Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hilo Coastal Defense

Dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, Oʻahu held a position of primary importance in the military structure of the US before and during WWII. During the prewar years Oʻahu and the Panama Canal Zone were the two great outposts of continental defense. (army-mil)

A key goal in the Pacific was to hold Oʻahu Island as a main outlying naval base and to protect shipping in the waters around the Hawaiian Islands.

In January 1905, President Teddy Roosevelt instructed Secretary of War William H Taft to convene 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.)”

In 1906 the Taft Board recommended a system of Coast Artillery batteries to protect Pearl Harbor and Honolulu. 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 Army mission in Hawai‘i was defined as “the defense of Pearl Harbor Naval Base against damage from naval or aerial bombardment or by enemy sympathizers and attack by enemy expeditionary force or forces, supported or unsupported by an enemy fleet or fleets.”

The District was renamed Headquarters Coast Defenses of Oʻahu sometime between 1911 and 1913. Following World War I and until the end of World War II, additional coastal batteries were constructed throughout the Island.

Then, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

As soon as the air attack was over, the Hawaiian Department plunged into a reconstruction and new construction effort of unprecedented scale and pace.

By December 12, the Army position was “to take all possible steps short of jeopardizing the security of the Continental United States and the Panama Canal to reinforce the defenses of Oʻahu.”

Wartime reality hit the neighbor islands a few days later. A group of about nine Japanese submarines were kept in the vicinity of Hawaiʻi until mid-January – they were stationed there to find out just how much damage had been done to the American military.

Just before dusk on December 15, a submarine lobbed about ten shells into the harbor area of Kahului on Maui, and three that hit a pineapple cannery caused limited damage.

Over a 2½-hour period during the night of December 30 – 31, submarines engaged in similar and nearly simultaneous shellings of Nawiliwili on Kauaʻi, again on Kahului, Maui and Hilo on the Big Island.

The principal immediate change in Hawaiʻi’s defense structure came about on December 17, 1941, when the top Army and Navy commanders were replaced and all Army forces in the Hawaiian area were put under command of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet.

Under a cooperative agreement, the army operated coast defense guns, all anti-aircraft batteries except those on naval ships, most of the pursuit aircraft on the Island, an inshore patrol which extended 20-miles out to sea and aircraft warning service. The navy operated the fleet and distance reconnaissance extending to 600-miles out to sea.

Two arguments won the approval of the War Department during December for a much larger reinforcement of Hawaiʻi. The Navy contended that the sure defense of the Hawaiian area depended primarily on Army air power and that the security and effectiveness of that air power required its dispersion among the major islands of the Hawaiian group.

Secondly, while the immediate reinforcement of December 1941 might ensure against a direct attempt by the enemy to invade Oʻahu, the Japanese had the naval strength to cover an invasion of one or more of the almost undefended neighbor islands. From bases on these islands the enemy could attack and possibly starve out Oahu.

These arguments led to plans for garrisoning the other islands of the Hawaiian group. And, Hilo was a natural choice.

After the sugar industry developed across the Islands, Hilo grew to be the second largest town in the islands, acting as a business hub for the numerous plantations along the Hilo-Hamakua coast, as well as a transport center for incoming supplies and equipment and outgoing crops.

In 1908, construction began on the Hilo Bay breakwater along the shallow reef, beginning at the shoreline east of Kūhiō Bay; by 1929 the breakwater was completed and extended roughly halfway across the bay. Piers were built and extended by 1927.

(Contrary to urban legend, the Hilo breakwater was built to dissipate general wave energy and reduce wave action in the protected bay, providing calm water within the bay and protection for mooring and operating in the bay; it was not built as a tsunami protection barrier for Hilo.)

In 1926, a 400 by 2,000-foot field had been cleared for Hilo Airport and on February 11, 1928, the new airport was dedicated. A second and third runways were added and the airport was renovated (the renovation dedication ceremony was held May 2, 1941.)

At the outbreak of World War II, Hilo Airport was taken over by the Army Engineers, and an Air Corps fighter squadron was stationed there. US Army Engineers constructed military installations and continued the expansion of runways, taxiways and parking aprons. The name of Hilo Airport was changed to General Lyman Field on April 19, 1943.

At Hilo, a mobile field battery of 155-mm guns was set up in December 1941. Four 4-inch naval guns were later emplaced in 1942.

To help man them, the 96th Coast Artillery Regiment (AA) (Semi-mobile – activated April 15, 1941 at Camp Davis, North Carolina, and trained there until December 27) arrived in Hilo on March 10, 1942. (They stayed at Hilo until December 1943; then they transferred to Oʻahu.)

The Hilo battery was abandoned in 1945. (Lots of information here is from army-mil.)

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Hilo Teachers School

The arrival of the first company of American missionaries in Hawai­ʻi in 1820 marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The missionaries were the teachers and the chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

Reverend David Belden Lyman and his wife, Sarah Joiner Lyman arrived in Hawai‘i in 1832, members of the fifth company of missionaries sent to the Islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

When the arrived in Hilo … “there were no foreign residents, save the Missionaries who proceeded us. There was but one frame building in this region, that built by Mr. [Joseph] Goodrich.”

“There were no roads, only footpaths, no fences and the Wailuku River was crossed on a plank … I might add that there were no trees except the breadfruit, which were abundant and flourishing. Coconut trees fringed the beach. The people were numerous and had a healthy look … very friendly.”

“A few schooners, owned by the chiefs, came here occasionally, not to bring blessings to the natives, but to levy contributions of tapa, nuts, dried fish, pigs, etc …” (Sarah Joiner Lyman; Lothian)

The missionaries soon saw that the future of the Congregational Mission in Hawaii would be largely dependent upon the success of its schools. 

The proliferation of schoolhouses was augmented by the printing of 140,000 copies of the pī­ʻāpā (elementary Hawaiian spelling book) by 1829 and the staffing of the schools with 1,000-plus Hawaiian teachers.  (Laimana)

In 1830 “Mr. [Lorrin] Andrews left Lahaina to go to the aid of the Hilo Station and he started a school for the improvement of the teachers.” (Lothian)

In 1831, Lahainaluna Seminary, was created in Maui to be a school for teachers and preachers so that they could teach on the islands. The Mission then established “feeder schools” that would transmit to their students’ fundamental reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and religious training, before admission to the Lahainaluna.

By 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built 1,103 schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major islands and serviced an estimated 52,882 students.  (Laimana)

In 1832, “The school system was admirable for the times; there being school buildings through the two districts at convenient distances for all to attend, and they did pretty generally attend. And all whose eyes were not dim with age learned to read.”

“Each school had two sets of teachers, and whilst one was teaching, the other was here attending the teachers school, which was taught by the missionaries.” (Sarah Joiner Lyman; Lothian)

On January 6, 1835, “our children’s (Station) school commenced, eighty children present, sixty knew their letters. A number of the more forward (ie. advanced) children are employed as monitors to assist the less forward.”

In 1836, “For several years the forming of a boy’s boarding school had been discussed at the Annual Meetings and while they were all in favor of said venture they were not sure of its success; no one had offered to start a school.”

“At the 1836 meeting it was decided that the school should be in Hilo ….. ‘leaving it for the brothern to decide as to who should develop the much desired thing. The great object in view was to train more intelligent teachers for the common schools. So we were given carte blanche for the Island of Hawaii.’” (Sarah Joiner Lyman Journal; Lothian)

“Mr. Abner Wilcox, who had arrived with the recent Company that spring [1836], was assigned to Hilo to take charge of the teachers school and the educational department of the boarding school [Hilo Boarding School].”

In October 1836, two thatch houses were constructed near Lyman’s house and on October 3 the school opened with eight boarders, but the number soon increased to twelve.

The school was operated to an extent on a manual labor program and the boys cultivated the land to produce their own food. (The boys’ ages ranged from seven to fourteen.)

“Mr. Lyman who was brought up on a farm had an abiding faith in the value of manual labor; and his work in Hilo had convinced him that such activity in both primitive and introduced vocation was as necessary as book learning during the period of transition from one culture to another.”  (Lothian)

Hilo Boarding School, under the leadership of the Lymans, was an immediate success. In 1837, six graduates were sent to Lahainaluna Seminary.

At first, greater emphasis was placed upon producing teachers and preachers than upon molding farmers or craftsmen.  However, with the loss of Lahainaluna to the government, the Hilo school became reoriented to stress vocational training.

Hilo Boarding School was never a purely vocational institution, however, its founder’s focus of educating the head, heart and hand carried throughout its history (rigorous academic drills (Head), religious/moral (Heart) and manual/vocational (Hand) training).

In 1839, the old thatch buildings were torn down and Lyman purchased the entire first shipment of lumber to arrive in Hilo to build a new school building, as well as a cookhouse and infirmary which would accommodate sixty to seventy boys.

The new school building lodged fifty-five pupils in its first year, most of them coming from outside Hilo.  In 1840, sugar cultivation commenced on adjacent mission land, and was worked entirely by the boys of the school along with a “monthly concert” of labor by all members of the parish. The cane was probably ground in a Chinese-owned mill in Hilo.

Lahainaluna was transferred from being operated by the American missionaries to the control of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1849.  (By 1864, only Lahainaluna graduates were considered qualified to hold government positions such as lawyers, teachers, district magistrates and other important posts.)

“The fact that Lahainaluna became a Government and the public schools starting high schools started the Hilo Boarding school moving into a new era. The Boarding School began as an academic institution whose purpose was to teach boys and young men and prepare them so they could attend Lahainaluna School and … come out as teachers and ministers”. (Lothian)

More than one-third of the boys who had attended Hilo Boarding School eventually became teachers in the common schools of the kingdom. In 1850 the Minister of Public Instruction, Richard Armstrong, reported that Hilo Boys School “is one of our most important schools. It is the very life and soul of our common school on that large island.”

Common schools (where the 3 Rs were taught) sprang up in villages all over the islands.  In these common schools, classes and attendance were quite irregular, but nevertheless basic reading and writing skills (in Hawaiian) and fundamental Christian doctrine were taught to large numbers of people.  (Canevali)

The Hilo Boarding School closed in 1925, although its facilities were used for several years thereafter.  It first became a community center.

Then, in 1947, it was the first home of the Hilo Branch of the University of Hawaiʻi a center of the University Extension Division.  UH programs expanded there with a permanent summer school in 1948 – then, in 1949, the institution changed its name to University of Hawaiʻi, Hilo center (which later moved to its present site on Lanikāula Street, in 1955.)

All of the Hilo Boarding School buildings are gone; in 1980 the Hilo Center affiliated with the Boy’s Clubs of America – Hilo Boys and Girls Club now occupies the site.

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Establishing the Waiakea – Hilo Mission Station

The first American Protestant missionaries first anchored in Hawai‘i on April 4, 1820.  “[T]he first mission station on the Hawaiian Islands [was established] at Kailua, on the Island of Hawaii. However, unfortunately, within eight months, this mission station was temporarily closed.” (Nettie Hammond Lyman)

“In April of 1823, a second band of missionaries arrived in Honolulu. The increased numbers made it possible for one or more new stations to be started.”

“There had been a desire during these three years to resume the Kailua Station, and to establish a second station on Hawaii Island, the largest island of the group, and the most important, on account of its size, its large population and it natural resources.”

“It seemed desirable to make a careful survey of the entire island of Hawaii before deciding upon the location of any new station. By June 23, 1823, arrangements were completed …”

“… an exploring party, consisting of Rev Asa Thurston and Rev William Ellis, and, from the newly arrived missionaries, Rev Artemas Bishop and Mr Joseph Goodrich was formed. Mr Harwood, an ingenious mechanic, joined the party out of curiosity and a desire to be helpful.”

“Four months were spent in this exploration. Studies were made of the geographical character, the agricultural possibilities, and the customs of the people. Preaching services were held, visits made, and the desirability of establishing a mission and establishing schools in their midst, were discussed.”

“Two immediate results followed this exploration.  The former station at Kailua, which had been closed for three years, was resumed in November of this year, 1823, and arrangements were under way to start a new station in January in Waiakea, in Hilo.”  (Nettie Hammond Lyman)

“The face of the country in the vicinity of Waiakea is the most beautiful we have yet seen, which is probably occasioned by the humidity of the atmosphere, the frequent rains that fall here, and the long repose which the district has experienced from volcanic emptions.”

“The light and fertile soil is formed by decomposed lava, with a considerable portion of vegetable mould. The whole is covered with luxuriant vegetation, and the greater part of it formed into plantations, where plantains, bananas, sugar-cane, taro, potatoes, and melons, come to the greatest perfection.”

“Groves of cocoa-nut and breadfruit trees are seen in every direction loaded with fruit, or clothed with abundant foliage. The houses are mostly larger and better built than those of many districts through which we had passed.”

“We thought the people generally industrious; for in several of the less fertile parts of the district we saw small pieces of lava thrown up in heaps, and potato vines growing very well in the midst of them, though we could scarcely perceive a particle of soil.”

“Taking every circumstance into consideration, this appears a most eligible spot for a missionary station. The fertility of the soil, the abundance of fresh water, the convenience of the harbour, the dense population, and the favourable reception we have met with, all combine to give it a stronger claim to immediate attention than any other place we have yet seen, except Kairua.”

“There are 400 houses in the bay, and probably not less than 2000 inhabitants, who would be immediately embraced in the operations of a missionary station here, besides the populous places to the north and south, that might be occasionally visited by itinerant preachers from Waiakea. (William Ellis)

“ln the afternoon we waited on Maaro [Ma‘alo] the chief, to ask his opinion respecting missionaries settling permanently in his neighbourhood. He said, perhaps it would be well; that if the king and chiefs approved of it, he should desire it.”

“We asked if he would patronize and protect missionaries, and their families, provided the king and chiefs approved of their settling at Waiakea. He answered, ‘Yes, certainly,’ and, at the same time, pointed out several places where they might build their houses.” (Ellis)

“We told him that the king, Karaimoku [Kalanimōku], Kaahumanu, and the governor, approved of instructors coming to teach the people of Waiakea; but that we were also desirous to obtain his opinion, before any arrangements were made for their removal from Oahu.”

“He again repeated that he thought it would be a good thing; and that if the missionaries came with the approbation of the king and chiefs, he should be glad to witness their arrival. We then took leave of Maaro, and the chiefs that were with him.”  (Ellis)

“Hilo as a major division of Hawaii included the southeastern part of the windward coast most of which was in Hamakua, to the north of Hilo Bay. This, the northern portion, had many scattered settlements above streams running between high, forested kula lands, now planted with sugar cane.”

“From Hilo Bay southeastward to Puna the shore and inland are rather barren and there were few settlements. The population of Hilo was anciently as now concentrated mostly around and out from Hilo Bay, which is still the island’s principal port.”

“The Hilo Bay region is one of lush tropical verdure and beauty, owing to the prevalence of nightly showers and moist warmth which prevail under the northeasterly trade winds into which it faces. (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“In the marshes surrounding Waiakea Bay, east of Hilo, taro was planted in a unique way known as kanu kipi.  Long mounds were built on the marshy bottom with their surface two or three feet above water level. Upon the top and along the sides of these mounds taro was planted.”

“Flood waters which occasionally submerged the entire mound are said to have done no harm, as the flow was imperceptible. This swampy land is now abandoned to rank grass.”

“Kipi (mounds) were also formerly made along Alenaio Stream above Hilo. We are told that farther seaward in Waiakea taro is still grown by the ingenious method of heaping up stones around a taro huli which is submerged in water, and held upright by chunks of lava; the stones presumably accumulate refuse enough to nourish the taro, along with the food taken in by the roots from lava and water.”

“On the lava-strewn plain of Waiakea and on the slopes between Waiakea and the Wailuku River, dry taro was formerly planted wherever there was enough soil. There were forest plantations in Pana‘ewa and in all the lower fern-forest zone above Hilo town and along the course of the Wailuku River.”  (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“On Saturday evening, January 24, 1824, the Waterwitch landed as Waiakea Bay, eight days after leaving Honolulu. In the party were Mr and Mrs Goodrich and Mr and Mrs Ruggles to take charge of the new station; Dr and Mrs Blatchley, to remain temporarily and Mr Levi Chamberlain and Rev Ellis to introduce the Mission, also Rev and Mrs Ely who were on their way to Kailua.”

The missionaries erected two houses and a church within two months after their arrival in the Waiakea area. The first church at this site was of pole and thatch construction; it was built about where the Hilo Iron Works building is situated.

At the time of the dedication of the Waiakea Mission Station. there were only two other churches in the Islands, one at Honolulu, O‘ahu and one at Waimea, Kauai. (NPS)

The first Waiakea Church was replaced with a second in December 31, 1825 (a thatched church near where Kalakaua Park is situated); later, October 15, 1829, it was replaced by another thatched church on Kino‘ole, near Waianuenue, and then another on Haili Street.

From 1820 until 1850, further development of Hilo proper was focused in this area around the mission. Constructed there were the Hilo Boarding School started by the missionaries, the missionary homes and government buildings including the royal cottages. Prior to this, the Hawaiian community development had centered one and one-half miles to the east, southeast in the Waiakea section of Hilo.  (NPS)

During the late 1830s, Reverend Titus Coan increased the size of his congregation scattered along the east coast of the Big Island to 7,000 people in what was termed the ‘great Awakening’. (NPS)

The Waiakea-Hilo Mission, the largest of the mission stations, encompassed a territory of 920 square miles; 415 square miles in the Hilo District and 505 in the Puna District. The population was roughly estimated as from 12,000 to 20,000.

Of these, 7,000 were enrolled in the schools, (1831) with native teachers (who had scarcely more education than their pupils), and 7,000 were reported (1830) as church members”. (Lyman)

“A mighty wind having prostrated our large meeting-house, we commenced, during the winter of 1840-1, to collect materials for our first framed building. All the men who had axes went into the highland forest to fell trees and hew timber. … When the materials were brought together, we employed a Chinese carpenter at a reasonable price.” (Coan)

“This was the first framed church edifice built in Hilo, and in this building, capable of seating about 2,000 people. … When our first framed church building became old and dilapidated, we decided on replacing it with an edifice of stone and mortar.”

“But after a year’s hard toil in bringing stones on men’s shoulders, and after having dug a trench some six feet deep for the foundations without coming to the bed-rock, we, by amicable agreement, dismissed our mason and engaged two carpenters.” (Coan)

“The corner-stone  [of the present Haili Church] was laid November 14, 1857, and the building was dedicated on the 8th of April, 1859. The material was good, and the workmanship faithful and satisfactory. … It was then the finest church edifice on the islands.” (Coan)

The name of the church is derived from the forest, Haili Kulamanu, (Paradise of the Birds) from which most of the ohia wood was cut, located 6 to 8 miles southwest of the church. The Hawaiians hewed the wood in the forest, then hauled it to the mission with drag ropes. (NPS)

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‘Hilo Walk of Fame’

It started on October 24, 1933 …

Filmmaker Cecil B DeMille was in Hilo filming scenes for ‘Four Frightened People.’ The Hilo Park Commission asked him and some of the actors from the film (Mary Boland, William Gargan, Herbert Marshall’s wife (Edna Best Marshall) and Leo Carillo) to plant trees to commemorate their visit. (Pahigian)

Shortly after (October 29, 1933,) George Herman ‘Babe’ Ruth added a tree; he was in town for an exhibition baseball game against the Waiākea Pirates. In an earlier game in Honolulu, “Babe Ruth hit the first ball pitched to him for a home run when the visiting major league players defeated the local Wanderers here yesterday, 5 to 1.” (UP, El Paso Herald, October 23, 1933)

He and the visiting All Stars weren’t as fortunate in Hilo. “One of the most entertaining games ever played in Hilo was a 1933 exhibition matchup between the Waiākea Pirates and an all-star team featuring Babe Ruth. Ruth dazzled the crowd with a pair of homers, including one that traveled 427 feet. The Pirates still prevailed, 7-6.” (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, March 15, 2013)

A little later, US President Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR) was visiting the islands and arrived in Hilo on July 25, 1934 he planted a tree, too. FDR traversed the Pacific aboard the USS Houston, debarked at both the ports of Hilo and Honolulu, and stayed in the Islands for several days (July 24-28, 1934) to tour both cultural landmarks and military areas.

The visit was a stopover on a cruise starting July 1, 1934 at Annapolis going on to Portland, with stops in the Bahamas, Haiti, Puerto Rico, St Thomas, St Croix, Columbia, Panama, Cocos Island and Clipperton Island.

“Commemorating King George V’s silver jubilee (grandfather of the present Queen Elizabeth II,) a banyan tree has been planted here near the tree planted last year to honor President Roosevelt’s visit here.” (AP, Evening Independent, July 8, 1935.)

Another notable planter was Amelia Earhart. “Over the Christmas holiday, Amelia Earhart and George Putnam, along with Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mantz, arrived in Honolulu on December 27 (1934,) having sailed on the Matson liner SS Lurline. … The group spent two weeks vacationing in Hawaiʻi.”

“Five days after planting the banyan tree, she hopped off from Honolulu in her Lockheed Vega to cross 2,408-miles of Pacific Ocean. Eighteen hours and sixteen minutes later, Amelia and her red Vega, ‘Old Bessie, the Fire Horse,’ made a perfect landing at Oakland Airport at 1:31 pm … the very first person, man or woman, to fly solo between Hawaii and the Mainland and the first civilian airplane to carry a two-way radio.” (Plymate)

The next year, on November 15, 1935, Attorney Gonzalo and Adela Manibog, prominent Hilo community leaders in the 1930s and 40s, were given the honor of planting a banyan tree commemorating the birth of a new nation, the Philippine Commonwealth (now a republic.)

President Franklin D Roosevelt signed into law the Tydings-McDuffie Act creating the semi-autonomous government of the Philippine Commonwealth, a US protectorate ceded by Spain after the Spanish American war in 1898. (Manibog)

David McHattie Forbes, botanist, ethnologist, sugar plantation manager and explorer on the island of Hawaiʻi planted a tree. He served as the first district forester of South Kohala in 1905, and twenty years later was appointed a judge in Waimea. He was the discoverer in 1905 of what became known as the Forbes Collection, the greatest collection of Polynesian artifacts ever found.

William Linn (Lincoln) Ellsworth, was an American explorer, engineer, and scientist who led the first trans-Arctic (1926) and trans-Antarctic (1935) air crossings – he added a tree to the growing number.

Later, “Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong planted a tree … in the ‘living memorial’ Banyan grove in Hilo, Hawaii. Reviving a custom dormant since 1952, the musician spaded earth around the roots of the Louis Armstrong tree. It stands a few feet from the Amelia Earhart tree, planted by the aviatrix who vanished on a Pacific flight in 1937.” (Park City Daily News, May 7, 1963)

The tree then-Senator Richard Nixon of California planted in 1952 was destroyed. His wife Pat returned to Hilo in 1972, the year of his presidential re-election, and planted two banyans, one replacing his senatorial specimen (the sign incorrectly notes 1962) and another in her own honor.

Initially, eight trees were planted in October 1933; there have been over 50-trees planted at what is now known as Banyan Drive on the Waiākea peninsula, traditionally known as Hilo-Hanakāhi.

At the time, Banyan Drive was a crushed coral drive through the trees. Forty trees were planted between 1934 and 1938, and five more trees were planted between 1941 and 1972. In 1991, a tree lost to a tsunami was replaced. (Hawaiʻi County)

Trees were typically planted by or for notable politicians, entertainers, religious leaders, authors, sports figures, business people, adventurers and local folks.

The trees now represent the ‘Stories of Incredible People,’ as described in a book by Ted Coombs of Kurtistown, Hawaiʻi.

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Kilauea Masonic Lodge

Hawai‘i was first visited by Freemasons as early as the early-1790s, with the visit of George Vancouver (however, some suggest Captain Cook was a Freemason, but the records don’t substantiate that.) Over time, other Freemasons (mariners, merchants and professionals) visited the Islands.

However, it was a French mariner who introduced this British cultural export into Hawai‘i at a time when the Union Jack flew over the kingdom’s capital. On April 8, 1843, during the reign of King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli,) Freemasonry was formally established in Hawai‘i by Joseph Marie Le Tellier, Captain of the French whaling barque “Ajax” when he warranted Lodge Le Progres de l’Oceanie No. 124, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Supreme Council of France.

This was the first Masonic Lodge to be instituted in the Islands; with it, Freemasonry became firmly established in the Sandwich Islands. In Honolulu, the original lodge members were European and American mariners, shopkeepers and farmers.

Membership in Masonic lodges has always served to facilitate business contacts, as well as social ones. By the late-1840s there were about thirty-five merchants and storekeepers in Honolulu, of whom about one third were Masons. Similar ratios existed for the other 150 skilled “mechanics” and professionals in town.

Later, in 1879, King Kalākaua (one of the most active members of the Craft in the Island Kingdom,) conducted a grand Masonic ceremony at the site of the new ‘Iolani Palace, using Masonic silver working tools specially crafted for the occasion.

Then, on the evening of Thursday, December 3, 1896, an informal meeting was held at the home of William Whitmore Goodale, at Papaikou, on the Island of Hawaiʻi. The needs were discussed and it was decided to take the necessary steps for a Masonic Lodge on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

On February 4, 1897, the Grand Master of Masons in California, Thomas Flint, Jr., issued a dispensation to open and hold a Masonic Lodge to be called, “Kilauea Lodge.” The Lodge, with a membership of 16, was granted its charter on October 15, 1897, and was constituted as Kilauea Lodge No. 330, F&AM (Free & Accepted Masons.) (Chausee)

“Andrew Brown, District Inspector, Jos. Little, Arch. Gilfillan and half a dozen other prominent Masons will leave by the next Kinau for Hilo to some work for the order at that place. Mr. Brown will deliver to Masonic Lodge at Hilo, its charter and will direct the installation of officers. The lodge there has been working under dispensation for a year, but will now be firmly attached the Grand Lodge of California.” (Hawaiian Gazette, February 11, 1898)

Kilauea Lodge became “a full fledged lodge, peaceful, prosperous, progressive, and is ably and faithfully fulfilling its mission of brotherly love, relief and truth. They have recently purchased a large lot on Waianuenue street and hope at an early date to see their way clear to follow in the footsteps of Hawaiian Lodge and build for themselves a suitable and comfortable home.” (Freemasons)

“The Masonic Hall Association at its meeting Saturday last decided definitely to built a fine brick and stone building upon their lot recently purchased of the Territory at the corner of Waianuenue and Bridge streets.”

“The building will be two stories in height with basement … The upper story will be used for lodge purposes, while the lower will be constructed for the use of business houses, etc”. (Evening Bulletin, January 18, 1906)

At about this time (1908,) Teddy Roosevelt who was a Freemason was President of the United States; the US Congress authorized the construction of Naval Station at Pearl Harbor; and the Navy’s sixteen new battleships made up the “Great White Fleet” and sailed.

In the local community, the simultaneous event of the completion of the rail link to Honokaʻa, connecting the sugar plantations, their products, and their large working population to Hilo and its port, and the completion of the new breakwater allowing all-weather use of Hilo harbor, provided an expansive business environment for entrepreneurs In the community and across the Island Territory.

Then, the Hilo Masons dedicated their new building. “We have met here today for a specific purpose, namely to solemnly dedicate our masonic hall. Ten or more years ago the Hilo Masonic Hall Association was formed and later on a site purchased, which was farther up Waianuenue street than we are today.”

“Still later negotiations were entered into with the then Governor of the Territory, George B Carter, with a view to making an exchange of sites, the government requiring our uptown lot for school purposes, and giving us in exchange the site that this building now stands on”. (Hawaiian Gazette, March 1, 1910)

“It was finally decided to accept the plans of HE Starbuck, of Oakland. … The cornerstone was laid February 18, 1909. We started out to build a $40,000 building, and have ended up by having one costing double the amount, as nothing but the best of everything would satisfy the boys.”

The structure, which occupies the entire site, consists of three floors and a full basement. The street-level commercial spaces have a reinforced concrete floor, sidewalk freight elevators into the basement and an ingenious natural ventilation system which carried throughout the building.

Though altered in most areas the interiors remaining indicate a high level of decoration, with arched column bays, decorative cast concrete and plaster ceilings and high display windows with operable transoms above. (NPS)

The extensive unbroken tenancy by the Masonic Order (1909-1985) resulted in the second and third floors remaining virtually unchanged (a fire stair was added in 1986.) From the Waianuenue Avenue level lobby an elaborate granite stair with its ornate grained Oak balustrade ascends to the second floor foyer, on to the third level offices, and on again to the former Roof Garden, lauded for its panoramic view of the City of Hilo. (NPS)

The Temple room was two-stories in height with coved ceiling, wainscot, extensive paneling and moldings surrounding the large arch-topped windows, and an Organ Gallery overlooking the room through arched openings; the original suspended lighting fixtures with faceted globes were encased and formed brass frames.

Though ownership of the building has changed hands several times since its construction, the Masonic Order retained its occupancy of the second and third floor spaces until about 1985 when the Issuance of a liquor license to a ground floor tenant forced them to vacate under the rules of the Order which does not allow joint occupancy with liquor establishments.

The Hilo Masonic Temple is among the Hilo’s most substantial and best preserved historic structures. Constructed in 1908-10 in the Renaissance Revival style of reinforced concrete and steel, the building was clearly intended to be a lasting monument to the Masonic Order whose dramatic Lodge Hall and Temple facilities were located on the second and third floors.

The Masonic Temple construction came to completion about the same time as the new Hilo Hotel building was completed, the Hackfeld building nearing completion and with the Volcano Block and S Hata buildings in the planning stages.

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