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February 11, 2020 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Samuel G Wilder

Samuel Gardner Wilder was born June 20, 1831 in Massachusetts. Wilder arrived in Honolulu in the clipper ship White Swallow in the year 1857, that same year he married Elizabeth Kinaʻu Judd, daughter of missionary doctor and politician Gerrit P. Judd.

Their honeymoon voyage to New York on the chartered White Swallow went via Jarvis Island, where Wilder picked a load of guano for sale on the continent.

“Samuel G Wilder has had the career of a man of more than ordinary ability and energy whose private enterprises and public services have both in a large degree been a benefit to the country of his adoption.” (Hawaiian Gazette July 31, 1888.)

Upon returning to the islands, in 1864, Wilder and his father in law (Judd) set up a partnership for a sugar plantation at Kualoa, and built the mill and the stone chimney together.

The mill is associated with a tragedy when Willy Wilder, the nine year old son of Samuel Wilder, fell into a vat of boiling syrup during processing. He died a few days later from his severe burns.

By 1867, the decision to end the Judd-Wilder venture at Kualoa was made. The mill ground its last crop during the summer of 1868. After the failure of the plantation, the land was used a pasture for cattle and horses under the name of Kualoa Ranch.

He was later in the lumber business, but his wealth and prominence started in the interisland steam transportation business. Starting with the Kilauea, then the Likelike, then many more, he formed a flotilla of interisland carriers and later organized them under the Wilder Steamship Company.

The Wilder organization had strong competition from the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, which developed from the activities and interests of Captain Thomas R. Foster.

In 1905, the Wilder Steamship Company merged with the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, forming the largest fleet of steamers serving Hawaiʻi. That company started the first scheduled commercial airplane service in 1929 as Inter-Island Airways and became Hawaiian Airlines in 1941.

His life included politics and King Lunalilo appointed Wilder to the House of Nobles. King Kalākaua later appointed Wilder to his Cabinet, where he served as Minister of the Interior from 1878-1880.

He was a businessman rather than a politician, and his watchword was efficiency and economy in administration. He applied to the business of government the same ability and energetic leadership that won him success in his private business enterprises. (Kuykendall)

Mr. Wilder’s administration of the Department of the Interior was characterized by a well-defined policy of extensive internal improvements. Wilder vigorously pushed forward the construction of roads and bridges with other public conveniences, including the Marine Railway. (Hawaiian Gazette July 31, 1888)

During his term in office that Kulaokahuʻa, the “plains,” between Alapaʻi and Punahou streets mauka of King Street in Honolulu, was opened for settlement. Work on ʻIolani Palace was begun and preliminary railroad surveys were made on the island of Hawaiʻi. Wilder’s influence was felt in all departments of the government. (Kuykendall)

In 1878 Wilder established the first telephone line on Oʻahu, from his government office to his lumber business. King Kalākaua then purchased telephones for ʻIolani Palace. (Charles Dickey in Haiku, Maui had the first phones in the islands (1878;) connecting his home to his store.)

In 1881, Wilder initiated a railroad connecting the Mahukona port with the plantations in North Kohala on the Big Island (Niuliʻi to Mahukona;) he later bought the Kahului Railroad Company.

Wilder was appointed and later elected to the legislative assembly and served as its president. “He was a practical parliamentarian; just, prompt and precise in his rulings combining rare tact with energy in the dispatch of business.” Hawaiian Gazette July 31, 1888)

At this time, the Bayonet Constitution was enacted which created a constitutional monarchy much like that of the United Kingdom – this stripped the King of most of his personal authority and empowered the legislature.

The 1887 constitution made the upper house of the legislature elective and replaced the previous absolute veto allowed to the king to one that two-thirds of the legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom could override. Wilder supported the monarchy and told the King that he did not think the monarchy could last much longer. (Kuykendall)

Mr. Wilder had advised the King to enter at once into negotiations with the United States to part with the sovereignty of the country while he was in a position to do so with advantage, and before affairs became more complicated. Kalākaua did not follow the advice given to him by Wilder. (Kuykendall)

King Kalākaua conferred upon Mr. Wilder the distinctions of a Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Kalākaua and Grand Officer of the Royal Order Crown of Hawaiʻi.

“This generous and many-sided man tended with loving care to the deserving, with charitable purpose to the poor and with patriotic conscientiousness to the wants of his country.” (Daily Bulletin August 7, 1888)

The former Kaʻahumanu Wall, from Punchbowl to Mōʻiliʻili, followed a trail which was later expanded and was first called Stonewall Street. It was also known as “Mānoa Valley Road;” later, the route was renamed for Samuel G. Wilder (and continues to be known as Wilder Avenue.)

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Samuel_Gardner_Wilder
Samuel_Gardner_Wilder-WC
Honolulu Harbor Wilder's Steamship Company structure on far right-(HSA)-PP-39-10-026-1890
Honolulu_Harbor_to_Diamond_Head-Wall-Reg1690 (1893)-(portion_development_in_Kulaokahu‘a-and-wetlands_below_in_Kewalo)
Honolulu_Harbor-InteriorDept-Wall-Reg_1119 (1886)-noting_Wilder's_Wharf-Marine_Railway-GoogleEarth
Honolulu_Harbor-Wall-(1893)-noting_Wilder's_Wharf-Marine_Railway-(yellow_line_is_1893_shoreline)
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Kualoa-Sugar_Mill_Ruins-1940
'Marine Railway'-north_end_of_Kakaako-1885
No._2._View_of_Honolulu._From_the_Catholic_church._(c._1854)-Honolulu_to_Waikiki
On_Honolulu_Waterfront-1890
Railroad from Kahului to Wailuku, Maui-(HSA)-PPBER-2-8-006-1895
Railroad tracks and harbor at Mahukona Landing, Kohala, Hawaii-(HSA)-PP-88-3-025-1882
Wilder_&_Company_ad_1880
Wilder_Shipped_Guano_from_Jarvis_Island_here_is_Tramway
Wilder's_Steamship_Company-1890

Filed Under: Economy, Prominent People Tagged With: TR Foster, Marine Railway, Mahukona, Kahului Railroad, Hawaii, Kualoa, Inter-Island Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, Samuel Wilder

February 16, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Thomas R Foster

He was born May 19, 1835 at Fisher’s Grant, Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada; he later went to work with for his brother, Daniel Foster, in his shipbuilding business in Warren, Bristol County, Rhode Island in the 1850s.

In 1857, Thomas R Foster and his brother Daniel decided to move to Hawaiʻi to try the shipbuilding business in the Pacific. It appears that Thomas Foster was the main brother involved in the Shipbuilding business in Hawaiʻi.

Foster met and married Mary Elizabeth Mikahala Robinson, the eldest daughter of James Robinson, the prominent local ship builder in 1861 (they did not have any children.)

With financial help from Mary’s father, the Fosters bought property near the intersection of Nuʻuanu Avenue and School Street. There, they built a modest residence and settled down. (Wallworth)

(Later (1880,) the Fosters purchased the neighboring property owned by Dr William Hillebrand, a German physician and botanist who built his home here and planted trees and a variety of other plants. Upon Mary’s death (December 19, 1930,) the property was bequeathed to the City of Honolulu, to be known as Foster Park (now known as Foster Botanical Garden.))

On March 4, 1866, the German barque Libelle, on voyage from San Francisco to Hong Kong, grounded on the east reef off Wake Island. Several vessels went to Wake Island to salvage the cargo, which included several hundred flasks of quicksilver.

The sloop Hokulele, with a party headed by Foster, left Honolulu May 9, 1867, reached Wake on May 31st, left there June 22, and returned to Honolulu July 29, 1867 with 247 flasks of quicksilver. (Quicksilver is otherwise known as mercury, the only metallic element that is liquid at standard conditions for temperature and pressure.)

Steamship companies played an important role in the Kingdom of Hawai`i, even though steam navigation actually got off to a slow start; the first steamer was the American twin-screw steamer Constitution that arrived at Honolulu on January 24, 1852. (NOAA)

Then, the legislature passed ‘an Act to Promote Inter-Island Steam Communication,’ approved by the king on September 18, 1876. This law authorized the minister of the interior to contract with responsible parties “to maintain a suitable steamer of not less than 500 tons register … in the inner-island service … for a period not to exceed ten years.” (Kuykendall)

Foster began his company in 1878, two years after the signing of the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States by the Kingdom of Hawai‘i. Incorporated as the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company in 1883, Foster’s firm followed that of Samuel Gardner Wilder, Sr., who began the similar Wilder Steamship Company in 1877. (Chinatown)

In response to increased needs, three local steamship companies soon emerged as corporations: Wilder Steamship Company (Wilder,) Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company (Foster) and Pacific Navigation Company (Amos F Cooke.) (Pacific Navigation experienced costly setbacks due to a number of shipwrecks and folded in 1888.) (NOAA)

Inter-Island operated the Kauai and Oʻahu ports plus the Kona, Kaʻū, Kukuihaele, Honokaʻa and Kūkaʻiau ports on Hawaiʻi. Wilder took Molokai, Lānaʻi and Maui plus all ports on Hawaii, including Hilo, not served by Inter-Island.

Both companies stopped at Lahaina plus Maalaea Bay and Makena on Maui’s leeward coast once. Inter-Island’s service to Lahaina started in 1886. Both fleets were enlarged over time. (Hawaiian Stamps)

In 1905, the two companies, under the leadership of John Ena (1843-1906), a former clerk of Chinese-Hawaiian parentage, merged under the Inter-Island name. (Chinatown)

When airplanes came to the Hawaiian Islands, the Inter-Island Navigation Company founded a subsidiary, Inter-Island Airways. Hawaiʻi’s first interisland passenger service was launched on November 11, 1929.

In the late-1940s, Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co became the target of a federal anti-trust suit. The government won its case and broke the company into four companies: Inter-Island Steam, Overseas Terminals, Hawaiian Airlines and Inter-Island Resorts. (GardenIsland)

Foster died in 1889; the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company built their headquarters on Merchant Street in 1891 and inscribed their building with Foster’s name in his memory.

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Thomas R Foster-C&CHnl
Thomas R Foster-C&CHnl
SS Waialeale-(HallBrothers)
SS Waialeale-(HallBrothers)
Menu-SS_Hualalai-(gdm-hi)-Jan_6,_1949
Menu-SS_Hualalai-(gdm-hi)-Jan_6,_1949
Routes of the Steamship companies Wilder's_routes-(green lines) and Inter-Island-(blue lines) -1890
Routes of the Steamship companies Wilder’s_routes-(green lines) and Inter-Island-(blue lines) -1890
Inter-Island Airways planes on the runway at John Rodgers Field, Honolulu, c1936-1939
Inter-Island Airways planes on the runway at John Rodgers Field, Honolulu, c1936-1939
TR Foster Building-corner of Nuuanu and Marin-(NPS)
TR Foster Building-corner of Nuuanu and Marin-(NPS)
Perspective_view_of_southeast_elevation,_including_the_Irwin_Block_(The_Nippu_Jiji)_(HABS_HI-55-M)_-_Merchant_and_Nuuanu_Streets,_T._R._Foster_Building
Perspective_view_of_southeast_elevation,_including_the_Irwin_Block_(The_Nippu_Jiji)_(HABS_HI-55-M)_-_Merchant_and_Nuuanu_Streets,_T._R._Foster_Building
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TR_Foster_Bldg-Plaque-600
Foster_Botanical_Garden-sign
Foster_Botanical_Garden-sign
Foster_Botanical_Garden-Map
Foster_Botanical_Garden-Map

Filed Under: Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks, Economy, Prominent People Tagged With: Hawaii, Inter-Island Steam Navigation, Inter-Island Airways, Mary Foster, Inter-Island Resorts, TR Foster, Foster Botanical Garden

November 17, 2015 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Pualani ‘Flower of the Sky’

Hawaiʻi’s first interisland passenger service was launched on November 11, 1929 when Inter-Island Airways flew 13 passengers in a Sikorsky amphibian from Honolulu to Hilo; the flight took a total of one hour and 40 minutes (they touched at Maʻalaea along the way.)

The first flight to Kauai was made the following day and all the Hawaiian Islands were soon receiving air service on a regular basis. During this time, the first inflight treat offered to passengers was a stick of Wrigley gum to relieve ear pressure. (Clark)

By 1936 there was a drastic upsurge in local passenger traffic. After seven years of scheduled service without an accident, the traditionally boat-minded islanders realized the safety of interisland air travel.

In 1941, the company’s name changed to Hawaiian Airlines, to pave the way for trans-Pacific operations; the Wings logo was adopted. (hawaii-gov)

Hawaiian hired its first ‘hostesses’ in 1943 to serve aboard its DC-3s. Before then, ticket agents in the Honolulu terminal would “change hats” and board the aircraft to take care of in-flight passenger needs.

Hawaiian converted five of its DC-3s into “Viewmasters” for sightseeing flights. It enlarged single windows and combined others to create 5-foot-long, panoramic windows.

In the first of its many fleet upgrades, Hawaiian introduced the Convair 340 in the early 1950s. Unlike a DC-3, it was pressurized and air conditioned.

Hawaiian brought the first interisland jet service to the islands in 1966 with the Douglas DC-9 (and adopted the Jetbird logo to symbolize change over to jet service.)

In 1973, Hawaiian Air introduced new colors and a ‘Pualani’ (flower of the sky) logo, with the profile of a woman against a red hibiscus, the state flower. (Smithsonian)

Leinaʻala Ann Teruya Drummond, a former Miss Hawaii (1964,) was the model for the distinctive island girl profile that adorns the tails of all Hawaiian Airlines aircraft.

She was born in 1946 in Puʻunene, Maui and educated at Kamehameha School (1963) and Cannon’s School of Business, and worked in the travel and hotel industry.

She married John Ian Drummond; they have two children, Christina and Kawika. She also served on the Maui County Council.

The Pualani logo had several iterations. At times the flower was a solid color; some dots were added to the center of it, and possibly a star.

In 2001, the logo was updated with the current Pualani. The new logo was an evolution of the original Pualani, which profiled an Island girl with a flower in her hair against a red hibiscus. In the new adaptation, the face has more character and represents the look of a 21st century Island woman.

Designed with input from the airline’s employees, the new Pualani is intended to reflect Hawaiian’s proud Island heritage with a sense of grace, elegance and caring. At the same time, her expression is seen to capture the strength, determination, spirit and confidence of the people of Hawaiian Airlines.

The contemporized island girl symbol is depicted in “a realistic, more genuine way, in keeping with the current Hawaiian cultural renaissance that has revived dance, music, language and other native traditions.” (Hawaiian Air)

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Leinaala_Teruya_Drummond-Pualani_model
Leinaala_Teruya_Drummond-Pualani_model
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Interisland_Airways
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HawaiianAirlines-Wings
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hawaii-airlines-logo_1950
hawaii-airlines-logo_1953-1964
hawaii-airlines-logo_1953-1964
Timetable issued by Hawaiian Airlines (No. 146, "Effective September 8, 1964"). The cover features a boarding scene showing a man seated and looking out the plane door, a stewardess standing behind him holding newspapers, and another stewardess standing at the door to greet passengers. Inner pages feature timetables, fare tables, and a route map.
Timetable issued by Hawaiian Airlines (No. 146, “Effective September 8, 1964”). The cover features a boarding scene showing a man seated and looking out the plane door, a stewardess standing behind him holding newspapers, and another stewardess standing at the door to greet passengers. Inner pages feature timetables, fare tables, and a route map.
hawaii-airlines-logo_1965-1973
hawaii-airlines-logo_1965-1973
Hawaiian_Airlines-Jetbird
Hawaiian_Airlines-Jetbird
Timetable issued by Hawaiian Airlines ("Effective June 8, 1970"). The cover features the image of a stewardess, dressed in a bright floral dress, holding a tray of drinks. Her photograph is framed by an illustration of a watch. Inner pages feature timetables, fare tables, and a route map.
Timetable issued by Hawaiian Airlines (“Effective June 8, 1970”). The cover features the image of a stewardess, dressed in a bright floral dress, holding a tray of drinks. Her photograph is framed by an illustration of a watch. Inner pages feature timetables, fare tables, and a route map.
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hawaii-airlines-logo_1973-2001
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Leinaala_Teruya_Drummond-2012
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Hawaiian_Airlines_Logo-Pualani

Filed Under: General, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Inter-Island Airways, Hawaiian Airlines

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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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