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November 21, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Post Office

“Almost coincident with the issuance by the United States Post Office Department of postage stamps for use on letters and parcels sent through the US mails, in 1847, the Government of the Kingdom of Hawaii, in the reign of Kamehameha III, had under consideration the establishment of an interisland mail service, with a post office department in charge of mails.”

“Up to the actual establishment of the Hawaiian Post Office, which was accomplished through a decree of the Privy Council, December 22, 1850, with Henry M. Whitney as Postmaster, mails arriving at Honolulu from the American States, largely from Atlantic seaboard ports, and of course, coming on sailing vessels, were distributed helter-skelter.”

“Charles R. Bishop, when Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1873, when asked for reminiscences concerning the early handling of mails, wrote on May 23, 1873:”

“‘Your letter of March 6 was duly received and in accordance with your request, which I passed over to Em. Fenard, Esq., first clerk in the post office, he has been kind enough to prepare an historical sketch of, and to copy out the laws relating to the Hawaiian postal system, to which he has attached all the postage stamps now in use here, and all the old ones which are procurable.’”

“‘In 1846-7, when a merchant ship from Boston or New York arrived via Cape Horn, the mail matter was usually poured out from the bags, etc., onto the floor of the counting room of the consignees of the vessel, or of the harbormaster’s office …’”

“‘… and those expecting letters gathered around the pile to assist in overhauling or ‘sorting’, picking out their own, and passing over their shoulders the letters, etc., of those standing in the outer circle.’”

“‘Letters for captains and crew of ships on cruise, addressed to care of ship chandlers, went to their offices; the seamen’s chaplain took those sent in his care, and the remainder for sailors went into the old tea-chest at the Consulate.’”

“‘When the whalers came into port to recruit, their crews made the rounds of the ship chandlers, the Chaplaincy, and the Consulate, in search of news from home, and the old tea-chest was upset and overhauled many times daily while the fleet was in port.’”

“‘Soon after steam communication was established between New York and San Francisco, via Panama, postal regulations were put in force here, which have from time to time been improved, until we now have a well-conducted and convenient post office.’”

“Singularly enough, the efforts of the United States Post Office Department to establish, through contracts, regular mail service between New York and San Francisco by way of Panama, were closely tied up with the system soon to be established in Hawaii.”

“The United States planned to use about $200,000 a year to establish the New York-San Francisco-Oregon mail service. The story is well known.”

“Contracts were let to sub-contractors, among the latter being a Mr.  Aspinwall, who had the contract between Panama and San Francisco and Oregon. The overland mail-carrying service on Panama was a separate contract. The attempts to use Nicaragua and Mexico for mail service failed.”

“The steamer California was the first to be put into the service. She was especially built, and sailed from New York for San Francisco, via Cape Horn. Meantime, the news of the gold discovery reached the Eastern states, and a wild rush was made for California, via the American desert and via Panama.”

“When the California called at the Pacific side of Panama, a wild mob of prospective passengers, also mail, awaited her. The ship was crowded, many paying a thousand dollars for a ticket. At San Francisco every member of the crew, except the engineer, deserted to go to the mines.”

“When the next steamer entered San Francisco, she was anchored in the shadow of the guns of a warship and forcible measures were taken to prevent desertions, and. the pay of the crew was raised from $12 to $112.”

“But, while steam was used to convey letters from the eastern states to California and Oregon, sailing vessels were relied upon to carry mails from San Francisco to Honolulu.”

“Likewise mails originated in Atlantic seaboard ports for Honolulu direct. Oftentimes, sailing vessels with mail and passengers, as well as cargo, bound for San Francisco or Oregon, put into Honolulu for refreshments, leaving mail, and also taking mail.”

“It may not be generally known, but the first American troops for Oregon, first saw the Hawaiian Islands, as the steamer Massachusetts, a transport, called at Honolulu and the troops rested before proceeding north.”

“Prior to the use of postage stamps by the United States and by Hawaii, letters were usually handled in this manner: ‘The letter was written on one side of the paper.’”

“‘This was folded from bottom half way to the top, and the top was folded down toward the middle. Then the ends were folded over, say about one-third, so that one end overlapped the other, and sealing wax was then dropped on the junctions and a signet ring made the seal impression.’”

“‘On the opposite side, the address was written, and usually in a corner was added “via Ship Amazon.” This letter was handed in at the office of the ship company in New York, or Boston, or San Francisco, together with the amount of postage required, sometimes for a voyage beyond a certain number of miles amounting to 25 or 40 cents.’ …”

“In the 4th article of the Second Act, April 27, 1846, entitled ‘An Act to Organize the Executive Departments of the Hawaiian Islands,’ is the first mention ever made of the Post Office …”

“… and the regulations adopted in relation to the inter-island mails read that the Collector-General of Customs, and the Collectors of the respective ports of entry, shall be ex-officio, postmasters, and entitled to receive, and open, at their respective ports, the mail bags hereinafter specified.”

“‘The Minister of the Interior shall appoint some trustworthy and discreet person, residing conveniently on each of the islands, where no port of entry and departure is established, to be the postmaster thereof.’”

“The minister was to furnish each postmaster with leathern bags, capable of being securely locked. Then there were instructions about closing mails an hour previous to departures of vessels …”

“… and he was compelled to list each letter and package and retain it, that is, a copy, enclosing in each bag a copy of the list. Then the receiving postmaster was to post the list in a conspicuous place, where the public could view it.”

“When the commander of a foreign ship arrived at a port, he took whatever mail he had to the post office and was entitled to receive from the postmaster for each letter, two cents, and for each newspaper delivered, one cent.”

“Gradually, out of this primitive sort of post office, grew the Hawaiian Post Office, which had its treaty relations, in postal conferences and conventions, with other nations, and the system was made as good as possible. …”

“The above was altered by the postal convention in force between the United States and the Hawaiian Kingdom, of the 4th of May, 1870. Two cents was required as postage on each newspaper; pamphlets were 4 cents.”

“In 1865 an amendment was made that no letters should be carried or delivered without postage having been previously affixed, and individuals were prohibited from carrying such unstamped letters for delivery.”

“Ship captains, also, could place a box, properly lettered with the name of his ship and his own name, in which box letters, properly stamped, could be dropped, the captain acting as sub-route-agent.”

“The post office was required to pay all its own expenses. Apparently, a deficit was not permissible. But, if a deficiency did arise, then the Postmaster-General could draw upon the Treasury for the amount.”

“The safe transmission of mails between the Hawaiian Government and the United States of America, previous to the Postal Convention between these two countries, and approved by the President on the 5th day of May, 1870, was provided for in Article 15 of the American Treaty, ratified on the 9th of August, 1850.”

“The first postmaster appointed in Honolulu was H. M. Whitney, who retained that situation from 1850 to 1856, when he established the Pacific Commercial Advertiser, which is now styled the Honolulu Advertiser.”

“During the time of his incumbency, stamps were issued of the denominations of 5 and 13 cents for foreign letters, and 2 cents for papers, all of which were mere digits, and by 1876, could not be found, except in rare instances.”

“Under the administration of Postmaster Jackson, from 1856 to 1859, a large number of stamps of varied denominations were issued, and during his term inter-island postage originated, of 2 cents per 1/2 ounce on letters, and 1 cent on papers.”  (JF Woolley, Postmaster; Thrum 1930)

During the fifty years of Hawaii’s independent postal system from 1850 to 1900, the post office occupied three premises: a room in The Polynesian Office (1850-1854;) rooms in Honolulu Hale, situated next door to The Polynesian Office (1854-1871;) and about half of the ground floor in the “New Post Office” (Kamehameha V Post Office, 1871-1922,) situated on the former site of The Polynesian Office.

On June 14, 1900, the Kamehameha V Post Office officially became a unit of the United States Post Office (the year that Hawaii became a Territory of the US.)

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: Economy, General, Buildings Tagged With: Kamehameha V Post Office, Honolulu Hale, Polynesian Pop, Post Office, Postal Service, Hawaii

September 22, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Pu‘u O Kaimukī – Telegraph Hill

When King Kamehameha stationed his troops on the beaches of Waikīkī in preparation for the battle to take O‘ahu, he stationed lookouts at Pu‘u O Kaimukī (aka “Kaimukī Hill”) to spot enemies arriving by sea.

When Honolulu became a major port, “Kaimukī Hill” was used as a signal station (using semaphore technology,) giving it the name “telegraph hill.”   It had broad view over the Pacific and line-of-sight to downtown Honolulu.  Back then, they used this vantage point to spot ships coming in, and then conveyed the news to Honolulu.

Optical “telegraphs” or signaling devices have been traced back to ancient times (initially using torches) and were the fastest systems to convey messages over long distances; these “telegraphs” eventually moved toward semaphore towers.

If Internet and its communications channels are at the forefront of the signaling opportunities of the 21st century, the semaphore was the signals intelligence breakthrough at the time of Napoleon (and Washington and Kamehameha.)

Semaphore towers used arms and blades/paddles to convey messages; messages were conveyed/decoded based on the fixed positions of these arms.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the French revolutionized land-based communications with the construction of semaphore towers bearing rotating arms to fashion coded signals.  The British quickly followed suit in that new era of signals intelligence.

The semaphore tower/semaphore line design was first thought up by Robert Hooke in 1684 and submitted to the Royal Society. The system was not implemented, though, due to military concerns.

However, this did lead to Claude Chappe developing the first visual telegraph in 1792 – eventually covering much of France via 556 stations. In France, this was the primary source of communication for military and national applications, until it became more widely used in the 1850s.

In Hawaiʻi, Kaimukī Hill had been used as a semaphore signal station ever since Fair Haven (Honolulu Harbor) became prominent in Hawaiian commerce.  This semaphore station reported all incoming ships from Koko Head to Barber’s Point.

“Before the telephone was invented, and long before the system was in use in Honolulu, we had the lookout station on Telegraph Hill, which by means of a semaphore arrangement communicated with a station on the building (downtown.)  Every merchant was supplied with the code, and whenever a schooner, a steamer, a mail packet, or a man of war, was sighted, the heart of the town knew it immediately.”  (Hawaiian Star, February 10, 1899)

“From Telegraph Hill and the slopes toward Waiʻalae may be seen Koko Head, the beautiful expanse of ocean and on clear days the distant islands of Molokai, Lanai, and Maui. On the town side, the residents look over the town, across the cane fields to the Waianae range.”  (Evening Bulletin, September 26, 1898)

“Mauka of Diamond Head, for a distance of three or four miles is a high ridge that vernacular geologists call a “hog back.” At the most elevated point on this ridge is the debris of Telegraph Hill (Kaimuki). In the olden days vessels coming from the north were signalled to the city from Kaimuki by a semaphore system, clear and effective. The town end of the line was a building on Kaahumanu street, then occupied as a sail loft.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, January 13, 1899)

Reportedly, in 1857, a semaphore mechanism on Puʻu O Kaimukī, with large moveable arms, was attached to the top of a sixty-foot pole and used to signal to Honolulu.

The official receiving station from Kaimukī was on Merchant Street, but some have suggested other receiving stations at Kaʻahumanu Street and the foot of Nuʻuanu.

Upon receiving the message, a signal was broadcast to the town noting the names and ports of origin of each ship coming into view.  This information was announced in Honolulu by loud proclamation and bell ringing, and preparation made to tow the vessel in by hand or bullock power.

In 1866, the roof of Honolulu Hale on Merchant Street was fitted with a new marine lookout with a taller semaphore, making its signals accessible to a larger segment of the population.

This optical telegraph system was an important tool for residents of Honolulu.  The signals were unique and people became familiar with them, so most could decode the signal and know which ships were coming.

Likewise, besides alerting the postmaster to the imminent arrival of the mail, it was helpful to merchants expecting new goods and people awaiting friends and relatives.

Semaphore was then called “marine telegraph”, and it seems logical that the early map-makers of Hawaiʻi would name the hill “Telegraph Hill.”

“When the telephone system got into working order the lookout station was moved to a position on Diamond Head which gave a view further along the channel, because it was no longer necessary for the station to be in full view of the city.” (Hawaiian Star, February 10, 1899)

Puʻu O Kaimukī had several colloquial names; one was Christmas Tree Park. There’s a bare metal Christmas-Tree-looking pole.  It’s not a remnant of the prior semaphore communications, it’s just a Christmas tree, built by the City and County soon after the park’s christening in 1991. Every year since then the big metal tree gets hung with Christmas lights.

It’s also referred to as Reservoir Park, a reminder of the days in the early 1900s when the top of the hill housed a water storage tank for the Honolulu Water Works. Another name is Bunker Hill, from the World War II era when the spot became a handy surveillance bunker for the military.

It’s known today as Puʻu o Kaimukī Park and is just behind (makai) the Kaimukī Fire Station.

On November 13, 1900, the first Marconi wireless telegraph system was set up and messages were sent and received between Oʻahu and Molokaʻi across a twenty-eight mile channel.  Military semaphore flag signals are still used, today

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South_Shore-Barbers_Pt-Diamond_Head-Hawaii_Kai-Kailua-Heeia-Reg1834 (1892)-(portion_noting_Puu_O_Kaimuki)
Honolulu_USGS_Quadrangle-Honolulu-1927-(portion_noting_Puu_O_Kaimuki)
Fort Ruger - Kaimuki-1914
Kaimuki Hill once housed the University of Hawaii 's Observatory. It was the idea place to watch Haley's Comet in 1910.
Puu O Kaimuki Park behind Kaimuki Fire Station-Koko Head Avenue
Near (R) Snow Bldg-2-story bldg is PCA-Honolulu Hale and Kamehameha V Post Office-PP-38-4-013-1870s
Honolulu_Hale-Merchant Street-semaphore
Semaphore-Marine_Signals
Télégraphe_Chappe-(WC)
Christmas_Tree_Park
ChristmasTreePark

Filed Under: Place Names, Economy, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance Tagged With: Hawaii, Kamehameha, Kaimuki, Honolulu Hale

March 28, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1920s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1920s – dredging of the Ala Wai Canal, Hawaiian Pineapple buys Lāna‘i, billboards outlawed and Honolulu Hale is completed. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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Timeline-1920s

Filed Under: General, Buildings, Military, Economy, Place Names, Prominent People Tagged With: Ala Wai Canal, Natatorium, Aloha Tower, Honolulu Hale, Timeline Tuesday, Hawaiian Homes Commission, Hawaii, Billboards, Lanai, Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Royal Hawaiian Hotel

March 4, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mailable Matter

In early colonial times, correspondents depended on friends, merchants, and Native Americans to carry messages among the colonies. In 1639, Richard Fairbanks’ tavern in Boston was designated the first official repository of mail brought from or sent overseas (consistent with the European practice of using coffee houses and taverns as mail stations.)

On July 26, 1775 (shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775,) the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War,) members of the Second Continental Congress agreed that a Postmaster General be appointed for the United Colonies. That year, Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General of the Postal Service.

A couple years later (January 20, 1778,) Captain James Cook, made ‘contact’ with the Islands and anchored his ships near the mouth of the Waimea River on Kauai’s southwestern shore. After a couple of weeks, there, they headed to the west coast of North America.

Like early mail exchange in the American Colonies, following Cook’s contact, mail in Hawaiʻi was handled privately by employing forwarders or by making arrangements directly with a ship captain; most letters were folded inward and sealed so the address could be written on the blank outer side. (HawaiianStamps)

Hawaiʻi and the United States agreed on a ‘Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation and Extradition, December 20, 1849;’ among other things, Article 15 of the Treaty created an arrangement for delivery of mail. (State Department)

“Whereas a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation, between the United States of America and his Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands, was concluded and signed at Washington, on the twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine”.

“Mail arrangements – So soon as steam or other mail packets under the flag of either of the contracting parties shall have commenced running between their respective ports of entry, the contracting parties agree to receive at the post-offices of those ports all mailable matter, and to forward it as directed …”

“All mailable matter destined for the Hawaiian Islands shall be received at the several post-offices in the United States, and forwarded to San Francisco, or other ports on the Pacific coast of the United States, whence the postmasters shall despatch it by the regular mail packets to Honolulu …”

“It shall be optional to prepay the postage on letters in either country, but postage on printed sheets and newspapers shall in all cases be prepaid. The respective post-office departments of the contracting parties shall in their accounts, which are to be adjusted annually, be credited with all dead letters returned.” (US Statutes at Large and Treaties, 1845-1851)

On November 2, 1850, The Polynesian, “Official Journal of the Hawaiian Government,” announced it was keeping a letter bag open to receive letters and promised to place on board reliable vessels any letters deposited in its letter bag.

By 1850, almost all mail was being sent to/from Hawaiʻi via San Francisco to enter the mail stream there and be carried in the US mail via Panama to New York. (HawaiianStamps)

Hawaiʻi opened a post office at Honolulu and Henry Martyn Whitney (who worked at the Polynesian) was appointed Postmaster of Honolulu (December 22, 1850.) The location of the new post office was at the office of The Polynesian. (Whitney later left the Polynesian and started his own newspaper, the Pacific Commercial Advertiser (forerunner of Honolulu Advertiser.))

During the fifty years of Hawaii’s independent postal system from 1850 to 1900, the post office occupied three premises: a room in The Polynesian Office (1850-1854;) rooms in Honolulu Hale, situated next door to The Polynesian Office (1854-1871;) and about half of the ground floor in the “New Post Office” (Kamehameha V Post Office, 1871-1922,) situated on the former site of The Polynesian Office.

On June 14, 1900, the Kamehameha V Post Office officially became a unit of the United States Post Office (the year that Hawaii became a Territory of the US.)

In 1922, the United States Post Office was moved to the Federal building and control of the old building was returned to the Territory of Hawaii. It was remodeled as a postal substation and for use as the Territorial Tax office. (NPS)

When Whitney was postmaster, he conceived and produced Hawaiʻi’s first stamps, issued in 1851 (the stamps are now called ‘Hawaiian Missionaries,’ all printed locally by letterpress at the Government Printing Office.

The stamps were in three denominations: a 2-cent stamp paid the newspaper rate, a 5-cent stamp paid the rate for regular mail to the United States, and a 13-cent stamp paid the rate to the US East Coast.

The first three stamps in the issue were announced for sale on October 1, 1851, at the Honolulu and Lahaina post offices. By early April, 1852, the fourth stamp was printed to correct confusion and state clearly the 13¢ value was to pay both Hawaiian and United States postage through to any East Coast United States destination.

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Folded Letter to C Brewer-October 18, 1850
Folded Letter to C Brewer-October 18, 1850
First-day cover of The Polynesian letter bag - postmarked November 2, 1850
First-day cover of The Polynesian letter bag – postmarked November 2, 1850
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Henry_Martyn_Whitney_WC
Henry_Martyn_Whitney-WC
Henry_Martyn_Whitney-WC
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Polynesian-Merchant_Street-Emmert-1854
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Hawaii_stamp_2c_1851
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Two_Cent_Hawaiian_Missionary-WC
Hawaii_stamp_5c_1851
Hawaii_stamp_5c_1851
Hawaii_stamp_13c_1851
Hawaii_stamp_13c_1851
Pacific-Henry_Whitney-1890
Pacific-Henry_Whitney-1890
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office_(NPS)
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office_(NPS)
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office-(WC)
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office-(WC)
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Kamehameha_V_Post_Office-plaque

Filed Under: General, Economy Tagged With: Mail, Hawaii, Merchant Street, Kamehameha V Post Office, Honolulu Hale, Kamehameha V, Henry Martyn Whitney, Postal Service

March 20, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Honolulu Hale

The debate on the site of City Hall waged in Honolulu …

“The plan of having all of the public buildings located in one part of the city is an excellent one, but the general convenience of the public should be taken into consideration.”

“The Honolulu Hale site is very central and I should like to see the City Hall located there.” (ZK Myers, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 15, 1909)

“I think that the ideal site for the City Hall would be the lots now occupied by Honolulu Hale and the post office. When the Federal building has been completed, it should be possible to secure the post office site, and the two pieces of property, thrown in together, would furnish an ideal location for a convenient and imposing City Hall.”

“If the post office property should not be available, I fear that the Honolulu Hale land alone would not give sufficient room.” (HO Smith, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 15, 1909)

“Put the City Hall alongside the Federal building. I think Honolulu Hale an excellent site, but it is too small. This city is going to grow. The City Hall should be centrally located. Have it downtown by all means. … I like the Honolulu Hale site, but, as I said, I’m afraid that it is too small.” (AL Castle, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 15, 1909)

But, the Honolulu Hale site they are suggesting was not the site of Honolulu Hale that we know today (on the corner of King and Punchbowl.)

The first Honolulu Hale was on Merchant Street (it’s now a park-like lot on the Diamond Head side of the Kamehameha V Post Office Building.)

Kamehameha III is said to have built this government office building in 1835. (The building was interchangeably called Honolulu Hale and Honolulu House.)

“All of the business of the Hawaiian government was transacted there, and the life of the town centered in that neighborhood to a very considerable extent.”

In 1847, “It was occupied by government offices, the Custom House, Department of Education, Treasury Department and Department of Interior occupied the four corner rooms of the building on the lower floor, while the Department of Foreign Affairs was on the upper floor.” (Carter; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 30, 1906)

The government Executive Ministers’ offices were a short walk from the palace (which were situated on the same grounds as the present ʻIolani Palace (completed in 1882.) The palace was initially a home called Hanailoia (built in July 1844,) renamed Hale Aliʻi in 1845 and used as the palace.)

At the former Honolulu Hale, an arched gateway served as the entrance to the Executive Offices property. Dr Gerrit P Judd, Minister of Finance was on the ground floor. Upstairs, Robert C Wyllie had his Foreign Minister office. (Dye)

The Kingdom of Hawai‘i instituted a postal system in 1851, issuing 5 and 13 cent stamps for letters and a 2 cent stamp for papers. Operated as a private concession for many years, the postal service expanded its work in the 1860s. David Kalakaua, later Hawaii’s monarch, ran the service from 1862 to 1865.

Later, with growing community and business needs, the postal authorities were using part of Honolulu Hale. A partition divided the ʻEwa or North side, which was used by the Post Office, while the Waikiki or South side was used by the Whitney stationery business and also the editorial office of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser. (HHS)

As postal operations grew, in 1871, the Kamehameha V Post Office at the corner of Merchant and Bethel Streets was constructed and the Post Office folks moved out of Honolulu Hale. In 1900, the old Post Office became a unit of the US Postal System.

(Where the Kamehameha V Post Office Building now sits (adjacent to the former Honolulu Hale) was a 2-story coral structure that housed the ‘Polynesian’ (the Hawaiian Government’s English language weekly paper.)) (Dye)

On June 12, 1857, a marine telegraph was put into operation on Puʻu O Kaimuki (Telegraph Hill) behind Diamond Head. This device was actually a kind of semaphore designed to send visual (rather than electric) signals to the post office in downtown Honolulu when an approaching ship was sighted. (Schmitt)

It was initially set up by the local Post Master to time the landing of ships to collect the mail, it also served as a means to notify the community of what ship was landing, especially those who service the ships and their passengers.

Honolulu Hale on Merchant Street was fitted with a marine lookout and a tall semaphore, making its signals accessible to a larger segment of the population.

“When the telephone system got into working order, the lookout station was moved to a position on Diamond Head which gave a view further along the channel, because it was no longer necessary for the station to be in full view of the city.” (Hawaiian Star, February 10, 1899)

While the debate was waged on where to put City Hall in 1909 (as noted in the initial paragraphs, here,) it wasn’t until 1929 that the Spanish mission style, Dickey-designed Honolulu Hale was completed at the corner of King and Punchbowl street.

A 1950 map of Downtown Honolulu shows that the former Honolulu Hale/Honolulu House site was used as a parking lot for the Police Department (that was situated diagonally across the Merchant-Bethel streets intersection.) As noted, today it is a park-like area.

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Honolulu_Hale_by_Paul_Emmert-1853
Honolulu_Hale_by_Paul_Emmert-1853
Honolulu Hale-governmental building of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1843-1853 and then post office from 1853-1871
Honolulu Hale-governmental building of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1843-1853 and then post office from 1853-1871
Near (R) Snow Bldg-2-story bldg is PCA-Honolulu Hale and Kamehameha V Post Office-PP-38-4-013-1870s
Near (R) Snow Bldg-2-story bldg is PCA-Honolulu Hale and Kamehameha V Post Office-PP-38-4-013-1870s
Merchant St. looking toward Waikiki-PPWD-8-7-009-1885
Merchant St. looking toward Waikiki-PPWD-8-7-009-1885
Looking mauka up Kaahumanu Street to former Honolulu Hale with semaphore on top
Looking mauka up Kaahumanu Street to former Honolulu Hale with semaphore on top
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office-Hnl Hale on right(WC)
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office-Hnl Hale on right(WC)
Former Honolulu Hale Site
Former Honolulu Hale Site
Honolulu_Hale-Merchant_Street-Sorenson-Reg2339 (1906)
Honolulu_Hale-Merchant_Street-Sorenson-Reg2339 (1906)

Filed Under: Buildings Tagged With: Merchant Street Historic District, Honolulu Hale, Hawaii, Honolulu, Downtown Honolulu, Merchant Street

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Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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Hoʻokuleana LLC

Hoʻokuleana LLC is a Planning and Consulting firm assisting property owners with Land Use Planning efforts, including Environmental Review, Entitlement Process, Permitting, Community Outreach, etc. We are uniquely positioned to assist you in a variety of needs.

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