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January 12, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bill Anderson

‘Broncho Billy’ Anderson, a silent screen actor, was the first western film hero and star in The Great Train Robbery (1903.) He later played in over 300 short films.

Wait … this summary is not about that actor, this is about Bill Anderson (another actor,) born September 19, 1928 in Walla Walla, Washington, to parents Otto and Audrey Anderson.

He was raised on the family farm. When his parents divorced (when he was 15,) he moved with his mother and his younger brother, John, to Seattle. He was torn between being a farmer like his father or pursue art, which his mother (a concert pianist, singer and artist) had been unable to do.

He attended Walla Walla High School during his freshman and sophomore years, and later enrolled in Lakeside School in Seattle and graduated in 1946.

A childhood and college buddy was Carl Hebenstreit. Bill and Carl both went to Whitman College in Walla Walla and graduated in 1951. Anderson played water polo, ran track, skied and swam at Whitman College.

Anderson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and a minor in Psychology; he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and participated in the speech and debate team. (Patalon)

His interest in entertainment was evident while he was at college, where he was involved in the launch of a television station, as well as working as a disc jockey.

After graduating, he got a job as a DJ at a local radio station; then enrolled at Stanford for post-graduate courses. Drafted into the military, he spent the next 2 years starting military TV stations, first at San Luis Obispo, CA, then at Fort Monmouth, NJ. Afterwards, he and his wife (Billie Lou) toured Europe, visiting Germany, Switzerland and Italy’s Isle of Capri.

Then, the money ran out.

It was 1955 … he met up with his old friend, Carl Hebenstreit, who encouraged Bill to come to Hawai‘i. Carl just previously made Hawai‘i television history when at shortly after 5 pm, December 1, 1952, he uttered, “Hello Everybody. Welcome to the first official broadcast of KGMB-TV.” It was the pioneer broadcast in the Islands.

Carl had been starring in a children’s program in Hawai‘i called ‘The Kini Popo Show’ (the first morning television show in Hawai‘i) and asked Bill to work with him on the show. (Carl took the stage name ‘Kini Popo.’)

“I started at CBS in Honolulu, and the guy who was the first big TV personality on the islands, Kini Popo, was an old school friend. He decided to go south to New Zealand, and I was picked to take his place. And that’s what started it all for me. It was like two hours every morning, doing whatever I could to be entertaining.” (Anderson; AVClub)

In 1956, he divorced Billie Lou, and while in the Islands met and married an attractive Tahitian Princess Ngatokoruaimatauaia called Frisbie Dawson, whom he calls ‘Nga.’

That year he made his film debut occurs in the film “Voodoo Island” starring Boris Karloff who happened to be filming in the Islands at the time. To make ends meet he also worked as a tour guide.

He moved to Hollywood and did some other films with supporting roles with the Three Stooges, Paul Newman and Spaghetti and local Westerns.

Still a relatively unknown, his break came after filming a TV commercial for Nestle’s Quik chocolate mix, playing a comical spy in a deadpan manner. Here’s a link to the commercial:

By then, Bill Anderson was using the stage name, ‘Adam West.’

“My agent told me that 20th Century Fox and ABC were impressed by commercial I did for Nestle, and I now need to start a new project … Batman.” (West; Batmania)

Finally the day of the debut comes a January 12, 1966, with thousands of watching what was advertised as a feat of special effects never seen colors and foremost a totally modern and renovated hero television viewers.

“I was going to my house when I stopped at a supermarket to step to buy some things, and people who were in the boxes rebuked him to the cashier: ‘Hurry up, fast please, that is Batman started,’ I was really moved by all the expectations that had been generated in the people and that he could not experience by being locked in studies in recent weeks.” (West; Batmania)

Though he has over 60-movies and over 80-TV guest appearance credits, “Batman” is what the fans remember him for. The series, which lasted three seasons, made him not just nationally but internationally famous.

The movie version, Batman: The Movie (1966) earned Adam the “Most Promising New Star” award in 1967. The downside was that the “Batman” fame was partly responsible for ruining his marriage, and he would be typecast and almost unemployable for a while after the series ended (he did nothing but personal appearances for 2 years). (IMDb)

West married his first wife, Billie Lou Yeager, in 1950, only to divorce in 1956. His second marriage to Nga Dawson, a Hawaiian Dancer, resulted in two children. In 1970 he married his present wife, Marcelle Lear, with whom he now has four children.

Adam West is the author of two books, ‘Back to the Batcave’ and ‘Climbing the Walls.’ More than 50 years after starting his career in Hollywood, Adam West continues to work consistently in TV and film. (AdamWest) (Carl Hebenstreit is president and CEO of Trade Publishing, which produces magazines and newsletters.) (Lots of information here is from Batmania, IMDb, SoylentComm and AdamWest-com.)

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Bill-Anderson-Batmania
Bill-Anderson-Batmania
Bill Anderson-baby-AdamWest
Bill Anderson-baby-AdamWest
Bill Anderson-horse-cart-AdamWest
Bill Anderson-horse-cart-AdamWest
Bill Anderson-farm-AdamWest
Bill Anderson-farm-AdamWest
BillAnderson-Batmania
BillAnderson-Batmania
Bill-Anderson-family-Batmania
Bill-Anderson-family-Batmania
Bill Anderson-Batmania
Bill Anderson-Batmania
Bill_Anderson-Batmania
Bill_Anderson-Batmania
Bill Anderson interviewing Natalie Wood
Bill Anderson interviewing Natalie Wood
adam-west-batman
adam-west-batman
batman-robin-movie-poster-1966
batman-robin-movie-poster-1966
Burt-Ward-and-Adam-West-in-their-heyday-in-1966
Burt-Ward-and-Adam-West-in-their-heyday-in-1966
Batman-Adam-West
Batman-Adam-West
Batman
Batman
Batman and villians
Batman and villians
Filming of Batman-1966
Filming of Batman-1966
Carl 'Kini Popo' Hebenstreit
Carl ‘Kini Popo’ Hebenstreit
KGMB-TV-Honolulu
KGMB-TV-Honolulu
Bronco Bill Anderson
Bronco Bill Anderson

Filed Under: Prominent People Tagged With: Kini Popo, Adam West, Batman, Bill Anderson, Hawaii

January 11, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Flying for Fun

“(Flying) may not be all plain sailing … But the fun of it is worth the price.” (Putnam, The Fun Of It)

Five hundred enjoyed Mrs Putnam’s free lecture through the University Extension Service, University of Hawaiʻi – titled, ‘Flying for Fun.”

It was an interesting subject back then, only a few short years after Charles Lindberg first flew solo over the Atlantic. (She repeated the feat on the fifth anniversary of Lindbergh’s solo flight.)

‘Flying for fun’ (sport aviation) is basically flying for some purpose other than transportation or business (relaxation, hobby, competition, racing or thrill.) (CAP)

“I attempted to fly across the Atlantic ocean for my own person satisfaction. My flight added nothing to aviation. Literally hundreds of persons have crossed the Atlantic by aircraft, and one flight adds little to the starting sum total.”

“If my flight interested women to learn to fly as pilots or to fly as passengers on air lines, or to let their husbands and children fly as passengers, or to let their children embark on careers aeronautical engineers, then I think that my flight was worth while.” (Mrs Putnam, Rockford Morning Star, 02-15-1935; Genealogy Trails)

“A charming personality combined with a graciousness and ability in speaking to an audience as well as to the individual are paradoxically the qualities that the pioneering American woman flyer … possesses. In addition to these, her love for beauty is so real that she believes the lure of flying is the lure of beauty.”

She “described vividly and picturesquely her flight over the Pacific ocean, adding to her gift for pantomime a power of description and a true sense of humor that struck an immediate response in her audience.”

She insists “that the only reason for the flights was her own wish to fly. In this connection she said, ‘Women must often do for themselves what men have already done, and I look for the day to come when individual aptitude instead of sex will be the criterion for holding any job.’” (Daily Illini, March 22, 1935)

“I have long been interested in the comparative skills between the sexes. I have watched the flawless coordination of women champion drivers and I have watched the control and precision of women factory hands as they do work no man does (whether this should be ‘can do’ or not, I do not know)…”

“… and I wonder why the creatures who can with training perform these diverse tasks, and a hundred others, so excellently, should be balked by a contraption with an engine and four wheels or one with an engine and a couple of wings.” (Putnam to Wiggam, 1932)

She was rarely out of public view. In the many images of her after 1928, she appears as the epitome of grace and poise. During the years that America was in the grip of the Great Depression, she provided the nation with a sense of hope and optimism about its future.

After discovering the joy of flying, she came to see the airplane as her one true home. There she could escape, challenge herself, break records, and inspire others who longed to lead independent lives.

Although she was a vocal advocate for women’s rights and the future of aviation, she preferred being in the cockpit of a plane to anywhere else. She seemed to be happiest when flying an airplane. (Smithsonian)

At 4:44 pm, January 11, 1935, Putnam took off from Wheeler Field on Oʻahu for Oakland, California on a trans-Pacific flight never made solo before.

It was just one year prior that Commander M. Ginnis led his flight of six seaplanes from the West Coast to Hawaii. Now a woman was doing it in reverse, flying in one airplane, with one engine, and no other person aboard. (hawaii-gov)

A crowd of less than 1,000 was on hand to see the take-off. “Mr. Putnam was worried and perspiring as the plane got into the air. ‘I would rather have a baby,’ he said.”

“Despite the bad weather in the Schofield Barracks area, which included a drizzling rain and a muddy field, (Putnam) decided that conditions for her 2,400-mile cruise which she had planned ever since her arrival here two weeks ago, were right.”

“Everything fine; weather fair,” she radioed to Honolulu. (NYTimes, January 11, 1935)

The scene at Oakland Airport was a contrast to the Wheeler point of departure, as 5,000 people lined the field to offer a tumultuous reception for the first human to fly solo and non-stop over one ocean and 2,000 miles over another.

The West Coast appeared to the pilot twice in error, each time turning out to be cloud shadows on the water’s surface. The third time, however, was land.

Then she sighted the landing field and the hundreds of honking cars. The time was 12:50 pm, January 12, 1935. Some 2,090 nautical miles from Wheeler Field – 18 hours and 15 minutes later – she settled into a perfect landing in the California airport.

A brilliant success, the flight was accomplished by a flyer whose only motivation was the love of flying, and a desire to contribute trail-blazing marks to the world. (hawaii-gov)

Oh … we generally refer to Mrs George Palmer Putnam as Amelia Earhart. Today is the anniversary of her historic solo flight from Hawaiʻi to the continent, the first person, man or woman, to do so.

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Amelia Earhart poses in front of her airplane in Wheeler Field, Hawaii, on January 4, 1935-NatlGeographic
Amelia Earhart poses in front of her airplane in Wheeler Field, Hawaii, on January 4, 1935-NatlGeographic
Amelia Earhart arrives in Hawaii on the Lurline, sailing past Aloha Tower on 12-27-1934
Amelia Earhart arrives in Hawaii on the Lurline, sailing past Aloha Tower on 12-27-1934
Amelia Earhart's plans to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. shipped her plane from Los Angeles on December 23, 1934-NatlGeographic
Amelia Earhart’s plans to fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. shipped her plane from Los Angeles on December 23, 1934-NatlGeographic
George Palmer Putnam and Amelia Earhart Putnam
George Palmer Putnam and Amelia Earhart Putnam
Flower leis drape Amelia Earhart in Honolulu on January 3, 1935-NatlGeographic
Flower leis drape Amelia Earhart in Honolulu on January 3, 1935-NatlGeographic
Eating pineapple with Duke Kahanamoku-January 11, 1935-NatlGeographic
Eating pineapple with Duke Kahanamoku-January 11, 1935-NatlGeographic
Amelia Earhart & husband George Putnam are serenaded by Royal Hawaiian Hotel musicians 1-2-1935
Amelia Earhart & husband George Putnam are serenaded by Royal Hawaiian Hotel musicians 1-2-1935
Amelia Earhart 1935
Amelia Earhart 1935
Amelia Earhart delivers a lecture at University of Hawaii 1-2-1935.
Amelia Earhart delivers a lecture at University of Hawaii 1-2-1935.
Pilot Amelia Earhart readies her plane at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, for a flight across some Pacific islands-NatlGeographic
Pilot Amelia Earhart readies her plane at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, for a flight across some Pacific islands-NatlGeographic
Amelia Earhart is showered with flowers-the first person to successfully fly from Hawaii to California-NatlGeographic
Amelia Earhart is showered with flowers-the first person to successfully fly from Hawaii to California-NatlGeographic
Amelia Earhart Memorial-plaque
Amelia Earhart Memorial-plaque
Amelia Earhart Memorial-plaque
Amelia Earhart Memorial-plaque

Filed Under: Prominent People Tagged With: Hawaii, Amelia Earhart

January 10, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Oʻahu Charity School

Andrew Johnstone, born in Dundee, Scotland in 1794, came to the US in 1813; he and his wife (Rebecca Worth Johnstone) were members of the Fourth Company of missionaries to the Islands, arriving on June 7, 1831. (Mission Houses)

The missionaries stationed at Honolulu were overwhelmed with working with the native Hawaiian population, preaching, translating the Bible, preparing text books and superintending the Hawaiians in schools. (Alexander)

The missionaries taught their lessons in Hawaiian to the Hawaiians, rather than English. In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English-speaking Hawaiians.

Johnstone, by a previous understanding, devoted part of his time to visiting seamen and distributing Bibles and other books among them. During one of these visits, he met the 12 or 14-year-old son of Captain Carter, commanding the English Cutter ‘William Little’ then in port.

Johnstone offered young Carter some books and invited him to his house; in a day or two he brought with him another lad, the son of a foreign resident, who asked Johnstone to teach him to read.

Johnstone agreed, and very soon one and another boy came asking the same favor, to the point where a regular class was formed. (Alexander)

Meanwhile, “(m)arriages between foreigners and Hawaiians appear of late to be rapidly increasing, and it has been the custom of many parents to send their offspring to the United States to receive an education.” (Polynesian, April 10, 1841)

Some of the parents of half-Hawaiian/half-foreign children wanted their children to learn the English language. There was an evident and growing need for an English language school. (Polynesian, April 10, 1841)

Soon, a subscription was opened to raise funds for the creation of a school house for the instruction of English-speaking children. Generous donations were made by some of the residents, and an orphan-school fund was created. This led to the establishment of the ‘Oʻahu Charity School.’

The missionaries supported Johnstone’s efforts at their June 1832 ‘General Meeting,’ resolving “That the Mission approve of Mr and Mrs Johnstone’s continuing their attention to the instruction of the children of foreigners, making annually such a report to the Mission of the school and their labors, as is required of the rest of our number in our respective spheres of action.”

The King granted a lot for the school in an area of Honolulu known as Mililani. On September 3, 1832, the subscribers met and approved the construction of a schoolhouse. (Polynesian, April 10, 1841)

“It is a neat substantial building of stone, 56 feet long and 26 feet wide, fitted up with benches, and other conveniences, for a school-room”. (Sailor’s Magazine, August 1838) (It stood in a lane running from King to Queen Street near the Waikiki end of the Judiciary building. (Goodale))

“On looking around the room, it appeared well furnished with cards, maps, books, slates, &c, of an excellent character and in sufficient variety.” (Polynesian, November 14, 1840)

“Thirty five children of both sexes having been admitted, the school was opened on the 10th Jan. 1833. … The children were all beginners, and nearly all entirely ignorant of the language of their teachers.” (Polynesian, April 10, 1841)

“Until the establishment of this institution, the education of (the children of Hawaiian mothers and foreign fathers) was almost entirely neglected, but now they appear to be in a fair way to become fitted for stations of usefulness and respectability in life.) (Polynesian, November 14, 1840)

Oʻahu Charity School was the first school in the Islands and the first school on the Pacific where the English language was used (it was one of six English language schools west of the Rockies.) In fact, it received pupils from the US, Alaska and Mexico. (NEA, February 1922)

In 1842, nine boys from the best families of California were sent here to be educated at the Oʻahu Charity School. One of these boys was José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco, Jr. He came to the Islands when he was 7-years old, and was in the Islands for five years. He later became the 12th-Governor of American California.

The School continued to increase in numbers and usefulness; however, there was a falling out and the Johnstones left (January 22, 1844) and formed their own school.

During the years Pacheco attended the School, its good reputation and numbers steadily increased. Students were arriving from the Russian settlement of Kamchatka, while others were coming from California and the other Hawaiian Islands.

The school had dormitories for the students who were either orphans or who had been sent from distant places. The curriculum was comprehensive and substantial, including classes to teach the Hawaiian language, writing, reading, mathematics, sciences, the arts and geography. (Hartmann & Wright)

Later, other schools offered English language education. Oʻahu Charity School experienced financial difficulties, with the rise of various competing private schools, and in 1851 was provided with public assistance.

A special tax was imposed on all foreigners of legal age residing in Honolulu: $3 for every individual without children, and $5 for every individual having children within the school age. This plan met with general approval. (Alexander)

The school’s name then changed to the Town Free School, but its board maintained control over the school until 1859, when it passed into the Superintendent of School’s domain. (NPS)

In 1865, the Board of Education split the school into separate boys and girls (the Town Free School became Mililani Girls School.) In 1874, that school closed and the girls went to a new school called Pohukaina. (Alexander)

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Oahu Charity School-MissionHouses
Oahu Charity School-MissionHouses
Oahu Charity School-Sailor's Journal-Aug_1838
Oahu Charity School-Sailor’s Journal-Aug_1838
Oahu Charity School-Emmert-1854
Oahu Charity School-Emmert-1854

Filed Under: Schools Tagged With: Hawaii, Missionaries, Oahu Charity School ., Andrew Johnson, Town Free School

January 9, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Apology & the Supreme Court

On March 31, 2009, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court and rendered a decision on a case between the State of Hawaiʻi and OHA relating to the transfer of ceded lands.

In that decision, the US Supreme Court discusses the 1993 ‘Apology’ Resolution, as well as makes references to Hawaiian Sovereignty. The following are quotes from the US Supreme Court decision:

“In 1893, ‘[a] so-called Committee of Safety, a group of professionals and businessmen, with the active assistance of John Stevens, the United States Minister to Hawai‘i, acting with the United States Armed Forces, replaced the [Hawaiian] monarchy with a provisional government.’ ‘That government sought annexation by the United States’ (Newlands Resolution).”

“Pursuant to the Newlands Resolution, the Republic of Hawai‘i ‘cede[d] absolutely and without reserve to the United States of America all rights of sovereignty of whatsoever kind’ and further ‘cede[d] and transfer[red] to the United States the absolute fee and ownership of all public, Government, or Crown lands, public buildings or edifices, ports, harbors, military equipment, and all other public property of every kind and description belonging to the Government of the Hawaiian Islands, together with every right and appurtenance thereunto appertaining’ (hereinafter ceded lands).”

“The Newlands Resolution further provided that all ‘property and rights’ in the ceded lands ‘are vested in the United States of America.’” “Two years later, Congress established a government for the Territory of Hawai‘i. … The Organic Act reiterated the Newlands Resolution and made clear that the new Territory consisted of the land that the United States acquired in ‘absolute fee’ under that resolution.”

“In 1959, Congress admitted Hawai‘i to the Union (hereinafter Admission Act). Under the Admission Act, with exceptions not relevant here, ‘the United States grant[ed] to the State of Hawai‘i, effective upon its admission into the Union, the United States’ title to all the public lands and other public property within the boundaries of the State of Hawai‘i, title to which is held by the United States immediately prior to its admission into the Union.’”

“Hawai‘i state law also authorizes the State to use or sell the ceded lands, provided the proceeds are held in trust for Hawaiian citizens. In 1993, Congress’ joint Apology Resolution “apologize[d]” for this country’s role in overthrowing the Hawaiian monarchy, and declared that nothing in the resolution was ‘intended to serve as a settlement of any claims against the United States.’”

“In 1993, Congress enacted a joint resolution ‘to acknowledge the historic significance of the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, to express its deep regret to the Native Hawaiian people, and to support the reconciliation efforts of the State of Hawai‘i and the United Church of Christ with Native Hawaiians.’ Joint Resolution to Acknowledge the 100th Anniversary of the January 17, 1893 Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, … (hereinafter Apology Resolution).”

“Turning to the merits, we must decide whether the Apology Resolution ‘strips Hawai‘i of its sovereign authority to sell, exchange, or transfer’ the lands that the United States held in “absolute fee” and “grant[ed] to the State of Hawai‘i, effective upon its admission into the Union”. We conclude that the Apology Resolution has no such effect.”

“The Apology Resolution did not strip Hawai‘i of its sovereign authority to alienate the lands the United States held in absolute fee and granted to the State upon its admission to the Union.”

“The resolution’s first substantive provision uses six verbs, all of which are conciliatory or precatory. Specifically, Congress ‘acknowledge[d] the historical significance’ of the monarchy’s over-throw, ‘recognize[d] and commend[ed] efforts of reconciliation’ with native Hawaiians, ‘apologize[d] to [n]ative Hawaiians’ for the overthrow, ‘expresse[d] [Congress’s] commitment to acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow,’ and ‘urge[d] the President … to also acknowledge [those]ramifications’.”

“Such terms are not the kind that Congress uses to create substantive rights – especially those that are enforceable against the cosovereign States.”

“The Apology Resolution’s second and final substantive provision is a disclaimer, which provides: ‘Nothing in this Joint Resolution is intended to serve as a settlement of any claims against the United States.’ By its terms, speaks only to those who may or may not have ‘claims against the United States.’”

“The State Supreme Court, however, read [this] as a congressional recognition – and preservation – of claims against Hawai‘i. There is no justification for turning an express disclaimer of claims against one sovereign into an affirmative recognition of claims against another.”

The US Supreme Court concluded, “First, ‘whereas’ clauses like those in the Apology Resolution cannot bear the weight that the lower court placed on them. As we recently explained in a different context, ‘where the text of a clause itself indicates that it does not have operative effect, such as ‘whereas’ clauses in federal legislation …, a court has no license to make it do what it was not designed to do.’”

“Second, even if the ‘whereas’ clauses had some legal effect, they did not ‘chang[e] the legal landscape and restructur[e] the rights and obligations of the State.’”

“The Apology Resolution reveals no indication – much less a ‘clear and manifest’ one – that Congress intended to amend or repeal the State’s rights and obligations under Admission Act (or any other federal law); nor does the Apology Resolution reveal any evidence that Congress intended sub silentio to ‘cloud’ the title that the United States held in ‘absolute fee’” and transferred to the State in 1959.”

“Third, the Apology Resolution would raise grave constitutional concerns if it purported to ‘cloud’ Hawaii’s title to its sovereign lands more than three decades after the State’s admission to the Union. We have emphasized that ‘Congress cannot, after statehood, reserve or convey submerged lands that have already been bestowed upon a State.’”

A later Hawaiʻi Supreme Court case noted (in 2014,) “The US Supreme Court reversed this court, holding that the Apology Resolution did not confer substantive rights or have a substantive legal effect. Thus, the Apology Bill cannot serve to support a fundamental right to nation-building”. (SCWC-29794)

It’s interesting to note the Supreme Court’s repeated references to the Republic of Hawai‘i, Annexation, Territory, Newlands Resolution, Admission Act, State, etc.

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US-Congress-President-Clinton-Apology-Bill-Signing
US-Congress-President-Clinton-Apology-Bill-Signing

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance Tagged With: Hawaii, Sovereignty, Apology Resolution

January 8, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Mule Tunnel

With its panoramic view from Koko Head to Waiʻanae, the summit of Diamond Head was an ideal site for the coastal defense of O‘ahu. In 1904, Diamond Head was purchased by the Federal government and designated for military use.

In 1906, Secretary of War William H Taft convened the National Coast Defense Board (Taft Board) “to consider and report upon the coast defenses of the United States and the insular possessions (including Hawai‘i.)” They recommended a system of Coast Artillery batteries to protect Pearl Harbor and Honolulu.

Fortification of Diamond Head began in 1908 with the construction of gun emplacements and an entry tunnel through the north wall of the crater from Fort Ruger known as the Mule Tunnel.

Originally, the tunnel was 5-feet wide and 7-feet high which is what was required for mules. Mules were used primarily to pull narrow gauge rail cars loaded with material in and out of the crater and to the various construction points.

Fort Ruger Military Reservation was established at Diamond Head (Leʻahi) in 1906. The Reservation was named in honor of Major General Thomas H. Ruger, who served from 1871 to 1876 as the superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

The trail to the Diamond Head summit was built in 1908 as part of the US Army Coastal Artillery defense system. Entering the crater from Fort Ruger, through the Mule Tunnel, the trail scaled the steep interior western slopes of the crater to the summit.

The dirt trail with numerous switchbacks was designed for mule and foot traffic. The mules hauled materials on this trail for the construction of Fire Control Station Diamond Head located at the summit. Other materials were hoisted from the crater floor by a winch and cable to a midway point along the trail. (DLNR)

In about 1910, there was a narrow gauge railway running from the mule tunnel across the center of the crater

Between 1909-1921, the Hawaiian Coast Artillery Command had its headquarters at Fort Ruger and defenses included artillery regiments stationed at Fort Armstrong, Fort Barrette, Fort DeRussy, Diamond Head, Fort Kamehameha, Kuwa‘aohe Military Reservation (Fort Hase – later known as Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi) and Fort Weaver.

The forts and battery emplacements were dispersed for concealment and to insure that a projectile striking one would not thereby endanger a neighbor.

The fort included Battery Harlow (1910-1943 – northern exterior;) Battery Hulings (1915-1925- (tunnels through crater wall;) Battery Dodge (1915-1925 – tunnels through east crater wall;) Battery Mills (1916-1925 – on Black Point;) Battery Birkhimer (1916-1943 – mostly below ground inside the crater;) Battery Granger Adams (1935-1946 – on Black Point (replaced Battery Mills;)) Battery 407 (1944 – tunnels through south crater wall;) and Battery Ruger (1937-1943).

In 1922, Mule Tunnel was enlarged to 15 feet wide by 14 feet high. A Fire Control Switchboard that had been in a shed outside the tunnel was moved into a room carved into the wall about 100 feet from the outside end. (Its name later changed to the Kapahulu Tunnel.)

The headquarters of the Harbor Defenses of Honolulu came to Fort Ruger in January 1927. In 1932 work began on a bombproof Harbor Defense Command Post (HDCP or “H” Station) built into the Kapahulu Tunnel.

During the widening of the tunnel, a larger cavern was cut into the wall of the tunnel at the downhill end, creating rooms for a Harbor Defense Command Post.

The new complex of eight rooms included the old fire control switchboard room and became the Harbor Defense Command Post. (Those rooms are now used by the Hawaii Red Cross as storage.)

In 1932 the tunnel was enlarged again, to 17 feet high to allow truck traffic. During the widening a larger cavern was cut into the wall of the tunnel at the downhill end, creating rooms for a Harbor Defense Command Post.

The Kahala Tunnel was built in the 1940s and is the public entrance today. (The Kapahulu Tunnel is used only when the Kahala Tunnel is closed for repairs or problems.)

In January 1950 Fort Ruger became the headquarters of the Hawaii National Guard. In 1955 most of the Fort Ruger reservation was turned over to Hawaii with the U.S. Army retaining the parade and Palm Circle until 1974 and the Cannon Club (officers’ club) until 1997.

The fort’s barracks area became the University of Hawaii’s Kapiʻolani Community College. (Lots of information is from DiamondHeadHike.)

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Diamond_Head-Mule-Team-StarAdv
Diamond_Head-Mule-Team-StarAdv
Kapahulu_Tunnel-diamondheadhike
Kapahulu_Tunnel-diamondheadhike
Originally Harbor Defense Command Post offices, now Red Cross Storage-diamondheadhike
Originally Harbor Defense Command Post offices, now Red Cross Storage-diamondheadhike
Brian Miyamoto of Hawaii Civil Defense and Denby Fawcett walk through the Kapahulu or Mule Tunnel-StarAdv
Brian Miyamoto of Hawaii Civil Defense and Denby Fawcett walk through the Kapahulu or Mule Tunnel-StarAdv
Old Mule trail - now hike to summit
Old Mule trail – now hike to summit
Old Mule trail-now hike to summit
Old Mule trail-now hike to summit
Hike to summit
Hike to summit
Near summit
Near summit
Kahala Tunnel
Kahala Tunnel
Tunnel on hike to summit
Tunnel on hike to summit
Ft_Ruger-1938
Ft_Ruger-1938
State Monument interpretive sign
State Monument interpretive sign
Diamond_Head_State_Park-Summit_Trail-map
Diamond_Head_State_Park-Summit_Trail-map
Fort_Ruger_1922_Main_Post_Plan-WC
Fort_Ruger_1922_Main_Post_Plan-WC
Fort_Ruger_Harbor Defense Command Post (HDCP)
Fort_Ruger_Harbor Defense Command Post (HDCP)
Diamond_Head_State_Park-Master_Plan-Layout
Diamond_Head_State_Park-Master_Plan-Layout

Filed Under: Military Tagged With: Leahi, Diamond Head, Coastal Defense, Kapahulu Tunnel, Mule Tunnell, Kahala Tunnel, Hawaii

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Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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