Kauai | Page 16 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

February 20, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Island Names

We still pronounce some of the Hawaiian Island names differently.

After western contact and attempts to write about Hawai‘i, early writers tried to spell words based on the sound of the words they heard. People heard words differently, so it was not uncommon for words to be spelled differently, depending on the writer.

However, it may be helpful to look how early writers wrote the respective Island names and see if there is a consistency in representative letters for names and the sounds they represent.

Remember, the writing of the letters in each word is based on the sound they hear, then written in the context of the sound of based on their own English language (and pronounced in the English language).

The first writers were Captain James Cook and his crew. Here are the ways he spelled the Island names (and the words we use for them now).

Cook (1778-1779:)
Oreehoua, or Keehoua (Lehua)
Tahoora (Kaʻula)
Oneeheow or Neeheehow (Niʻihau)
Atooi, Atowi, or Towi, and sometimes Kowi (Kauai)
Woahoo, or Oahoo (Oʻahu)
Morotoi or Morokoi (Molokai)
Ranai, or Oranai (Lanai)
Mowee (Maui)
Morotinnee, or Morokinnee (Molokini)
Kahowrowee, or Tahoorowa (Kaho‘olawe)
Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi)

First off, let’s look at the preceding O or A in some of the names. ‘O, and sometimes ʻA, beginning a word are markers to note proper name subjects (persons, places or certain special things.) They are vocatives (addressing the person or place you are talking about or to) – i.e. Atooi means ‘this is (or, ‘it is’) Tooi’ – so it is a proper word and the Island name is ‘Tooi.’ (Johnson)

Here are some other early writers’ ways of writing the Island names by the sounds each hears:

Portlock (1785-1788)
Tahoora (Ka‘ula)
Oneehow (Ni‘ihau)
Atoui
Woahoo
Morotoi
Ranai
Mowee
Owhyhee

Vancouver (1792-1794)
Attowai (Kauai)
Woahoo
Morotoi
Ranai
Mowee (Maui)
Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi)

Hiram Bingham (1820-1840)
Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi)
Woahoo (Oʻahu)
Attooi (Kauai)

Let’s start with the double vowel sounds to start to break down the sound … double O, ‘oo’, has a sound that rhymes with ‘Too’ or ‘Two’. Double E, ‘ee’, sounds like the way we say the single letter ‘E’ (rhyming with ‘wee’).

Now let’s look at the ‘i’ in the words – it, too, sounds like the way we say the single letter ‘I’ (rhyming with ‘eye’).

So ‘Atooi’ really is ‘Tooi’ – sounding like ‘two – eye’. As Hiram Bingham was working on the alphabet developed for the written Hawaiian, he actually notes that Atooi (Kauai), in his early writing was written as ‘Kau‘ ai’ (with the ‘okina before the second ‘a’, not after it) and sounds like ‘cow-eye’.

Some, today, say Atooi is pronounced as ‘Ah’ ‘two’ ‘ee’; however, they are putting in the Hawaiian sound for ‘I’ (which sounds like ‘ee’), rather than the English sound for ‘I’, which rhymes with ‘eye’.

Another Island name with varied pronunciations today is Molokai.

It seems there are at least two schools of thought; an explanation on the pronunciation/spelling of the island name (Molokai (Moh-loh-kī) versus Molokaʻi (Moh-loh-kah-ee)) is noted in the early portion of “Tales of Molokai The Voice of Harriet Ne” by Harriet Ahiona Ayau Ne with Gloria L. Cronin.

Harriet Ne’s grandson, Edward Halealoha Ayau, noted:

“The reason that the name Molokai (as used in the book) is left without the glottal stop is because my tūtū wahine (grandmother) says that when she was growing up in Pelekunu it was never pronounced Molokaʻi (Moh-loh-kah-ee), but rather Molokai (Moh-loh-kī).”

“Then in about the 1930s, the name changed to Molokaʻi, in part she believes because musicians began pronouncing the name that way. Mary Kawena Pukuʻi, three weeks before her death, called my tūtū and told her that the correct name is Molokai, which means ‘the gathering of the ocean waters.’”

“On the rugged north coast of the island, the ocean slams hard into the pali. On the south and east shores, the ocean glides gently to shore due to location of reefs at least a quarter of a mile offshore. Hence the name, Molokai, ‘Gathering of the Ocean Waters.’”

In a follow-up exchange with Halealoha, he resolved the matter saying that the “best answer is both pronunciations are correct and the most correct depends on which family you are speaking to. So for our ʻohana, it would be Molokai. For others, Molokaʻi.”

Bingham writes, “Aiming to avoid an ambiguous, erroneous, and inconvenient orthography, to assign to every character one certain sound, and thus represent with ease and exactness the true pronunciation of the Hawaiian language, the following five vowels and seven consonants have been adopted: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, I, m, n, p, w.”

“The power of the vowels may be thus represented: ‘a’, as ‘a’ in the English words art, father; ‘e’, as ‘a’ in pale, or ‘ey’ in they; ‘I’, as ‘ee’ or, in machine; ‘o’, as ‘o’ in no; ‘u’, as ‘oo’ in too. They are called so as to express their power by their names ‘ Ah, A, Ee, O, Oo.” (Bingham)

“The convenience of such an alphabet for the Hawaiian language, undisturbed by foreign words, is very obvious, because we can express with simplicity, ease, and certainty, those names and phrases with the sound of which former voyagers were utterly unable to make us acquainted by English orthography.”

“Though it were possible to spell them with our English alphabet it would still be inconvenient. A few names may illustrate the reasons for our new orthography.” (Bingham)

The Old. Corrected in English. The New, or Hawaiian.
Tamaahmaah Kah-mā‘-hau-mā-hah Ka me‘ ha-me‘ ha
Terreioboo Kah-lah‘-nȳ-ō-poo‘-oo Ka la’ ni o pu‘ u
Tamoree Kah-oo‘-moo ah lee‘-ee Ka u‘ rnu a Ii‘ i
Owhyhee Hah-wȳe‘-ee Ha wai‘ i
Woahoo, O-ah‘-hoo O a‘ hu
Attooi Cow‘-eye‘ Kau‘ ai‘
Hanaroorah Hō-nō-loo‘-loo Ho no lu‘ lu

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September 25, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kōloa Landing

Hawaiians along the Kōloa shore were the first to see the white man in Hawaiʻi. It was in 1778, along Kauai’s South Shore, that Captain James Cook first traveled, landed and made “contact”, introducing Hawaiʻi to the rest of the world.

Cook named the archipelago the Sandwich Islands in honor of his patron, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Earl of Sandwich. Cook’s crew first sighted the Hawaiian Islands in the dawn hours of January 18, 1778.

His two ships, the HMS Resolution and the HMS Discovery, were kept at bay by the weather until the next day when they approached Kauai’s southeast coast.

On the afternoon of January 19, native Hawaiians in canoes paddled out to meet Cook’s ships, and so began Hawai‘i’s contact with Westerners. The first Hawaiians to greet Cook were from the Kōloa shore.

The Hawaiians traded fish and sweet potatoes for pieces of iron and brass that were lowered down from Cook’s ships to the Hawaiians’ canoes. Cook continued to sail along the coast searching for a suitable anchorage.

His two ships remained offshore, but a few Hawaiians were allowed to come on board on the morning of January 20, before Cook continued on in search of a safe harbor.

As they stepped ashore for the first time, Cook and his men were greeted by hundreds of Hawaiians who offered gifts of pua‘a (pigs), and mai‘a (bananas) and kapa (tapa) barkcloth.

Cook went ashore at Waimea three times the next day, walking inland to where he saw Hawaiian hale (houses), heiau (sacred places of worship), and agricultural sites.

At the time, the region was thriving with many thatched homes as well as lo‘i kalo (taro patches) and various other food crops such as niu (coconuts) and ‘ulu (breadfruit).

After trading for provisions, gathering water and reading for sail, Cook left the island and continued his search of the “Northwest Passage,” an elusive (because it was non‐existent) route from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.

From the time of contact, until the end of the century, ships called at Waimea nearly every year for water and provisions. For a time, it was the favored port of call on the island.

However, captains learned that the exposed anchorage at Waimea was dangerous with ‘kona’ winds came up ((south‐westerly, versus the typical north‐easterly tradewinds,) threatening to ground the moored ships.

Ultimately, it was this occasional weather pattern that caused the decline of Waimea as the favored port on the Island of Kauai and the rise of Kōloa Landing to take its place.

Goods and people were transferred by hand and small boat to ships in Hanakaʻape Bay. The cove is at the mouth of the Waikomo (entering water) Stream on Hanakaʻape (headstrong) Bay.

Between about 1810 and 1820, the major item of Hawaiian trade was sandalwood. King Kaumualiʻi held the sandalwood monopoly on Kauai and Niʻihau, Kōloa Landing served as a prominent port of export. Kamehameha I held the monopoly for the rest of the island chain.

Ships calling to Kōloa Landing steadily increased and by 1830 it became widely recognized as the major port on the island. Ships had the ability to maneuver in and out of the anchorage, whatever the wind direction.

Whalers, seeking water and food supplies, called at Kōloa Landing, the Island’s foremost port. Kōloa was a center for agriculture and, as such, became the center of activity for Kauai. The whaling industry was the mainstay of the islands’ economy for about 40 years.

Likewise, Kōloa Landing was situated near a source of good water, near crops grown in the Kōloa field system, close to salt beds and had an abundance of firewood and beef from mauka regions.

In the mid-1800s, Kōloa Landing was the third largest whaling port in all of Hawai‘i (behind Honolulu and Lāhainā) and the only port of entry for foreign goods.

The first commercially‐viable sugar plantation, Ladd and Co., was started at Kōloa on Kauai. On July 29, 1835, Ladd & Company obtained a 50‐year lease on nearly 1,000‐acres of land and established a plantation and mill site in Kōloa.

It was to change the face of Kauai (and Hawai‘i) forever, launching an entire economy, lifestyle and practice of mono-cropping that lasted for over a century. A tribute to this venture is found at the Kōloa Sugar Memorial in Old Kōloa Town,

Traveling salesmen, also known as drummers (‘drumming up business,’) who worked for large mercantile agencies on O‘ahu would arrive at Kōloa Landing after an often rugged ocean trip by steamer and rowboat.

The would take their samples to each plantation camp store and sometimes even fan out from house to house in outlying communities.

Kōloa Landing was the trans‐shipment point from which ships were off‐loaded with mercantile goods and livestock for Kauai, and where trade‐goods, fresh produce and livestock were loaded on ships from Kauai. It was also linked to Kōloa Town, two miles inland, by the purveyor’s cart path (Hapa Road.)

Shipping in and out of Koloa Landing increased until 1912 (up to 60 ships a year anchored there to stock provisions and take on passengers.) However, better facilities became available at Nāwiliwili and Port Allen.

The landing left and Hanakaʻape Bay is now a popular dive site, especially for SCUBA instruction. Further out is an offshore reef that provides several surf breaks that are quite popular with local surfers.

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August 8, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Humehume’s Rebellion

Humehume was born on Kauai in about 1797. His father, King Kaumuali’i, suggested he be called George (after King George of England.) (Warne) Kaumuali‘i decided to send his son to America, at least, in part, to receive a formal education.

George was about six years old when he boarded the Hazard that ultimately sailed into Providence, Rhode Island on June 30, 1805 after a year-and-a-half at sea. Over the next few years he made his way to Worcester, Massachusetts and other parts of New England.

On October 23, 1819, the Thaddeus carried the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries to Hawai‘i. There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM in this first company. With them were four Hawaiian, including Humehume. They arrived in Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820. On May 3, 1820, Humehume returned to Kauai.

King Kaumuali‘i died on May 26, 1824; Humehume was sick, too. “When I was at Oahu, I never expected to see Kauai again. The old woman gave me a dose; and I had the same sickness that my father had. … The old gentleman was poisoned, just the same as I was. I must have got it at Lahaina, where I ate once or twice with Ka‘ahumanu.”

“I have been up almost every night since I returned from the windward. Four nights ago, I and another chief sent out to meet a party from Waimea, who were coming to take us. I met them, and drove them back.” (Humehume; Bingham)

Humehume reached O’ahu only to learn that his father’s body was already on its way to Lāhainā for burial. He had missed the funeral in Honolulu and now would arrive too late for the final service on Maui even if he left immediately.

In Lāhainā, Humehume ate with the kuhina nui, Ka‘ahumanu, and other dignitaries, who most likely told him that Kaumuali‘i had spoken about his will shortly before his death.

According to them, the islands of Kauai and Ni‘ihau – including all lands, ships, fortifications, munitions, and property – would be transferred to the commander-in-chief Kalanimōku for him to administer until Liholiho returned from England. (Warne)

Tension mounted throughout the islands following Kaumuali‘i’s death. Kauai was especially tumultuous: people indulged in various forms of excess and lawlessness, which were considered displays of intense grief. These acts often signified the beginning of periods of great upheaval and were common following the death of a chief, especially for one as beloved as Kaumuali‘i. (Warne)

Kalanimōku sailed to Kauai to proclaim the will of the dead chief and settle government affairs and land disputes. At Waimea Kalanimōku examined the fort. He then called a council of all the chiefs and announced to them that it was determined to give the governorship of Kauai and Ni‘ihau to Kalanimōku nephew, Kahalaiʻa Luanuʻu.

“(T)hose of the chiefs who hold land, they are well off; the commoner who holds property is fortunate; the chief or commoner who has no portion is unfortunate. The lands shall continue as they now stand. Our son, Kahalaiʻa, shall be ruler over you.” (Kalanimōku; Kamakau)

A blind chief of Waipouli in Puna, named Kiʻaimakani, said, ‘That is not right; the land should be put together and re-divided because we have a new ruler,’ but Kalanimōku would not consent to this. On Friday most of the chiefs gathered at Nihoa, one of Kaʻahumanu’s houses at Papaʻenaʻena, and urged the redistribution of the land, but Kalanimōku again refused. (Kamakau)

Kahalaiʻa accordingly sailed to Kauai as governor together with several chiefs. “The day after his arrival, he examined the state of the fort, which mounted about fifty guns, larger and smaller, and furnished a guard with muskets, bayonets, and swords, and put them in motion on different parts of the walls.” (Bingham)

A general uneasiness spread among Kauai chiefs who feared the loss of their lands and positions of leadership as a result of Kaumuali‘i’s death. The island’s ali‘i split into two factions: those who supported the authority of Liholiho against those who supported the interests of the Kauai chiefs.

As the firstborn son of Kaumuali’i and a recognized high-ranking ali‘i, Humehume may have represented the preservation of an independent Kauai. (Warne)

In the late afternoon of August 7, 1824, the chiefs under command of Kalanimōku relaxed. Kahalai‘a was in charge of Pa‘ula‘ula o Hipo (what many now refer to as the Russian Fort or Fort Elizabeth.) He left a few young warriors to sleep inside the fort but took most of his men across the river. There they planned to spend the night on the sand with his uncle Kalanimōku and his entourage.

Humehume summoned his men to a council of war.

Humehume and the chiefs worked out a plan. They realized that they were unarmed and stood little chance against the larger forces of Liholiho’s army. The ranks of opposing warriors included many with recent battle experience. (Warne)

Humehume knew that Kaumuali‘i had secretly accumulated hundreds of muskets at Pa‘ula‘ula o Hipo, as well as kegs of powder, field cannons and other armament. These were stored in the basement of the armory, in the middle of the fort.

If the Kauai men could enter the fort by stealth, break into the armory, and equip themselves before being discovered, they just might be able to capture the fort-the strongest military position on the island-from the inside. Then they could aim the fort’s cannons on Kalanimōku’s men, camped on the beach below, and force them to retreat or die. (Warne)

On Saturday night the Kauai Chiefs seized their digging sticks and attacked the fort, which they found manned by the men of Hawai‘i with guns.

Sometime after midnight (August 8, 1824) the Kauai men entered the fort undetected. Humehume broke the lock on the armory and went below to hand out muskets and powder to his men.

Then … disaster. The intruders were discovered before the distribution of arms was completed. Instead of responding silently with a bayonet, a cutlass, or a traditional club or spear, one rebel fired his newly acquired rifle. (Warne)

Kahalaiʻa and his men were awakened by the ringing of the bell and the shouts of a woman warrior who cried, ‘Here come the Kauai warriors after the arms! here come the rebels! the men of Hawai‘i still hold the fort! it is not taken for Kauai!’ (Kamakau)

Humehume “entered the magazine, supplied his men with powder and broke open two houses where the arms were deposited and armed part of his men, but …”

“… instead of securing the remainder of the fort, which they might have done with the greatest ease with their bayonets and cutlasses, they commenced firing their muskets …”

“… the contest was doubtful for about half an hour when George’s party retreated for about eight miles, leaving ten men and two women dead in the fort. They carried off a few casks of powder and about 100 muskets.” (Hunnewell; Warne)

Kalanimōku sent the ship, Paʻalua, to Honolulu after reinforcements and Mr. Bingham and Mr. Whitney and their families took passage for fear of the war. (Kamakau)

Humehume and his surviving warriors made a hasty retreat to regroup at Wahiawa. In addition to the muskets, they managed to procure a brass field cannon, probably drawn on its wheels by the retreating men.

In the aftermath of the skirmish, ten of Humehume’s followers lay dead. Three from the opposing army had also been killed, including the chief Ni‘au and the Englishmen Towbridge and Smith, who had shared the misfortune of sleeping at the fort. Kalanimōku had not taken part in the fighting.

The rebels’ aborted attack had left about one-fifth of them dead, but there was no time to waste – a second battle was inevitable. If Humehume had taken control of the fort, he would have been in a much better position to stage a defense.

Now, however, with Kapule and other local chiefs allied against him, additional warriors from O‘ahu and Maui could land unmolested. His only hope was to find sufficient support from the remaining chiefs on Kauai.

Before Kalanimōku’s reinforcements arrived, Humehume decided to try his hand at diplomacy. With a pencil he started a letter to Kalanimōku in Hawaiian. Frustrated at being unable to write clearly in his own language, he turned the paper over and wrote in English.

The message shows him thinking rationally in a desperate situation. His request to let Kauai chiefs settle things among themselves was honorable, not based on a desire for revenge against Ka’ahumanu or for war at any cost.

“Dear Sir: We wish not to hurt any of the people from the windward islands, but those chiefs belonging to Atooi. Therefore I hope you will separate your men from them, and let the Atooi chiefs fight the battle, for we wish not to hurt any oo you from the windward.”

“Our lives have been threatened by Tapule (Kapule,) by Haupu, by Kumakeha and Wahine. These are the chiefs we want to go against. But your people we wish not to trouble. Send me your answer as soon as you can. Yours, &c GPT.” (Humehume; Warne)

He waited in vain for a reply; Kalanimōku was not about to negotiate. Humehume’s situation grew increasingly serious when few if any Kauai chiefs from outlying districts offered to join him. Determined to fight even in the face of impossible odds, his men built a rock barricade as a line of defense for their prized cannon.

According to Kamakau, more than ten ships were dispatched from Oahu and Maui, crammed with warriors and weapons. ‘When the warships anchored at Waimea, Kauai, the Waimea residents said, We thought Hawaii had men to summon, but there are so many they sway en masse.’

The attack began. Hundreds of warriors marched uphill toward the rebels in a curved line, their muskets loaded. Humehume’s cannon fired several times, but the single small-bore field piece could not stop the massive advance.

A fierce gun battle ensued as the warriors reached the top of the ridge. Outnumbered ten to one, the Kauai forces were quickly routed by the overwhelming number of troops they faced. (Warne)

When further resistance was futile, Humehume shouted for his people to flee for their lives. Under a hail of musket balls, he mounted a horse, snatched up his wife and two-year-old daughter, and galloped toward the mountains. Others from Humehume’s group scattered into the forest, and were killed or captured.

Fearing that his wife and child would be killed if they were captured with him, Humehume told Betty that they must not continue on together. After a hasty farewell, he struck out alone on foot into the rugged mountains.

Humehume was eventually captured and imprisoned. The closing year and a half of Humehume’s life were spent in Honolulu under the custody of Kalanimōku, prime minster of the kingdom. A victim of influenza, George died on May 3, 1826, six years to the day of his return to Waimea, Kauai.

His final resting place is not known. (Spoehr) Lots of information here is from Spoehr, Warne, Bingham, Stauder and Damon.) (Imagery shows an artist’s reconstruction of Pa‘ula‘ula o Hipo from work by Alexander Molodin and Peter Mills.)

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August 3, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kong Lung Store

The formation of Kilauea Plantation on Kauai goes back to the 1860s when American settler Charles Titcomb bought the ahupua‘a of Kilauea from Kamehameha IV for about $3,000 and moved there from Hanalei in 1863.

He had been growing sugar in Hanalei, but gave it up and built a homestead and cattle ranch at Kilauea which grew into the town of Kilauea. He later bought the adjoining ahupua’a of Nāmāhāna.

Kilauea Plantation began in 1877 with the planting and purchasing of mill equipment. EP Adams and Robert A Macfie Jr. (son of a Liverpool sugar refiner) were majority investors. William Green and Sanford B. Dole (later governor of Hawai‘i) held minority
interests.

In 1880 the four men incorporated the Kilauea Sugar Company as a Hawai‘i corporation, just a few years after the Reciprocity
Treaty between the Hawaiian Kingdom and the U.S. created a boom in sugar plantation development. (MacLennan)

Plantation life throughout the islands was centered on a landscape of buildings that reflected the system of tight control over workers and production. Typically, beyond the fields and mill, there was a plantation store, housing, medical, recreational facilities for the workers.

Ethnic groups included Portuguese, Puerto Rican, Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Korean workers, and haole managers and supervisors. (MacLennan)

Lung Wah Chee was among the first group of Chinese immigrants that arrived on Kauai in 1876 to work for the Kilauea Sugar Company. He was born in Cheong Kong, China, September 15, 1860.

During 1894-1895 he had a contract with the Kilauea Sugar Company to load cane into cars with his own laborers. He was also required to furnish houses and firewood for the laborers. (NPS)

In the 1890s, Lung Wan Chee (aka LC Achee) operated a general merchandise store on the site of the Parish Hall (Japanese Language School) in Kilauea.

In 1902, Kilauea Sugar Plantation Co. decided to get out of the retail business and rented Chee their building; a bill of sale dated November 4, 1903, indicates that the plantation company sold to Kong Lung and Company a partnership for the sum of $8,534.29, including ‘all … the goods, wares and merchandise, stock-in-trade, show cases, scales, and Implements, in, upon and about the store.’ (NPS)

Later, Kong Lung Store moved into a former plantation building, it was the last of the stone structures built by the Kilauea Sugar Company. It was constructed around 1941 to replace an older wooden frame building at the same site.

The building measures 117-feet by 67-feet and is constructed of field stone up to the lower portion of the gable. The upper section is built of wood and has five ventilating jalousie windows at each end.

The store and the lanai are on a concrete slab. The front elevation is of five bays. The two end bays step forward, while the central three are an Inset lanai. The lanai has three stone piers which help to support the roof. Entrance to the store is through two screen doors.

The 1941 and later Kong Lung Store contained general merchandise, a barbershop, butcher shop, and post office. During the war, there was a lunch counter/diner to serve the many soldiers in the vicinity. Wages for store employees were about $40/month.

Workers for the store were said to have awoken at 2 am to work in the store. Then, at 5 am, they would go to work in the fields. Merchandise for the store arrived in the cane cars returning from Kahili Bay after delivering cane to freighters.

The raw sugar which was processed and bagged into 125 pounds at the mill was shipped to Honolulu by way of Kahili bay (or Kilauea Bay). The train hauled the sugar to Kahili then it was transferred on small boat then onto the Freighter which was anchored out in the bay.

The supplies for the Sugar Co and merchandise for Kong Lung Co. which was the only store in Kilauea at that time, came back by way of the empty cane cars. (Gushiken)

“Customers in the supermarket were plantation people. Groceries and dry goods, general hardware is what we went into. In those days, people were working six days a week, nine and ten hours a day. They would have no time for shopping. We had a delivery service then. No frozen goods.”

“The Sugar Plantation had its own dairy, between the store and the lighthouse. The slaughter was done there too. We had raw milk, no pasteurized. Everyone had their own vegetables, and rice was grown down in Kahili and Kalihiwai Valley and all the families made their own bread, raised their own chickens and pigs.” (Chow Lung, NOS)

The Store was managed by Kwai Chew ‘Chow’ Lung (son of the founder) and a partner. In 1955 they bought the building from the plantation and operated the business until 1979 when the property was sold to Tim King and Kelsy Maddox-Bell.

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Kong Lung Store, now called Kong Lung Trading, being built with field stones-happyhourdesign

July 20, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Bishop Bank – Waimea

Charles Reed Bishop was born January 25, 1822 in Glens Falls, New York; his father was a toll collector who worked on a toll booth in the middle of the Hudson River. Glens Falls was later known as “Hometown USA,” a title given to it by Look Magazine in 1944.

Shortly after his brother was born (1824,) his mother became ill and died a few weeks later. Her older sister, Lucy, takes the two-year old to Fort Ann, New York to live with her awhile.

He then went to live with his paternal grandfather, Jesse. He didn’t have much schooling, attending Glens Falls Academy for 7th and 8th grades, his only years of formal schooling.

After leaving school, he was a clerk for Nelson J Warren, the largest business in Warrensburgh, New York. He learns bartering, bookkeeping, taking inventory, maintenance and janitorial duties.

At about the age of 20 (in 1842,) the younger worked as a bookkeeper and head clerk for Charles Dewey in the Old Stone Store in Sandy Hill.

He then sailed (February 23, 1846) for the continent’s west coast aboard the ‘Henry,’ however the ship needed extensive repairs and landed at Honolulu Harbor on October 12, 1846.

He became ‘Hawaiʻi’s First Banker’ and formed Bishop & Co Bank in 1858. The Bishop Bank Building at 63 Merchant Street was the earliest of the Italianate (or Renaissance Revival) structures on the street, built in 1878 and designed by Thomas J. Baker (one of the architects of ʻIolani Palace.)

In 1895, Samuel M Damon bought Bishop & Co. from founder Charles Bishop. After the turn of the century the bank started opening neighbor island branches, including the Waimea branch on Kauai in 1911.

The Waimea branch at one time served the entire island of Kauai. As the economy of the island developed, however, additional branches on that and other islands were opened. The Bank incorporated as Bank of Bishop & Co. Ltd in 1919.

(After some mergers, in 1956 it was renamed Bishop National Bank of Hawai‘i; in 1960, First National Bank of Hawai‘i; then, in 1969, First Hawaiian Bank.) (FHB)

“One of the oldest and most reliable banking institutions in the Territory is Bishop’s Bank. With head offices in Honolulu, it has branch banks in Waimea, Kauai, and Hilo, Hawaii, both of which are conducted in the same prompt and highly satisfactory manner.”

“The bank issues Commercial and travelers’ Letters of credit, available to all parts of the world. All business entrusted to this institution or to either of its branch houses, receives prompt attention.” (The Garden Island, April 29, 1913)

On December 29, 1929, construction was completed on the Bishop National Bank of Hawaii’s Waimea Branch. It replaced an earlier structure on the same site which had been built in 1911.

Its eclectic style and solid, imposing appearance is typical of post-World War I banking architecture. It is designed to give an aura of permanence and stability a visual assurance to Waimea’s inhabitants that the bank was ‘here to stay.’ (NPS)

Like many buildings in Waimea, the first floor was constructed three feet off the ground to protect against flooding. This presented an opportunity for the architect to create an important entry porch.

Stairs lead up to the main entry, which is flanked on each side by two classic columns of simple Ionic order supporting an entablature above which a dental cornice with crown mould surrounds the building, topped by a partially balustraded parapet.

Although a small structure, it contributes a sense of permanence and solidity. The exterior has retained most of its original appearance; however, extensive remodeling to the bank interior has altered the appearance from the typical 1920s era banking structure.

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