“Sugarcane was introduced to Ko‘olaupoko in 1865, when the Kingdom’s minister of finance and foreign affairs, Charles Coffin Harris, partnered with Queen Kalama to begin a partnership known as the Kāne‘ohe Sugar Company.”
“After Queen Kalama passed away in 1870, Mr. Harris purchased the land from her estate to continue the sugar production, which, by 1880, was yielding as much as 500 tons of sugar annually. At about this time, the He‘eia Agricultural Company (HAC) was also cultivating about 250 acres of sugarcane”.
“To transport the sugar, HAC built a pier in Kāne’ohe Bay (He‘eia Kea pier) so that rail cars could take the sugar out to ocean vessels for transportation to Honolulu harbor.”
“The ocean steamer ‘J.A. Cummins’, owned by John Adams Cummins of the Waimanalo Sugar Plantation Company, made trips twice a week between He‘eia and Honolulu, exporting sugar and returning with supplies and goods.”
“After almost four decades of a thriving sugar industry in Ko‘olaupoko, the tide eventually turned bad and saw the closures of all five sugar plantations by 1903. The closures were due to poor soil, uneven lands, and the start-up of sugar plantations in `Ewa, which were seeing much higher yields.”
“As sugar was on its way out in Ko‘olaupoko, rice crops began to emerge as the next thriving industry. The demand for rice in Hawai‘i increased as the number of Asian sugar workers migrating to the islands from Japan and China increased. In the upland areas of Kāne‘ohe and He‘eia, Chinese farmers converted terraces and abandoned taro patches (lo‘i) to rice paddies.”
“Another agricultural crop, pineapples, emerged throughout Ko‘olaupoko in the early 1900s as sugar and rice steadily declined. From 1901 to 1925 lands in several ahupua`a previously unused for agriculture were now being covered up with pineapple fields, especially the hillsides and upslopes.”
“It was estimated that approximately 2500 acres of land throughout the Ko‘olaupoko region was converted to pineapple cultivation. A pineapple cannery along with numerous old-style plantation houses popped up in 1911, and became known as ‘Libbyville’ (named after its owners, Libby, McNeill, and Libby).”
“The pineapple industry in Ko‘olaupoko did not prosper as well as those on the ‘Ewa plains of central O‘ahu though, and the result was the closure of the cannery in 1923.”
“After the closure of the cannery, the pineapple fields were left to grow over and was then converted to grazing pasture land for cattle.”
“By the mid-1920s, large landholdings were converted to ranch land, such as the Judd Family’s Kualoa Ranch, the McFarlane Family’s Dairy in Ahuimanu, and the ranch lands of the Kāne‘ohe Ranch Company, which was originally a part of 20,000 acres belonging to Queen Kalama.” (History of Ko‘olaupoko)
“Today Ahuimanu is proud of the fact that it has one of the best dairies on Oahu. This dairy is called the Hygienic Dairy and is visited by many people. The dairy was started in 1924 by Mr Young.”
“At that time it was called the Ahuimanu Stock Farm. It was located below its present site. Mr. Young raised cows, pigs and chickens. There were about ninety milking cows in his herd.”
“In 1927 Mr. Young shifted his dairy to the present site. In 1930 he sold it to (Col Charles E) Davis.” (Hawaii Educational Review, 1938)
“Work is being rushed on the new hygienic dairy which the Ahuimanu stock farm is building on its property in windward Oahu. A milk house and a milking barn are under construction.” (Star Bulletin, June 23, 1931)
Apparently, the operation fell under hard economic times and in November 1931, creditors were organizing and bankruptcy was contemplated. In 1932, the dairy property was sold at auction to Shattauer, the former manager.
“Located in the very heart of the picturesque Ahuimanu Valley, a section of Oahu rich in legends and Hawaiian folklore, lies the Hygienic Dairy, one of the most up to date and modern in the territory.”
“Ownership of the dairy was taken over the first of the year by Herman von Holt and GW Knowles, who have been sparing no expense in making constant improvements. The herd now consists of many high grade cows. (Advertiser, February 12, 1934)
“The Hygienic Dairy, Ltd., has acquired 5,000 acres of land at Ahuimanu on a long term lease from the He‘eia Co., according to Herman von Holt, president of the dairy.”
“The estate adjoins 2,000 acres already controlled by the dairy, in addition to 1,000 acres at Kaneohe. The company therefore has 8,000 acres of grazing land for a herd of 1,000 cattle.”
“GW Knowles Is vice president and general manager of the dairy company. The New Fair Dairy Is the distributing agency. (Nippu Jiji, February 12, 1937)
The remaining remnant of the Hygienic Dairy (reportedly once the largest dairy in the state) is the Hygienic Store. “Simon Chong, took over the store from the dairy in 1950”.
“(It) was a full-service gas station and general store, complete with fresh meat and produce, hardware and rubber boots. In the late ’70s, the Chongs leased the store to Millie Kim, who ran it with her son Michael through 2003, when So Cha Hashimoto took over.” (Keany; Honolulu)
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