Kaimuki | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 26, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Aliʻiolani College

The school seemed to change names, and locations; but, for the most part, it was run by the same person, Leopold Gilbert Blackman.

Born on July 4, 1874 in Cheltenham, England, Blackman was the son of Thomas and Harriet (Sutherland) Blackman. He was an associate of Saint Nicholas College, Lancing, England, and was principal of the preparatory school of Ardingly College before coming to Hawaiʻi. (Builders of Hawaiʻi)

At the request of the Bishop Willis, Blackman arrived in the Islands in 1900 to take charge of ʻIolani School. He served as head of school at ʻIolani for one year; then, he was an assistant at Bishop Museum 1901-09 (also serving as editor of the Hawaiian Forester and Agriculturist.)

Then, he went back to school.

It started with Aliʻiolani College, in Pālolo. “Aliʻiolani College was an offshoot from the ʻIolani (school.)” (Thrum)

“Aliʻiolani College, started a few years ago in a cottage, has now quite arrived as a respectable acquisition to Honolulu’s fine array of public and private schools. It appears to supply a distinct want for its neighborhood, besides aiding to solve the problem of school congestion for the city.” (Hawaiian Star, June 21, 1910)

“(T)hrough the generosity of Mrs Mary E Foster, foundress of the college, permanent buildings had been erected sufficient for all present needs and in many other ways progress had been made toward making Aliʻiolani an efficient unit of the splendid Honolulu family of educational institutions.” (Hawaiian Star, June 21, 1910)

(Daughter of James Robinson, Mary Robinson married Thomas Foster, an initial organizer of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company. That company founded a subsidiary, Inter-Island Airways, that later changed its name to Hawaiian Airlines. Their home later became Foster Botanical Garden.)

“Among our many well equipped establishments we believe that Aliʻiolani has a definite destiny as a boys’ boarding school, offering at moderate fees a substantial education soundly based upon the elementary branches of Instruction, an education in which habits of discipline cheerful obedience to constituted authority, courtesy and loyalty are given a recognized place as adjuncts to true manhood.” (Blackman, Hawaiian Star, June 21, 1910)

However, that school on that site had a short stay.

The building and grounds of the Aliʻiolani College was offered to the board of education “for the establishment of vocational schools … rent free for four months or until the legislature provides ways and means for maintaining the schools.”

“The offer of Aliʻiolani has been made by the owner, Mrs. Nellie E. Foster, who has also offered to contribute generously towards a fund to meet running expenses.” (Hawaiian Gazette, May 24, 1912)

A Department of Education Biennial Report for 1912 notes Blackman as principal of the Honolulu School For Boys, it was divided into three departments: Preparatory, Grammar School and High School. “The Honolulu School for Boys, at Kaimukī, (was) an independent boarding and training school, originally the Aliʻiolani College.” (Thrum)

“The campus comprises eighteen acres and is situated in the salubrious Ocean View district of Honolulu. Extensive views of mountain range and ocean are obtained, while continual trade breezes temper the air and render residence at the school pleasant and healthful.”

“The main building consists of a two-story edifice with two one-story wings. The ground floor is devoted chiefly to class rooms and dormitories. Of the wings, one furnishes a dining hall; the other, the matron’s residence, is chiefly devoted to the use of the smaller boys. All dormitories are upstairs, are well ventilated and lighted and open upon spacious lanais.”

“The increasing enrollments of the school necessitated an additional building to be erected in the summer of 1912, known as the Grammar School. This new structure is of two stories—the upper one being devoted to dormitory accommodations and the lower one to class rooms.” (DOE, 1912)

The school later moved into lower Kaimukī, and, again, changed its name – and the old campus was converted to a hotel.

“For some time the place (former Aliʻiolani campus in Pālolo) remained vacant but recently was run as a boarding house until take over by King, who has renovated the building and started a modern hotel. It has been renovated, remodeled and improved and will be known as Aliʻiolani Hotel.” (Honolulu Star-bulletin, September 19, 1916)

Honolulu School for Boys changed its name to Honolulu Military Academy. (Thrum, 1917) “It was controlled by a board of 10 trustees of which the president (Blackman) was a member and presiding officer ex officio.”

“It had no endowment, but owned a fine piece of property consisting of grounds and six buildings … at Kaimukī near Waiʻalae Bay, a mile from the end of the Waiʻalae street-car line.” (DOI Bureau of Education Bulletin 1920)

“The school drew its cadets from all points in the islands. The 1918-19 roster showed 64 from Honolulu, 10 from Oʻahu outside of Honolulu, 16 from Hawaiʻi, 11 from Maui, 10 from Kauaʻi, 1 from Molokai, 2 from California, and 1 each from New York State, Minnesota, and Japan.”

“It began at first with instruction only in the elementary grades; but it grew to offer a 12-grade program of studies.” (DOI Bureau of Education Bulletin 1920)

Then, in January 1925, Punahou School bought the Honolulu Military Academy property – it had about 90-acres of land and a half-dozen buildings on the back side of Diamond Head.

It served as the “Punahou Farm” to carry on the school’s work and courses in agriculture. “We were picked up and taken to the Punahou Farm School, which was also the boarding school for boys. The girls boarded at Castle Hall on campus.” (Kneubuhl, Punahou) The farm school was in Kaimukī between 18th and 22nd Avenues.

In addition to offices and living quarters, the Farm School supplied Punahou with most of its food supplies. The compound included a big pasture for milk cows, a large vegetable garden, pigs, chickens, beehives, and sorghum and alfalfa fields that provided feed for the cows. Hired hands who tended the farm pasteurized the milk in a small dairy, bottled the honey and crated the eggs. (Kneubuhl, Punahou)

The Punahou dairy herd was cared for by the students as part of their course of studies – the boys boarded there. However, disciplinary troubles, enrollment concerns (not enough boys signing up for agricultural classes) and financial deficits led to its closure in 1929.

By the mid-1930s, the property was generally idle except for some Punahou faculty housing. In 1939, Punahou sold the property to the government as a site for a public school (it’s now the site of Kaimuki Middle School.) The initial Aliʻiolani College site is the present site of Aliʻiolani Elementary School.)

The image shows the original Aliʻiolani building, funded by Mary Foster (Maui News, July 30, 1910.) In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

July 10, 2026 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kukuionapeha Heiau

Kaimuki, before man, was a site of rocky land, red soil high in iron and largely covered by lava.

Where Kaimuki got its name is not known. However, there are many stories and legends which tell what the name means. One is from a legend that menehune (legendary little people of Hawaiʻi) chose the place to build their ti ovens. Breaking the word down, ‘Ka’ means the, ‘imu’ – roasting-pit or ti-oven, and ‘ki’ – ti. (Kapio)

William Lunalilo ended up with most of the area known as Kaimuki through the Great Māhele (1848.) Lunalilo was born on January 31, 1835 to High Chiefess Miriam ‘Auhea Kekauluohi (Kuhina Nui, or Premier of the Hawaiian Kingdom and niece of Kamehameha I) and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina.

When Kamehameha V died on December 11, 1872 he had not named a successor to the throne. The Islands’ first election to determine who would be King was held – Lunalilo defeated Prince David Kalākaua (the Legislature met, as required by law, in the Courthouse to cast their official ballots of election of the next King. Lunalilo received all thirty-seven votes.)

Lunalilo was the first of the large landholding aliʻi to create a charitable trust for the benefit of his people. He was to reign for one year and twenty-five days, succumbing to pulmonary tuberculosis on February 3, 1874.

His estate included large landholdings on the five major islands, consisting of 33-ahupuaʻa, nine ʻili and more than a dozen home lots. His will, written in 1871, established a perpetual trust under the administration of three trustees to be appointed by the justices of the Hawaiian Supreme Court.

His will instructed his trustees to build a home to accommodate the poor, destitute and infirm people of Hawaiian (aboriginal) blood or extraction, with preference given to older people. The will instructed the Trustees to sell all of the estate’s land to build and maintain the home. (Supreme Court Records)

In 1884, the Kaimuki land was auctioned off. The rocky terrain held little value to its new owner, Dr. Trousseau, who was a “physician to the court of King Kalākaua”. Trousseau ended up giving his land to Senator Paul Isenberg. Theodore Lansing and AV Gear later bought the Kaimuki land (in 1898.) (Lee)

In 1898, Kaimuki was still the barren, rocky and red-dirt land filled with panini, kiawe, and lantana. However, Lansing, a real estate agent, thought it was a great place to build a high class residential district. Initially, sales were slow.

But in 1900, the Chinatown fire forced folks to find places for new homes and businesses – many came to Kaimuki. This eventually led to the construction of the Lēʻahi Hospital (1901.)

Lēʻahi Hospital was once called Honolulu Hospital for the Incurables. The patients were there to die. Most died of tuberculosis which spread to hundreds. The hospital was nicknamed ‘Make house,’ or the house for the dead. (Kapio)

This and other activity in the area destroyed and/or displaced the landscape.

A heiau, Kukuionapeha Heiau (Napeha’s light or beacon) was in the vicinity.

It was in an “Area seaward of 8th and 9th avenues, Ka-imu-ki, Honolulu, that was once a heap of rocks.” (Ulukau) “Kaimuki, at the town side of old signal station. All destroyed.” (Thrum.)

The image shows what is believed to be Kukuionapeha Heiau in Kaimuki (Hawaiʻi State Archives.)

July 23, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

King’s Daughters Home

A small number of women banded together as a King’s Daughters’ Circle for the purpose of learning more how to care for others, taking the motto, ‘Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.’

At the time, Honolulu had no haven for friendless and lonely old persons who were aging. Then, the distress of two such old ladies inspired the King’s Daughters with the determination to meet this need.

The aim was to comfort and care for those in need, just as one would care for a relative or friend. “No efforts are spared in removing all trace of the institution from this home, where each person is given a pleasant, private room in which to spend declining years among little, treasured possessions.” (Honolulu Star-bulletin, April 9, 1914)

On July 15, 1910, they rented and furnished a house in Makiki and called it the King’s Daughters’ Home.

The aim of the Circle was first “to furnish a genuine home to all those in need because of age or weakness, and second, to furnish a Christian home for persons in middle life or past who receive but a trifle for their labor and are unable to pay the usual boarding-house rates”.

“(L)astly, (the goal was) to furnish for convalescents released from the care of hospital and physician, without a home or means and unable to work for a while, a place where they may go and have loving care for a few weeks and someone to help nurse them back to strength. (Honolulu Times, December 1, 1910)

“Viewed from a progressive standpoint, it may be said that there is scarcely a county in the United States which has not its home for old people without means. Honolulu has its Lunalilo Home for aged Hawaiians.”

“There are homes for the people of other races and hospitals for the white plague sufferers and those afflicted with other ills, but nowhere in this city of wealth is there a place where an aged Anglo-Saxon, whose younger days have been spent in faithful service, can enter and say, ‘This is my home.’” (Thrum)

The first home “installed these two dear old ladies with a matron to care for them. Later more women and some men were joined to the little family, the house was enlarged to meet the increasing demands for more accommodations”.

“(A)ssistants were engaged, and the work grew steadily, until now several small cottages have been added to the establishment, Yet, with these added facilities, the Old Folks’ Homes is taxed to capacity”. (Honolulu Star-bulletin, April 9, 1914)

“(T)here are scores of working women, very worthy women, Christian women, employed on meager salaries, by the week or by the day or the month, and that can afford to pay a small part only for room and meals. It is really hard, very hard, for them to make that little income meet the demands of food and raiment (clothing.”)

“Often they are constrained to live in the most frugal manner as to lodging and table board. But, if there can be a Home, plain, sweet, neat, with a good nourishing menu, three times a day, what a blessing!” (Honolulu Times, December 1, 1910)

“No sooner was the first home secured and opened with furnishings befitting the needs of those in the afternoon of life who had seen better days, but what its capacity was taxed, and from that time … there have been applicants for admission kept on the waiting list owing to its limited accommodations”.

“Thus from its inception, almost, has the need of enlargement been insistent and has sorely taxed the handful of promoters to meet this want of the community.” (Thrum)

“The King’s Daughters’ Circle has undertaken the work which the community has so far omitted. It has done what it could with limited means, secured from private sources, and now feels justified in asking the aid of the community for a building enterprise … like the magnificent YMCA structure”.

“Confident that their trust in this appeal is not misplaced, the organization of King’s Daughters engaged Mr HL Kerr, an architect who has designed a number of the finest buildings in the city, to draw plans for an Old People’s Home, to be erected on the Kaimuki site which the organization now owns”.

“The building as designed will afford ample and comfortable housing for fifty (occupants,) with additional quarters for nurses and other attaches of the institution. The structure as planned has all the essential provisions for insuring comfort to the (occupants,) and at the same time is artistic in design, supplying an edifice which, from an architectural point of view, will prove a credit to the city and a monument to the progressive spirit of the community.”

“The general idea of the architect has been to give a home effect inside and out, and to provide a building which will insure a maximum of comfort and convenience with a minimum of expenditure for its economical maintenance. The lanais and veranda are as generous in size as they are essential.”

“The dining hall and dining lanai may be operated separately or thrown together as desired, and the rooms which will be for general use are centrally located in order to be of the greatest service to all. … The rooms are large and airy, each provided with a generous clothes press, and there are ample toilet facilities included.”

“The upper floor is designed primarily for the use of the caretakers and assistants, and will also provide room for those among the old people who are able to mount the easy stairway.”

“One feature of the plans to which the attention of contributors is particularly called, is that it may be constructed in five parts or wings grouped about a central building, permitting any one person or group of persons who may so desire to build a wing as a memorial.” (Thrum)

There is a sad side to this story … reported in the Hawaiian Gazette, February 6, 1912. It relates to Mrs Margaret Jerome Healy and her friend Mrs Elisabeth Stevenson; both lived in the King’s Daughters Home.

Unfortunately Healy passed away.

“The old ladies of the home were all anxious to attend the funeral of their late companion, who was a general favorite among them … The superintendent demurred but it was finally decide that a refusal would result in unnecessary grievings and the permission was granted.”

“The aged women gathered about as the body was lowered and reverently bowed their heads as the last words of the service were spoken. Most of them were crying quietly and the moment, always so sadly dramatic, was doubly tense to those who felt the severing of the ties so poignantly.”

“Mrs. Stevenson’s heart, which has been weak, was unable to stand the tension of emotion and dropped quietly, the old lady sinking to the ground amidst her companions and peacefully passing across the borders to join her friend.”

Stevenson (who had been a nurse for the greater part of her life) died “before the open grave as the body of her departed friend was laid to rest.” (Hawaiian Gazette, February 6, 1912)

“They were two woman who shared the bonds of aloha in their last days of their lives on this earth, and they left together to the other side, without one feeling sadness for the other in one dying before the other, and one being left behind in this world grieving.” (Kuokoa, February 9, 1912) The King’s Daughters Home closed in 1978.

January 2, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Early Communication

“Marine Telegraph. Through the exertions of Mr. Jackson, Post Master, we are at length likely to have a marine telegraph erected on ‘Telegraph Hill,’ a knoll just back of Diamond Head and a little to westward of the government road to Waialae. A sum sufficient to defray the cost attending its erection and for keeping it in operation for some months has been subscribed.”

“So much has been said about the supposed value of a telegraph, that we are glad the experiment is to receive a fair trial. The telegraph will consist of a pole (seventy) feet in height, to have four arms, each four feet long.”

“From this knoll vessels can be seen in a clear day from twenty to twenty-five miles either way from Diamond Head, and all coasters as well as foreign vessels will be reported by it.”

“One advantage will be that China bound vessels, passing during the day time can be reported, and probably in most cases can be boarded from the port, to procure news, where heretofore they have passed without stopping.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 4, 1857)

On June 12, 1857, a marine telegraph was put into operation behind Diamond Head. A companion semaphore signal was put on Honolulu Hale on Merchant Street in downtown Honolulu.

This device was actually a kind of semaphore designed to send visual (rather than electric) signals to the post office in Honolulu Hale when an approaching ship was sighted. (Schmitt)

The ‘marine telegraph’ is a semaphore. Initially set up by the local Post Master to time the landing of ships to collect the mail, it also served as a means to notify the community of what ship was landing, especially those who service the ships and their passengers.

“There were very few who could not read the signals made by the directions of the arms of the semaphore and as soon as any was made some one would call out “whale ship coming past Koko Head” or “Fore and after coming past Barber’s Point” or “Steamer coming past Koko Head” as the case might be.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 21, 1905)

The postmaster posted advertisements in the newspapers offering to sell “Marine Telegraph Cards of Signals” for $1.

“Back of the head (Lēʻahi, Diamond Head) there was a lookout and when he saw a ship coming he raised a flag. Directly I saw it I gave the cry ‘Sail, ho!’ – and up went the signal on the semaphore. It was my call that brought the people from the neighboring offices and the signal from those further away.”

“If it turned out to be a whaler, all was well; but if it happened to be a schooner from the other islands I came in for a drubbing of words from everybody within the limits of civilization. I as the small boy who was blamed for the error of the lookout and seldom praised for his correct reports.” (Stacker; Sunday Advertiser, December 5, 1909)

“Naturally there was a good deal of rivalry among the pilots, for in those days and for years, they received their compensation by the way of fees. Each man was supposed to leave the pilot house when a signal was given and go out to meet the vessel. The first man out got the ship and the fee.”

“If there were more coming down the channel Signal No. 2 would show it.” (Stacker; Sunday Advertiser, December 5, 1909)

“This enterprise, which has now been conducted for some two years, has proved itself of so much public benefit that there is scarcely a man in the community who would not regret to see it discontinued.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 17, 1859)

Unfortunately, a storm in 1872 took the semaphore out of service. The loss was felt … “That the telegraph is needed and must be put in order again, everyone will concede; but the question is, whose duty is it to see the thing done.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 27, 1872)

The Chamber of Commerce met shortly thereafter. “It was the general understanding that the telegraph must be resumed, and a committee was appointed to procure subscriptions and attend to the necessary details.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 17, 1872)

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

In 1878 Samuel G Wilder established the first telephone line on Oʻahu, from his government office to his lumber business. “By the fall of 1881 telephone instruments and electric bells were in place in the Palace.” (The Pacific Commercial, September 24, 1881) (Charles Dickey in Haiku, Maui had the first phones in the islands (1878;) connecting his home to his store.)

Diamond Head was connected by telephone with the book store of Whitney & Robertson conducted in Honolulu Hale. (Evening Bulletin, September 27, 1907) The Marine Telegraph semaphore system was later discontinued.

Right about this same time, Hawaiʻi was getting connected through a submarine telegraph cable. The first submarine cable across the Pacific was completed (landing in Waikīkī at Sans Souci Beach) linking the US mainland to Hawaiʻi, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji (1902) and Guam to the Philippines in 1903. (The first Atlantic submarine cable, connecting Europe with the USA, was completed in 1866.)

The first telegraph message carried on the system was sent from Hawaiʻi and received by President Teddy Roosevelt on January 2, 1903 (that day was declared “Cable Day in Hawaiʻi.”) On January 3, 1903, the first news dispatches were sent over the Pacific cable to Hawaiʻi by the Associated Press.

On the afternoon of July 4, 1903, Honolulu was connected to the Pacific cable from Midway Island, which extended east to the Philippines and China. On that day, the Pacific cable commenced full operation between Asia and Washington, DC.

June 12, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pālolo Hill

“And they gathered their friends together and journeyed up into the hill country, and when they did not return others followed, saying unto them – ‘Why, therefore, do ye choose to dwell in the hill country?’“

“And they answered, ‘For it is here we obtain the freedom of the air, with all its freshness and purity; it is here we get strength for the mind and body, and it is here we enjoy the breath of life.’“ (Evening Bulletin, October 21, 1911)

So went the marketing for the Pālolo Hill development – the Homeland of Health – above Kaimuki.

The announcement of the project a year before carried the same positive enthusiasm, “Pālolo Hill may not only be destined to blossom as the rose, but it will be dotted with a thousand homes, the place of residence of delighted sojourners who seek the many incomparable advantages offered by climatic conditions only to be found in the Paradise of the Pacific, but Honolulu in particular.”

“The Kaimuki Land Company has completed all arrangements for setting a large force of men at work in the grading of fifty foot streets and plotting some twelve hundred lots in this sightly tract of land located at the terminus of the Hotel street and Waiʻalae car-line.”

“Pālolo Hill, commanding a magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean, the frowning slopes of Diamond Head, and the bald prominence of Koko Head, will be transformed into a place of much activity before the close of the old year.”

“The plans as outlined by the land company are elaborate in the extreme. The first of the week will find teams and graders at work on the roads. … (The central) avenue will serve as a feeder for the curved and winding highways that weave their way in and around the brow of this eminence.”

“It is claimed, that there is not a lot in the entire twelve hundred that is of lower elevation than three hundred feet. The highest elevation recorded in the tract is eleven hundred feet. A visit to the tract, where grading operations have already begun, would show that there is no portion of the district that has an unobstructed marine view. (Evening Bulletin, December 9, 1910)

Some background … William Lunalilo ended up with most of the area known as Kaimuki through the Great Māhele (1848.) Lunalilo was born on January 31, 1835 to High Chiefess Miriam ‘Auhea Kekauluohi (Kuhina Nui, or Premier of the Hawaiian Kingdom and niece of Kamehameha I) and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina.

Gear, Lansing & Co, one of Honolulu’s first real estate firms, envisioned Kaimuki becoming a high-class residential area, but was stymied by buyers’ lack of interest.

Later Charlie Stanton, FE Steere and Frank E Thompson formed the Kaimuki Land Company and took over the Kaimuki tracts. Eventually, they turned it over to Waterhouse Trust Company who sold the land for eight cents a square foot and nine cents for corner lots. (Takasaki)

(There appear to be some interchangeable names of the development entity: Kaimuki Land Company, Pālolo Land Company and Pālolo Land and Improvement Co.)

The Pālolo Land Company is an organization composed of several gentlemen who own upper Pālolo Valley and the scenic portion of Pālolo Hill it overlooks Kaimuki, and from Upper Pālolo Hill half of Oʻahu Island may be seen. Splendid roads have recently been constructed. (Mid-Pacific Magazine)

Not familiar with the Pālolo Hill subdivision name?

It’s not clear if any official name change took place, but we now typically refer to this area as “Wilhelmina Rise” and Maunalani Heights. (Some incorrectly say it was developed by Matson in the 1930s; the above notes it was built 20-years before and by local real estate developers.)

However, “The streets are … named after the steamers that make regular calls at the port of Honolulu. Wilhelmina Rise is a broad and absolutely straight thoroughfare extending for a mile and a half up the slope of Pālolo Hill.” (Evening Bulletin, December 9, 1910)

Up Pālolo Hill (Wilhelmina Rise,) you’ll find Lurline, Matsonia, Maunalani, Mana, Sierra, Wilhelmina, and Claudine, Matson liners and freighters.