Hawaii | Page 466 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 12, 2016 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Annexation

The Committee of Safety, formally the Citizen’s Committee of Public Safety, was a 13-member group also known as the Annexation Club; they started in 1887 as the Hawaiian League.

The Committee of Safety was made up of 6-Hawaiian citizens (naturalized or by birth;) 5-Americans, 1-Englishman and 1-German (of the 13, none were missionaries and only 3 had missionary family ties.)

“Queen Lili‘uokalani attempted on Saturday, Jan. 14 (1893,) to promulgate a new Constitution, depriving foreigners of the right of franchise and abrogating the existing House of Nobles, at the same time giving her the power of appointing a new House.”

“That meeting unanimously adopted resolutions condemning the action of the Queen and authorizing the committee to take into consideration whatever was necessary for the public safety.” (New York Times, January 28, 1893)

On January 16, 1893, the Committee of Safety wrote a letter to John L Stevens, American Minister, that stated: “We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Honolulu, respectfully represent that, in view of recent public events in this Kingdom …”

“… culminating in the revolutionary acts of Queen Liliʻuokalani on Saturday last, the public safety is menaced and lives and property are in peril, and we appeal to you and the United States forces at your command for assistance.”

Then, “[a] so-called Committee of Safety, a group of professionals and businessmen, with the active assistance of John Stevens, the United States Minister to Hawaii, acting with the United States Armed Forces, replaced the [Hawaiian] monarchy with a provisional government.” (US Supreme Court; Hawaii v OHA, 2008)

On January 18, 1893, letters acknowledging (de facto) the Provisional Government were prepared by the Imperial German Consulate, Austro-Hungarian Consulate, Consul for Italy, Russian acting consul, Vice-Consul for Spain, Consulate of The Netherlands, Royal Danish Consulate, Consulate of Belgium, Consul for Mexico, Consulate of Chile, Office of the Peruvian Consulate, Consul-General and Charge d’Affaires of Portugal, Consulate and Commissariat of France and Chinese Commercial Agency.

On January 19, 1893, the British Legation and His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Consulate-General acknowledged the Hawaiian monarchy has been abrogated and a Provisional Government established.

The Provisional Government convened a constitutional convention, approved a new constitution and the Republic of Hawaiʻi was established on July 4, 1894. Shortly after (from August 1894 through January 1895,) a number of letters of formal diplomatic recognition (de jure) of the Republic of Hawai‘i were conveyed to the Republic of Hawai‘i President Sanford Dole.

These included formal letters from Austria/Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Chile, China, France, Germany/Prussia, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain , Switzerland and the United States. (These were countries that had prior agreements and treaties with the Hawaiian Monarchy.)

An August 7, 1894 ‘office copy’ letter notes US President Grover Cleveland wrote to Republic of Hawai‘i President Sanford B Dole, saying “… I cordially reciprocate the sentiments you express for the continuance of the friendly relations which have existed between the United States and the Hawaiian islands”.

In his annual ‘Message to Congress’ (1895,) President Cleveland noted, “Since communicating the voluminous correspondence in regard to Hawai‘i and the action taken by the Senate and House of Representatives on certain questions submitted to the judgment and wider discretion of Congress …”

“… the organization of a government in place of the provisional arrangement which followed the deposition of the Queen has been announced, with evidence of its effective operation. The recognition usual in such cases has been accorded the new Government.”

Republic of Hawai‘i President Sanford Dole sent a delegation to Washington in 1894, seeking annexation to the US. John Sherman, US Secretary of State, prepared a report reviewing the negotiation between representatives of the Republic of Hawai‘i and the US, and provisions of the Treaty of Annexation. That report (June 15, 1897) noted, in part:

“The undersigned, Secretary of State, has the honor to lay before the President, for submission to the Senate, should it be deemed for the public interest so to do, a treaty, signed in the city of Washington on the 16th instant by the undersigned and by the fully empowered representative of the Republic of Hawaii …”

“… whereby the islands constituting the said Republic, and all their dependencies, are fully and absolutely ceded to the United States of America forever.”

“As time passed and the plan of union with the United States became an uncertain contingency, the organization of the Hawaiian Commonwealth underwent necessary changes; the temporary character of its first Government gave place to a permanent scheme under a constitution framed by the representatives of the electors of the islands …”

“… administration by an executive council not chosen by suffrage, but self-appointed, was succeeded by an elective and parliamentary regime, and the ability of the new Government to hold – as the Republic of Hawaii – an independent place in the family of sovereign States, preserving order at home and fulfilling international obligations abroad, has been put to the proof.”

“Recognized by the powers of the earth, sending and receiving envoys, enforcing respect for the law, and maintaining peace within its island borders, Hawaii sends to the United States, not a commission representing a successful revolution, but the accredited plenipotentiary of a constituted and firmly established sovereign State.”

“… the Republic of Hawaii approaches the United States as an equal, and points for its authority to that provision of article 32 of the constitution promulgated July 24, 1894, whereby …”

“The President (of the Republic of Hawai‘i,) with the approval of the cabinet, is hereby expressly authorized and empowered to make a treaty of political or commercial union between the Republic of Hawaii and the United States of America, subject to the ratification of the Senate.” (The Hawaiian resolution for ratification of the annexation treaty was unanimously adopted by the Senate of the Republic of Hawai‘i on September 9, 1897.)

“Turning, then, to the various practical forms of political union, the several phases of a protectorate, an offensive and defensive alliance, and a national guarantee, were passed in review. In all of these the independence of the subordinate state is the distinguishing feature, and with it the assumption by the paramount state of responsibility without domain.”

“There remained, therefore, the annexation of the islands and their complete absorption into the political system of the United States as the only solution satisfying all the given conditions and promising permanency and mutual benefit. The present treaty has been framed on that basis”.

“As to most of these, the negotiators have been constrained and limited by the constitutional powers of the Government of the United States. As in previous instances when the United States has acquired territory by treaty, it has been necessary to reserve all the organic provisions for the action of Congress.”

“If this was requisite in the case of the transfer to the United States of a part of the domain of a titular sovereign, as in the cession of Louisiana by France, of Florida by Spain, or of Alaska by Russia, it is the more requisite when the act is not cession, but union, involving the complete incorporation of an alien sovereignty into the body politic of the United States.”

“For this the only precedent of our political history is found in the uncompleted treaty concluded during President Grant’s Administration, November 29, 1869, for the annexation of the Dominican Republic to the United States.”

“Following that example, the treaty now signed by the plenipotentiaries of the United States and the Republic of Hawaii reserves to the Congress of the United States the determination of all questions affecting the form of government of the annexed territory, the citizenship and elective franchise of its inhabitants, and the manner in which the laws of the United States are to be extended to the islands.”

“In order that this independence of the Congress shall be complete and unquestionable, and pursuant to the recognized doctrine of public law that treaties expire with the independent life of the contracting State, there has been introduced, out of abundant caution, an express proviso for the determination of all treaties heretofore concluded by Hawaii with foreign nations and the extension to the islands of the treaties of the United States.”

“This leaves Congress free to deal with such especial regulation of the contract labor system of the islands as circumstances may require. There being no general provision of existing statutes to prescribe the form of government for newly incorporated territory, it was necessary to stipulate, as in the Dominican precedent …”

“… for continuing the existing machinery of government and laws in the Hawaiian Islands until provision shall be made by law for the government, as a Territory of the United States, of the domain thus incorporated into the Union …”

“… but, having in view the peculiar status created in Hawaii by laws enacted in execution of treaties heretofore concluded between Hawaii and other countries, only such Hawaiian laws are thus provisionally continued as shall not be incompatible with the Constitution or the laws of the United States or with the provisions of this treaty.” (US Secretary of State Sherman, June 15, 1897)

Meanwhile, the breaking of diplomatic relations with Spain as a result of her treatment of Cuba so completely absorbed public attention that the matter of Hawaiian annexation seemed to have been forgotten.

The war drama moved swiftly. The destruction of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor precipitated matters, and on April 25, 1898, President McKinley signed the resolutions declaring that a state of war existed between the United States and Spain.

On May 5, Representative Francis Newlands, of Nevada, offered a joint resolution addressing the annexation of Hawai‘i. Though considerable opposition to annexation was still manifested in the House, the Newlands resolutions were finally passed.

The resolutions were immediately reported to the Senate, which had been discussing the treaty for nearly a year. That body referred them to its Committee on Foreign Relations, which in turn at once favorably reported them.

On June 15, 1898, the Newlands resolution passed the House by a vote of 209 to 91; the vote on the Newlands Resolution in the Senate was 42 to 21 (2/3 of the votes by Senators were in favor of the resolution, a significantly greater margin was cast by Representatives in the House.) (Cyclopedic Review of Current History, 4th Quarter 1898)

The US Constitution, Article II, Section 2 states: “(The President) shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur …” The following day, July 7, 1898, President McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution it into law.

“There was no ‘conquest’ by force in the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands nor ‘holding as conquered territory;’ they (Republic of Hawai‘i) came to the United States in the same way that Florida did, to wit, by voluntary cession”.

On August 12, 1898, there were ceremonial functions held in Honolulu at which the Hawaiian government was formally notified by the United States minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary of the adoption and approval of the joint resolution aforesaid, and at which the Hawaiian government made, an unequivocal transfer and cession of its sovereignty and property. (Territorial Supreme Court; Albany Law Journal)

On June 27, 1959, when the matter of Statehood was put to a popular vote, Hawaiʻi registered voters voted on the question of Statehood (there was a 93.6% voter turnout for the General election – as compared to less than 50% today.)

Shall the following proposition, as set forth in Public Law 86-3 entitled ‘An Act to provide for the admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union’ be adopted? 1. Shall Hawaii immediately be admitted into the Union as a State? – 94.3% voted in support.

While Hawaiʻi was the 50th State to be admitted into the union on August 21, 1959, Statehood is celebrated annually on the third Friday in August to commemorate the anniversary of the 1959 admission of Hawaiʻi into the Union.

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American_flags_on_Iolani_Palace,_Annexation_ceremony_(PP-36-1-008)

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Annexation-Here to Stay-PCA-July 14, 1898

August 11, 2016 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Lessons from Bosnia

I have firsthand experience in seeing US Soldiers protecting Muslims from Christians.

I had the chance and took the opportunity to visit our troops and was part of a weeklong trip to Bosnia. It was life-changing. This world is not a very happy place; our warrior Soldiers helped to bring peace and security to that corner of the world.

I saw firsthand the appreciation and gratitude the local Bosniaks shared with our Soldiers (we were protecting Muslims (Bosniaks) from Orthodox Christians (Serbs.))

Bosnia is a part of the Balkans; it was part of the Roman Empire. Throughout the centuries, the Balkans were primarily Orthodox Christian.

Then, in 1463 (30 years before Columbus crossed the Atlantic,) the Ottoman Empire (Muslims of the Islam faith) invaded and conquered the region. Over time, some Orthodox Christian converted to Muslim.

In 1918, Yugoslavia was formed, here. Following WWII, the area was under Tito’s rule. Tito rebuilt Yugoslavia as a Communist federation of six equal republics.

Tito died in 1980 and Yugoslavia started to break up – in part, growth in the Muslim population turned Bosnian Serbs (Christians) into a minority in a republic where they had been the largest group.

The collapse of Communism in 1990-91 led to civil war. In 1992 the United Nations recognized Bosnia. Then, later that year, Christina Serbian forces cross the river Drina and attacked the Muslims.

In July 1995, in Srebrenica (what the UN had determined a ‘safe area,’) the Bosnian Serb Army rounded up and mass-murdered more than 8,000-men and boys.

In December 1995, the Dayton Peace Agreement brought ‘peace’ to the region; this agreement effectively ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and NATO forces were moved in to keep the peace. US and other forces were called to keep the peace.

Peacekeeping-missions for our military are not a new thing, including Hawaiʻi’s Soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division.

On October 1, 1941, the transition by the War Department in operations restructured the Hawaiian Division to form two divisions at Schofield: 24th Infantry Division and the 25th Infantry Division. (Over the following decades, the 24th ID was inactivated, reactivated and subsequently deactivated in October 2006. Schofield remains the home of the 25th ID.)

In 2002, Soldiers from the 25th joined militaries from other countries as part of the NATO-led Stabilization Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina (SFOR) to see compliance with the Dayton Peace Agreement. This was the first time the Tropic Lightning had served in Europe.

1,000 25th-Infantry Soldiers deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina from April to September 2002; our Soldiers took part in mine clearing operations, reconstruction and the destruction of weapons turned in by civilians to help Bosnia-Herzegovina rebuild after a devastating civil war.

Our Soldiers repeatedly spoke of the importance of working with the Bosniak kids – given the diverse make up of the people of Hawai‘i and Soldiers of the 25th – the Soldiers hoped that the local population seeing Soldiers that are discernibly different working well together can serve as an example to the people of Bosnia who are generally similar.

Although there was ‘peace,’ we were reminded that this was not a safe place, every time we left the base. While Soldiers carried their weapons wherever they went (on and off base,) before we left the base, each Soldier loaded their weapon.

We had tactical support wherever we went (we each had an armed Soldier (our ‘Ranger Buddy’) with us at all times; when we travelled outside of the base, fully-armed Humvees were in front and rear of us; and helicopter support was on stand-by.)

I remember a visit we made to the middle of town (the 25th was stationed at Eagle Base in Tuzla;) the weekend evening entertainment was couples and families formed in a slow-paced walk and talk in a continuous circle around the main part of town.

We had plans to visit a local bazaar, but intelligence reports suggested we should not visit it. Instead we went to Sarajevo (site of the 1984 Olympic Games.)

It was site of the ‘Romeo and Juliet Bridge’ (Vrbanja bridge) – where snipers shot a couple (a Christian man and Muslim woman) trying to cross and escape from Sarajevo.

On a couple helicopter tours of the region, we were encouraged to look and compare ‘brown roofs’ and ‘red roofs.’

Typical construction has terra cotta-like roof materials. Older homes have weathered (brown) roofs; new construction/ reconstruction had red roofs. (The red roofed homes were houses owned by Bosniak Muslims that had been blown up in the war and later rebuilt.) (Brown and red roofed homes were next to each other.)

Unfortunately, a computer crash lost all my photos, but not the memories of Bosnia and our Soldiers helping Muslims there.

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Bosnia – Our armored escort whenever we left the base

Tuzla Eagle Base

Civilians from Hawaii visting 25th-forces in Bosnia

Tuzla Countryside – note brown and red roofs

Bosnia-Church near Mosque

Bosnia – Srebrenica

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Vrbanja bridge-Romeo and Juliet Bridge

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Bosnia Challenge Coin

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Bosnia Challenge Coin-reverse

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August 10, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mr Smith

It’s not clear when or why his middle and last names were hyphenated to give him a new last name; his father had the same name, but was identified as “Smith, John Mott, Rev Prof” in the Wesleyan University Alumni Record (1881-3) (where he was listed as former faculty.)

The father, professor of Latin and Greek, was the first to be buried in the Wesleyan ‘College Cemetery.’ A Methodist preacher, a sermon of his, ‘The Kingdom,’ was posthumously published; it was attributed as ‘Rev John M Smith’s Sermon.’

When the son died, his widow (and executor of his estate) was identified as Ellen Dominis Smith. His children generally carried the ‘Smith’ last name, as well.

Never-the-less, Hawai‘i’s first royal dentist and last royal ambassador was commonly known as John Mott-Smith. (Gibson) So, we’ll call him what others called him in the Islands.

John Mott-Smith was born in New York City November 13, 1824 (his mother was Amada Day Smith.) Although not schooled in dentistry, Mott-Smith borrowed a book from a friend who was attending dental school and passed the exams to set up a practice in Albany, New York.

Then, “He was among the first in the great migration from the Eastern States to California in 1849, when the news of the great gold discoveries caused one of the greatest stirs of the century. For two years he shared the vicissitudes of the California pioneers, and in 1851 came to Honolulu”. (Evening Bulletin, August 10, 1895)

“Dr Mott Smith in 1859 married Miss Ellen Dominis Paty, a daughter of the late Collector General Paty and cousin of Mr John H Paty. Three sons and four daughters were born to the couple, all having Honolulu for their birthplace but receiving their higher education in the colleges and seminaries of New England.” (Evening Bulletin, August 10, 1895)

He was Hawai‘i’s first dentist to settle permanently in the Islands. A ‘Card’ publishing in the Polynesia (March 8, 1851) announced business:

“Dr J Mott Smith. Dentist, of Albany NY, has the pleasure to inform the citizens of Honolulu that he has opened an office in Hopewell Place, corner of Beretania and Smith streets. He is now prepared to receive all who may desire his services.”

For many years he did virtually all the dental work in Honolulu and maintained a full practice until 1866 and followed his profession on a part-time or intermittent basis.

In 1866 Mott-Smith gave up his dental practice to John Morgan Whitney (the first in Hawai‘i to actually graduate from a dental school. Whitney, MD, DDS, was for more than fifty years regarded as Honolulu’s leading dentist.)

Then, Mott-Smith got into politics and served Kings Kamehameha V, Lunalilo (he was later named to the first board of trustees of Lunalilo Trust,) Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani.

“He was appointed director of the Government press in 1867, and the following year was sent to Washington as Charge d’ Affaires, where he performed valuable service in advocating the reciprocity treaty. “

“Returning home in 1869 he was appointed Minister of Finance by Kamehameha V, holding that office for the remaining two or three yours of that king’s reign.”

“King Lunalilo appointed Dr Mott Smith president of the Board of Education in 1873, and King Kalākaua on his accession reappointed him as a member of the same body. He was about the same time made a member of the House of Nobles, which was a life position until that body was changed to an elective one by the constitution of 1887.”

“Dr Mott Smith was also a member of the Privy Council of State. He was called to the Cabinet a second time by King Kalākaua in 1876, holding the office of Minister of the Interior for three years.”

“From 1882 to 1891 Dr. Mott-Smith at intervals assisted the late Minister Carter at Washington as Charge d’affaires. He was in his place in the Legislature of 1884, going back to the United States the following year, when he had charge of the Hawaiian exhibit at the New Orleans Exposition.”

“In 1891 the lamented gentleman was appointed by Queen Liliuokalani to be Minister of Finance, the third time he occupied a position in the Cabinet of this country.”

“Upon resigning that office he was appointed Minister to Washington, holding the commission until he was recalled by the Provisional Government in 1893.” After a protracted illness, John Mott-Smith died on August 10, 1895. (Evening Bulletin, August 10, 1895)

Here is a short video about Dr Mott-Smith, portrayed by Adam LeFebvre at a ‘Cemetery Pupu Theatre,’ sponsored by Mission Houses:

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John Mott-Smith-Evening Bulletin-Aug_10_1895

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No._3._View_of_Honolulu._From_the_Catholic_church._(c._1854)-Portion-Dentist

Rev John Mott Smith headsone

August 9, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hotel Honokaʻa Club

In 1878, three commercial sugar plantations (Honokaʻa Sugar Company, Paʻauhau Sugar Company and Pacific Sugar Mill) existed in Hāmākua in the vicinity of a village that later became Honokaʻa.

A labor shortage beginning in the mid-19th century prompted the importation of foreign workers. The Chinese were the first to arrive, followed by Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Puerto Rican and Filipinos over the next 40 years.

The workers, many married with families, were housed in 13-camps along the Hāmākua coast near Honokaʻa. As these workers completed their contracts with the plantations, many moved to Honokaʻa and began businesses, providing the impetus for the development of the town.

As Honokaʻa grew and evolved, a variety of businesses, offering wide-ranging choices of goods and services, eventually made Honokaʻa the largest town on the Hāmākua coast and the second largest on the island (behind Hilo.)

In 1910, the population of Honokaʻa stood at 9,037, a population sufficient to support a hotel along with lodging for travelers, salesmen and laborers in transit to the plantations to support the growing village.

Hotel Honokaʻa Club did not have a name when it first opened, and was allegedly labeled as the result of a vote by club “members,” who were likely boarders and community members who frequented the hotel.

The “Club” in the name reflects the use of the establishment from its inception as a nexus for entertainment and drinking, while the hotel portion served as a residence and lodging for immigrants, unmarried sugar cane workers, paniolo (cowboys), and travelling salesmen. (Star Bulletin; March 25, 1948; NPS)

“At that time the majority of the key plantation men were unmarried, and it was their custom to convene on Saturday nights for merry and lengthy sessions at the hotel. They came on horseback and departed the same way although not always with the same horse.”

“As years went by the hotel became the ‘club’ with all its members and eventually in a duly called ‘committee’ hearing the name was voted to become the Honokaa Club Hotel.” (Star Bulletin; March 25, 1948; NPS)

The original site of the hotel complex lay along the Government Road (Māmane Street) on the Hilo-side of the present Bank of Hawaiʻi.

The hotel/club functioned as a local gathering place that provided accommodations, temporary sales space for the display of commercial samples and wares by traveling salesmen, and a dining room and bar facility (that was the site of numerous local social occasions and get-togethers from the 1920s through the 1960s and beyond.) (SHPD)

Salesmen who stayed at the hotel were known as “drummers” commercial travelers, runners or “gripmen” (“grip” referring to the trunk or suitcase carried by salesmen.) These sales personnel travelled through Hāmākua and Kohala approximately every two weeks in a circuit from Honolulu to Kawaihae to Laupāhoehoe to Hilo “drumming up” business. (Star Bulletin, March 25, 1948; NPS)

The Hotel Honokaʻa Club is an example of the small hotels built at the turn of the 19th century by Japanese immigrants to mainly serve their countrymen in towns such as Captain Cook, Waiʻōhinu, Kohala and Honokaa.

Opened in 1912 by Kumakichi Morita, the original Honokaʻa Hotel Club was styled like a modern motor court, with rooms strung together in a row.

By 1915 it is listed in the local business directory as the “Honokaʻa Hotel Club – A First Class Hotel and Boarding House, Rates $3.00 per Day and Up.” By 1920 rates had increased to $4.00 per day. The Hotel Honokaa Club was at the present location by about 1927.

Kumakichi Morita, the hotel’s first manager/owner, trained as a chef in American cuisine and became chef to Prince Jonah Kūhīo Kalanianaʻole. Unfortunately, the Prince did not appreciate the American cuisine and Kumakichi looked elsewhere for employment, arriving in Honokaʻa to cook for the manager of the Honokaʻa Sugar Company.

From 1943-1945, over 50,000 US Marines lived and trained in and around Waimea and the Kohala Coast. Camp Tarawa was originally built by the 2nd Marine Division, but upon the 2nd’s deployment to Saipan, the 5th Marine Division moved in to train for the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Alfred Carter (manager of Parker Ranch) had historically limited the availability of liquor in Waimea, so when the Marines came they found that town dry.

The soldiers simply followed the Waimea ranch cowboys down the hill to “wet” Honokaʻa. Hotel Honokaʻa Club was one of many “watering holes” in Honokaʻa that benefited from the servicemen’s patronage. Camp Tarawa closed in November 1945.

After the war, the hotel expanded its activities focusing on locals, hosting weddings, high school group gatherings and lūʻau events. In 1948, the hotel expanded, adding a second story containing six bedroom suites. Five new bedrooms were added downstairs and new bathrooms were attached to the original bedrooms.

In 1960, the Moritas added a cocktail lounge dubbed the “Waipiʻo Room,” and in the 1970s they inaugurated a bar named the “Dan McGuire Left-Handed Martini Room,” after the well-known sports writer.

Further pranks related to the Martini Room included Jim Nabors’ (Gomer Pyle) dedication of the “Jim Nabors Right-handed Pay Toilet.” (Honokaa Historical Project)

Hotel Honokaa Club is a two story-wood frame “plantation style” commercial building. Defining features include a totan (corrugated metal) roof, single wall construction with vertical wood planks, and numerous double-hung windows.’

The building has three floor levels that include the main floor, a rear second story addition and a basement area. (Lots of information here is from Historic Honokaʻa Project and NPS.)

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Hotel-Honokaa-Club-1950 Honokaa High School yearbook advertisement

Hotel-Honokaa-Club-1958 Honokaa High School yearbook advertisement

Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Victor Morita with hotel guest ca. 1940s

Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Alex, Robert, and Henry Morita standing in front of the Hotel Honokaa Club sign

Hotel-Honokaa-Club-group gathering

Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Victor Morita preparing food in the kitchen with unidentified waitress, ca. 1940s

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Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Victor (left of center) and Tomiko (right of center) Morita’s wedding party. Mother Kane Morita is in white, ca. 1920s

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August 8, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Transportation Determines the Flow of Population’

John Diedrich Spreckels was born August 16, 1853 in Charleston, South Carolina, the oldest of five children of Claus and Anna Spreckels. (The siblings were: Adolph Bernard (1857-1924), Claus August (1858-1946), Rudolph (1872-1958), Emma Claudina (1869-1924) Spreckels.)

The family moved to New York and then to San Francisco where he grew up. He studied at Oakland College and then in Hanover, Germany, where he studied chemistry and mechanical engineering in the Polytechnic College until 1872.

He returned to California and began working for his father, who had grown extremely wealthy in the sugar business. In 1876 he went to the Hawaiian Islands, where he worked in his father’s sugar business.

Sons of the Hawai‘i “Sugar King” (Claus Spreckels) formed John D Spreckels and Brothers (John, Adolph and Claus Spreckels.) On December 22, 1881, the Oceanic Steamship Company was incorporated in California.

It was the first line to offer regular service between Honolulu and San Francisco, and it reduced travel time immensely. While the sailing ship “Claus Spreckels,” made the trip in less than ten days in 1879, the new steam vessel Mariposa required fewer than six days to make the run in 1883.

On November 8, 1883, the Mariposa delivered Mother Marianne Cope, the leader of a small group of Franciscan Sisters who sailed to Hawaii to help “procure the salvation of souls and to promote the glory of God.” (She is now Saint Marianne.)

John became very wealthy in his own right.

In October, 1887, he married Lillie Siebein in Hoboken, New Jersey, and together they had four children. They first lived in Hawaii and then in San Francisco.

In 1887, Spreckels visited San Diego on his yacht Lurline to stock up on supplies. (Nearly forty years earlier (1850,) Honolulu-born William Heath “Kanaka” Davis, Jr. (1822 – 1909) had arrived in this part of California. Davis purchased 160-acres of land and, with four partners, laid out a new city (near what is now the foot of Market Street.) He built the first wharf there in 1850.)

Impressed by the real estate boom then taking place, Spreckels invested in construction of a wharf and coal bunkers at the foot of Broadway (then called D Street). That boom ended soon but Spreckels’ interest in San Diego would last for the rest of his life.

“You have often heard the remark that San Diego is a one-man town. Personally I feel proud to live in San Diego when it is referred to as a one-man town … this afternoon you can’t give our great leader enough glory.” (Mayor Wilde of Spreckels, November 15, 1919; San Diego History))

Spreckels became an investor in the Coronado Beach Company in 1889, buying out Hampton L. Story’s one-third interest and over the next three years, s bought controlling interest in the company and became the sole proprietor of the Hotel del Coronado. (Coronado History)

He established Tent City, a large vacation campground that sprung up near Hotel del Coronado. Tent City grew quickly — from 300 tents in the first year to more than 1,000 three years later, and attracted visitors from across the nation as an affordable vacation alternative.

“To be candid, I did not entirely fancy the idea at first, and then for a time I was doubtful of the success of the place. I was somewhat of the opinion that it might detract from the popularity of the resort proper and the hotel,” Spreckels said in a 1903 interview. “But Tent City has … established itself as firmly in my favor as in that of the public.” (San Diego Union Tribune)

In 1892, Spreckels bought a failed streetcar operation and launched the San Diego Electric Railway Company. Spreckels’ business played a key role in San Diego’s growth, providing access to areas such as Mission Hills, North Park, Kensington and East San Diego that were largely undeveloped at the time.

For a time, Spreckels was owner of the San Francisco Call, then a morning newspaper. While still living in San Francisco he continued his investment in San Diego, buying the San Diego Union newspaper in 1890 and the Tribune in 1901.

He moved his family permanently to San Diego immediately after the 1906 earthquake and moved into his new mansion on Glorietta Blvd. in Coronado in 1908. That structure survives today as the Glorietta Bay Inn.

In the next decades Spreckels became a millionaire many times over, and the wealthiest man in San Diego.

At various times he owned all of North Island, the San Diego-Coronado Ferry System, Union-Tribune Publishing Co., San Diego Electric Railway, San Diego & Arizona Railway, Belmont Park in Mission Beach.

He built several downtown buildings, including the Union Building in 1908, the Spreckels Theatre and office building, which opened in 1913, the San Diego Hotel and the Golden West Hotel. He employed thousands of people and at one time he paid 10% of all the property taxes in San Diego County.

“Transportation determines the flow of population,” said Spreckels, and throughout his ownership of the streetcar system he extended it from downtown to new areas where he owned land, such as Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and Normal Heights.

He invested millions in the San Diego & Arizona Railroad, the “Impossible Railroad”, which finally opened a rail link to the east in 1919, after 13 years under construction.

Spreckels organized the Southern California Mountain Water Company, which built the Morena and the Upper and Lower Otay dams, the Dulzura conduit and the necessary pipeline to the city.

Spreckels contributed to the cultural life of the city by building the Spreckels Theatre, the first modern commercial playhouse west of the Mississippi.

He gave generously to the fund to build the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and, together with his brother Adolph B. Spreckels, donated the Spreckels Outdoor Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park to the people of San Diego just before the opening of the Exposition.

Spreckels died in San Diego on June 7, 1926. His biographer, Austin Adams, called him “one of America’s few great Empire Builders who invested millions to turn a struggling, bankrupt village into the beautiful and cosmopolitan city San Diego is today.” (San Diego History Center) (Lots of information here is from San Diego History Center and Coronado History)

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