Hilo | Page 15 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 14, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Pu‘umaile Home

“The tubercle bacillus, the germ that causes tuberculosis, is responsible for the loss each year of millions of lives. The spitting, coughing and sneezing of people who have tuberculosis are the chief means of the spread of this disease to individuals, families and even to entire communities.”

“The Territory of Hawaii has a high death rate from this disease as compared with most mainland cities. … The County of Hawaii has the highest rate of the disease of any of the counties in the Territory. During the last five years an average of 67 people died each year on this Island.”

“(T)here are hundreds of people on this Island who have been exposed to tuberculosis and who are potential cases of the disease. There are many people on this Island who have the disease but who do not know that they have it.”

“If the problem is considered not as “cases,” but as individuals who are our neighbors, it becomes a more interesting problem. Who is my neighbor? Last year there were maids, bus drivers, dressmakers, plantation laborers, waiters, students and teachers who had tuberculosis.”

“More than half of the people who have tuberculosis are between the ages of 15 and 45. Think of these young people starting out in new jobs, establishing homes – struck down in the prime of life!”

“Too many people do not know about, nor heed, the warning signals that should send them to a doctor for a physical check-up. Ignorance as to the ways in which tuberculosis is spread oftentimes causes neglect of the early case. Ignorance of the seriousness of the situation keeps the public from taking sufficient action on this problem.” (Chandler, Director, Tuberculosis Society of Hawai‘i; The Friend, July 1, 1939)

“The control or prevention of the spread of the disease is chiefly dependent upon the various district nurses, who not only furnish the Bureau with correct data for reliable statistics, but who supervise cases requiring it, directing them how to avoid infecting others, and observing that all due precautions are maintained in each case.”

“These nurses devote their time to hunting up cases which have not been reported, supervising certain cases, and giving instructions to patients as to how to care for themselves so as not to infect others.”

“The treatment of those afflicted is carried out by seven institutions—three in Honolulu, namely, Pa Ola Day Camp, Free Dispensary, and Leahi Home; one on Hawaii—Pu‘umaile Home; two on Kauai—Lihue and Waimea Hospitals; and one on Maui—the Kula Sanitarium. (Board of Health, 1921)

“The benefits of hospital treatment may be shown by the figures from two of the institutions in the Territory. Out of 103 persons discharged 84 were able to return to work.”

“Pu‘umaile Home, in Hilo, was in charge of Miss Wilhelm and Miss Kate W. Sadler, district nurses for Hawaii, with Dr. L. L. Sexton as medical officer. … A total of 37 cases were handled at Pu‘umaile, some of the patients being Filipinos en route to Honolulu to take steamer for the Philippines. There were 7 deaths, 15 discharged at their own request, 6 for other reasons, and 2 as apparent cures. (Board of Health, 1915)

“Pu‘umaile Home is the only institution for the care of tuberculosis in the Territory that is maintained solely from Territorial funds. One hundred and twenty-two were admitted during the year, with 68 Patients remaining at the end of the period, just double the number as compared with the previous year.” (Report of Governor, 1924)

The original Pu‘umaile Home was built in about 1912 at a site that is now in the vicinity of the old terminal building at Hilo Airport. It took its name from a nearby cinder cone (approximately 50-feet high.) The Home served the entire island.

The Hilo Airport was dedicated in February 1928 and in April 1938 a new facility was constructed at the end of Kalanianaʻole Avenue (at what is now Lehia Park.) (Clark)

“A son of a former pastor of the Finnish National Lutheran church here has been appointed superintendent of a new hospital known as the Pu‘umaile home at Hilo, Hawaii.”

“Well known to most everyone to Hilo is Dr. Carl J. Wilen, superintendent of Pu‘umaile home, who has held that position since July, 1935, when he came to Hilo as the first full-time physician at the sanatorium.” (Ironwood Daily Globe, November 24, 1939)

Some incorrectly suggest that the hospital washed away by the 1946 tsunami; however, it was spared. “The (sea)wall itself was undamaged, and buildings sheltered by it were undisturbed except for minor damage by flooding.” (Wiegel)

“Observers said waves drove 40-feet high over the Hilo breakwater … Water reached 1,000-yards inland, flooded the first floor of the Pumaile Hospital, and wrecked outlying homes of hospital personnel.” (Albuquerque Journal, January 5, 1947)

The Army installed standby generators until power could be restored. Engineers laid 2-miles of emergency pipeline to restore water. Patients were temporarily evacuated by Navy personnel and cared for at the nearby naval air station (Hilo Airport.) (Muffler)

The hospital remained on the shoreline until 1951 when it was relocated into new facilities on the grounds of the Hilo Memorial Hospital, above Rainbow Falls. Shortly after (1955,) Pu‘umaile was combined with the Hilo Memorial Hospital to establish Hilo Hospital (now Hilo Medical Center.)

In 1955, new and more effective drugs were introduced in the treatment of tuberculosis and, as a result, by 1958 the average daily patient census significantly dropped. (Legislative Auditor, 1968) (Pu‘umaile was referred by several names, including Pumaile and Puumaile.)

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April 8, 2017 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Haili Church

Three years after the arrival American Protestant missionaries of the Pioneer Company in 1820, Asa Thurston, Artemis Bishop, Joseph Goodrich and William Ellis toured the island of Hawaii to identify appropriate Mission Stations there.

The reported on six locations, with the priority given to Kailua in the Kona District and Waiakea in the Hilo District. At Waiakea, the missionaries erected two houses and a church within two months after their arrival.

The first church was of traditional pole and thatch construction. The dedication of the Waiakea Mission Station was on May 19,1824.

From 1820 until 1850, further development of Hilo proper was focused in this area around the mission. In addition to the church, there was the eventual Hilo Boarding School, as well as the missionary homes and government buildings including the royal cottages.

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. Churches were constructed throughout the Hilo and Puna Districts to meet the needs of the people in those locations.

The needs of the home congregation also increased. A larger building was required as well as one that could weather the climate for a longer period of time. The first churches for the Waiakea Mission Station were of Hawaiian thatch construction and were replaced, as they deteriorated.

“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 years 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 bed-rock, we by amicable agreement dismissed our mason ….” (Coan, Life in Hawaii)

Haili, the name of the church, was derived from the forest, Haili Kulamanu (Paradise of the Birds) from which most of the ‘ōhi‘a 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)

“When the materials were brought together, we employed a Chinese carpenter at a reasonable price, to frame and raise the building, all his pay to be in trade, for ‘the golden age’ had not yet dawned on Hawaii.”

“The natives, men and women, soon covered the rough frame with thatching. There was no floor but the earth, and the only windows were holes about three feet square left in the thatching on the sides and ends.”

“This was the first framed church edifice built in Hilo, and in this building, capable of seating about 2,000 people, we first welcomed Commodore Ap Catesby Jones, of the frigate United States, with his officers and brass band.”

“The courteous commodore and his chaplain consented to deliver each an address of congratulation and encouragement to the people for their ready acceptance of the Gospel, and for their progress in Christian civilization.”

“He alluded to a former visit of his to Honolulu by order of the United States Government, to investigate certain complaints made by a class of foreign residents against the American missionaries, stating that on a patient and careful hearing of the parties, the missionaries came out triumphantly, and their abusers were put to shame.”

“The cornerstone 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. The whole cost was $13,000.00.” (Coan, Life in Hawaii)

Prior to this, the Hawaiian community development had centered one and one-half miles to the east, southeast in the Waiakea section of Hilo. Because of the missionary improvements, commercial and governmental in the district of Hilo located closer to Haili Church.

“In 1868, an awful earthquake tore in pieces stone walls and stone houses and rent the earth in various parts of Hilo, Puna and Kau. Had we built according to our original plan and agreement with the mason, ‘our holy and beautiful house’ would have become a heap of rubbish …”

“… and our hearts would have sunk within us with sorrow. How true that ‘a man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.’” (Coan, Life in Hawaii)

On July 15, 1979, fire destroyed the church tower, ceiling and some of the interior of the building. The restored church was rededicated on June 1, 1980. The church continues today. A notable modern recognition was the 2001 induction of the Haili Choir into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame.

The Haili Church Choir is one of the oldest and most widely acclaimed Hawaiian church choirs. Since the beginning of the 1900s, it has been the ‘training school’ for some of Hawai‘i’s foremost names in traditional Hawaiian music, both sacred and secular.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, church choirs were instrumental in the development of Hawaiian music. While they are not the oldest, nor was the choir officially named until 1909, the Haili Choir, because of its performance out reach, became the most prominent

The choir began in 1902 under Harry K. Naope, Sr., at the Kalepolepo Chapel, one of the seven branches of the Haili Church. Naope was a music teacher in the public schools, and received his training in music at Lahainaluna Seminary on the island of Maui. (HMHOF)

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March 23, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nikai Camp

A shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge. The only answer was imported labor.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

The first to arrive were the Chinese (1852.) In March 1881, King Kalākaua visited Japan during which he discussed with Emperor Meiji Hawai‘i’s desire to encourage Japanese nationals to settle in Hawaiʻi.

Kalākaua’s meeting with Emperor Meiji improved the relationship of the Hawaiian Kingdom with the Japanese government, and an economic depression in Japan served as an impetus for agricultural workers to leave their homeland. (Nordyke/Matsumoto)

By 1884, Hawai‘i Island counted more than thirty plantations, many of them in the Hilo area. Immigrants were arriving by the thousands, mostly from Asia. They fulfilled labor contracts and afterward stayed on. (Olson)

“Upon their arrival in Honolulu those desiring help were permitted to select their labourers and take them to their plantations. Each man was allowed from twelve to fifteen dollars a month, and each woman thirteen, a house to live in, fuel, free water and medical attendance.”

“The labourer was allowed to return to his country at the end of three years, and while here he was not to be separated from his family. … Living largely upon rice raised by himself, and under the favourable condition of the climate, the labourer could lay by a modest sum each year if he chose.” (Browne)

The first ship of Japanese sugar workers, City of Tokyo, arrived with 944 emigrants on February 8, 1885. The second ship, Yamashiro Maru, brought 988 more Japanese (930-men, 34-women and 14-children, most of them from Hiroshima and Kumamoto. They arrived on June 17, 1885; their living quarters were called ‘Nikai-sen Camp’ (second ship camp.)

There used to be a Japanese plantation workers camp associated with Wainaku Mill known as Nikai Camp – for most, it was referred to as the Japanese Village.

It became an attraction. “A mile and a half from Hilo, above the Wainaku mill, there is to be found, in a green, fern-clad valley with a sparkling stream and a dashing waterfall, a complete Japanese village, with thatched roofs and bamboo walls for its houses.”

“Few strangers know of its existence, but it is, to my eye, the most picturesque and unique cluster of dwellings in the Hawaiian isles. Many of the doors of the cottages are shaded by luxuriant banana trees, bearing bunches weighing from sixty to seventy pounds.”

“The hamlet is swarming with rosy babes and smiling young mothers. All look healthy, contented and happy. Mr. Furneaux has some very artistic photographs of this Arcadian village, as well as other scenes in the environs of Hilo.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 17, 1892)

“One of the curious and interesting sights around Hilo is the Japanese village of bamboo huts on the Wainaku plantation. Every foot of space is utilized. Cucumbers and squashes covet the thatched roofs with luxuriant growth.”

“The Board of Health has had to interfere, however, with some of their curious and malodorous processes of utilizing fertilizing material.” (Daily Bulletin, January 20, 1892)

However, tragedy struck the village … “During Monday afternoon, the 15th (January 15, 1895,) the Japanese camp at Wainaku was completely destroyed by fire.”

“The village consisted of fifty or sixty thatched houses fashioned from bamboo and cane leaves which formerly had been often pointed out to tourists as one of the most picturesque sights in Hilo district.”

“It is stated that Manager Scott will immediately rebuild the camp but this time the dwellings will be constructed of prosaic northwest lumber.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 24, 1895)

Hilo wasn’t the only Japanese Village attraction … “By the way it would repay one to mount his horse and ride away to a little Japanese village nestling on the mountain side amid the corn lands of Haleakala Ranch.”

“Perhaps Fukuda who keeps a neat little store there would kill a chicken and entertain a well-dispised stranger most hospitably.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 25, 1893)

In 1971 Wainaku, Hakalau, Pepe‘ekeo and Pāpaʻikou sugar companies were consolidated in a processing cooperative that also included independent cane growers. Two years later, Pepe‘ekeo Sugar merged with Mauna Kea Sugar to form Mauna Kea Sugar Co., Inc., the state’s fourth largest sugar company with 18,000 acres of cane.

The mills at Wainaku and Hakalau were closed as the Pepeʻekeo mill was modernized to double its capacity by 1974. (HSPA) The Hilo Coast Processing Company and the Mauna Kea Sugar Company (at that point called Mauna Kea Agribusiness Company) mill shut down in 1994.

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October 26, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Palace Theater

Bakers Beach, in Hilo Bay between Reeds Bay and Pier 3 is named for prominent Hilo businessman Adam Baker. It’s manmade; the coral rubble and sand are spoil materials from the dredging operations that enlarged the Hilo Harbor basin. They were deposited on the shore here between 1925 and 1930.

The newly created beach fronted Baker’s three-story house; with its beautiful lawns, rock gardens and large fruit and shade trees, it was a famous landmark. Baker was the son of John Timoteo Baker, the last appointed governor of the Big Island under the Hawaiian monarchy. (Clark)

“When Adam Baker and some of the oriental moving picture managers approached the Sheriff and asked for the needed permit for Sunday shows, he turned his back to their request and answered, ‘There’s nothing doin’ …”

“And ‘nothing doin’’ it was for July 4, the first Sunday on which the law was in effect, despite the tearful pleas of the theater men, who saw many dimes and quarters going astray, amid the holiday crowd in town, because there were no movies to be seen.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 13, 1915)

That didn’t stop Baker in the theater business; with the Empire across the street and the Gaiety and others nearby, on October 26, 1925, at 6:30 pm, the New Palace opened its doors to an eager crowd, showing its first movie at 7:30, ‘Don Q: Son of Zorro,’ starring Douglas Fairbanks. Also shown were the short films ‘The Clodhopper’ and ‘Traps and Troubles.’ (Haleamau)

The New Palace Theater, part of a small family of theaters owned and operated by Adam Charles Baker (1881-1948) was built at the peak of the heyday for American movie palaces.

Baker’s New Palace was built on a scale that had never been seen outside of Honolulu. The original stadium seating arrangement on a sloped floor, predating stadium seating in modern theaters, accommodated 800 seats and allowed for unobstructed sight lines.

The building was constructed of redwood imported from the Pacific Northwest. (Valentine) Fourteen huge redwood columns supported the wooden roof trusses which span the entire width of the building.

Designed and built in the days before electronic sound amplification systems, the Palace boasts excellent natural acoustics for live musical groups and drama.

The early shows were silent films; in 1929, a 3-manual (keyboards,) 7-rank (sets of pipes) Robert-Morton pipe organ was built in Van Nuys, California, shipped and installed in the Palace Theater. Shortly after, Johnny DeMello became the house organist, accompanying the silent films and giving other performances.

The Empire was first to exhibit a talkie, ‘The Voice of the City,’ in Hilo on October 9, 1929. The New Palace’s first talkie, shown on October, 16, was ‘Mary Pickford’s Coquette’ (Pickford’s talkie debut). Management of the two theaters decided to take turns exhibiting silent and talkie movies. (Haleamau)

In 1931, The Palace Theater was sold to Consolidated Amusements, Ltd and closed shortly thereafter for renovation; Consolidated began showing first run movies. Baker continued on as the New Palace’s assistant manager, but retired on January 9, 1932, to travel.

By December 10, 1937, the Palace became not only the first theater, but the first building on the island to be fully air-conditioned when WA Ramsay Ltd., installed a Carrier system.

The Palace would close for renovation once more on April 25, 1940, after that night’s showing of ‘All Women Have Secrets’ (the movie debut of Jeanne Cagney, younger sister of James). It reopened on May 26, 1940. (Haleamau)

That year, the pipe organ (and Johnny DeMello) moved from the Palace Theater to the Hilo Theater (which opened on April 25, 1940 with 1,037 seats.) A few years later (1946,) a massive tsunami hit the Hilo Theater and damaged the organ console.

Johnny returned to Honolulu and in 1955 he was appointed house organist at the Waikiki Theatre and played there until his retirement in 1978.

The organ console was removed and sent to Honolulu for repairs. Unfortunately, in 1960, a second tsunami hit Hilo, and the Hilo Theater. The organ console was washed over the seats to the auditorium back wall where it broke apart.

Hilo Theater closed for good following the tsunami and the building was demolished in 1965. The Palace Theater survived the two tsunami. However, in 1984, Palace Theater closed and was used as Consolidated Theaters’ storage of the highly flammable film in a vault.

In 1990, the building was acquired from Consolidated and structural repairs were undertaken. For the past 10+ years, the non-profit ‘Friends of the Palace Theater’ has worked to restore and upgrade the theater building.

And, through numerous grants, business and individual donations, and a lot of hard work, the theater is open with independent films, concerts and other live performances. (Fundraising and further restoration are ongoing.) (Lots of information here is from Hilo Palace and Haleamau.)

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October 14, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Charlie Chaplin

“You wish to write my impressions of Hilo. Very good. Here it is. I saw the volcano.” (Charlie Chaplin, Los Angeles; Volcano House Register, NPS)

“There are many charms in Hilo other than the Volcano. A maidenly diffidence forbids me suggesting the possessor of them.” (Edna Purviance, Los Angeles; Volcano House Register, NOS)

“Charlie in his honest-to-goodness self and personality today walked up the main street of Honolulu. So thousands of movie fans who have laughed themselves hoarse the antics and swagger of the jovial Charlie on the screen will have an opportunity for the next few week of occasionally bumping into that worthy the streets.”

“Charlie arrived on the Matsonia. In the Chaplin party also were Miss Eda Purviance, another well known screen star; Tom Harrington and Bob Wagner of the Saturday Evening Post staff.”

“Wagner is accompanying Charlie on his trip just for the sake of being with him and to record the personal side of the vacation.
Charlie is here primarily for rest and to see the sights of the islands.”

“His trip, at least at present, has nothing to do with the possibility of staging comic scenario the islands, though Charlie is not averse to picking up few hints that may serve him well in his business of making humanity laugh away dull care.”

“Charlie and his party were the life of the boat coming over and made things gay for the passengers, aided and abetted by R. J. Buchly of the First National bank, who as terpischore expert taught Charlie and Miss Purviance a few steps. The dancing lessons were the occasion for more merriment aboard the Matsonia.”

“Charlie visited the Young hotel this morning and called on Mr Van Loan, the movie photographer. This gave rise to the rumor that Chaplin was down here in Honolulu to take some films.”

“‘No sire!’ he replied emphatically. ‘You don’t catch me doing any work while I’m down here. I’m on vacation, and I’m going to rest.’”

“Charlie was asked what he thought of Honolulu. ‘Great,’ he exclaimed, enthusiastically: ‘I love every minute of it. I wish I could stay here longer. I’m tickled to death with the place. I was going to New York instead but, say, this has got anything I’ve seen beaten by a mile.’”

“Although the film star is minus his dinky moustache and cane, derby hat and huge shoes, he is still the same old Charlie, and could hardly get by in a crowd without being discovered. He is going to get out on a surfboard and be a regular kamaaina, he says.” (Star Bulletin, October 10, 1917)

“Charley Chaplin managed to see a good deal of Hawaii in the short week he stayed in the Islands, one reason being that while here he outfitted himself with new glasses. Pleased with his new outlook on things Hawaiian, Chaplin had his co-star Miss Purviance, also fitted with new glasses.”

“As a final result, Dr. RA Thompson has added a much prized letter of appreciation from Chaplin to the collection of other testimonials to his optician skill, letters written by former President Roosevelt, Former President Tuft, William Jennings Bryan, Elbert Hubbard, Billy Sunday and other celebrities.”

“The autographed letter from Charley Chaplin is a highly complimentary one and highly prized by its recipient. Doctor Thompson has definitely decided to make his home in Honolulu, opening an office here for the practice of his profession.” (Hawaiian Gazette, October 19, 1917)

“The famous Charlie Chaplin arrived in Honolulu October 10, and while he intended to come for a rest between custard pie throwing contests, he was kept extremely busy sightseeing.”

“Photographers camped on his trail and snapped him riding the surfboards on the beach at Waikiki, eating two-fingered poi, dancing with the hula girls and even flirting with Pele, the Goddess of Fire, on the edge of the volcano at Kilauea.”

“Charlie likes Hawaii’s style and he fain would stay a while, loafing on the sun-kissed sand, eating poi with either hand; listening to the ukulele played by Waikiki Bill Bailey; eating dog in guise of pig; practicing the hula jig.”

“But he’s got to get back home and with us may no more roam – back to make a nation smile in rare Charlie Chaplin’s way.” (Logan Republican, November 15, 1917)

Charlie & Edna Purviance in Hawaii, 1917. Charlie met Edna in a cafe in San Francisco in 1914. He said later that she was ‘more than pretty, she was beautiful’. She went on to appear in 34 films with Chaplin from 1915-1923. She is my favorite of his leading ladies.

They had a certain sweetness onscreen that Charlie didn’t have with any of his other leading ladies-in my opinion anyway. Charlie & Edna cared deeply about each other long after their romantic relationship ended and Charlie kept Edna on his payroll until her death in 1958.

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