Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Early Maui Agriculture

“Agriculture is deeply rooted in Maui history and will continue to be an important industry from an economic, social, and environmental perspective.”

“Although the face of Maui agriculture has evolved over the years, the important role it plays in the islands economy, environment, and way of life remains consistent, if not increasingly significant in the light of steady growth and expanding urbanization. Agriculture will continue to gain importance in shaping the form of future growth on Maui.”

“A strong agricultural sector is an important component of a balanced, diversified, and sustainable economy. Agriculture is an integral element of Maui’s economy, and community, cultivating a diversity of jobs, generating tax revenues, and producing a variety of crops for different local and export markets.” (Maui County Dept of Agriculture)

Two early commercial agricultural crops, sugar and pineapple, dominated, and the Baldwins (and others) had a hand in each, as well as the Maui Agricultural Company (which also grew and produced each).

Dwight Baldwin was born on September 29, 1798 to Seth Baldwin (1775 –1832,) (a farmer) and Rhoda Hull Baldwin in Durham, Connecticut, and moved to Durham, New York, in 1804. He was the second of 12 children.  (Baldwin Genealogy)

He was introduced by a friend to Charlotte Fowler, daughter of Deacon Solomon Fowler of North Branford, Connecticut, and a few weeks later was married to her on December 3, 1830. Twenty-five days later they set sail with the Fourth Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi on the ship ‘New England;’ they arrived at Honolulu, June 7, 1831.  (Baldwin)

Dwight and Charlotte had eight children: David Dwight (1831–1912), Abigail Charlotte (1833–1913), Charles Fowler (1837–1891), Henry Perrine (1842–1911), Emily Sophronia (1844–1891) and Harriet Melinda (1846–1932). A daughter, Mary Clark died at about 2½ years of age in 1838; a son, Douglas Hoapili, died at almost 3 in 1843.

Between 1836 and 1861 there was an initial flurry of sugar planting and refining throughout Hawaii; however, lack of capital and an adequate market forced many planters out of business.

Henry Perrine Baldwin, the most successful sugar producer of the Hawaiian Islands (Mid Pacific, February 1912,) was born on August 29, 1842 in Lahaina, Maui.

It was Mr. Baldwin’s intention – he was 21 years of age at the time – to earn enough money to enable him to go to Williams College to take a medical course.   (His father was a physician.)  His youthful ambition to be a doctor was never realized.

Once launched in the sugar industry he continued in it, an increasingly important figure, for the remainder of his life.  Baldwin was particularly successful as an agriculturist, a developer of plantations.

Christopher H Lewers founded Waiheʻe sugar plantation on Maui.  It the mid-1860s it was managed by Samuel Thomas Alexander. Henry Perrin Baldwin took a ‘Luna’ (foreman) job with Alexander. (HP Baldwin and Alexander grew up together as kids in Lāhainā and became close friends.)

In 1869, Baldwin and Alexander became business partners and bought 12-acres in Hāmākuapoko (an eastern Maui ahupuaʻa (land division.))  (They later formed Alexander & Baldwin, one of Hawai‘i’s ‘Big Five’ companies – and the only Big Five still in Hawai‘i.)

In 1876, with the signing of the Hawaiian Reciprocity Treaty, the islands received the final catalyst necessary to drive the Hawaiian sugar industry into the future. The treaty with the United States allowed for duty free admission of Hawaiian sugar, resulting in a substantial increase of profits for island growers.

With this economic boost, growers immediately began increasing cultivation of sugarcane. On Maui, acres cultivated in sugarcane expanded from 5,080 in 1867 to 12,000 in 1880, an increase of 136 percent.

Maui’s Historic Sugar Plantations were  Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S) (Puunene); Maui Agricultural Company (Paia); Pioneer Mill Company (Lahaina); Wailuku Sugar Company (Wailuku); and Kaeleku Sugar Company (Hana). Maui Island Plan)

“A heavy expansion of Alexander and Baldwin came with the acquisition of control of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. of Puʻunene, Maui, formerly operated by the late Claus Spreckels.”

“Mr. [HP] Baldwin took personal charge of this plantation in 1902 and made it one of the most successful and productive estates in Hawaii. Today it ranks as one of the world’s finest and most modern sugar plantations.”  (Orr)

“As manager of the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company, Mr. Baldwin had the satisfaction of seeing it become one of the greatest sugar plantations of the world, with other plantations under the control of his company ranking very high according to their size.”   (Mid Pacific, February 1912)

“In 1900 Alexander & Baldwin incorporated as an agency for sugar plantations such as Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company and Maui Agricultural Company, Ltd., an A&B creation and managed by H.A. [Henry “Harry” Alexander] Baldwin.” (Orr)

In 1917 Maui Agricultural Company, Ltd. built the first distillery in the US for producing alcohol from molasses; the plantations vehicles operated on molasses alcohol instead of kerosene or gasoline during World War I.  (Orr)

“Mr. [HP] Baldwin married Emily W. Alexander, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. William  Patterson Alexander, early missionaries, and a sister of Mr. Baldwin’s partner, S. T. Alexander, at Wailuku, Maui, on April 5, 1870.”

“Eight children were born to them, Harry A Baldwin, Frank F Baldwin, Mrs. Maud (Baldwin) Cooke, Arthur D Baldwin, Dr WD Baldwin, Mrs Charlotte (Baldwin) Rice, Fred Baldwin and AS Baldwin.” (Orr)

“Historically Maui’s second largest industry, pineapple, has also played a large role in forming Maui’s modern day landscape. The pineapple industry began on Maui in 1890 with Dwight D. Baldwin’s Haiku Fruit and Packing Company on the northeast side of the island.”

“West Maui was also cultivated with pineapple in the early 1900s by Baldwin Packers. Within just thirty years, the pineapple industry grew steadily; by 1930, over 28 percent of Maui’s cultivated lands were dedicated to pineapple.” (Maui Island Plan)

Baldwin Packers started pineapple canning in 1914 and at first its cannery was located close to its pineapple fields in the Honolua section.  Difficulty in securing labor in the busiest seasons of packing and the distance of the haul from the cannery to Kaʻānapali, which was then its shipping point, made it advisable to secure a location nearer town.

Baldwin Packers pineapple cannery was eventually located at Lāhainā, this addressed transportation (proximity to Mala Wharf) and labor concerns.  At Mala, the cannery was eight or ten miles from the fields and the fruit is transported to the plant by rail and truck.

The Baldwins’ growing and canning operations in Lāhainā continued for many decades. However, in 1962 the Baldwins’ east and west Maui holdings and pineapple operations were united when Baldwin Packers merged with Maui Pineapple Company. It was around that time that the Baldwin Packers pineapple cannery in west Maui was closed.

In 1987, the Lāhainā Cannery Mall was built on the same site where the original plant once stood; it was designed to look like a pineapple cannery with the corrugated style and factory-like open conduits inside were adopted for the design.

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by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Happy Easter!

Easter, Latin ‘Pascha’, Greek ‘Pascha’, is a principal festival of the Christian church, which celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his Crucifixion.

The earliest recorded observance of an Easter celebration comes from the 2nd century, though the commemoration of Jesus’ Resurrection probably occurred earlier.

The season of Easter is the most important of all liturgical times, which Catholics celebrate as the Lord’s resurrection from the dead, culminating in his Ascension to the Father and sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Church.

In the Christian calendar, Easter follows Lent, the period of 40 days (not counting Sundays) before Easter, which traditionally is observed by acts of penance and fasting.

Easter is immediately preceded by Holy Week, which includes Maundy Thursday, the commemoration of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples; Good Friday, the day of his Crucifixion; and Holy Saturday, the transition between Crucifixion and Resurrection.

The use of painted and decorated Easter eggs was first recorded in the 13th century. The custom of associating a rabbit or bunny with Easter arose in Protestant areas in Europe in the 17th century but did not become common until the 19th century.

Happy-Easter-2016

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Manago Hotel

“They came to America almost a century ago to marry men they only knew in photographs.”

“The picture bride movement, which allowed men to marry by proxy, became the only way members of the predominantly male Japanese population in the United States could find wives and start families.”

“According to some historians, the majority of Japanese born in the United States can trace their ancestry to a picture bride.”  (LA Times)  Between 1907 and 1923, over 14,000 picture brides arrived in Hawaiʻi from Japan.

One such picture bride became Osame.

As a child, Osame’s father told her, “You are only a farmer’s daughter.  What good does it do you to get more education for working in the fields or for business?  If you can sign your name, that’s enough.”

He allowed Osame to go through fifth grade, but said she would be a subject of laughter if she attempted high school.  (Sandra Wager-Wright)

At the age of seventeen, she left Japan and came to the Islands and married Kinzo Manago – settling in South Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

A few years prior, Kinzo left Japan to go to Canada and learn English.  He and several friends departed for Honolulu, where they expected to board a boat for Canada.  One of the friends gambled away the money and they were stuck in the Islands.

Kinzo discovered that he had a relative on the island of Hawai`i, so he took a steamer to Kona.  Shortly thereafter, Kinzo began working as a cook, which is how he earned enough money for a picture bride.

At first, following a proxy ceremony in 1912, Osame stayed with her husband’s family in Japan until she could book passage on a ship to Honolulu.  The couple went through a second ceremony at a nearby Shinto temple.

The next day, they left for Kona on the cramped interisland steamer.  People, cattle, cargo – all together in the hold.  Many people put mats out on deck.  The boat landed at Kailua, and the couple took a cart up the rocky road to Captain Cook.    (Sandra Wager-Wright)

At first, Kinzo worked full time chopping firewood.  In 1917, he borrowed money from his former boss and purchased a two-room house, a cook stove and supplies.  The couple set aside one room for their own use.  In the other, Osame served homemade bread and jam to taxi drivers traveling from Kona to Hilo.

This marked the beginning of the Manago Hotel.

As they were able, the couple added rooms and a second floor while expanding food service to include full meals and sake.  For those who chose to spend the night, the Managos charged $1.00 to sleep on a tatami mat.

By the end of 1930, the couple had seven children, and the business brought in $20 per day.  (Sandra Wager-Wright)

During World War II, the military contracted Kinzo and Osame to feed the soldiers who, at the time, occupied Konawaena School.

The hotel was turned over to Harold and Nancy Manago, the 2nd generation, in 1942; after the war, Harold purchased the land beneath the hotel to expand in acreage and guest rooms.

Harold and Nancy managed the business for 42 years. Then in 1984, their youngest son Dwight and wife, Cheryl, took over the hotel.

Over the last 30 years, more and more tourists from the mainland and foreign countries have discovered Manago Hotel. When asked about the diverse clientele, Dwight said “At the same time, we’re lucky the same local working people keep coming. It’s a good mix, where we don’t just cater to one or the other.” (Manago Hotel)

The hotel has a low-key style that makes it a favorite with Island residents. They come for the simple but spotless rooms and rock-bottom prices. Old-timers will recall stopping by the original hotel and dusting off coffee-farm dirt. They’d wash their hands at the porcelain basin outside, before going in to eat.  (Manago Hotel)

Kinzo and Osame never dreamed that the original hotel with two cots plus futons would turn into 64 full rooms, and a new three-story wing overlooking Kealakekua Bay and the City of Refuge.

Manago Hotel has 42 rooms with private bathrooms, and 22 rooms with shared bathrooms. Rooms may be reserved for daily, weekly or monthly rates.

The Restaurant located within the hotel offers local and American foods at reasonable prices. The dining room setting is typical of old Hawaiʻi – family style.  One item of personal interest, Manago pork chops – ‘nuff said. (Lots of Information here from Manago Hotel and Sandra Wager-Wright.)

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kepuwahaʻulaʻula

“(S)everal islands were ruled by independent kings, who were frequently at war with each other, but more often with their own subjects. As one chief acquired sufficient strength, he disputed the title of the reigning prince.”

“If successful, his chance of permanent power was quite as precarious as that of his predecessor. In some instances the title established by force of arms remained in the same family for several generations, disturbed, however, by frequent rebellions … war being a chief occupation …”  (Jarves)

At the period of Captain Cook’s arrival (1778-1779), the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lānai and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

“At that time Kahekili was plotting for the downfall of Kahahana and the seizure of Oʻahu and Molokai, and the queen of Kauai was disposed to assist him in these enterprises. The occupation of the Hāna district of Maui by the kings of Hawaiʻi had been the cause of many stubborn conflicts between the chivalry of the two islands.”  (Kalākaua)

Following Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s death in 1782, the Hawaiʻi Island kingship was inherited by his son Kīwalaʻō; Kamehameha (Kīwalaʻō’s cousin) was given guardianship of the Hawaiian god of war, Kūkaʻilimoku.  Dissatisfied with subsequent redistricting of the lands by district chiefs, civil war ensued between Kīwalaʻō’s forces and the various chiefs under the leadership of Kamehameha.

In the first major skirmish, in the battle of Mokuʻōhai (a fight between Kamehameha and Kiwalaʻo in July, 1782 at Keʻei, south of Kealakekua Bay on the Island of Hawaiʻi,) Kiwalaʻo was killed.

With the death of his cousin Kiwalaʻo, the victory made Kamehameha chief of the districts of Kona, Kohala and Hāmākua, while Keōua, the brother of Kiwalaʻo, held Kaʻū and Puna, and Keawemauhili declared himself independent of both in Hilo.  (Kalākaua)

Back on Maui, Kahekili prepared for an invasion against Oʻahu and Kahahana.  He landed at Waikīkī in the beginning of 1783.  Kahekili, dividing his forces in three columns, marched from Waikīkī by Pūowaina (Punchbowl,) Pauoa and Kapena to battle Kahahana and his forces.

Kahahana’s army was routed, and he and his wife fled to the mountains.  For nearly two years or more they wandered over the mountains, secretly aided, fed and clothed by his supporters.  Kahekili’s warriors finally found and killed Kahahana.

In 1790, Kamehameha moved to take Maui – heading first to Hāna.  Hearing this, Kahekili sent Kalanikūpule back to Maui with a number of chiefs (Kahekili remaining on O‘ahu to maintain order of his newly conquered kingdom.)

Helping Kamehameha were foreigners, John Young and Isaac Davis.  John Young, a boatswain on the British fur trading vessel, Eleanora, had been stranded on the Island of Hawai‘i in 1790.  Because of his knowledge of European warfare, Young is said to have trained Kamehameha and his men in the use of muskets and cannons.

Isaac Davis arrived in Hawaii in 1790 as the sole survivor of the massacre of the crew of The Fair American.  Davis also brought western military knowledge; Young and Davis fought alongside Kamehameha in his battles.

Kahekili’s brother, Kamehamehanui (uncle to Kamehameha I,) lost Hāna, which was isolated from the rest of Maui.  Kamehameha then landed at Kahului and marched on to Wailuku, where Kalanikūpule waited for him.

The ensuing battle was one of the hardest contested on Hawaiian record.  The battle started in Wailuku and then headed up ‘l̄ao Valley – the Maui defenders being continually driven farther up the valley.

Kamehameha’s superiority in the number and use of the newly acquired weapons and canon (called Lopaka) from the ‘Fair American’ (used for the first time in battle, with the assistance from Young and Davis) finally won the decisive battle at ‘Īao Valley.

The Maui troops were completely annihilated, and it is said that the corpses of the slain were so many as to choke up the waters of the stream of ‘l̄ao – one of the names of the battle was “Kepaniwai” (the damming of the waters.)

Maui Island was conquered and its fighting force was destroyed – Kalanikūpule and some other chiefs escaped over the mountain at the back of the valley and made their way to Molokai, then to O‘ahu.  With Kalanikūpule was Kalola, daughter of King Kekaulike, sister to Kahekili and aunt of Kalanikūpule.  Kalola was also grandmother to Keōpūolani.

Kamehameha followed Kalola to Molokai and made a “request that she (Kalola) should confide her daughters and granddaughter to his care and protection. To which Kalola is said to have replied, ‘When I am dead, my daughters and granddaughter shall be yours.’” (Fornander)

Kamehameha camped on Molokai until Kalola died.  This “capture” of the women by Kamehameha, a conquering chief taking the widow and female relatives of his defeated rival, was politically important.  Taking Keōpūolani as his new wife, Kamehameha returned to Hawaiʻi Island.

The abrupt departure of Kamehameha and his fleet from Molokai and his return to Hawaiʻi took a great weight off the mind of Kahekili, and plans of vengeance occupied his thoughts and brightened his vision in the immediate future. He was doubtless encouraged by Kāʻeokūlani, who by this time had obtained the supremacy of Kauai, and who urged his brother to avenge the defeat of Kalanikūpule.  (Fornander)

Negotiations and preparations having been perfected between the Kauai and Oʻahu sovereigns during the winter months of 1790-91, Kāʻeokūlani left Kauai with a well-equipped fleet of war canoes, accompanied by a foreign gunner Mare Amara and arrived at Oʻahu in the spring of 1791.  (Fornander)

Kahekili decided that no better time could be chosen to attack Kamehameha.  The chiefs had massed their forces on Maui. Here Kāʻeokūlani, took the leadership role.  After a little rest, the Kauai fleet swept across the channel and passed down the eastern side of Hawaiʻi.  They ransacked villages along the way.  Finally Kamehameha’s canoes and ships caught up with them off Waimanu, not far from Waipiʻo.

In former years a naval battle meant the clash of canoe against canoe.  This battle was different.

Unlike the prior battle at ʻĪao, here both sides had modern firearms and people who knew how to use them (this battle was the first in Hawaiʻi that saw both sides have foreign gunners, Mare Amara with Kahekili, and Isaac Davis and John Young with Kamehameha.)

The people on the bluffs saw the red flashes of the guns and noted the increasing noise of the artillery until they could no longer hear the voices of men. As the clouds of smoke crept over the sea the battle became, in the view of the watchers, a fight between red mouthed guns, and they shouted one to another the news of the progress of the conflict according to the predominance of flashing muskets and cannon.

It was soon seen that the invaders were being defeated. The man who had the best arms and the best gunners won the victory.  The Kauai and Oʻahu Chiefs fled with their scattered fleets to Maui.

Kamehameha soon followed them, and during the next three years, step by step, passed over the islands until the kingdom was his.  (Westervelt)

The battle was so fierce that it was called Kepuwahaʻulaʻula (the Battle of the Red-Mouthed Gun.)  The image depicting the battle is artwork by Herb Kane (Kamehameha is in the Fair American.)

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Banana Patch

Some of the surfers and hippies were intent on inventing a new culture. Others were simply escaping from Mainland restrictions during and after “the summer of love.”  (Youngblood)

It was part of the commune culture that started in the early-1960s on the continent, initially in the cities, then expanding into other areas, including Hawaiʻi.  By 1969, Newsweek estimated that there were 10,000 hippies in more than 500 communes.  (Miller)

On Maui, David Joseph made the Banana Patch available to them, “an Open Land community set in a valley of banana trees.”  It was called the Banana Patch (or simply the Patch.)

“Since (1964,) a dozen homemade houses had been built by young people … The owner, an older man … was a native Hawaiian who shared (the) big-hearted attitude towards the homeless”.  (Ramon; diggers)

“I was 21 years old when I came here.  I met a family on Maui.  Mr and Mrs Joseph extended an invitation to me to live on their Banana Patch in Haiku.”

“My boyfriend and I were homeless and without work at the time.  It was a wonderful opportunity for someone like me. … .  He loved to build shacks and let people live for free in them.”  (Reyes)  “There were only two rules: don’t touch the bananas and don’t strike your brothers.”  (Quayle)

Twenty-six houses were scattered across the floor and up both sides of the valley.  Ginger, taro, corn, okra, cucumbers, squash, broccoli, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, radishes, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, lima beans, black-eye peas, papayas, plums, mountain apples, grapes, oranges, bananas, lemons, passion fruit and blackberries were planted in small clearings.

Joseph “bought the land in 1950 from my father-in-law. It was a very lonesome spot. After 14 years these children came. They were peaceful and wanted no violence, were vegetarians and liked to live alone, exploring the world.”

“I talked to them and they were very good children. I invited them to the Patch and told them you must build a roof over your heads.  During the next five years, I met about 2,000 people in and out. I now have friends all over the world.”  (Joseph; Quaye)

The late-1960s saw an invasion of hippies, which came as “quite a shock to the local community.  There was a lot of conflict.” Problems included complaints from longtime residents that hippies were dirty, collected welfare and didn’t work.  (Maui News)

Nudity was the norm.  The strange newcomers clashed with the establishment and were accused of freeloading and stealing.   (Hurley)

There were two major encampments on Maui. One was in the kiawe scrub behind Oneloa Beach at Makena. The other was “Banana Patch” in Haiku, where a kindhearted landowner allowed the construction of a shanty town.  (Youngblood)

Local Police conducted raids at Banana Patch, as well as Makena and Honolua.  Charges ranged from indecent exposure, trespassing or both.  Sentences were up to 60-days in jail, but would be commuted if the person left Maui immediately.  (Schou)

“The County doesn’t like what I’m doing”, said Joseph, who has allowed all comers to live on his land and build their dwellings according to personal taste.

“The County Attorney’s office said Joseph was given the opportunity to comply with regulations and Joseph sought to show that the shacks were exempt from the codes because they were built in a farm zone.”

“He took an adamant stand, positive that he was ‘doing a good thing,’ and his lawyers argued during several hearings in Second Circuit Court that the County was acting against the Banana Patch because it disliked the inhabitants.”  (Honolulu Star-Bulletin; Quayle)

Faced with fines nearing $15,000 and two years in jail on 28 violations of building codes, land use laws and health regulations, Joseph felt it was time to sell.  His public defender attorney, Phil Lowenthal bought the property.

A deal was made between Joseph’s attorneys and the government.  “The deal, Joseph disclosed, involves the dropping of all charges against him if he tears down the Patch homes.”  (Quayle)

After a hepatitis outbreak at Banana Patch, state health workers quarantined the site.  (Schou)  The Patch was closed.  The 25 shacks in the banana patch that were in violation of County regulations were taken down and trees planted in their stead.  (Quayle)

Joseph described the closing of the Banana Patch as “an insane disgrace of political power on the part of the Mayor” and “a blow to freedom” which would “do more harm than good”.

With constant court battles since June, 1969, and personal appearances in court “about four times”, Joseph estimates it ”cost Maui County $100,000 easy” to prosecute the case.  (Quayle)

After leaving the Banana Patch, David Joseph went to live in Kokomo, Maui near Makawao. His Hawaiian wife Hanamaikai, from Hana, had a stroke and passed away.  Joseph passed away on July 6, 1981. (Quayle)  The image shows David Joseph in 1978 (Banana Patch Fantasy Productions.)

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