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February 19, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Number, Please

“Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you.” Soon after that fateful day of March 10, 1876, with the message from Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant Thomas A. Watson, the telephone grew in popularity.

In July of 1877, the Bell Telephone Company was formed and by the end of 1877 there were three-thousand telephones in service.

Some suggest ʻIolani Palace had telephones before the White House. However, the White House had a phone in 1879 (President Rutherford B. Hayes telephone number was “1”.) “By the fall of 1881 telephone instruments and electric bells were in place in the Palace.” (The Pacific Commercial, September 24, 1881)

“The first telephone ever used in Honolulu belonged to King Kalākaua. Having been presented to him by the American Bell Telephone Company.” (Daily Bulletin, December 4, 1894)

The earliest telephone in Hawaiʻi followed the first commercial telegraph, and like the earlier device stemmed from the efforts of Charles H. Dickey on Maui.

In early-1878, Maui’s Charles H. Dickey installed Hawaiʻi’s first two telephones between his home and his store. The phones were rented from a Mainland firm and ran on wet cell batteries.

Years later, Dickey wrote: “In 1878 I received a letter from my brother, JJ Dickey, superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph at Omaha, describing the new invention. … Before the year was out … I sent for instruments and converted my telegraph line into a telephone line.” (Schmitt, HJH)

In a letter to the Hawaiian Gazette, CH Dickey noted, “Sir, the greatest discovery of the age is the Bell Telephone. By its use, persons many miles apart can converse with ease. Every sound is distinctly transmitted.”

“The tones of the voice, musical notes, articulation, in fact any and every sound that can be made is reproduced instantaneously in a miniature form, by all the telephones on the wire.” (CH Dickey, Hawaiian Gazette, March 13, 1878)

“I have made arrangements to have a few sent me, to be used by the Hawaiian Telephone Company, and hope soon to be prepared to furnish telephones to all who wish them in the Islands, as agent for the manufacturers. …”

“A number of instruments can be attached to the same wire, although but one person can talk at a time, as is usual in polite conversation.” (CH Dickey, Hawaiian Gazette, March 13, 1878)

“Let a good line be put up, beginning at the upper end of Nuuanu, running down the Valley, connecting with the residences and business houses; then out on King street, connecting with the Palace and Government Building; then up through the residences to Punahou, and ending say at Waikiki.” (CH Dickey, Hawaiian Gazette, March 13, 1878)

Shortly after this, the newspaper commented, “it is plain that this new invention is destined to come into general use at no distant date.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 30, 1878)

On April 11, 1878, Dickey submitted his application for a caveat (a kind of provisional patent), asserting his “intention to introduce into the Hawaiian Islands the Invention known as The Bell Telephone,” but the Privy Council apparently failed to act on his request.

Less than two weeks later, on April 24, 1878, a letter was sent to the Advertiser from Wailuku stating that “the East Maui Telegraph Company are about to introduce that new wonder of the age, the telephone.”

The Maui telephone system was apparently put into operation in May or June, 1878; a letter from Makawao, dated June 27, 1878, and printed in the Advertiser, boasted that “the telegraph and telephone are old here, ‘everybody has ’em’ ” and went on to tell how “comes the word by telephone that Mr. Spencer (E. Maui Plantation) has met with an accident.” (Schmitt, HJH)

In 1878, S. G. Wilder, Minister of the Interior, had a line installed between his government office and his lumber yard, and other private lines quickly followed. Organized service in Honolulu began during the late fall of 1880, and on December 30 the Hawaiian Bell Telephone Company was incorporated.

On December 23, 1880, a charter was granted to the Hawaiian Bell Telephone Company (Bell had nothing to do with the company; the name “Bell” was added to honor Alexander Graham Bell.)

There were 119 subscribers by the end of 1881; the next year there were 179. (On August 16, 1883, a competitive group was granted a charter, it was called the Mutual Telephone Company. Competition brought the rates down.)

The 1880-1881 directory, published in 1880, noted that the Hawaiian Telegraph Company “was established in 1877, and was the pioneer line of the Kingdom, and is up to the present time the only public line.”

“It was originally worked with what are known as Morse Sounders, but, the business of the line not being sufficient to pay for experienced operators, telephones have been substituted.” (Schmitt, HJH)

The first calls were operator assisted – the first operators were men.

They knew each subscriber by voice and did more than just connect calls – they made appointments, conveyed messages and even announced the current attraction at the Opera House. Throwing a master switch, they could inform all subscribers on matters of general concern, with a “Now hear this!”

On November 2, 1931, the Mutual Telephone Company inaugurated interisland radio telephone service. Mutual introduced radio telephone service with the Mainland a few weeks later. (Schmitt, HJH)

Annoyed by the growing numbers of free-loaders who used merchants’ phones for their private calls, the company (with the approval of the Public Utilities Commission) forbade free calls from stores and other public places, and in 1935 installed the first pay phones in Honolulu. (Schmitt, HJH)

Shortly after the turn of the century, women replaced men as telephone operators. On August 28, 1910, Honolulu telephones were converted to dial operation, but the last manual phones in Hawaiʻi (at Kamuela and Kapoho) were not phased out until 1957.

That same year (1957,) the first submarine telephone cable laid between Hawaiʻi and the mainland United States (actually two cables, (one transmitting in each direction.)) This provided the first direct dialing between Hawaiʻi and the mainland. It was replaced in 1989 with more advanced Fiber Optic cable technology.

Direct Distance Dialing was made available for calls from Oahu to the Neighbor Islands and Mainland beginning at 12:01 a.m., January 16, 1972. This permitted callers to bypass long-distance operators and reduce charges appreciably.

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Alexander Graham Bell at the opening of the long-distance line from New York to Chicago-(LOC)-1892
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Kalakaua, King of Hawaii, 1836-1891, in his library in Iolani Palace-telephone_on_wall-(HSA)-PP-96-15-007

Filed Under: Economy, General Tagged With: Hawaii, Oahu, Kalakaua, Iolani Palace, Maui, Telephone, Dickey

January 15, 2020 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Look for the Mamo Hidden Under a Rock

Hawaiʻi’s capitol – the “Square Building” on Beretania, although it’s actually 360-feet x 270-feet – is full of symbolism.

In the words of Governor John A Burns, “The open sea, the open sky, the open doorway, open arms and open hearts – these are the symbols of our Hawaiian heritage … there are no doors at the grand entrances … there is no roof or dome to separate its vast inner court from the heavens … We welcome you! E Komo Mai! Come In! The house is yours!”

The perimeter pool represents the ocean surrounding the islands; the 40-concrete columns are shaped like coconut trees; the conical House and Senate chambers infer the volcanic origins of the Islands; and the open, airy central ground floor suggests the Islands’ open society and acceptance of our natural and cultural environment.

In 1959, an advisory committee was formed. They selected the Honolulu firm of Belt, Lemmon & Lo and the San Francisco firm of John Carl Warnecke & Associates to design the new state capitol.

Their design was approved by the Legislature in 1961; construction commenced in November 1965. The building opened on March 16, 1969, replacing the former statehouse, ʻIolani Palace.

A notable capitol feature central on the ground floor is the tiled mosaic “Aquarius.” The tile work is based on a painting of the same name by Tadashi Sato; the mosaic is circular (36-feet in diameter.)

Sato, the eldest of six children of Japanese immigrants who came to work on Maui’s pineapple plantations, was born (1923) and raised on Maui and attended King Kamehameha III School and graduated from Lahainaluna.

He perfected his artistic skills over the next several decades, studying in Japan and New York and eventually became recognized as a member of the abstract expressionist movement and known for his abstract and semi-abstract paintings, mosaics and murals.

He is described as “an artist with a tranquil spirit, at peace with his place in the world, who eloquently used his brush to speak about what is most true and enduring in that world”. (Maui Council)

Tadashi Sato was an artist of international stature whose work has hung in places such as New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim and Whitney, and the Willard Gallery. Aquarius is still arguably his most famous work of art.

A lot of Sato’s work goes back to recollections of the reflection of sky, submerged rocks and sparkling colors in the tide pools and coastline where he fished near Nakalele Point in West Maui. (Keiko Sato, his sister)

Standing on the upper floors of the capitol, looking down on the Aquarius mosaic, gives a view much like what Sato saw from the coastal cliffs of West Maui looking down on the shoreline and tidepools below.

In 1965, Sato was honored by President Lyndon Johnson at the White House Festival of Arts, alongside Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock and other American artists. In 1984, he was named a Living Treasure of Hawai’i by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaiʻi.

Exposure to the elements in the open air of the capitol took its toll on the mosaic. It has been replaced twice since its initial installation.

In 1988, the mosaic was replaced because it was subject to ponding water and it lacked accommodation for expansion and contraction. These factors lead to cracking, heaving and failure of the tiles and mortar bed. (SFCA)

Again, in 2005, a new set of the approximate 600,000-tiles replaced the former and a new system of drains, expansion joints, mortar bed and thicker tiles increased the mosaic’s durability and improved it significantly. (SFCA)

Coincidental, but symbolic of the diversity of cultures in Hawaiʻi, in this most recent replacement/repair, a crew of six (Hawaiian, Filipino and Portuguese (from Hawaiʻi,) and German, Polish and Italian (from abroad)) set the new tiles in place.

Fifty-seven different colors of various shades of blue, green and white tiles make up the Aquarius mosaic.

However, it was at this time a new color was added; the Italian added a single red tile to the mosaic.

Several sources incorrectly suggest the tile is representative of the artist’s signature. These folks also note you should search the mosaic for the single red tile.

However, as noted in the title of this piece, and continuing the symbolism at the capitol, folks at the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts feel Sato would prefer you look for the Mamo hidden under a rock. (The Mamo is the Hawaiian Sergeant reef fish.)

Today is opening day of the legislature. Take the time to look at Tadashi Sato’s design … and see what you can find. (Tadashi Sato died in 2005.)

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  • State Capitol. Mosaic by Tadashi Sato. From The Top-The view from the top of the Capitol. Star-Bulletin photo by Warren R. Roll on March 19, 1970. Ran on Thursday, March 19, 1970.
  • 19990909 CTY Tadashi Sato. Photo by Gary Kubota

Filed Under: General, Buildings Tagged With: Hawaii, Iolani Palace, Capitol, John Burns, Tadashi Sato, Aquarius

November 21, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

ʻIolani Palace Trees

ʻIolani Palace Grounds make up eleven acres of land in the core of downtown Honolulu.

After the arrival of American Protestant missionaries in 1820, high-ranking chiefs began to occupy the area. In 1825, a small mausoleum was built on the grounds to house the remains of King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamāmalu.

In 1845, King Kamehameha III moved his court from Lāhainā and a large home on the site with as many as twenty smaller structures served as Hawai’i’s royal palace.

During the reign of King Kalākaua the grounds were expanded to their present size.

In 1882, the new ʻIolani Palace was built and this served as the state residence of Hawaiʻi’s last ruling monarchs. Wide carriage ways were added to create an oval drive entirely around the Palace.

Previously, an 8-foot tall coral block wall with wooden gates divided the palace grounds from the outside world. The lowering of the perimeter walls to 42-inches in 1889 and the installation of iron fencing and gates in 1891, represented the final alterations to the grounds during the Monarchy era.

There are several notable trees on the grounds. The Indian Banyan tree is the most prominent and evident tree on the mauka side of the Palace grounds. The tree was a gift from Indian Royalty to King Kalākaua. Reportedly, Queen Kapiʻolani planted the tree there.

Cuttings from the tree were planted at each end of Kailua Bay in Kona. Queen Kapiʻolani was said to have planted the tree at Huliheʻe Palace in the late 1800s.

The King Kamehameha Hotel tree was transplanted a few years later after not thriving at the Maguire home on Huʻehuʻe Ranch.

Noticeable throughout the property are Royal Palms. In 1850, the first Royal Palm seeds were brought to Hawaiʻi from the West Indies by Dr. GP Judd.

On the ʻEwa-makai portion of the grounds, there is a Rainbow Shower tree; since 1959 the Rainbow Shower has been the official tree of the City of Honolulu.

On July 24, 1934, Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first sitting president to visit Hawaiʻi. On his visit to ʻIolani Palace, initial plans were for the president to plant a memorial Kamani tree.

A Kamani sapling was ordered from the nursery; however, mistakenly, the sapling delivered just before the ceremony began turned out to be a Kukui. (The Kukui tree is the Hawaiʻi state tree.)

Roosevelt’s tree is identified by a plaque, placed in 1959, which reads: “President Franklin D. Roosevelt planted this kukui tree July 28, 1934.” It was later considered the “lucky kukui tree” and was credited by some with Roosevelt’s good fortunes in the 1936, 1940 and 1944 elections.

A handful of Monkeypod trees are found on the Palace grounds. In 1847, businessman Peter Brinsmade brought two Monkeypod seeds with him from his passage through Panama on the way here.

One seedling was planted in downtown Honolulu (presumably not on the Palace grounds,) and the other in Kōloa on Kauaʻi. These two trees are thought to be the progenitors of all the Monkeypod trees in the state.

The Huliheʻe Palace has a wardrobe furniture piece commissioned by King Kalākaua on display in one of its bedrooms. It is constructed of koa and trimmed with darker kou.

It is suggested that it may have served as the Kingdom’s entry in the Paris International Exhibition of 1889. The Exhibition catalog described the entry as “1 Koa Wardrobe, made for His Majesty the King from Koa trees grown in ʻIolani Palace Grounds.” (However, some argue that koa is not acclimated to grow in the conditions at the Palace grounds.)

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Iolani Palace Grounds - Trees - Explanation - Map
Iolani Palace Grounds - Map
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Iolani Palace - Monkeypod Tree
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Wardrobe commissioned by King Kalākaua made of koa & trimmed with darker kou-made from Koa grown at Iolani Palace (huliheepalace-net)

Filed Under: General, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Buildings Tagged With: Iolani Palace, Kukui, Koa, Royal Palm, Shower Tree, Banyan, Monkeypod, Hawaii, Kalakaua, Kapiolani

November 16, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Renaissance Man

A polymath (Greek, “having learned much,”) sometimes referred to as a Renaissance man, is a cultured man who is knowledgeable, educated or proficient in a wide range of fields.

Hawaiʻi’s last King, Kalākaua, has been referred to as a Renaissance man.

Concerned about the loss of native Hawaiian culture and traditions, Kalākaua encouraged the transcription of Hawaiian oral traditions, and supported the revival of and public performances of the hula.

He advocated a renewed sense of pride in such things as Hawaiian mythology, medicine, chant and hula. Ancient Hawaiians had no written language, but chant and hula served to record such things as genealogy, mythology, history and religion.

He is remembered as the “Merrie Monarch” because he was a patron of culture and arts, and enjoyed socializing and entertaining.

While seeking to revive many elements of Hawaiian culture that were slipping away, the King also promoted the advancement of modern sciences, art and literature.

King Kalākaua has also been described as a monarch with a technical and scientific bent and an insatiable curiosity for modern devices.

Kalākaua became king in 1874. Edison and others were still experimenting with electric lights at that time; Edison’s first patent was filed four years later in 1878.

The first commercial installation of incandescent lamps (at the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company in New York City) happened in the fall of 1880, about six months after the Edison incandescent lamps had been installed on the steamer Columbia.

In Hawaiʻi, the cornerstone for ʻIolani Palace was laid on December 31, 1879. In an era of gas lamps, King Kalākaua was astute enough to recognize the potential of “electricity,” and helped pioneer its practice in the Hawaiian kingdom.

The king had heard and read about this revolutionary new form of energy, but he needed further evidence of its practical application. Kalākaua arranged to meet the inventor of the incandescent lamp, Thomas Edison, in New York in 1881, during his world tour.

Five years after Kalākaua and Edison met, Charles Otto Berger, a Honolulu-based insurance executive with mainland connections, organized a demonstration of “electric light” at ʻIolani Palace, on the night of July 26, 1886.

The Pacific Commercial Advertiser described the experience as, “Shortly after 7 o’clock last night, the electricity was turned on and, as soon as darkness decreased, the vicinity of Palace Square was flooded with a soft but brilliant light which turned darkness into day…”

“… by 8 o’clock an immense crowd had gathered. Before 9 o’clock, the Royal Hawaiian Military band commenced playing and the Military Companies soon marched into the square…”

“… a tea party was given under the auspices of the Society for the Education of Hawaiian Children organized by her Royal Highness the Princess Liliʻuokalani and Her Royal Highness, the Princess Likelike. The Palace was brightly illuminated, and the large crowd moving among the trees and tents made a pretty picture.”

Shortly after this event, David Bowers Smith, a North Carolinian businessman living in Hawaiʻi, persuaded Kalākaua to install an electrical system on the palace grounds. The plant consisted of a small steam engine and a dynamo for incandescent lamps. On November 16, 1886 – Kalākaua’s birthday – ʻIolani Palace was lit by electricity.

With the palace lit, the government began exploring ways to a provide power plant to light the streets of Honolulu. They turned to hydroelectric, using the energy of flowing water to drive the turbines of a power plant built in Nuʻuanu Valley.

On Friday, March 23, 1888, Princess Kaʻiulani, the king’s niece, threw the switch that illuminated the town’s streets for the first time. The Honolulu Gazette wrote of that moment:

“At 7:30 p.m. the sound of excitement in the streets brought citizens, printers, policemen and all other nocturnal fry rushing outdoors to see what was up. And what they did see was Honolulu lighted by electricity. The long looked for and anxiously expected moment had arrived.”

A year later, the first of a handful of residences and business had electricity. By 1890, this luxury had been extended to 797 of Honolulu’s homes.

It’s interesting to note that the first electric lighting was installed in the White House in 1891 – after ʻIolani Palace. (Contrary to urban legend that it also pre-dated the British palace, Buckingham Palace had electricity prior to ʻIolani Palace. It was first installed in the Ball Room in 1883, and between 1883 and 1887 electricity was extended throughout Buckingham Palace.)

Some suggest ʻIolani Palace had telephones before the White House, too. However, the White House had a phone in 1879 (President Rutherford B. Hayes’ telephone number was “1”.) “By the fall of 1881 telephone instruments and electric bells were in place in the Palace.” (The Pacific Commercial, September 24, 1881)

“The first telephone ever used in Honolulu belonged to King Kalakaua. Having been presented to him by the American Bell Telephone Company.” (Daily Bulletin, December 4, 1894)

Kalākaua’s interest in modern astronomy is evidenced by his support for an astronomical expedition to Hawaiʻi in 1874 that came from England to observe a transit of Venus (a passage of Venus in front of the Sun – used to measure an ‘astronomical unit,’ the distance between the Earth and Sun.)

Kalākaua addressed those astronomers in 1874 stating, “It will afford me unfeigned satisfaction if my kingdom can add its quota toward the successful accomplishment of the most important astronomical observation of the present century and assist, however humbly, the enlightened nations of the earth in these costly enterprises…”

Later, in 1881, during his travels to the US, King Kalākaua visited the Lick Observatory in California and was the first to view through its new 12” telescope (which was temporarily set up for that purpose in the unfinished dome.)

It was not long after this that King Kalākaua expressed his interest in having an observatory in Hawaiʻi. Perhaps as a result of the King’s interest, a telescope was purchased from England in 1883 for Punahou School. The five-inch refractor was later installed in a dome constructed above Pauahi Hall on the school’s campus.

In 1891, while ill in bed, King Kalākaua recorded a message on a wax-type phonograph in the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

According to an August 2, 1936 account in The Honolulu Advertiser, Kalākaua is recorded to say, “Aloha kaua — aloha kaua. Ke hoʻi nei no paha makou ma keia hope aku i Hawaiʻi, i Honolulu. A ilaila oe e haʻi aku ai ʻoe i ka lehulehu i kau mea e lohe ai ianei,” which translates to:

“We greet each other – we greet each other. We will very likely hereafter go to Hawaiʻi, to Honolulu. There you will tell my people what you have heard me say here.”

Kalākaua died in San Francisco a few days later (January 20, 1891.)

King Kalākaua’s desire for technology had an effect on all Hawaiʻi; technology changed the way the people of Hawaiʻi lived. King Kalākaua wanted Hawaiʻi to be seen as a modern place and not an isolated, primitive kingdom.

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Kalakaua_1882

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance Tagged With: Kalakaua, King Kalakaua, Iolani Palace, Lick Observatory, Transit of Venus, Hawaii

July 24, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Coral Construction

Hawaiian architecture evolved over time, starting with Hawaiians use of natural resources, to influences from all of the various visitors to Hawaiʻi.

Soon after missionary arrival, builders began to incorporate coral blocks from Hawaiʻi’s reefs, with the coral serving as a substitute for bricks the American and Europeans used in their homeland.

Here are a few examples of existing or remnants remaining today of the early use of coral blocks in building construction.

Chamberlain House

Nearby at what is now the Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, the Chamberlain House (Ka Hale Kamalani) was built in 1831 from materials procured locally: coral blocks cut from reefs offshore and lumber salvaged from ships.

Designed by the mission’s quartermaster, Levi Chamberlain, to hold supplies as well as people, it had two stories, an attic, and a cellar. The windows are larger, more numerous, and shuttered against the sun. The building now serves as the main exhibition hall for the Museum.

Lāhainā Fort Ruins

The reconstructed remains of one old Lāhainā Fort wall still stand at this old lockup. This fort overlooked one of the canals of Lāhainā, now a paved street, and was built to protect the town after unruly sailors who fired a canon at Rev. Richard’s house.

The fort was built in 1831-1832 in which to incarcerate rowdy sailors and others who disobeyed the law. The fort was used mostly as a prison. It was torn down in the 1850s to supply stones for the construction of Hale Paʻahao – the prison on Prison Street.

Kawaiahaʻo Church

Down the street, Congregational missionaries had earlier begun (1836) the construction of Kawaiahaʻo Church. The “Stone Church,” as it came to be known, is in fact not built of stone, but of giant slabs of coral hewn from ocean reefs.

These slabs had to be quarried from under water; each weighed more than 1,000 pounds. Natives dove 10 to 20 feet to hand-chisel these pieces from the reef, then raised them to the surface, loaded some 14,000 of the slabs into canoes and ferried them to shore.

Following five years of construction, The Stone Church was ready for dedication ceremonies on July 21, 1842. King Kamehameha III, who contributed generously to the fund to build the church, attended the service.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace

Catholic missionaries broke ground for the new church to be built on July 9, 1840. It coincided with the Feast of Our Lady of Peace, patroness of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary religious institute of which the missionaries were members

The cornerstone was officially laid in a ceremony on August 6 of that year. Construction continued after groundbreaking with devoted Native Hawaiian volunteers harvesting blocks of coral from the shores of Ala Moana, Kakaʻako and Waikīkī. On August 14, 1843, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace was consecrated and dedicated.

Print House

Also at Mission Houses, in 1841, a covered porch and balcony were added to the frame house, and an extra bedroom was built next door out of coral blocks. Both additions show further adaptation to an indoor-outdoor lifestyle appropriate to the climate.

The extra coral building later became the mission’s Print House (Ka Hale Paʻi) and now serves as a museum exhibit to show how the missionaries and native Hawaiians worked together to produce the first materials printed in the Hawaiian language.

ʻIolani Palace Barracks

Originally completed in 1871, and looking like a medieval castle, 4000-coral blocks were stacked with parapets and towers to make Halekoa, the ʻIolani Barracks (with its open courtyard surrounded by rooms once used by the guards as a mess hall, kitchen, dispensary, berth room, and lockup.)

The Barracks was originally located on what are now the grounds of the Hawaiʻi State Capitol, mauka of the Palace. After being dismantled block by block, ʻIolani Barracks was moved and reconstructed at its present location in 1965.

Fort Kekuanohu (Fort at Honolulu)

Back in Honolulu, in 1815, Kamehameha I granted Russian representatives permission to build a storehouse near Honolulu Harbor. Instead, they began building a fort and raised the Russian flag. When Kamehameha discovered this, the Russians were removed.

The fort had 340-by-300-foot long, 12-foot high and 20-foot thick walls made of coral. Its original purpose was to protect Honolulu by keeping enemy or otherwise undesirable ships out. But, it was also used to keep things in (it also served as a prison.)

The fort’s massive 12-foot walls were torn apart and the fort dismantled in 1857 and used to fill the harbor to accommodate an expanding downtown.

Honolulu Harbor – Esplanade – Harbor Expansion

As Honolulu developed and grew, lots of changes happened, including along its waterfront. What is now known as Queen Street was actually the water’s edge.

Then, from 1856 to 1860, the work of filling in the land to create an area known as the “Esplanade” or “Ainahou,” and building up a water-front and dredging the harbor to a depth from 20 to 25-feet took place.

Following the demolition of Fort Kekuanohu (Fort Honolulu) in 1857; its walls became the 2,000-foot retaining wall used to extend the land out onto the shallow reef in the harbor.

The remaining fort materials were used as fill to create what came to be known as the Esplanade (it’s where Aloha Tower and surrounding land now stand – evidence of the coral blocks from the old Fort can still be seen at Pier 12, ʻEwa of the Aloha Tower cruise ship pier.)

Hawaiʻi law (§171-58.5 HRS) now prohibits the mining or taking of sand, dead coral or coral rubble, rocks, soil or other marine deposits seaward from the shoreline, except for non-commercial uses in volumes that do not exceed 1-gallon per person per day, or to allow replenishment or protection of public shoreline area and government maintenance of stream mouths and shoreline.

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Coral_Tomb_of_Keopuolani-Wainee-Waiola_Church-Lahaina_Maui-(EngravedAtLahainaluna)
Coral_Tomb_of_Keopuolani-Wainee-Waiola_Church-Lahaina_Maui-(EngravedAtLahainaluna)
Chamberlain_House-WC
Chamberlain_House-WC
Chamberlain House-(LOC)-1902
Chamberlain House-(LOC)-1902
Our Lady of Peace Cathedral, Honolulu, 1843
Our Lady of Peace Cathedral, Honolulu, 1843
Our Lady of Peace Cathedral, Honolulu, 1843
Our Lady of Peace Cathedral, Honolulu, 1843

Filed Under: Buildings Tagged With: Iolani Barracks, Fort Kekuanohu, Esplanade, Honolulu Harbor, Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Chamberlain, Coral, Lahaina, Hawaii, Iolani Palace, Kawaiahao Church

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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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