Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Occidental Hotel

Edward HF Wolter was one of the military officers who helped Hawai‘i in the stirring closing years of the 19th century, during the Revolutionary period, aiding in obtaining annexation to the  United States for the islands; he then got into real estate as a builder and real estate operator.

Born on February 22, 1854, at Sprackensehl, Provinz Hanover, Germany, Wolter was the son of Jurgen H. C. and Sophia M. E. Wolter. He obtained his education in the  schools of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and arrived in Honolulu on Oct. 7, 1881, acquiring a part ownership in Olowalu sugar plantation.  From 1882 to 1885 he served as a plantation overseer.

He accepted a position as hotel manager in 1885 and resigned in 1913, after almost thirty years of service, to enter the building and real estate business.  He also has served as a supervisor for the city and county of Honolulu.

His career as a military officer in Hawaii began during the reign of King Kalakaua and was continued through the regime of Queen Liliuokalani, the  Republic of Hawaii under President Dole and latterly in the National Guard of Hawaii, in the 298th US Infantry. (Nellist)

Then, an announcement of the construction of the Occidental Hotel was made in 1896, under ‘Local and General News:’ “Major EHF Wolter contemplates erecting a grand lodging house in place of the McDowell place on the corner of King and Alakea street.”

“If the dilapidated buildings on the other corners could be torn down a great improvement would be made.” (The Independent, October 3, 1896)

The Occidental, long popular as a modestly-priced hotel and rooming house on the makai-Waikīkī corner of Alakea and South King Streets, was built in 1896.

With its lathe and plaster exterior, iron-railed second-floor balcony grillwork, potted plants, and dormered-mansard roof and cupola, the Occidental remained substantially unchanged while Honolulu grew up around it.

In 1900 EHF Wolter presided as manager; room rates by the day in the two-and one-half story structure ran from $1.00 to $2.00, with “a substantial reduction in prices when taken by the month.”  (Scott)

The fire inspection report for 1900 noted that “the walls were full of openings; there was a ‘poor chimney’ and no bar ….”

By 1904 proprietor Wolter had added a bistro where straight goods were a specialty and a barber shop for good measure. The new $1.25 daily rates were “the lowest in the city for a refined hostelry.” 

On the King Street side of the hotel stood Fred Harrison’s Hawaiian Marble Works adjoining Spanton and Lund, sign painters and paperhangers. (Scott)

“The valuable piece of property at the corner-of King and Alakea streets, now owned by EHF Wolter, is likely to be thrown into litigation in the very near future unless an amicable agreement is reached between the present possessor of the land and Mrs. Robert Wilcox, who claims ownership of the corner by reason of an alleged defective title.”  (Hawaiian Star, November 5, 1896)

“The land was originally deeded by the King to Rieves, a kamaaina of Hawaii. At the death of Rieves the land was deeded to his six children, so Mrs. Wilcox contends.  Two of these signed off in favor of a third.”

“The land passed out of the Rieves family and has been transferred numerous times until bought in by Wolter at a public auction sale.”  (Hawaiian Star, November 5, 1896)

“Now Mrs. Wilcox claims to have proof that the land never legally passed out of the Rieves family. Her grandfather was one of the two who did not come in for his share of the property. She insists that it has been handed down to her by her ancestors and that Mr. Wolter’s title is defective.”  (Hawaiian Star, November 5, 1896)

“Mrs. Wilcox has retained WR Castle as her attorney and he will Institute suit or the recovery of the property unless Mr. Wolter agrees to settle.  LA Thurston is Mr. Wolter’s counsel. It is said that the present owner has shown some inclination to compromise. The property is worth about $12,000.”  (Hawaiian Star, November 5, 1896)

“Mr. Wolter is erecting a large building on the premises to be known as the Occidental hotel. It extends back half a block and has fully fifty feet front on King. Construction on the building has been temporarily stopped by the Government, the claim being that it is not as nearly fire proof as it should be.”  (Hawaiian Star, November 5, 1896)

“Mr Wolter is thinking of making a three story building of the Occidental Hotel.  (Hawaiian Star, October 27, 1898)

The “box-like, durable Occidental Hotel, its original cupola still intact, appeared somewhat out of place in downtown Honolulu” in 1940.

“The old hostel, at the makai Waikiki corner of South King and Alakea Streets, had recently been renovated and small shops occupied the ground floor with the upper two stories given over to furnished rooms.” (Scott)

Wolter’s son, Henry Wolter, took over the property after his father’s death in 1928.  He redeveloped the site of the Occidental Hotel (demolished in October 1950) with a 2-story office building that was ready for occupancy in 1951. (Star Bulletin, March 2, 1951)

On the curbstone in front of the Wolter Building, corner of King and Alakea, circular indentations show the location of hitching rings used to tether horses at the old Occidental Hotel.

Forty years ago a couple of the rings remained; now there are only the iron stubs of one or two shanks that fastened the rings to the stone (not concrete) curb.

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Frederick C Ohrt

Honolulu’s public water system is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, under the American flag west of the Mississippi River. The first unit, installed, paid for and operated by the government, was in service on March 31, 1848.  (Nellist)

At that time, whale products were in high demand; whale oil was used for heating, lamps and in industrial machinery; whale bone was used in corsets, skirt hoops, umbrellas and buggy whips.  Rich whaling waters were discovered near Japan and soon hundreds of ships headed for the area.

The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between America and Japan brought many whaling ships to the Islands.  Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands.  Another thing the early whalers wanted was water.

The first ships to visit Honolulu obtained their fresh water by sending small boats with casks up Nuʻuanu stream above the salt water tidal area.

With the threat of competition from California and Mexico, it is quite clear that it was a desire to serve and hold the trade of the whaling ships that caused Honolulu to initiate its water system.  (Nellist)

Then, in 1848, in his annual report to King Kamehameha III and the Legislature of Hawaii, Keoni Ana (John Young), Minister of the Interior, made this notation:

“A water tank, for the convenience of the shipping (New England whaling ships,) is placed in the basement story of the new Master and Pilots’ Office, near the wharf (Nuʻuanu Street.) And it was supplied through a leaden pipe from a reservoir at ‘Pelekane’ …”  (Schmitt)

After the completion of the Bates Street reservoir in 1851, nearby businesses and homes were connected with the main. The system was further expanded in 1860-1861, eventually covering most of the city.  (Schmitt)

Over the years, the fledgling water system expanded.  Then, on April 29, 1925, Governor Wallace Rider Farrington formed and appointed members to the original Honolulu Sewer and Water Commission.

Their first meeting was held May 14, 1925 and the organization was completed on July 1 with the appointment of Frederick C Ohrt as Chief Engineer (Ohrt resigned from Libby, McNeill & Libby to take the position.)  (Nellist)

In his report to the Commission, Chief Engineer Ohrt added this observation: “… the first duty of whomever may be held responsible for correct solution of the water problem is to insist upon an aggressive policy of conservation and reasonable use of Honolulu’s most valuable resource. Most valuable, because the measure of value is necessity; and the growth of every city is rigidly conditioned by its water supply.”

Then, on July 1, 1929, Governor Farrington appointed members to the first Board of Water Supply (BWS;) they immediately appointed Ohrt Manager and Chief Engineer.

Ohrt established the principle that the construction necessary to support a utility need not spoil the landscape. Many examples of this can still be found around Oahu such as the pumping stations, which were designed by the respected architect CW Dickey.  (Engineers & Architects of Hawaiʻi)

The semi-autonomous Board of Water Supply (BWS,) under the administration of Frederick Ohrt, had been established in 1930 to replace the mismanaged and scandal-ridden City Waterworks Department, which had brought the city to the verge of a water shortage.

Flush with federal funds flowing from the Works Projects Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression, the Board assigned four projects to architect Hart Wood during the period 1933-1936.  (Historic Hawaiʻi)

Some of these lasting legacies under Ohrt’s leadership include the Pacific Heights Reservoir (1933,) the Makiki–Mānoa Pumping Station (1935,) the Kalihi Uka Pumping Station (1935) and the Nuʻuanu Aerator (1936, its purpose was to purify surface waters drawn from Nuʻuanu stream.)

Perhaps the crowning achievement of Board of Water Supply designs is the Administration Building fronting Beretania Street. Wood began the design of this project in 1947 and completed the design by about 1951, but the building was not completed until after 1952 (the year Frederick Ohrt retired from the Board of Water Supply.)  (Historic Hawaiʻi)

One of the early facilities of the fledgling Water Department (before Ohrt’s involvement there) was the Kalihi Pumping Station, on the corner of Waiakamilo and North King Street.

The initial building was constructed in 1899 (it has since been replaced.)  The pump in the plant was an EP Allis Vertical Triple Expansion Triplex Single Acting Pump.

There are three wells at Kalihi Pumping Station. Two of these wells were bored in 1899 and the third in 1900. The wells are cased with steel casing 3/8” thick. These wells are of 12” bore.  (Hawaiʻi Dept. of Public Works, 1913)

It is now home to the Water Department’s Fred Ohrt Water Museum, named in honor of BWS’s first Manager and Chief Engineer.  The museum is located at the Kalihi Pumping Station, 1381 North King Street.

Tours their include an introduction to our island’s water cycle, discussion on water conservation, and walking tour of the museum showcasing “The Old Man of Kalihi”, the original 1899 steam pump, and history of the BWS.

The Honolulu BWS is the largest municipal water utility in the state, serving one-million customers on O‘ahu with 55-billion gallons of water every year, which includes 95-active drinking water facilities, 166-storage tanks and more than 2,000-miles of pipeline servicing nearly every community on O‘ahu.

Another Wood design was Fred Ohrt’s residence on Pali Highway.  In 1987, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as representative of the Tudor–French Norman Cottages Thematic Group of homes in Honolulu (between Hānaiakamālama (Queen Emma Summer Palace) and Oʻahu Country Club; on the golf course side of the highway.)

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Through the Eyes of W Somerset Maugham

“The Pacific is inconstant and uncertain like the soul of man. Sometimes it is grey like the English Channel off Beachy Head, with a heavy swell, and sometimes it is rough, capped with white crests, and boisterous.”

“It is not so often that it is calm and blue. Then, indeed, the blue is arrogant.”

“The sun shines fiercely from an unclouded sky. The trade wind gets into your blood and you are filled with an impatience for the unknown.”

“(Honolulu) is the meeting place of East and West. The very new rubs shoulders with the immeasurably old. And if you have not found the romance you expected you have come upon something singularly intriguing.”

“All these strange people live close to each other, with different languages and different thoughts; they believe in different gods and they have different values; two passions alone they share, love and hunger.”

“And somehow as you watch them you have an impression of extraordinary vitality. Though the air is so soft and the sky so blue, you have, I know not why, a feeling of something hotly passionate that beats like a throbbing pulse through the crowds.”

“Though the native policeman at the corner, standing on a platform, with a white club to direct the traffic, gives the scene an air of respectability, you cannot but feel that it is a respectability only of the surface; a little below there is darkness and mystery.”

“It gives you just that thrill, with a little catch at the heart, that you have when at night in the forest the silence trembles on a sudden with the low, insistent beating of a drum. You are all expectant of I know not what.”

“If I have dwelt on the incongruity of Honolulu, it is because just this, to my mind, gives its point to the story I want to tell. It is a story of primitive superstition, and it startles me that anything of the sort should survive in a civilisation which, if not very distinguished, is certainly very elaborate.”

“I cannot get over the fact that such incredible things should happen, or at least be thought to happen, right in the middle, so to speak, of telephones, tram cars, and daily papers. …”

“The place seemed to belong not to the modern, hustling world that I had left in the bright street outside, but to one that was dying.”

“It had the savour of the day before yesterday. Dingy and dimly lit, it had a vaguely mysterious air and you could imagine that it would be a fit scene for shady transactions. It suggested a more lurid time, when ruthless men carried their lives in their hands, and violent deeds diapered the monotony of life.”

“When I went in the saloon was fairly full. A group of business men stood together at the bar, discussing affairs, and in a corner two Kanakas were drinking. Two or three men who might have been store-keepers were shaking dice. The rest of the company plainly followed the sea; they were captains of tramps, first mates, and engineers.”

“Behind the bar, busily making the Honolulu cocktail for which the place was famous, served two large half castes, in white, fat, clean-shaven and dark skinned, with thick, curly hair and large bright eyes. …”

“‘What’s Iwelei?” …

“‘The plague spot of Honolulu. The Red Light district. It was a blot on our civilisation.’”

“Iwelei was on the edge of the city. You went down side streets by the harbour, in the darkness, across a rickety bridge, till you came to a deserted road, all ruts and holes, and then suddenly you came out into the light.”

“There was parking room for motors on each side of the road, and there were saloons, tawdry and bright, each one noisy with its mechanical piano, and there were barbers` shops and tobacconists.”

“There was a stir in the air and a sense of expectant gaiety.”

“You turned down a narrow alley, either to the right or to the left, for the road divided Iwelei into two parts, and you found yourself in the district.”

“There were rows of little bungalows, trim and neatly painted in green, and the pathway between them was broad and straight. It was laid out like a garden-city.”

“In its respectable regularity, its order and spruceness, it gave an impression of sardonic horror; for never can the search for love have been so systematised and ordered.”

“The pathways were lit by a rare lamp, but they would have been dark except for the lights that came from the open windows of the bungalows.”

“Men wandered about, looking at the women who sat at their windows, reading or sewing, for the most part taking no notice of the passers-by; and like the women they were of all nationalities.”

“There were Americans, sailors from the ships in port, enlisted men off the gunboats, sombrely drunk, and soldiers from the regiments, white and black, quartered on the island; there were Japanese, walking in twos and threes; Hawaiians, Chinese in long robes, and Filipinos in preposterous hats. They were silent and as it were oppressed. Desire is sad.”

“‘It was the most crying scandal of the Pacific,’ exclaimed Davidson vehemently. ‘The missionaries had been agitating against it for years, and at last the local press took it up.’”

“‘The police refused to stir. You know their argument. They say that vice is inevitable and consequently the best thing is to localise and control it.’”

“‘The truth is, they were paid. Paid. They were paid by the saloon-keepers, paid by the bullies, paid by the women themselves. At last they were forced to move.’”

“Iwelei, with its sin and shame, ceased to exist on the very day we arrived. The whole population was brought before the justices.” (W Somerset Maugham, 1921)

William Somerset Maugham (born Jan. 25, 1874, Paris, France – died Dec. 16, 1965, Nice) was an English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer. He wrote about the Islands in ‘The Trembling of the Leaf’ in 1921.

© 2021 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Iwilei-'Rooms'-(Greer)
Iwilei-‘Rooms’-(Greer)
Iwilei-red_light_district-(ghosttowns)
Iwilei-red_light_district-(ghosttowns)
Iwilei-'Rooms'-(Saga-Scott)
Iwilei-‘Rooms’-(Saga-Scott)

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Honolulu’s First Mayor

The Organic Act (enacted April 30, 1900) established the territorial status of the Islands; with it, the legislature was authorized to create towns, cities and counties within the Territory.

In 1905, the Territorial Legislature passed “The County Act” (Act 39) which formed the basis of modern local government in Hawaiʻi. It established five counties: Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Maui, Hawai‘i and Kalawao.

Hawai‘i’s 5th County (encompassing the Kalaupapa Peninsula and surrounding land) remains under the jurisdiction of the state’s Health Department; the other four counties were governed by elected Boards of Supervisors.

Contrary to the suggestion in the name of the enabling “County Act,” State government retained many traditional county government functions and over the next many decades took on even more, making Hawai‘i the most centralized state government.

The state continued to administer the court system, public health, welfare, correctional and school systems in addition to all harbors, airports and major highways.

The County of Oʻahu began operating on July 1, 1905, and two years later was renamed the City and County of Honolulu; it was governed by a Board of Supervisors.  Later, a mayor was added to the Board of Supervisors.

Honolulu’s first campaign for Mayor had two principal candidates: John Carey Lane, Republican; and James Joseph Fern, Democrat.

On January 4, 1909, in the McIntyre building at Fort and King Streets, the City and County of Honolulu inaugurated its new municipal government and its first Mayor, Joseph “Joe” James Fern (who had won the election by just seven votes (Lane did not want a recount.))

Joseph Fern was born in Kohala on the Big Island in 1872, to James and Kaipo Fern, a Hawaiian family of modest means.

His schooling was rudimentary, and he was commonly referred to as being self-taught.  At the age of twelve he went to work for the Union Mill Plantation of Kohala, driving a bullock cart loaded with fire wood from the forests on the upper slopes down to the mill.

He left the Big Island in 1892 and headed to Honolulu.  In the city, his first job was as a mule-car driver for the Hawaiian Tramways.  He eventually worked as shipping master for the Inter Island Steamship Company.

Fern was thrice-married, his first bride, Julia Natua, presenting him with two children, Julia and James, before her death, and his second wife, Sheba Alapai, giving birth to twelve, Joseph Jr., Mary K., Nancy, George, Kaipo, Elizabeth, Marion, Mary, Keo, Santa Clara, Henry and Esta. Sheba died in April 1910. His third wife, Emma Silva, married Fern in August 1910 in Honolulu, when he was already mayor of the city, they had one child, Victoria.  (Johnson)

In 1907, Joe Fern was elected to the Board of Supervisors of the County of Oʻahu as a Democrat, one of a minority of three on the seven-man board.

Warm-hearted, welcoming, with a sense of humor, Fern brought his personal style to City Hall. He built a city government and proposed acquiring land for parks and playgrounds. A devout Catholic twice widowed, he lived modestly on Alapa‘i Lane and reared fourteen children. (Chapin)

In 1915, he lost a reelection bid against John Lane.  That year, for the first time, Honolulu’s budget passed the million-dollar mark, the increase reflecting a general growth in property valuations in the city.

After leaving office, Fern was appointed City Jailer. When Lane tried to run for reelection, Fern challenged his successor again and won by 300 votes; he retook the Mayor’s office on July 2, 1917.

Fern died February 20, 1920 from complications with diabetes, while still in office.

Evidence of his popularity among the people he served, Fern was granted a state funeral and was laid in the throne room of ʻIolani Palace. During the burial rites at the Catholic Cemetery, the United States Army Air Corps presented a fly-over ceremony in a V-formation.  Fern Elementary School and Playground are named in his honor.

The newspaper, often vehemently opposed to Fern, wrote the following: “Mr. Fern stood in the relation of a father to his people. He was one of the old school of Hawaiians, open handed, sympathetic and always ready to help his people. Daily there was a stream of Hawaiian poor crowding his waiting room and corning to him for assistance in family rows, for legal advice or a loan or to straighten out trouble with their children.”

“While the supervisors at times fought him tooth and nail and criticized him in no uncertain terms in open meeting, he nevertheless had the respect of all of them. He is sincerely mourned by the board, by all the city employees and the people of the city generally.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 21, 1920)

© 2021 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Evacuation Camps and War-time Housing

In pre-war preparations, a May 23, 1941 article in the Honolulu Advertiser titled “Army Maps Areas to Be Evacuated in Event of Emergency” informed civilians that 86,000 persons living in Honolulu resided in danger zones, and that half would have to evacuate in the event of a war.

“The Hawaiian Department has worked out a comprehensive plan for moving and caring for those who would have to leave their home.  Preparation of the plan was directed by Col. Albert B. K. Lyman department engineer.”

“Much of the responsibility for the actual mechanics of the process would devolve upon the civilian government unless it was necessary to invoke martial law …”

“… but it is hoped that the people of Honolulu would be sufficiently aware of the necessities of the evacuation process to act voluntarily and cooperate with the government and the army, both in caring for themselves and in helping to care for others.”

“Areas to be evacuated are those places surrounding and in the vicinity of legitimate targets for an enemy. They extend practically without a break along the waterfront from Middle street to Waialae golf course.”

“The mauka boundary is School street to Kapiolani street, then Kapiolani boulevard and the Ala Wai to the fair grounds, along Kapahulu to Waialae avenue, and along the ewa boundary of the golf course to Kahala avenue.”

“This portion of the city that would be evacuated contains several artillery posts, the docks, the oil tanks, railroad yards, Hawaiian Electric Company, Honolulu Gas Company, Mutual Telephone Company, the newspaper plants and the major traffic arteries – all legitimate targets.”

“Because any air raid on Honolulu that might ever occur would most probably be at night, consequently not of the precision variety, bombs might land at some distance from the actual targets. That is the reason so large an area would have to be evacuated.”

“There are two classes of evacuees: those who will voluntarily or with slight persuasion leave, and those who must be forced to leave … Persons who cannot be used in any manner in the defense and who are unwilling to leave Honolulu but who can be used directly and indirectly in the defense constitute the seconds class.’”

“In discussing the evacuation program General Short regretted, that Honolulu does not possess one of the most favorable facilities that could be utilized as a camp. That is a large recreation center away from the ocean.  The beaches, he said, do not offer enough foliage for protection from observation.”  (Honolulu Advertiser, May 23, 1941)

During the Fall of 1941 diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan, which had been steadily deteriorating, took a sudden turn for the worse. December 7, 1941 Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbor.

Shelters for evacuees were built in the valleys of Palolo, Kalihi and Mānoa; however, they were “held in readiness for evacuees in connection with [another] attack.”

Neither Kalihi Valley Camp nor Palolo Valley Camp ever accommodated Islanders displaced after the initial attack on December 7th. A memorandum written in February 1942 confirmed that both Palolo and Kalihi Camps remained unoccupied.

With the coming of World War II Hawaii was confronted with a serious housing shortage, as Honolulu saw an influx of over 100,000 civilian defense workers, while a lack of building materials and laborers brought residential construction to a virtual halt.

Four evacuation camps, which the Office of Civilian Defense had erected in Palolo and Kalihi valleys in case of another Japanese attack, were turned over to the HHA and converted into wartime public housing for several hundred families.

The housing situation became more acute in 1943, as workers continued to come to the islands, and in 1944 the military further compounded the problem by permitting families to join war workers.

The HHA developed public housing areas in Palolo, Kapalama, and Lanikila during 1944 and 1945, and the Federal Public Housing Authority opened Kalihi War Homes with its 248 units in February 1945.

Members of a Congressional subcommittee, which came to investigate Honolulu’s housing situation (in Pālolo and elsewhere) in March 1945, learned of “hot bed apartments” where as many as eighteen men occupied one room in three shifts.

The subcommittee found that adequate housing had not been provided for approximately 60,000 of the 107,679 civilian newcomers who came to Hawaii during the war.

With the conclusion of World War II, the Pālolo School Camp was closed as they were deemed unsatisfactory for occupancy.  The Pālolo Evacuation Camp adjacent to the 362-unit emergency housing project in Pālolo remained in operation.

The Federal Public Housing Authority started to build another 1,000 dwelling units in Manoa, but these were not completed until 1946, after the war was over.

With the conclusion of World War II, three of the evacuation camps, Kalihi Evacuation Camp, Kalihi School Camp, and Palolo School Camp, were closed as they were deemed unsatisfactory for occupancy.

The Palolo Evacuation Camp adjacent to the 362 unit emergency housing project in Palolo remained in operation. (HHF)

© 2021 Hoʻokuleana LLC