Hilo | Page 16 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 19, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Puna Plantation Hawai‘i, Ltd

He bought Puna Plantation Hawai‘i, a papaya farm, around the time of the eruption in the Kapoho area of Puna in 1959. Puna Plantation Hawai‘i Ltd became the parent company name for various entities; the most prominent dba bears his name.

Financial records note the company services include: management consulting services; eating place; grocery store Food and beverage industries, Beverage processing, Meat and poultry and seafood processing …

… Fruits and vegetables processing, Dairy and eggs processing, Grains and sugar and oils and fat processing, New business startup consultation services, Corporate mergers consultation services.

Of the 16 officers of parent company Puna Plantation Hawai‘i Ltd., three bear the family surname, but others also are family members.

The company “is held by the family. However, in our organization we do have … nonfamily executives who have been with our organization for a long time have been with (us) so long that we consider them family.” (Company President; Star Advertiser)

Back when the initial company was formed, he and a competitor had identical initials for their company names; merchandise for the competitor, K Tahara store, were marked ‘KT’ at Hilo harbor.

To avoid confusion of deliveries of the goods, his shipments were marked ‘KTA,’ to distinguish them (the ‘A’ has no other apparent significance.) The initials carried on as the company’s name.

Let’s look back …

Koichi, at the age of 17, left his home in Hiroshima, Japan, seeking the opportunities American offered. With the intention to get to San Francisco, he landed first in Hawai‘i on January 14, 1907. He stayed, and found work at Heʻeia Sugar Plantation at Kāne’ohe.

Taniyo, a woman he knew from Japan, arrived in the Islands a few years later; they were married July 7, 1913. A couple years later they moved to Hilo, where Koichi attended a school to learn English and bookkeeping. S Hata, a wholesaling company, hired Koichi as a bookkeeper after he finished his courses.

Their first son, Yukiwo, was born in 1916. That year also marked the founding of K Taniguchi Shoten (store) – a grocery and dry goods store Koichi and Taniyo started to support their son.

They bought a two-story building on Lihiwai Street in Waiākea along the banks of the Wailoa River. The Taniguchis lived upstairs and ran their store downstairs in approximately 500-square feet of space. (Kimura; HRGM)

In the beginning, Taniyo minded the store while watching the couple’s first-born son, Yukiwo. Koichi Taniguchi would deliver orders to Hilo families by bicycle, or customers could come pick up their orders.

Over time, the store’s name changed to K Taniguchi Store, K. Taniguchi Supermarket and, finally, KTA Super Stores. KTA employs about 800 people companywide, making it one of the largest private-sector employers on the island.

The first expansion was in 1939 when the Keawe street store opened in downtown Hilo. Eventually, the company expanded to its present size being a six-store, island wide supermarket chain.

The initial store in Waiākea was lost during the 1946 tsunami. After that operations were consolidated in the downtown Hilo store.

KTA opened in Kailua-Kona in 1959, under the banyan tree, just mauka of the Kailua pier. The Pū‘āinakō store, now its flagship store, on the southern outskirts of Hilo opened in 1966.

In response to the decline in sugar, and anticipating that sugar workers at closing plantations might stay in agriculture, KTA initiated the Mountain Apple Brand of grown-in-Hawai`i foods.

KTA has established many firsts in Hawaii’s grocery industry over the years, claiming to have been the state’s first supermarket to have an in-store bakery, at the Pū‘āinakō store; the first to install UPC bar code scanners at all checkouts; and the first to install and operate energy-saving photovoltaic systems, at its Waimea and Kailua-Kona stores.

Five of the company’s six stores are KTA Super Stores, while the sixth location is a sister-store called Waikoloa Village Market. (Lots of information here is from KTA Super Stores, Engle (Star Advertiser) and Kimura (HRGM.))

KTA now is led by third-generation chairman and CEO Barry Taniguchi and fourth-generation President and COO Toby Taniguchi. Along with third- and fourth-generation family members Lon Taniguchi, Maryan Miyada, Andrew Chun and Derek Taniguchi, they ensure the legacy of Koichi and Taniyo Taniguchi will continue.

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KTA-Taniyo and Koichi Taniguchi with their grandchildren. L-R-Lon, Maryan, and Barry-HRGM

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June 26, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kaumana Cave

Hilo is situated on lava flows from two of the five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaiʻi. In the northern part of Hilo near the Wailuku River (that forms the approximate boundary between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa Volcanoes,) Mauna Loa flows overlie much older ash deposits and flows from Mauna Kea.

Twenty-seven Mauna Loa flows (pāhoehoe and ʻaʻa) have been identified in and near Hilo. The youngest flow is from the historic Mauna Loa eruption of 1880-81, and the oldest flow yet found lies near Hoaka Road, with an age of more than 24,000 years. (USGS)

The 1881 lavas reached just north of the present University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo campus. After crossing the present Komohana and Kumukoa Streets, a very narrow section crossed what is now Mohouli Street, about 300 yards above the intersection with Kapiʻolani Street.

Several hundred homes are now built on pāhoehoe lavas of the 1881 flow and can easily be recognized by their ubiquitous “rock gardens” (no soils have yet formed on this flow). Kaumana Cave was formed at this time and was a major supply conduit for the lavas that threatened Hilo. (USGS)

Lava Caves (more commonly called lava tubes) are natural conduits through which lava travels beneath the surface of a lava flow. Tubes form by the crusting over of lava channels and pāhoehoe flows.

When the supply of lava stops at the end of an eruption or lava is diverted elsewhere, lava in the tube system drains downslope and leaves partially empty conduits beneath the ground. (USGS)

Kaumana Cave is located up the hill from the downtown area on Kaumana Drive (Saddle Road,) stretching for almost two miles. When you get to the Cave you can see a concrete stair case which leads through the old skylight down to the entrance to the Cave.

The Kaumana Cave, part of a 25-mile-long lava tube, is the centerpiece of a small park maintained by the County of Hawaiʻi. Above Hilo, near the 4-mile marker along Kaumana Drive, the cave’s entrance – actually a skylight formed when part of the lava tube collapsed – is open to curious visitors who want to explore the inside.

The roof of the tube is 20 to 25 feet thick in most places and most of the rubble on the floor fell during or shortly after the eruption, when the skylight entrance fell.

The tube was initially filled with fast-moving lava then the level dropped and a long period of flow along the floor took place and from time to time slopped over to the side creating the bench-like features seen near the cave entrance. Roof blocks fell and became embedded and coated with basalt. The lava stream later emptied leaving the evacuated tube. (Hostra)

A steep staircase leads into a collapse pit. Here the cave roof collapsed and allows entry into the lava tube. From here you can enter different sections of the cave, going mauka (uphill) or makai (downhill) paths.

Going makai, a short path leads to the entrance. There are a few boulders to step carefully through, after which sections of smooth and mostly level surfaces allow a bit easier access. About 50 yards into the downhill section you reach a choke point, a little scrambling and a bit of duck-walk is necessary to get through.

After the narrow, the cave opens back up again. After another hundred yards there are a series of ledges, old crusts left by cooling lava when it half-filled the cave. To continue from here requires crawling through another very low passage. (Cooper)

“Long ʻōhiʻa tree roots hang from overhead … Sides of Cave have dribbles of lava from above forming odd stalagmitelike objects on floor. (There is a) very noticeable slope which is quite easy to travel.”

“Another junction. This one has three branches. There are two shallow rimmed lava cones filled with water. Wedge-shaped overhang is off to one side.” (1953 Loins Club; DOI)

In periods of normal rainfall, running water sometimes is audible beneath the floor of the cave. Rainfalls of 8 to 12 inches produce waterfalls spouting from cracks high on the wall of one cave section.

They form a small stream that runs on or just beneath the floor for several hundred yads before finally sinking into cracks. Its flow is augmented by several small bubbling springs at or just above floor level and part of its flow also is lost into small floor-level cracks. (Halliday)

Kaumana Cave is an example of a lava tube cave that carries floodwater for over half-a-mile. The lower end of Kaumana Cave opens into a drainage ditch several yards below the roadway of Edita Street.

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June 1, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Sui San Kabushiki Kaisha

“There has been another turn in the affairs of the local fish markets as a result the newly built Gehr market on the right bank of the Wailoa river, above the railroad bridge is to all intents deserted.”

“This was brought about by a hui of Japanese fishermen … who have bought out the entire business of RA Lucas and have taken over the unexpired portion of his lease of the Waiakea fish market.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 23, 1907)

On September 17, 1907, Torazuki Hayashi and Hitaro Egawa formed a cooperative named Sui San Kabushiki Kaisha. Kamezo Matsuno and other peddlers and fishermen became associates (“officially known as the ‘Japanese Sea Produce Company.’”) Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 23, 1907)

Controversy loomed over this business transaction due to many Japanese fishermen committing to sell their catch to the Gehr Fish Market then later changing to support the new Sui San Kabushiki Kaisha. This matter was settled in the courts and US Suisan Kabushiki Kaisha, Limited was in full swing. (Suisan)

Kamezo Matsuno was an “issei” immigrant who came to Hawai‘i from Okikamura, a small fishing village in Oshima-Gun, Yamaguchi Ken, Japan. At around age 29, Matsuno was one of the youngest of the original founders. The other founders were also Issei. (hawaii-edu)

Issei (first generation) were born in Japan and emigrated to the Islands. Like the other ethnic immigrant groups, the Issei generally worked on sugar and pineapple plantations. The term Issei came into common use and represented the idea of a new beginning and belonging.

The children of the Issei were the Nisei, the second generation in Hawaiʻi and the first generation of Japanese descent to be born and receive their entire education in America, learning Western values and holding US citizenship.

Subsequent generations follow the simple counting patter; the Sansei were children born to the Nisei (the third generation;) Yonsei, the fourth generation – born to at least one Sansei parent and Gosei, the fifth generation – the generation of people born to at least one Yonsei parent, etc.

Back at Suisan Kabushiki Kaisha, Limited … in three years, the market’s fish auction became a staple seafood provider in Hilo and in 1911 the founders built a second, more modern, fish market. To help bring in the market’s prized ahi (yellow fin tuna) or onaga (long tailed red snapper,) it also bought several sampans. (Honolulu)

In 1899, Gorokichi Nakasugi, a Japanese shipbuilder, brought a traditional Japanese sailing vessel (called a sampan) to Hawai‘i, and this led to a unique class of vessels and distinctive maritime culture associated with the rise of the commercial fishing industry in Hawai‘i. Japanese-trained shipwrights adapted the original sampan design to the rough waters of the Hawaiian Islands.

A booming fishing business was no match to the massive tsunami that destroyed both fish markets in 1923. Suisan rebuilt, but World War II threatened to dismantle the company next.

Martial law was declared in Hawaii during WWII, property was seized and Japanese fishermen were prohibited from operating their fishing vessels. Many of the company’s Japanese employees were taken to internment camps. (Honolulu)

Suisan started recovering when this ban was lifted at the end of the war and fishing resumed. The reprieve didn’t last long. A second tsunami hit Hilo, and Suisan, in 1946; Suisan rebuilt yet again.

Suisan continued to look forward and gained momentum in the 1950s. Improved fishing methods, technological advances and efficient shipping methods allowed the company to become profitable.

Suisan was able to harvest larger catches and increase exportation of fish. As part of this progressive movement, in 1954, US Suisan Kabushiki Kaisha, Limited changed its name to Suisan Company, Limited and purchased the property at 1965 Kamehameha Avenue.

Unfortunately, in 1960 another large tsunami devastated the Hilo Bay area and the Suisan Fish Market was also affected. While Waiākea businesses and residents relocated, Suisan continued to support fisherman at the mouth of the Wailoa River. (Suisan)

In July 2001, Suisan closed down what got it all started, the original fish auction market. Later, Suisan moved its offices to the Ben Franklin Building at 333 Kilauea Avenue.

The company opened Kona-Suisan in 1976. The second location primarily distributed seafood caught in the Kona area, but also served as a will-call location for Suisan’s West Hawaii accounts.

From 1970 to the 1990s, Suisan experienced a period of rapid growth, requiring a progressive expansion of its food distribution warehouse facilities. In the 1980s, Suisan became the Big Island’s largest food distribution facility. In 2004 Suisan started its Non-Foods Division.

Originally a fish market, Suisan is a one-stop distributor that carries all primary food and non-food items. The Big Island distributor offers a wide range of fresh, frozen, and dry groceries for small and big businesses, including fresh and frozen meats, seafood, fruits, vegetables, dairy items, frozen processed foods, fresh prepared foods, and more. (HawaiiFood)

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Fire Destroys Suisan Wharehouse-2014

May 24, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

St Mary’s – St Joseph’s

About the beginning of February, 1842, the Catholic mission was established at Hilo, when Father Heurtel baptized 136-persons, and engaged the new Catholics to erect three grass chapels there and at other points of the district. (Yzendoorn)

It was later decided to divide the island into four Catholic missionary districts, which were allotted as follows: Kona to Father Heurtel, Kohala to Father Lebret, Hāmākua and Hilo to Father Maudet, and Kau with Puna to Father Marechal.

With the arrival on March 26, 1846 of five priests, two catechists and three lay-brothers, more support was provided. Included in the new missionary party was Father Charles Pouvet – he was sent to support Hilo.

As early as 1864, Father Pouzot had 18-students at his English school in Hilo (he felt the need to provide education for the Catholic children, rather than them attending Harvey Hitchcock’s (a Protestant missionary son) school in town.)

Five years later, on April 1, 1869, a small parish school was established for the purpose of teaching English to the native Hawaiians. Father Pouzot started with 10-boarders, but wrote in January 1870, “I have only three now, for want of means to keep more.”

It grew with “much improved accommodations and new school rooms and dormitories.” Separate buildings housed the boys (in what was named Keola Maria) and the girls at St Joseph’s. (Alvarez)

The schools were separated and moved to different campuses in 1875, the boys to a site on Waianuenue Street and the girls on Kapiʻolani Street.

In 1885 the Marianist Brothers came to Hilo to run the boys’ school and renamed it St Mary’s School. Parish staff and lay persons taught the girls at St Joseph School. (Brothers of Mary also took charge of St Louis’s College at Honolulu and St Anthony’s School at Wailuku.)

Both St Mary’s Boys’ School (on the site of what is now the Hilo Terrace Apartments on Waianuenue) and the St Joseph Girls’ School (a block from the church on Kapiʻolani Street) had students through the eighth grade.

The Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse (Mother Marianne Cope’s congregation) arrived in 1900 to St Joseph’s School for Girls on Kapiʻolani Street.

“St Mary’s School, Hilo. This school … (is) in charge of the Brothers of Mary. (It is an) eight-grade school of very high standard. (For boys only.) Brother Albert, principal, and four other teachers, all Americans; 270 pupils.”

“St Joseph’s School, Hilo (for girls). Sister Susanna, principal, and four other Sisters, all Americans; 256 pupils. The wooden buildings are well constructed, the rooms large, well ventilated and lighted and can compete in attractiveness with any school room in the Islands. The grounds are sufficiently spacious and of pleasing aspect.” (Report of Superintendent, 1907)

The first seismograph station in Hilo was established during 1921, when a seismograph constructed by Dr Arnold Romberg in the shop of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory was installed in the basement of one of the buildings of St Mary’s School on Waianuenue Street.

The new location was satisfactory until a new road, Laimana Street, was cut through only 15 feet from the vault. After that time “the traffic disturbance became increasingly troublesome.” (USGS)

Father Sebastian immediately launched Hilo’s second high school, ultimately the only Catholic high school on Big Island. Opening day was September 6, 1927, with 23 boys coming from St Mary’s, from Hilo Junior High and from as far away as Hakalau, Honomu and Laupāhoehoe.

In 1928, Father Sebastian then labored so that the girls at St Joseph’s would have their high school too. He created space for their classrooms by jacking up the school building and installing classrooms in the enlarged basement.

The first week of June 1929 was indeed a busy one for the parish hall. Wednesday, June 5, saw the first combined commencements of the eighth and tenth grades of St Joseph’s and St Mary’s School’s respectively.

The valedictory was given by Lawrence Capellas followed by an address by Bishop Stephen Alencastre, Hawai‘i’s only Hawaii-born Catholic bishop. (StJoeHilo)

In 1948, St Mary’s and St Joseph’s were consolidated into a co-educational institution which was built on the present St Joseph’s site at the intersection of Ululani and Hualālai streets. Some nine hundred and sixty-three students were enrolled for the first year.

In 1951, the Marianist Brothers were reassigned to teaching posts elsewhere. They were replaced in Hilo with a larger staff of Sisters as well as dedicated lay teachers.

The opening of the new school in 1951-52 was a memorable event for it marked the beginning of St Joseph as a complete coeducational school directly under the Pastor of St Joseph Parish.

The Franciscan Sisters withdrew from St Joseph School in June 2009 after a 109-year history. Joining the faculty are the Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians. (Lots of information here is from St Joseph’s and Alavarez.)

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St Marys High School

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St Mary’s School

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Bros. School – Hilo

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March 8, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Koehnen

Passengers and cargo landed at Hilo in the surf along the beach until about 1863, when a wharf was constructed at the base of present day Waianuenue Street; the wooden wharf was replaced by an iron pile wharf in 1865.

The northern side of the bay became a focal point for the community’s trade and commerce. During this time, Hilo was ranked as the third most frequented port for whaling vessels in need of repair and re-provisioning.

By 1874, Hilo ranked as the second largest population center in the islands, and within a few years shortly thereafter Hilo with its fertile uplands, plentiful water supply, and good port became a major center for sugarcane production and export.

In 1910, H Hackfeld built a warehouse and related building, a reinforced concrete building, spanning the entire block along Kamehameha Avenue, the two-story Hackfeld Building was the most substantial building in downtown Hilo when completed.

William Hardy ‘Doc’ Hill opened the Hill Optical Co in 1917 and added his jewelry business in 1919, and both his optical and jewelry businesses were among the largest in the Territory.

When he was elected to the Territorial House of Representatives in 1928, Doc sold his optical and jewelry businesses to his bookkeeper, Friederich Koehnen. (Narimatsu)

Friederich Wilheim “Fritz” Koehnen came to Hilo from Germany in 1909 to work for H Hackfeld Company (which later went on to become Amfac, one of the “Big-Five” corporations in Hawaii.)

In 1929, Koehnen and his wife, German-born Katherine Bocker, bought Hill Optical. They shut down the optical operation and started selling silverware, fine china, crystal and giftware as F Koehnen Ltd. (Laitinen)

Their daughter, Helie, who worked at the store from a young age, starting in high school, and joined full time during World War II when she met and married Carl Rohner, a U.S. military officer stationed on the island who came back to join the business after the war.

Rohner opened the furniture business in 1946 as Fritz took ill with pneumonia. He handed over the reins to his son, Fred J. Koehnen, who left college after the war to take over the business.

Koehnen oversaw the jewelry and giftware division; Rohner oversaw furniture sales. After moving to the current location in 1955, which was purchased from Amfac, Fred left the day-to-day operations to Carl and Helie but remained on the firm’s board of directors. (Bishop)

“Normal business day for me was to open up, take a coffee break shortly thereafter at the old Hilo Drug Co. lunch counter. Great place to swap info and tall tales with your business contemporaries. … I was on “the floor” as a salesperson most of the day.”

“In a family business with a small work force, being a manager just meant doing double duty in both sales and administration. You did the office work whenever you could. If that involved taking work home, so be it.”

“My father had a bookkeeping/accounting background, so he made sure his family learned that aspect of business first. Our bookkeeping, including the tax returns, was all done in-house.”

“In the retail business back then you knew just about all of your customers by name. Good service and personal relationships were the things that kept you in business!”

“Business in those days was based on trust. A man’s word was his bond and a handshake every bit as binding as a written contract. Most retail stores, ours included, carried charge accounts for customers. While some banks offered “charge cards,” today’s credit and debit cards were unheard of and most people carried little cash.” (Koehnen)

In 1957, the company bought the Hackfield building at the corner of Kamehameha and Waianuenue avenues in downtown Hilo and the store has called the building home ever since.

In the late 1960s F. Koehnen Ltd spun off its retail operation, which was renamed Koehnen’s Inc., leaving F Koehnen Ltd in charge of real estate holdings. (Laitinen)

After 83-years and three generations in business, Koehnen’s closed at the end of 2012; “We’re closing now not because we have to, but because it’s an appropriate time. We ran out of family to take over.” (Koehnen; Bishop, HTH)

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