbor attacks.

As early as 1924, it was reported that the military had predicted a possible attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor.

Back then, they even suggested that the remote and relatively vacant island of Niʻihau might be used as a staging area for the attack.

The obvious concern was that Japanese could land their attack planes on the open and level areas on the island.

Niʻihau owner, Alymer Robinson, took it upon himself to take precautions against the Japanese landing on Niʻihau by plowing trenches in the dry lake bed to preventing planes from landing and taking-off.

Plowing using mules began in 1933. In 1937, a small tractor was purchased to expedite the furrowing. Reportedly, they had crisscrossed the island with over 5000 miles of furrows.

The tractor continued to be used as a farm implement until around 1957.

On December 7, 1941 a Zero did crash land on Niʻihau, changing the lives of those who lived there and the lives of thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent.

(In 2004, I had the opportunity to visit Niʻihau (landing at a Navy facility at the top of the pali, as well as circling most of the island by helicopter.)

I saw the still-remaining furrow-work throughout the Niʻihau lakes. The image shows one of the lakes and you can see the patch-work furrows cut into the lake bottom.

The tractor used by the Robinsons is on display at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor. (Some photos and portions of this text are from information from pacificaviationmuseum-org newsletter and on flickr-com (WallyGobetz.))

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June 8, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Ahuʻena Heiau

After uniting the Hawaiian kingdom, King Kamehameha the Great returned from Oʻahu to Historic Kailua Village in 1812 to rule from his compound at Kamakahonu.

Here, he could see the vast upslope crops known as the Kona Field System as well as the strategic positioning of Kailua Bay.

Reconstructed by King Kamehameha the Great between 1812 – 1813, the Ahuʻena Heiau (“red-hot heap” “burning altar”) is on the register of National Historic Landmarks as one of the most important of Hawaii’s historic sites.

This was the center of political power in the Hawaiian kingdom during Kamehameha’s golden years and his highest advisors gathered at Ahuʻena Heiau nightly.

Many descriptions and illustrations of the impressive Ahuʻena Heiau, the religious temple that served Kamehameha, were done by early voyagers. The distinctive anuʻu (oracle tower) indicated a heiau of ruling chiefs.

As Kamehameha rose to power, Ahuʻena was deemed among the most powerful heiau of the island of Hawaiʻi.

Ahuʻena Heiau served his seat of government as he ruled the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

It was a luakini or a temple where human sacrifice was conducted. Upon this temple was the Lana Nuʻu Mamao (Oracle Tower) a feature not a part of every heiau of that period.

As the King returned to Kailua in 1812, Kona was suffering from famine. Kamehameha directed his attention towards food production and care of the land.

He dedicated Ahuʻena Heiau to Lono, god of healing and prosperity of the land.

Ahuʻena became a heiau māpele, a thatched temple for the worship of Lono and the increase of food, concerned with success of crops. It was also used for the training of Liholiho as a future heir and for many political purposes.

Three momentous events occurred here that established Ahuʻena Heiau as the most historically significant site in Hawaii:
• In the early morning hours of May 8, 1819 King Kamehameha I died here.
• A few months after the death of his father, in a time of political consternation and threat of civil war, Liholiho (Kamehameha II) broke the ancient kapu system, a highly defined regime of taboos that provided the framework of the traditional Hawaiian government.
• The first Christian missionaries from New England were granted permission to come ashore here on April 4, 1820.

In August of 1823 when the Reverend William Ellis visited the area he observed that Ahu`ena had been converted into a fort:
“Adjacent to the governor’s house stand the ruins of Ahuena, an ancient heiau, where the war-god was often kept, and human sacrifices offered.”

“Since the abolition of idolatry, the governor has converted it into a fort, has widened the stone wall next the sea, and placed upon it a number of cannon.”

“The idols are all destroyed, excepting three, which are planted on the wall, one at each end, and the other in the centre, where they stand like sentinels amidst the guns, as if designed, by their frightful appearance, to terrify an enemy.”

The present Ahuʻena was rebuilt in the 1970s as an accurate 2/3-scale model replica and continues to be restored and maintained.

The current restored Ahuʻena Heiau is more properly a restoration of Ahuʻena House, a personal/residential heiau built by Kamehameha sometime around 1813.

Today, beside the Heiau and the Hale Lua, the King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel holds their nightly lūʻau and Polynesian entertainment. Ahuʻena Heiau Inc., formed in 1993 to permanently guide the restoration and maintenance of the property.

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Kamakahonu_Cove-1954 (Ahuena Heiau Inc)

The platform of the Ahu’ena Heiau was restored by Amfac in 1950 using visible alignments for the foundation-(Ahuena Heiau Inc)

Ahuena Heiau

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Ahuena Heiau

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June 6, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiola Church

For several years after the American Board missionaries reached Lahaina in 1823, church services were held in temporary structures.

The first mission to Maui was founded by Reverend William Richards at that time. For a few years, temporary structures made from wooden poles with a thatched roof were used.

The church started under the name Waine‘e Church (“Moving Water.”) In 1826, it was blown down by wind and replaced by stone and wood.

In 1828, the chiefs, led by Ulumāheihei Hoapili, proposed to build a new stone church. The cornerstone was laid on September 14, 1828, for this ‘first stone meeting-house built at the Islands’; it was dedicated on March 4, 1832.

Waine‘e served as the church for Hawaiian royalty during the time when Lāhainā was effectively the Kingdom’s capital, from the 1820s through the mid-1840s.

In 1858, a whirlwind ravaged the roof and church steeple, but was repaired without too much trouble. The church stood safely for another 36 years, until it was destroyed by fire in 1894.

A new church building was built, a gift from Henry P. Baldwin, and that lasted another 50 years until it was partially destroyed by fire again. It was restored and re-dedicated only to be completely destroyed by a Kaua‘ula wind (a strong wind, especially in Lāhainā, that shifted from one point to another) three years later.

The Church finally changed its name from Waine‘e Church, to Waiola Church (“Water of Life”) in 1954, and has been safely and well taken care of since. The materials changed over time from grass, to coral, then to stone and wood, and then to the stronger materials such as brick.

The present church structure and the old cemetery occupy a tract of 2.45-acres on Waine‘e Street, between Chapel and Shaw Streets. The property is owned by the Waiola Protestant Church.

The priesthood at the church has changed multiple times since the original establishing of the church, and some reputable and well-known priests and preachers including, Dwight Baldwin, who preached from 1837 to 1868.

Waiola Church has extremely strong cultural ties to the people and land of Hawaiʻi. Waiola church served royalty for years, as Lāhainā was the capital of the Kingdom.

Waiola Church is one of the few still-standing buildings and monuments of the Hawaiian royalty long ago, and the great changes that Hawai‘i and its people went through in the 19th century.

Rev. Ephraim Spaulding joined with his wife Juliet Brooks from 1832 to 1836. Missionary Rev. Dwight Baldwin transferred here in 1836, and served as physician. The Baldwins rebuilt the house of the Spaulding’s.

Reportedly, the church is immortalized in James Michener’s Hawai‘i (as Reverend Abner Hale’s church in Lāhainā.)

The adjoining cemetery is said to date from 1823. Several members of the royal family were buried in the cemetery. A notable aspect of the cemetery is that the missionaries and native Hawaiians were buried side by side.

It contains the body of Keōpūolani (“Gathering of the Clouds of Heaven”), wife of Kamehameha the Great and mother of Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III.

She and Ka‘ahumanu were largely responsible for the abolition of the kapu system. Keōpūolani is said to have been the first convert of the missionaries in the islands, receiving baptism from Rev. William Ellis in Lāhainā on September 16, 1823.

Other prominent Hawaiian nobles interred there include King Kaumuali‘i, Queen Kalākua, Princess Nahiʻenaʻena, Governor Hoapili and Governess Liliha. Here, too, is buried the Rev. William Richards, a pioneer missionary and advisor to the Hawaiian monarchy.

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