Evolution of Honolulu Harbor
Coral doesn’t grow in freshwater. So, where a stream enters a coastal area, there is typically no coral growth at that point – and, as the freshwater runs out into the ocean, a coral-less channel is created.
In its natural state, thanks to Nuʻuanu Stream, Honolulu Harbor originally was a deep embayment formed by the outflow of Nuʻuanu Stream creating an opening in the shallow coral reef along the south shore of Oʻahu.
Honolulu Harbor (it was earlier known as Kuloloia) was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the English ship Butterworth, in 1794.
They called the harbor “Fair Haven” which may be a rough translation of the Hawaiian name Honolulu (it was also sometimes called Brown’s Harbor.) The name Honolulu (meaning “sheltered bay” – with numerous variations in spelling) soon came into use.
Tradewinds blow from the Northeast; the channel into Honolulu Harbor has a northeasterly alignment. Early ships calling to Honolulu were powered only by sails. The entrance to the harbor was narrow and lined on either side with reefs. Ships don’t sail into the wind. Given all of this, Honolulu Harbor was difficult to enter.
Boats either anchored off-shore, or they were pulled into the harbor (this was done with canoes; or, it meant men and/or oxen pulled them in.)
It might take eight double canoes with 16-20 men each, working in the pre-dawn calm when winds and currents were slow. In 1816 (as stories suggest,) Richards Street alignment was the straight path used by groups of men, and later oxen, to pull ships through the narrow channel into the harbor. (Richards Street was named for a man selling luggage to tourists in his shop on that street.)
A few years after, in 1825, the first pier in the harbor was improvised by sinking a ship’s hull near the present Pier 12 site. As Honolulu developed and grew, lots of changes happened, including along its waterfront. What is now known as Queen Street used to be the water’s edge.
The first efforts to deepen Honolulu Harbor were made in the 1840s. The idea to use the dredged material, composed of sand and crushed coral, to fill in low-lying lands was quickly adopted.
In 1854 the first steam tug was used to pull sail-powered ships into dock against the prevailing tradewinds.
The old prison was built in 1856-57 at Iwilei; it took the place of the old Fort Kekuanohu (that also previously served as a prison.) The new custom-house was completed in 1860. The water-works were much enlarged, and a system of pipes laid down in 1861.
Between 1857 and 1870, the coral block walls of the dismantled Fort edged and filled about 22-acres of reef and tideland, forming the “Esplanade” or “Ainahou,” between Fort and Merchant Streets (where Aloha Tower is now located.) At that time, the harbor was dredged to a depth from 20 to 25-feet took place.
By the 1880s, filling-in of the mud flats, marshes and salt ponds in the Kakaʻako and Kewalo areas had begun. This filling-in was pushed by three separate but overlapping improvement justifications.
The first directive or justification was for the construction of new roads and the improvement of older roads by raising the grade so the improvements would not be washed away by flooding during heavy rains.
Although public health and safety were prominently cited as the main desire (and third justification) to fill in Honolulu, Kewalo, and then Waikīkī lands, the fill ultimately provided more room for residential subdivisions, industrial areas and finally tourist resorts.
In the early part of the twentieth century, Kakaʻako was becoming a prime spot for large industrial complexes, such as iron works, lumber yards, and hauling companies, which needed large spaces for their stables, feed lots and wagon sheds.
An 1887 Hawaiian Government Survey map of Honolulu shows continued urban expansion of the Downtown Honolulu area.
In 1889, the Honolulu Harbor was described as “nothing but a channel kept open by the flow of the Nuʻuanu River;” a sand bar restricted entry of the larger ocean vessels. In 1890-92, a channel 200-feet wide by 30-feet deep was dredged for about 1,000-feet through the sand bar.
Piers were constructed at the base of Richards Street in 1896, at the site of Piers 17 and 18 in 1901 to accommodate sugar loading and at Piers 7 and 12 in 1907.
After annexation in 1898, the harbor was dredged using US federal funds. The dredged material was used to create a small island in the harbor in order to calm the harbor and avoid constructing a breakwater. This island became what is now known as Sand Island.
In 1904, the area around South Street from King to Queen Streets was filled in. The Hawaiʻi Department of Public Works reported that “considerable filling (was) required” for the extension of Queen Street, from South Street to Ward Avenue, which would “greatly relieve the district of Kewalo in the wet season.”
A series of new piers were constructed at the base of Richards Street in 1896, at the site of Piers 17 and 18 in 1901 (to accommodate sugar loading) and then at Piers 7 and 12 in 1907. Further dredging was conducted at the base of Alakea Street in 1906.
With the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 and anticipated increased trans-Pacific shipping, government and business planned to further enlarge Honolulu Harbor by dredging Kalihi Channel and Kapālama Basin.
However, because of military concerns, the Reserved Channel connecting Honolulu Harbor to Kapālama Basin was dredged instead. This is known as the Kapālama Channel. Honolulu Harbor expanded into the Kapālama Basin and by the early 1930s Piers 34 had been constructed. Pier 35 was constructed in 1931 to provide dedicated facilities for inter-island pineapple shipments.
On September 11, 1926, after five years of construction, Aloha Tower was officially dedicated at Pier 9; at the time, the tallest building in Hawaiʻi.
Today, Honolulu Harbor continues to serve as Hawai‘i’s commercial lifeline for goods to/from Hawaiʻi and the rest of the world.
The image shows Honolulu in 1854, in a drawing done by Paul Emmert. It shows Honolulu just before these changes and the expansion of land in the downtown area (you can see people standing on the reef on the right.)
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Immigration Station
By the middle of the 19th century the Hawaiian population had declined drastically through the impacts of disease and epidemics and the dispersal of the young men of the Kingdom on whaling ships and seeking their fortunes in the California gold fields.
In 1850, the Hawaiian population was down to 46,500. At the same time the American occupation of California and Oregon gave the islands a large, relatively close market for agricultural crops.
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.
In 1852, the first group of 200 Chinese labor contract immigrants were brought in to work in the sugar plantations. In the hundred years from 1850 to 1950, over 350,000 labor immigrants were brought in to supply workers for the plantations and to augment a declining population with people of kindred races.
For nearly one hundred years immigrants arriving in Hawaiʻi had their initial processing in the area of the present immigration building at the entrance to Honolulu Harbor.
In the 19th century they came over the channel wharf to be processed at the pavilion and quarters of the Kingdom’s Quarantine and Immigration Depot built in 1879 on what was popularly called Fisherman’s Point.
King Kalākaua, who personally initiated Japanese immigration in a visit to the Emperor, visited the station to greet the initial group of Japanese laborers arriving in 1886. After a hospitable welcome which included entertainment of hula dancers, he invited some of the group to the Palace to display their skill at fencing. (NPS)
The United States government took over immigration matters after annexation and built new structures out over the mud flats (which opened July 4, 1905.)
The buildings were designed to fit the climate and atmosphere of Hawaiʻi and to be an inviting place for immigrants to come through. (This was the first use of terra cotta in Hawaiʻi.)
Although Herbert C. Clayton was the architect who contracted to design the building, it is quite evident that the architect associated with him for this project had the major design role, CW Dickey.
The entrance portico designed by Dickey as the most important architectural feature of the building reflects Hawaiʻi and the Immigration Station function as a bridge between East and West.
The portico is accented by Chinese architectural details and the large bronze compass plaque set in the floor of the entrance lobby shows Hawaiʻi as the crossroads of the Pacific by indicating distances to principle cities on the Pacific rim.
An interview with Mr. Dickey on July 27, 1934 in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin best describes the intent and execution of the complex in the designer’s own words:
“In designing the new immigration station buildings the main objective was a group of buildings expressing the spirit and environment of Hawaiʻi and at the same time maintaining well balanced and well-proportioned masses, graceful lines and a pleasing color effect.”
“This meant a wide departure from the more or less stereotyped stations of the mainland and it required no small amount of persuasion and diplomacy to get such a design accepted….”
“In general the buildings consist of low lying masses of cream colored stucco walls surmounted by graceful sloping roofs of variegated green and russet tiles.”
A special area was designed into the building to provide a “matrimonial” room where Japanese girls, who had been married by proxy in Japan to men living in Hawaiʻi, met their husbands for the first time and were formally married. These picture brides numbered 14,276 between the years 1907 and 1923.
Mr. AE Burnett, for many years the District Director of Immigration, hoped that the buildings would serve as a model for other stations across the nation.
The Dickey designed buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places (much of the information here came from those records.)
(By the way, in the existing immigration center, there is a fountain put in by Italian POWs from WWII – unfortunately, it is in a secured area and you can’t get directly to it. However, you can see it through a chain link fence on the back side (makai) of the building.)
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Kaimiloa
The Royal Hawaiian Navy was created solely as a result of King Kalākaua’s plan for a confederation of Polynesian nations. This was an era of kingdom-building, and alliances were in vogue.
King Kalākaua had been in office since 1874, overseeing his small independent country. Influenced by his recent trip around the world, he looked forward to developing alliances with other Polynesian countries, seeing Hawaii in the center position. By 1883, commissioners had visited the Gilbert Islands and the New Hebrides, without success. (Kauai Historical Society)
The High Commissioner was a special Hawaiian envoy tasked with traveling to the various island nations of the Pacific to enlist them into the confederation.
In anticipation of the High Commissioner’s transportation needs, the Hawaiian government purchased a three-masted steamship named the “Explorer.” The ship was refitted as a gunboat and armed with Gatling guns and cannons. The name “Explorer” was translated into Hawaiian and the ship was renamed the “Kaimiloa”. The ship’s captain was George E Gresley Jackson.
His Hawaiian Majesty’s Ship Kaimiloa was commissioned on March 28, 1887, for the naval service of the Kingdom and comprised the whole of the Hawaiian Navy. (ksbe)
HHMS Kaimiloa was the first and only ship of the Hawaiian Royal Navy. The ship was a 170-ton Explorer gunboat, made in Britain in 1871. King Kalākaua bought the ship for $20,000 and added the rigging.
It sailed from Hawaiʻi to Samoa and other Pacific islands in an effort by Kalākaua to form a confederation of Polynesian states to counteract European imperialism.
The mission was facing an uphill climb in its endeavors. Imperial Germany was already in discussion with Samoa, and both Britain and the United States were interested in the structure of power within the region.
This important region was of interest to most of the European powers – two years after this voyage, the warships of the United States, England, and Germany were all at anchor in Apia Bay, as Germany had asserted a right to possession. (Kauai Historical Society) Talks did not progress well.
Capt. Jackson was a former British naval officer, and more recently, the former head of a reform school. Members of the crew were former students. On board was John E Bush, as the King’s embassy; the crew was Hawaiian. (Kauai Historical Society)
With only one month of training, the youths were put to the test when the Kaimiloa was ordered to transport the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to Samoa. The ship departed Honolulu on May 18, 1887, and arrived in Samoa 29 days later. (ksbe)
Historical accounts indicate that from the beginning there were problems with the officers and the crew. Upon arrival in Samoa on June 15th, the festivities were problematic as well. (Kauai Historical Society)
Robert Louis Stevenson, then a resident of Samoa, is quoted regarding a reception at the Hawaii embassy: “Malietoa, always decent, withdrew at an early hour. By those that remained, all decency appears to have been forgotten.”
In the morning, he added, the revelers were aroused from a drunken stupor and sent home. King Malietoa is reported to have said: “If you came here to teach my people to drink, I wish you had stayed away”. (Kauai Historical Society)
Due to the music program which was in effect at the reform school, some of these crew members were also members of a military band. They were led by Charles Palikapu Kaleikoa.
While the Kaimiloa was in Samoa, the Cadet Band performed concerts in Apia, the capital city, and around Samoa. The Hawaiian Consul reported (August 23, 1887:) Her (Kaimiloa’s) cadet band also became popular and their concerts were an appreciated treat to the Samoans. (ksbe)
The Hawaiian Consul in Samoa, also impressed with their exemplary conduct, reported in a letter: “I must say a word in praise of the Reform School boys. It was a matter of surprise to me to observe how well they behaved on shore and aboard, and how well they performed their duties.” (ksbe)
Under the direction of Lorrin A Thurston, the Kaimiloa was recalled. She returned to Honolulu Harbor on September 23, 1887; this appears to be her only voyage for the state. (Kauai Historical Society)
The crew was disbanded and the ship was decommissioned. After this, Kaleikoa joined the Royal Hawaiian Band and continued to play in it until his retirement 40 years later and retired as assistant band leader. (ksbe)
After it was decommissioned, the Kaimiloa was still used as a quarantine ship, but in 1888 she was sold and used as a transportation vessel between the Hawaiian Islands.
For a while, she was used for interisland shipping, transporting coal and oil. After a period in dry dock, her engines were removed (and used to turn wheels in a sugar mill operation) and in 1910, the hull was burned. (Kauai Historical Society)
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The Beaver Block
Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) was a fur trading company that started in Canada in 1670; its first century of operation found HBC firmly focused in a few forts and posts around the shores of James and Hudson Bays, Central Canada.
Fast forward 150-years and in 1821, it merged with North West Company, its competitor; the resulting enterprise then spanned the continent – all the way to the Pacific Northwest (modern-day Oregon, Washington and British Columbia) and the North (Alaska, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.)
On January 21, 1829 the Hudson’s Bay Company schooner ‘Cadboro’ arrived at Honolulu from Fort Vancouver. While the HBC fur trade focused furs of beavers, sea otters, seals and other animals from the Pacific Northwest Coast and Alaska to be sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain and other Chinese goods, their interest in Hawaiʻi was to sell lumber and other goods, not furs.
When the Hudson’s Bay Company entered the Hawaiian scene in 1829, Honolulu had already become a significant Pacific port of call and major provisioning station for trans-Pacific travelers.
The earliest location of the Agency in Honolulu was on the north side of Nuʻuanu Street (between King and Merchant Streets,) where it occupied a two-story, shingle-sided building.
“The premises were named “Aienui,” meaning “great debt,” perhaps in reference to the Company’s liberal policy of granting credit on reasonable security, such as was and still is granted to the Indians on their prospective winter catch.” (The Beaver, June 1930)
In 1846 the Agency moved to a new site closer and more convenient to the waterfront at the corner of Fort and Queen Streets. They had a two-story coral building with slate roof, fronting on Queen Street, and one-story storage building along Fort Street.
Thereafter, the location of their establishment became known as the “Beaver Block,” named after the HBC ‘mascot’ (and primary economic resource,) the beaver.
As the year 1859 started, Pacific whaling entered its decline, HBC’s competition in the importation of goods increased. Janion Green and Co (forerunner of Theo H Davies), Hackfeld and Co (forerunner of Amfac,) C Brewer, and Castle and Cooke (the beginnings of the Big Five) were established firms.
Instructed to wind up affairs in 1860, the last Company representative left Honolulu in March 1861. The Company’s old Fort and Queen business site, however, continued to be known as the Beaver Block. Other businesses moved into the premises.
Twenty years passed, during them, Lunalilo ascended to the throne and died within a year; his estate took control of the property and their trustees sold it to James Campbell. In 1882, Campbell built a new building and put the old iron beaver weathervane of the Hudson’s Bay Company on its roof – affirming the Beaver Block tradition.
“Thousands of Honolulans who pass up and down Fort Street and visit the wharves have probably never lifted their eyes high enough on such trips to notice on the Makai-Waikiki cornice of the Campbell block at Fort and Queen Streets a weather-beaten weather vane, with the letter “N” missing from that particular arm and to notice that the vane itself resembles a well-known forest and stream animal…. It took a visitor from Winnipeg, Canada, to notice that the animal was a beaver …” (Advertiser, March 31, 1930; The Beaver)
Beaver Block was a large building that included uses such as storage, shops and offices that stretched along Fort Street and Queen. That year, Campbell, who owned the adjacent land (fronting Fort and Merchant Streets) built the “Campbell Block,” a similarly-large building that included uses such as storage, shops and offices.
“The activity of building, throughout Honolulu and its suburbs, continues. That in the business portion of the city gives it the most substantial aspect of any years undertaking, the most prominent of which is the Campbell Block, extending from the Bank premises on Merchant street around onto Fort street to join the Beaver Block …. In the buildings that have been constructed a more lavish style is observed, and ornamentation externally and internally is now the rule rather than the exception, both in business houses and private dwellings.” (Hawaiian Almanac and Annual, 1884)
The first elevators in Hawai‘i were installed in the early 1880s. One was in the Beaver Block, a two-story structure at Fort and Queen Streets, completed in 1882. (The elevator was replaced by an electric elevator.)
Another pioneering elevator was located near the front of a two-story brick building occupied by Wing Wo Chan & Co., on Nu‘uanu Avenue between King and Merchant Streets. This structure was lost in the 1886 Chinatown fire.) (Hawaiian Historical Society)
A notable Beaver Block tenant was GW MacFarlane & Co, shipping and general wholesale merchants. George W. MacFarlane was born in Honolulu in 1849. He got a job with Theo Davies in 1868 and stayed with the firm until 1876.
McFarlane became a prominent attendant to King Kalākaua and merchant in Honolulu during the 1870s-1880s. He was also associated with Spreckels and other financiers in sugar interests. He died in 1921.
Another tenant in the building was the Beaver Saloon, opened on April 5, 1882 by HJ Nolte (who also had “The Casino” on his property at Kapiʻolani Park.)
The Beaver Saloon was “a favorite lunch resort for a large majority of the business element, the civil service, the factory and waterfront toilers, judges, lawyers and doctors … (and) has indeed been the most frequented noonday club in Honolulu, a recognized exchange for public opinion and clearing house for community gossip.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 29, 1907)
Then, on October 11, 1964, the Sunday Star-Bulletin and Advertiser noted, “Office-Parking Building Planned by Campbell Estate on Fort Street.”
Plans called for a combined office and parking structure to replace the 2-story on Fort and Merchants Streets; this new building was considered an important part of the redevelopment of downtown Honolulu. (Adamson) The Beaver Block and Campbell Block buildings were torn down and a new building was completed in May 1967.
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