Hilo Boarding School

October 3, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Manual

Before her death in 1884, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, heir to the vast lands of the Kamehameha dynasty, established through her will the design to create two private schools, one for boys and one for girls. (Beyer)

Bernice Pauahi died childless on October 16, 1884. She left her large estate of the Kamehameha lands in a trust “to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as, and called the Kamehameha Schools.”

She further stated, “I desire my trustees to provide first and chiefly a good education in the common English branches, and also instruction in morals and in such useful knowledge as may tend to make good and industrious men and women”.

Bernice Pauahi Bishop, by founding the Kamehameha Schools, intended to establish institutions which should be of lasting benefit to her country; and also to honor the name Kamehameha.

After Pauahi’s death, Charles Reed Bishop, as president of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate’s board of trustees, ensured that his wife’s wish was fulfilled. He generously provided his own funds for the construction of facilities and added some of his own properties to her estate. (KSBE)

Because Pauahi’s estate was basically land rich and cash poor, Bishop contributed his own funds for the construction of several of the schools’ initial buildings on the original Kalihi campus: the Preparatory Department facilities (1888,) Bishop Hall (1891) and Bernice Pauahi Bishop Memorial Chapel (1897.)

In the fall of 1887, preparations for the opening of the boys’ school were nearly complete. A workshop, dining hall, and the first two dormitories had been built at the Kaiwi‘ula campus, where the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum stands today.

An invitation had been sent to all Hawaiian boys over the age of 12 to take the admission test, and on October 3, thirty-seven boys arrived on campus to begin their schooling instruction. (Armstrong-Wassel)

“King Kalākaua addressed the boys in Hawaiian and his remarks were then translated into English. He told the boys that ‘the name the school bears is the name of one who was famous first of all for habits of industry in the fields before he became famous as a warrior.’”

“He emphasized that it was not simply the work of the hands that would lead to success in life, but the intelligence for which His Majesty urged the boys to strive.” (Kilolani Mitchell, noted by Armstrong-Wassel)

“Bishop had supported industrial and moral education for the masses and elite English-standard education for the highest tier of society. His administration marked a turn toward manual and industrial education, as well as increased funding for English-medium education.”

“Although there was already a history of educating Kānaka in higher branches of academic pursuit, Bishop argued against education that failed to produce an industrial agricultural workforce.” (Goodyear-Kaʻōpua)

Reverend William Brewster Oleson was hired from the Hilo Boarding School to become the first principal of the Kamehameha School for Boys at an annual salary of $3000.00 with house and pasturage.

Hilo Boarding school was the first manual labor type school in the Pacific. It instituted a program of rural education based on the idea of learning by doing. (Moe) Oleson brought that philosophy and program to Kamehameha.

By then, Hilo Boarding School was also the model for educating students at Hampton Institute in Virginia and Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

The Kamehameha school was commonly known as the Manual Department or “The Manual.” (Beyer) The original name of the first school sponsored by the Bishop Estate was actually called the Manual Training School for Boys. (Broadbent)

Oleson penned the school song, “Sons of Hawai’i” together with Theodore Richards who adapts the tune from Yale’s “Wake, Freshman, Wake” and chose the school colors based on Yale school colors. (KSBE)

Oleson brought nine of his most prized pupils with him to Kamehameha Schools to create the school’s inaugural class.

Joining Oleson were WS Terry served as superintendent of shops, Mrs F Johnson was a matron, instructor Miss CA Reamer would later become the principal of the preparatory school and Miss LL Dressler also served as an instructor. (KSBE)

At the opening ceremonies, “Prof Alexander on being asked for remarks expressed his regret that Hon C R Bishop who had such an interest in the school was absent on the Coast. The institution of a technical school had often been discussed in Honolulu.”

“He rejoiced that the wishes of the noble lady foundress had been so successfully carried out. Founded upon a rock the institution he hoped would long stand on the rock and that it would keep the memory of its foundress green until generations yet unborn should call her blessed.” (Hawaiian Gazette, November 8, 1887)

A year later the Preparatory Department, for boys 6 to 12 years of age, opened in adjacent facilities. (Organization of the Kamehameha School for Girls was delayed until 1894.)

During a visit to see General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, Hampton’s founder, Oleson picked up the idea of including military training in Kamehameha’s curriculum (1888.) (Rath)

Officers were appointed by Oleson and were responsible for discipline and marching to and from town. Oleson was in charge of drills, but teachers joined in the marches to church or other meetings. In September 1899, the boys wore their uniforms to class and drills.

An interesting side note relates to the role and relationship Pauahi and Liliʻuokalani had with William Owen Smith, the son of American Protestant missionaries.

During the revolutionary/overthrow period, Smith was one of the thirteen members of the Committee of Safety that overthrew the rule of Queen Liliʻuokalani (January 17, 1893) and established the Provisional Government and served on its executive council.

When not filling public office, Smith had been engaged in private law practice – Smith and his firm wrote the will for Princess Pauahi Bishop that created the Bishop Estate.

Pauahi recommended to Queen Liliʻuokalani that he write her will for the Liliʻuokalani Trust (which he did.) As a result, Liliʻuokalani and Smith became lifelong friends; he defended her in court, winning the suit brought against her by Prince Jonah Kūhiō.

October 2, 2019 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

In the early years, after the arrival of the first missionaries, the Hawaiian language came to be the universal mode of education.

With the vigorous support of the Queen-Regent Kaʻahumanu, attendance in mission schools increased from about 200 in 1821 to 2,000 in 1824, 37,000 in 1828 and 41,238 in 1830, of which nearly half were pupils on the island of Hawaiʻi. (Canevali)

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)

Reverend David Belden Lyman (1803-1884) and his wife, Sarah Joiner Lyman (1806-1885,) arrived in Hawaii in 1832, members of the fifth company of missionaries sent to the Islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and were assigned the mission in Hilo.

“When we arrived in Hilo there were no foreign residents, save the Missionaries who proceeded us. There was but one frame building in this region … which the Coans have occupied. There were no roads (only footpaths,) no fences, and the Wailuku River was crossed on a plank … the only bell was hung in a breadfruit tree.” (Sarah Lyman)

It soon was apparent to the missionaries that the future of the Congregational Mission in Hawaii would be largely dependent upon the success of its schools. 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.

In 1835, they constructed the Hilo Boarding School as part of an overall system of schools (with a girls boarding school in Wailuku and boarding at Lahainaluna.)

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

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.” (Lorthian)

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

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.

The school occupied forty-acres of land (used mostly in farming activities,) and, in 1846, King Kamehameha III gave the mission the water rights of the Wailuku River in Hilo. In 1848, the school received a government charter and was incorporated.

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

The school building burned down in 1853; in rebuilding, a new site for the school was selected about one-half mile above Haili Church. This was to be the third and final location of HBS. In 1856 the T-shaped, two-story wooden building was completed. It included a stone basement and an attic with a corrugated zinc roof.

1878 witnessed the first major building at HBS since repairs to the basement necessitated by an earthquake ten years earlier. A principal’s house was raised, as the former principal’s house continued to be the Lyman residence.

At the same time, a roadway was begun connecting HBS to School Street (now Kapiʻolani Street), and completed in 1880. The row of palms leading from the school to what is now Haili Street was also planted in that year.

Between 1886-1890 carpentry classes were organized when a supply of tools were donated. In addition, the gift of three sewing machines did much for the tailoring department. An industrial building was added in 1887.

In 1888, Mr. Alexander Young, manager of the Hilo Iron Works, donated a turbine wheel, complete with the necessary iron work, shafting, pully and the pully flanges.

In 1890 Mrs. Cassie B. Terry was appointed school principal; she took charge of the academic department and her husband devoted his time to the farm and shop classes. They expanded the blacksmithing class, and Mr. Terry invented a wooden poi-pounding machine.

In 1892 a fifteen-light dynamo was installed at the school; hydroelectric power, guaranteed by the school’s exclusive control over water rights, made it the first establishment in Hilo to be lighted by electricity.

In 1894 a one-half ton ice plant was situated on the campus, ice being produced for both school and community use. Later, in exchange for control of the water rights, the electric company (HELCO) provided free power to the school.

Vocational training really took off in the period from 1897-1923, under the guidance of Levi Lyman, grandson of the founder. New buildings replaced the old and vocational programs were housed in a blacksmiths shop, a four room utility building accommodating a steam plant, dairy, poi factory and wood room for craft supplies (as well as gym and mechanical arts building.)

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.

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 now occupies the site.

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Waiakea_Mission_The 7th Baron Lord Byron visited Hilo in 1825-painting by the Robert Dampier-only a few thatched huts at the time-1825

Hilo_Boarding_School_Shop,_Class_of_June_1901

Hilo_Boarding_School-printing-(75-years)

Hilo_Boarding_School_and_Gardens-from_Haili_Hill-(Lothian)-1856

Koa furniture crafted by Hilo Boarding School-(HawaiiMuseums)

Hilo_Boarding_School-Hilo-1891_Map-overlay_on_Google_Earth

May 6, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Head, Heart & Hand

Click HERE for more information on Head, Heart & Hand.

In the early years, after the arrival of the first American Protestant missionaries, the Hawaiian language came to be the universal mode of education.

It soon was apparent to the missionaries that the future of the Congregational Mission in Hawaii would be largely dependent upon the success of its schools.

Recognizing there were a limited number of missionaries to teach the chiefs and maka‘āinana (common people), the missionaries effectively set up a school in Lāhainā to teach teachers.

With the main facility at Lahainaluna, 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.

In many of the mission schools the focus was educating the head, heart and hand. In addition to the rigorous academic drills (Head), the schools provided religious/moral (Heart) and manual/vocational (Hand) training.

This method of learning started with the training of the missionary ministers. While they had extensive training in academics and religious studies, because missionaries were often in isolated locations without services, the early missionary ministers had training in manual arts, as well – this philosophy continued into the schools the missions formed.

Foreign Mission School

The object of the Foreign Mission School was the education, in the US country, of heathen youth (those that do not know God), so that they might be qualified to become useful missionaries, physicians, surgeons, schoolmasters or interpreters, and to communicate such knowledge in agriculture and the arts, as might prove the means of promoting Christianity and civilization. (ABCFM)

Once enrolled, students spent seven hours a day in study. Students studied penmanship, grammar, arithmetic, Latin, Greek, rhetoric, navigation, surveying, astronomy, theology, chemistry, and ecclesiastical history, among other specialized subjects.

Academics were balanced with mandatory outdoor labor. Students were tasked with the maintenance of the school’s agricultural plots and assigned to labor in the fields “two (and a half) days” a week and “two at a time.” Additionally, the school enforced strict rules for students’ social lives and study times.

They were also taught special skills like coopering (the making of barrels and other storage casks), blacksmithing, navigation and surveying. When not in class, students attended mandatory church and prayer sessions and also worked on making improvements to the school’s lands. (Cornwall)

Lahainaluna

Under the leadership of Reverend Lorrin Andrews, Lahainaluna was established by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions “to instruct young men of piety and promising talents”. It is the oldest high school west of the Mississippi River.

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.

Hilo Boarding School

In 1835, the mission constructed the Hilo Boarding School as part of an overall system of schools (with a girls boarding school in Wailuku and boarding at Lahainaluna.) 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.)

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

O‘ahu College – Punahou School

“The founding of Punahou as a school for missionary children not only provided means of instruction for the children of the Mission, but also gave a trend to the education and history of the Islands.” (Report of the Superintendent of Public Education, 1900)

The school was officially named in 1859 and it was initially called the Oʻahu College. It is not until 1934 that the school name was changed to Punahou School, the name we know it as today.

The curriculum at Punahou under Daniel Dole combined the elements of a classical education with a strong emphasis on manual labor in the school’s fields for the boys, and in domestic matters for the girls. The school raised much of its own food. (Burlin)

Kamehameha Schools

The head, heart and hand education continued. On April 1, 1886, Reverend William Brewster Oleson was hired from Hilo Boarding School to become the first principal of the Kamehameha School for Boys.

At Kamehameha, “Each student will be allowed to carry out 12 hours a week of manual labor. For industrial arts, two hours a day, and five days a week. Military drilling and physical education will be a portion of the curriculum everyday.”

“Arithmetic, English Language, Popular Science (Akeakamai,) Elementary Algebra (Anahonua,) Free-hand and Mechanical Drawing (Kakau me Kaha Kii,) Practical Geometry (Moleanahonua,) Bookkeeping (malama Buke Kalepa,) tailoring (tela humu lole,) printing (pai palapala,), masonry (hamo puna,) and other similar things, and blacksmithing.” (Kuokoa, June 28, 1887)

Missionary ‘Head, Heart & Hand’ Model Makes it Back to the Continent

Hilo Boarding School was the model for educating students at Hampton Institute in Virginia and Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. (KSBE)

With the help of the American Missionary Association, Samuel Armstrong, son of missionary Richard Armstrong, established the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute – now known as Hampton University – in Hampton, Virginia in 1868.

The Institute was meant to be a place where black students could receive post-secondary education to become teachers, as well as training in useful job skills while paying for their education through manual labor.

Hampton University’s most notable alumni is Booker T. Washington. “I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. … As nearly as I have been able to learn, I was born near a cross-roads post-office called Hale’s Ford, and the year was 1858 or 1859.”

After coming to Hampton Institute in 1872, Washington immediately began to adopt Armstrong’s teaching and philosophy. Washington described Armstrong as “the most perfect specimen of man, physically, mentally and spiritually the most Christ-like….” Washington also quickly learned the aim of the Hampton Institute.

Washington rose to become one of the most influential African-American intellectuals of the late 19th century. In 1881, he founded the Tuskegee Institute, a black school in Alabama devoted to training teachers.

Click HERE for more information on Head, Heart & Hand.

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Hilo_Boarding_School_Shop,_Class_of_June_1901

Hilo_Boarding_School-printing-(75-years)

Hilo_Boarding_School-shop-(75-years)

Hilo_Boarding_School_Shop,_Class_of_June_1901-400

Hilo Boarding School and Mission Houses

Hilo_Boarding_School-(75-years)

Hilo_Boarding_School-garden-(75-years)

Cornwall-home_of_the_Foreign_Mission_School-by_Barber-(WC)-1835

Cornwall’s Foreign Mission School

Punahou-Gardens-1880

Punahou-Girls-Court-of-the-E-Building-1877

Punahou School, Photograph attributed to Charles Burgess-1866-E bldg to left-Old School Hall right

Punahou-Manual-Arts-Class-1924

Punahou-Gardens-1880

Kamehameha School for Boys campus-(KSBE)-before 1900

April 19, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Missionary, Educator … Former Slave

“Here begins the history of things known only to those who have bid the American shores a long adieu….” (Betsey Stockton)

The Second Company destined for the Sandwich Island Mission assembled at New Haven for the purpose of taking passage in the ship Thames, captain Closby, which was to sail on the 19th (November 1822.) (Congregational Magazine)

Among them was Betsey Stockton, “a colored young woman brought up in the family of the Rev. Ashbel Green, having been received with the Rev. Charles S Stewart & his wife, as a missionary to the Sandwich islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM.)”

Betsey Stockton was born into slavery in Princeton, New Jersey in 1798. She belonged to Robert Stockton, a local attorney. She was presented as a gift to Stockton’s daughter and son-in-law, the Rev. Ashbel Green, then President of Princeton College (later Princeton University.)

She was given books and was allowed to attend evening classes at Princeton Theological Seminary and was later freed. (Kealoha)

“(S)he is to be regarded & treated neither as an equal nor as a servant – but as an humble christian friend, embarked in the great enterprise of endeavoring to ameliorate the condition of the heathen generally, & especially to bring them to the saving knowledge of the truths as it is in Jesus.” (Portion of Approval for Betsey Stockton to be a Missionary to Hawaiʻi, ABCFM)

“On the 24th (March 1823,) we saw and made Owhyhee. At the first sight of the snow-capped mountains, I felt a strange sensation of joy and grief. It soon wore away, and as we sailed slowly past its windward side, we had a full view of all its grandeur.”

“The tops of the mountains are hidden in the clouds, and covered with perpetual snow. We could see with a glass the white banks, which brought the strong wintry blasts of our native country to our minds so forcibly, as almost to make me shiver.”

“Two or three canoes, loaded with natives, came to the ship … we asked them where the king was at Hawaii, or Oahu? They said at Oahu. We informed them that we were missionaries, come to live with them, and do them good. At which an old man exclaimed, in his native dialect, what may be thus translated – ‘That is very good, by and by, know God.’” (Stockton)

They landed on Oʻahu. “The Mission is in prosperous circumstances, and the hopes of its supporters here were never brighter. Truly the fields are already ripe for the harvest, and we may add, ‘The harvest is great, but the labourers are few.’”

“We have been received with open arms by the government and people, and twice the number of missionaries would have been joyfully hailed.” (Charles Samuel Stewart)

“On the 26th of May we heard that the barge was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen and princes; and that the queen (Keōpūolani) was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her; and that if missionaries would consent to go, the barge should wait two days for them.”

“(T)he king this morning hastened off in a small yacht, and left orders for the barge (the celebrated Cleopatra) and Waverley, to follow to Lahaina: they are now preparing to get under weigh, and I must secure a passage.”

“Two weeks after we arrived at the islands, we were sent to this place, which is considered the best part of the whole. The productions are melons, bananas, sweet potatoes, &c.” (Stockton)

“The prosperity of the mission is uninterrupted, and its prospects most encouraging. … We are very comfortably located at one of the most beautiful and important spots on the islands.”

“Mr. Richards and myself have an island with 20,000 inhabitants committed to our spiritual care – a solemn – a most responsible charge!” (Stewart)

“It was there, as (Betsey said,) that she opened a school for the common people which was certainly the first of the kind in Maui and probably the first in all Hawaii; for at the beginning the missionaries were chiefly engaged in the instructions of the chiefs and their families.” (Maui News, May 5, 1906)

“The 29th (June 1923) was the Sabbath. I went in the morning with the family to worship; the scene that presented itself was one that would have done an American’s heart good to have witnessed.”

“Our place of worship was nothing but an open place on the beach, with a large tree to shelter us; on the ground a large mat was laid, on which the chief persons sat. To the right there was a sofa, and a number of chairs; on these the missionaries, the king, and principal persons sat.”

“The kanakas, or lower class of people, sat on the ground in rows; leaving a passage open to the sea, from which the breeze was blowing. Mr. R. (Richards) addressed them from these words, ‘It is appointed unto all men once to die, and after death the judgment.’ Honoru acted as interpreter: the audience all appeared very solemn.” (Stockton)

“After service the favourite queen called me, and requested that I should take a seat with her on the sofa, which I did, although I could say but few words which she could understand. Soon after, biding them aroha I returned with the family. In the afternoon we had an English sermon at our house: about fifty were present, and behaved well.”

“In the morning one of the king’s boys came to the house, desiring to be instructed in English. Mr. S. (Stewart) thought it would be well for me to engage in the work at once. Accordingly I collected a proper number and commenced. I had four English, and six Hawaiian scholars. This, with the care of the family, I find as much as I can manage.” (Stockton)

Stockton has asked the mission to allow her “to create a school for the makaʻāinana (common people.) Stockton learned the Hawaiian Language and established a school in Maui where she taught English, Latin, History and Algebra. (Kealoha)

“It shows that a sincere desire to accomplish a good purpose need not be thwarted by other necessary engagements, however humble or exacting.” (Maui News, May 5, 1906)

Betsey Stockton set a new direction for education in the Islands. Stockton’s school was commended for its teaching proficiency, and later served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School and also for the Hampton Institute in Virginia, founded by General Samuel C. Armstrong. (Takara)

After residing in Hawaii for over two years, Betsey Stockton relocated to Cooperstown, New York, with the Stewarts. In subsequent years, she taught indigenous Canadian Indian students on Grape Island.

She later “led a movement to form the First Presbyterian Church of Colour in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1848.” In addition, between the period of 1848 to 1865, Stockton moved to Philadelphia to teach Black children.

Betsey Stockton made pioneering endeavors as a missionary in Hawaii, but her legacy is not well known. Still, Stockton’s school “set a new direction for education in the Islands … (It) served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School.”

Her teaching program have influence Samuel C Armstrong, the founder of Hampton Institute, who also worked as a missionary in Hawaii during this period. After a full and productive life of service for the Lord, Betsey Stockton passed away in October of 1865 in Princeton, New Jersey. (Johnson)

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Betsey_Stockton

P-15 Lahainaluna

Lahaina as seen from Lahainaluna (Maui) Miss Thurston, Attributed to possibly be Eliza Thurston (1807-1873)

The Mission Seminary at Lahainaluna on Maui in the 1830s, from Hiram Bingham I’s book

Hilo Boarding School and Mission Houses

Waiakea_Mission_The 7th Baron Lord Byron visited Hilo in 1825-painting by the Robert Dampier-only a few thatched huts at the time-1825

Hampton Normal & Agricultural Institute

Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute

Witherspoon_St_Presbyterian_Church

Witherspoon_Street_Presbyterian_Church

April 1, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

William Brewster Oleson

On April 1, 1886, Reverend William Brewster Oleson was hired from Hilo Boarding School to become the first principal of the Kamehameha School for Boys.

Oleson was born in Portland, Maine, September 9, 1851, educated at the University of Maine, and graduated from the Theological Seminary at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1877; after a short pastorate at Gambler, Ohio, came to Hawaiʻi.

For eight years he held the principalship of Hilo Boarding School, so long occupied by Father David Belden Lyman, resigning only to accept the pioneer work of organizing the Kamehameha Schools. (HMCS)

“Only a limited number of Students will be received this year, and those desiring to enter the School in the future must apply on the 1st day of September 1887.”

“Each student will occupy a separate room furnished with bed, table, and chair; and a list of items to be furnished by each student will be sent if asked for in advanced to the teacher.”

“Each student will be allowed to carry out 12 hours a week of manual labor. For industrial arts, two hours a day, and five days a week. Military drilling and physical education will be a portion of the curriculum everyday.”

Oleson brought nine of his most prized pupils with him to Kamehameha Schools to create the school’s inaugural class. By then, Hilo Boarding School was the model for educating students at Hampton Institute in Virginia and Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

On October 3, 1887, Kamehameha Schools for Boys opened for students and holds classes. By October 12, 37 boys over the age of twelve are enrolled; there were 4 teachers. On November 4 1887, opening day ceremonies take place with much pomp and circumstance.

Oleson was the principal, WS Terry served as superintendent of shops, Mrs F Johnson was a matron, instructor Miss CA Reamer would later become the principal of the preparatory school and Miss LL Dressler also served as an instructor. (KSBE)

A year later the Preparatory Department, for boys 6 to 12 years of age, opened in adjacent facilities. (Organization of the Kamehameha School for Girls was delayed until 1894.)

During a visit to see General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, Hampton’s founder, Oleson picked up the idea of including military training in Kamehameha’s curriculum (1888.) (Rath)

He was disciplinarian, nurse, mother and father to each boy, and he attended every baseball game.

Oleson wrote the Kamehameha Schools alma mater, “Sons of Hawaiʻi” together with Theodore Richards, who adapted the tune from Yale’s “Wake, Freshman, Wake” and chose the school colors based on Yale school colors (‘Yale Blue’ and white.)

“Into this noble institution he threw the whole of his ability and energy for another eight years, and then returned to the continent for the education of his children.”

There he served as pastor at Worcester, Ware, Holyoke and for other Congregational churches for about fourteen years. He came again to Honolulu in 1908 and was elected Secretary of the Hawaiian Board of Missions, a position he has filled with honor till called to higher service.

Oleson’s executive ability, his clear thinking and good judgment, his firmness and decision, his ability to understand human nature, his optimism, his kindness, all combined to make him an excellent instructor.

His clear, concise statements also, so helpful for an educator were equally effective as a speaker, as a counselor, and as a leader of thought among men with whom he had later to deal. His courteous manners and winsome personality made for him many friends, while his courageous portrayal of the “faith of the fathers” won for him the respect of all. (HMCS)

Oleson was outspoken and politically active, becoming a member of the Reform Party, a founding member and executive officer of the Hawaiian League, and one of the “persons chiefly engaged in drawing up the (Bayonet) constitution.” (Williams)

On December 19, 1907, Reverend William B Oleson delivered a stirring address at an impressive and well-attended Founder’s day ceremony (alumni have raised funds among themselves to defray the expense of the Oleson’s trip from the continent to Hawaii:)

“For twenty years our youth have had a training that has justified itself in the results. Work has been treated as an honorable and necessary thing. Self-mastery in work-shop and class-room has been the constant goal.”

“Constantly widening opportunities have been afforded here for the development of aptitude, and that always in the direction of ability to earn a living. And this training has not been in vain. There are men and women all over these islands today who are living industrious and useful lives for which they gained the incentive and preparation here.” (Oleson; KSBE)

Reverend William Brewster Oleson died on the eastward-bound train at Seligman, Arizona, on March 19, 1915. His health had not been good and he was anticipating a six months’ vacation among the scenes of his youth. (HMCS)

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