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April 18, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Yokohama Specie Bank

In 1860, a special Japanese envoy stopped in Honolulu on the way to Washington, DC, thus beginning formal recognition between the Japanese and Hawaiians.

In 1868, members of the Japanese working class came as contract labor to the relatively unpopulated young city of Honolulu to fill job openings in the sugar plantations.

Although the arrangement was originally temporary, many stayed, such that by 1908 the Japanese constituted 40% of the population of the Territory of Hawaiʻi, and had expanded to some of the professional fields. (LOC-HABS)

The government-supported Yokohama Specie Bank, founded in Japan in 1880, was international in origin. It developed an extensive network of branches, facilitating trade through its participation in foreign exchange activities, trade financing and even long-term financing of the raw material needs of Japanese industry. (Jones)

The bank was named after the ‘specie,’ a silver coin (as distinguished from bullion or paper money) used as an international currency for settling payments among traders. The word is Latin for “in kind;” we similarly use the term ‘species’ as a class of individuals having some common characteristics or qualities (distinct sort or kind.)

The Yokohama Specie Bank set up its first representative office in Shanghai, associated with the growing triangular cotton trade among Japan, India and China. It did so at the request of Japanese businessmen, who – when India ended free coinage of silver that year – had major difficulties with foreign exchange transactions. (Jones)

Japanese banking came to Hawaiʻi on August 8, 1892, with the opening of the Honolulu branch of the Yokohama Shokin Giriko, the Yokohama Specie Bank, Ltd.

The bank first operated from offices in the Japanese consulate. By 1900, the bank had moved to the Republic Building on King Street between Bethel and Fort Streets. Most of the bank’s depositors were Japanese, although the Chinese and Hawaiians had accounts there in smaller numbers.

It did not come under the monarchy’s jurisdiction in a commercial sense, as it was established as an agency and acted as a part of the Japanese consulate. However, it incorporated in Hawaiʻi in 1895, its increasing business making certification necessary under the Government’s Foreign Corporation Law. (LOC-HABS)

Although the Yokohama Specie Bank conducted a merchant bank business in Hawaiʻi, its principal function remained that of transacting foreign exchange business.

In 1907, the Yokohama Specie Bank bought the property at the corner of Merchant and Bethel Streets. From the mid-nineteenth century, this site had been occupied by the Sailor’s Home, which was a three-story structure whose cornerstone was laid by King Kamehameha IV on July 31, 1855.

The new bank building was the design of architect Harry Livingston Kerr, responsible for more than 900 buildings erected in Honolulu (from 1897 to 1937.)

The cornerstone was laid on October 20, 1908. A group photograph of the staff of the bank was included in the items placed in the cornerstone. It opened on the April 18, 1910, with separate receptions for Caucasians, Japanese and Chinese, and general public.

The brick and steel building was considered the most fireproof building in town, having no exposed wood (it has copper and marble window casings, copper doors and sashes.) The architect Kerr modestly proclaimed it “the finest structure in Honolulu today.”

Visitors to the new building were particularly struck by the steel desks, including roll tops, which were made to look like wood. The vaults, too, received much attention, the one on the first floor being for the deposit of cash, and two in the basement, one for storage and one for the safe deposit, with a capacity for 3,000 boxes.

The bank followed the Japanese teller procedure, in which one main cashier controlled all cash from a central desk. The tellers acted as his agents, working from desktops instead of the customary tellers’ cages.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941,) the building was confiscated by the Alien Custodian Agency.

During the war, the first floor was used for storing confiscated possessions, while the basement was converted into a 250-man drunk tank for inebriated military personnel. Showers, toilets and cell bars were installed.

In February of 1941 the United States Treasury Department started liquidating the $12,000,000 in assets of the three Japanese banks in Hawaii at that time.

The Yokohama Specie Bank was the hardest hit of the three, because it was the only one solely owned by Japanese interests. Despite claims filed, $1.3 million belonging to Japanese depositors was still impounded in 1943. (Non-enemy aliens and U.S. citizens received their impounded money almost immediately.) The Justice Department authorized payment on March 2, 1948.

By late 1949 it had paid out $1.1 million to Yokohama Specie Bank depositors. However, the government refused to pay any interest on the impounded funds, until forced to do so by lawsuits which were not settled until April of 1967.

The US Justice Department had completed liquidation of Yokohama Specie Bank assets when it was sold to City Realty in 1954. The city of Honolulu then leased the building for the Honolulu Police Department Traffic Citation Bureau. It’s now the downtown site for Cole Academy. It is part of the Merchant Street Historic District. (LOC-HABS) (Lots of information here is from HABS.)

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Yokohama_Specie_Bank-MidPacific Magazine
Yokohama_Specie_Bank-MidPacific Magazine
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Yokohama_Specie_Bank
Yokohama Specie Bank-up Nuuanu-SB
Yokohama Specie Bank-up Nuuanu-SB
Yokohama Specie Bank (NPS)
Yokohama Specie Bank (NPS)
Yokohama Specie Bank-side door-(NPS)
Yokohama Specie Bank-side door-(NPS)
Yokohama Specie Bank-LOC-225555pv
Yokohama Specie Bank-LOC-225555pv
Yokohama Specie Bank-(NPS)
Yokohama Specie Bank-(NPS)
Yokohama Specie Bank-delcampe
Yokohama Specie Bank-delcampe
Yokohama Specie Bank Building-facade over entrance, 1909
Yokohama Specie Bank Building-facade over entrance, 1909
Yokohama Specie Bank
Yokohama Specie Bank
Yokohama Specie Bank-poster
Yokohama Specie Bank-poster
Yokohama Specie Bank Building, 1909
Yokohama Specie Bank Building, 1909
Yokohama Specie Bank
Yokohama Specie Bank

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Japanese, Pearl Harbor, Merchant Street, Merchant Street Historic District, Yokohama Specie Bank

March 4, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mailable Matter

In early colonial times, correspondents depended on friends, merchants, and Native Americans to carry messages among the colonies. In 1639, Richard Fairbanks’ tavern in Boston was designated the first official repository of mail brought from or sent overseas (consistent with the European practice of using coffee houses and taverns as mail stations.)

On July 26, 1775 (shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775,) the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War,) members of the Second Continental Congress agreed that a Postmaster General be appointed for the United Colonies. That year, Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General of the Postal Service.

A couple years later (January 20, 1778,) Captain James Cook, made ‘contact’ with the Islands and anchored his ships near the mouth of the Waimea River on Kauai’s southwestern shore. After a couple of weeks, there, they headed to the west coast of North America.

Like early mail exchange in the American Colonies, following Cook’s contact, mail in Hawaiʻi was handled privately by employing forwarders or by making arrangements directly with a ship captain; most letters were folded inward and sealed so the address could be written on the blank outer side. (HawaiianStamps)

Hawaiʻi and the United States agreed on a ‘Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation and Extradition, December 20, 1849;’ among other things, Article 15 of the Treaty created an arrangement for delivery of mail. (State Department)

“Whereas a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation, between the United States of America and his Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands, was concluded and signed at Washington, on the twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine”.

“Mail arrangements – So soon as steam or other mail packets under the flag of either of the contracting parties shall have commenced running between their respective ports of entry, the contracting parties agree to receive at the post-offices of those ports all mailable matter, and to forward it as directed …”

“All mailable matter destined for the Hawaiian Islands shall be received at the several post-offices in the United States, and forwarded to San Francisco, or other ports on the Pacific coast of the United States, whence the postmasters shall despatch it by the regular mail packets to Honolulu …”

“It shall be optional to prepay the postage on letters in either country, but postage on printed sheets and newspapers shall in all cases be prepaid. The respective post-office departments of the contracting parties shall in their accounts, which are to be adjusted annually, be credited with all dead letters returned.” (US Statutes at Large and Treaties, 1845-1851)

On November 2, 1850, The Polynesian, “Official Journal of the Hawaiian Government,” announced it was keeping a letter bag open to receive letters and promised to place on board reliable vessels any letters deposited in its letter bag.

By 1850, almost all mail was being sent to/from Hawaiʻi via San Francisco to enter the mail stream there and be carried in the US mail via Panama to New York. (HawaiianStamps)

Hawaiʻi opened a post office at Honolulu and Henry Martyn Whitney (who worked at the Polynesian) was appointed Postmaster of Honolulu (December 22, 1850.) The location of the new post office was at the office of The Polynesian. (Whitney later left the Polynesian and started his own newspaper, the Pacific Commercial Advertiser (forerunner of Honolulu Advertiser.))

During the fifty years of Hawaii’s independent postal system from 1850 to 1900, the post office occupied three premises: a room in The Polynesian Office (1850-1854;) rooms in Honolulu Hale, situated next door to The Polynesian Office (1854-1871;) and about half of the ground floor in the “New Post Office” (Kamehameha V Post Office, 1871-1922,) situated on the former site of The Polynesian Office.

On June 14, 1900, the Kamehameha V Post Office officially became a unit of the United States Post Office (the year that Hawaii became a Territory of the US.)

In 1922, the United States Post Office was moved to the Federal building and control of the old building was returned to the Territory of Hawaii. It was remodeled as a postal substation and for use as the Territorial Tax office. (NPS)

When Whitney was postmaster, he conceived and produced Hawaiʻi’s first stamps, issued in 1851 (the stamps are now called ‘Hawaiian Missionaries,’ all printed locally by letterpress at the Government Printing Office.

The stamps were in three denominations: a 2-cent stamp paid the newspaper rate, a 5-cent stamp paid the rate for regular mail to the United States, and a 13-cent stamp paid the rate to the US East Coast.

The first three stamps in the issue were announced for sale on October 1, 1851, at the Honolulu and Lahaina post offices. By early April, 1852, the fourth stamp was printed to correct confusion and state clearly the 13¢ value was to pay both Hawaiian and United States postage through to any East Coast United States destination.

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Folded Letter to C Brewer-October 18, 1850
Folded Letter to C Brewer-October 18, 1850
First-day cover of The Polynesian letter bag - postmarked November 2, 1850
First-day cover of The Polynesian letter bag – postmarked November 2, 1850
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Henry_Martyn_Whitney_WC
Henry_Martyn_Whitney-WC
Henry_Martyn_Whitney-WC
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Polynesian-Merchant_Street-Emmert-1854
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Hawaii_stamp_2c_1851
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Two_Cent_Hawaiian_Missionary-WC
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Hawaii_stamp_5c_1851
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Hawaii_stamp_13c_1851
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Pacific-Henry_Whitney-1890
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office_(NPS)
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office_(NPS)
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office-(WC)
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office-(WC)
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Kamehameha_V_Post_Office-plaque

Filed Under: General, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Merchant Street, Kamehameha V Post Office, Honolulu Hale, Kamehameha V, Henry Martyn Whitney, Postal Service, Mail

March 20, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Honolulu Hale

The debate on the site of City Hall waged in Honolulu …

“The plan of having all of the public buildings located in one part of the city is an excellent one, but the general convenience of the public should be taken into consideration.”

“The Honolulu Hale site is very central and I should like to see the City Hall located there.” (ZK Myers, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 15, 1909)

“I think that the ideal site for the City Hall would be the lots now occupied by Honolulu Hale and the post office. When the Federal building has been completed, it should be possible to secure the post office site, and the two pieces of property, thrown in together, would furnish an ideal location for a convenient and imposing City Hall.”

“If the post office property should not be available, I fear that the Honolulu Hale land alone would not give sufficient room.” (HO Smith, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 15, 1909)

“Put the City Hall alongside the Federal building. I think Honolulu Hale an excellent site, but it is too small. This city is going to grow. The City Hall should be centrally located. Have it downtown by all means. … I like the Honolulu Hale site, but, as I said, I’m afraid that it is too small.” (AL Castle, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 15, 1909)

But, the Honolulu Hale site they are suggesting was not the site of Honolulu Hale that we know today (on the corner of King and Punchbowl.)

The first Honolulu Hale was on Merchant Street (it’s now a park-like lot on the Diamond Head side of the Kamehameha V Post Office Building.)

Kamehameha III is said to have built this government office building in 1835. (The building was interchangeably called Honolulu Hale and Honolulu House.)

“All of the business of the Hawaiian government was transacted there, and the life of the town centered in that neighborhood to a very considerable extent.”

In 1847, “It was occupied by government offices, the Custom House, Department of Education, Treasury Department and Department of Interior occupied the four corner rooms of the building on the lower floor, while the Department of Foreign Affairs was on the upper floor.” (Carter; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 30, 1906)

The government Executive Ministers’ offices were a short walk from the palace (which were situated on the same grounds as the present ʻIolani Palace (completed in 1882.) The palace was initially a home called Hanailoia (built in July 1844,) renamed Hale Aliʻi in 1845 and used as the palace.)

At the former Honolulu Hale, an arched gateway served as the entrance to the Executive Offices property. Dr Gerrit P Judd, Minister of Finance was on the ground floor. Upstairs, Robert C Wyllie had his Foreign Minister office. (Dye)

The Kingdom of Hawai‘i instituted a postal system in 1851, issuing 5 and 13 cent stamps for letters and a 2 cent stamp for papers. Operated as a private concession for many years, the postal service expanded its work in the 1860s. David Kalakaua, later Hawaii’s monarch, ran the service from 1862 to 1865.

Later, with growing community and business needs, the postal authorities were using part of Honolulu Hale. A partition divided the ʻEwa or North side, which was used by the Post Office, while the Waikiki or South side was used by the Whitney stationery business and also the editorial office of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser. (HHS)

As postal operations grew, in 1871, the Kamehameha V Post Office at the corner of Merchant and Bethel Streets was constructed and the Post Office folks moved out of Honolulu Hale. In 1900, the old Post Office became a unit of the US Postal System.

(Where the Kamehameha V Post Office Building now sits (adjacent to the former Honolulu Hale) was a 2-story coral structure that housed the ‘Polynesian’ (the Hawaiian Government’s English language weekly paper.)) (Dye)

On June 12, 1857, a marine telegraph was put into operation on Puʻu O Kaimuki (Telegraph Hill) behind Diamond Head. This device was actually a kind of semaphore designed to send visual (rather than electric) signals to the post office in downtown Honolulu when an approaching ship was sighted. (Schmitt)

It was 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.

Honolulu Hale on Merchant Street was fitted with a marine lookout and a tall semaphore, making its signals accessible to a larger segment of the population.

“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)

While the debate was waged on where to put City Hall in 1909 (as noted in the initial paragraphs, here,) it wasn’t until 1929 that the Spanish mission style, Dickey-designed Honolulu Hale was completed at the corner of King and Punchbowl street.

A 1950 map of Downtown Honolulu shows that the former Honolulu Hale/Honolulu House site was used as a parking lot for the Police Department (that was situated diagonally across the Merchant-Bethel streets intersection.) As noted, today it is a park-like area.

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Honolulu_Hale_by_Paul_Emmert-1853
Honolulu_Hale_by_Paul_Emmert-1853
Honolulu Hale-governmental building of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1843-1853 and then post office from 1853-1871
Honolulu Hale-governmental building of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1843-1853 and then post office from 1853-1871
Near (R) Snow Bldg-2-story bldg is PCA-Honolulu Hale and Kamehameha V Post Office-PP-38-4-013-1870s
Near (R) Snow Bldg-2-story bldg is PCA-Honolulu Hale and Kamehameha V Post Office-PP-38-4-013-1870s
Merchant St. looking toward Waikiki-PPWD-8-7-009-1885
Merchant St. looking toward Waikiki-PPWD-8-7-009-1885
Looking mauka up Kaahumanu Street to former Honolulu Hale with semaphore on top
Looking mauka up Kaahumanu Street to former Honolulu Hale with semaphore on top
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office-Hnl Hale on right(WC)
Kamehameha_V_Post_Office-Hnl Hale on right(WC)
Former Honolulu Hale Site
Former Honolulu Hale Site
Honolulu_Hale-Merchant_Street-Sorenson-Reg2339 (1906)
Honolulu_Hale-Merchant_Street-Sorenson-Reg2339 (1906)

Filed Under: Buildings Tagged With: Honolulu Hale, Hawaii, Honolulu, Downtown Honolulu, Merchant Street, Merchant Street Historic District

March 11, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Walter Chamberlain Peacock

Walter Chamberlain (WC) Peacock was born in in 1858 in Lancaster, England. After a short stay in New Zealand, he arrived in the Islands in about 1881. (Sullivan)

Shortly after arriving, Peacock started a liquor business with George Freeth (Freeth’s son, George Douglas Freeth Jr, is noted as the father of California surfing.) (Whitcomb) By 1890 Freeth had departed and the firm became known as WC Peacock & Co.

In addition to selling liquor at wholesale, Peacock also ran a string of saloons in Honolulu – Pacific, Cosmopolitan and Royal. A notable remnant of Peacock’s enterprises is the Royal Saloon at the corner of Merchant and Nuʻuanu in downtown Honolulu. (Sullivan)

Since 1873, the property had been used as a hotel and saloon (apparently, the initial retail spirit license for it was issued to William Lowthian Green – Freeth’s father-in-law.) In 1884 the saloon was sold, then sold again between that year and 1886, when Peacock owned it. In its early years, the saloon was particularly popular with sailors, the Sailors’ Home being next door.

Peacock’s saloon was demolished for the widening of Merchant Street which took place in 1889. He temporarily moved his establishment to the corner of King and Nuʻuanu Streets. After the street was widened, Peacock constructed a new saloon in 1890, on the site of his earlier structure. (HABS)

Back in the reign of King Kalākaua, a building on the site was called the Hawaiian Steakhouse and Saloon, a place for businessmen, ships’ officers and royalty to gather for food, libations and cigars. (George) Another name for it was Royal Hotel. (It’s now home to Murphy’s.)

For a while, Peacock and his brother, Corbert Alfred Peacock, were involved in a farm implements business (disc ploughs) in Australia as WC Peacock and Bro. It was relatively short-lived (about 1899-1901.) Corbet ran the business in Australia for about 3 years and then returned to Hawaiʻi. (ozwrenches)

In the 1890s, Walter joined other Honolulu elite who constructed mansions along the Waikīkī shoreline, including James Campbell, Frank Hustace and William Irwin. The wealthy discovered the ultimate destination of Waikīkī.

Peacock also built his own a pier (Peacock Pier.) Nearby was an early commercial venture, the Long Branch Baths (offering sea bathing in Waikīkī’s waters.) Down the way, Liliʻuokalani also had her own pier.

Then, Peacock proposed another Hawaiʻi lasting legacy. In the late-1890s, with additional steamship lines to Honolulu, the visitor arrivals to Oʻahu were increasing. In 1896, Peacock proposed to build Waikīkī’s first major resort to provide a solution to the area’s main drawback – the lack of suitable accommodations on the beach.

The initial idea was to construct a number of airy cottages on the Peacock premises, where the surf is in many respects better than at any other point on the beach. The outlook, however, rapidly became so much improved that even more elaborate plans than had ever been thought of were finally adopted. (Thrum)

Peacock created a new company, Moana Hotel Company Ltd, and engaged the well-known architect Oliver G Trephagen to design the hotel. He arranged for his own house to be moved to accommodate the large building. (Sullivan)

The main hotel had 75-five rooms. This does not include the entire lower floor and the large Peacock cottage on the grounds. The lower, or first, floor of the hotel will be given over to a billiard parlor, saloon, office, library, reception parlor, etc.

It was planned to make a club house of the Peacock cottage until such time as it may be required for regular hotel purposes. The rooms on the second, third and fourth floors are large and are so joined together that they may be fitted in any number of manner for family or excursion parties.

Above the hotel proper is a central tower in which is a fifth floor, and above that is a covered roof garden. From the latter a perfect view was to be had of the sea and most of the city of Honolulu.

This roof garden is large enough for receptions and dancing parties. The hotel has its own electric plant, which will supply power and light. It will run the up-to-date elevator, furnish light throughout the buildings and grounds, give power to the laundry and speed the fans in the dining room. (Thrum)

The Moana Hotel officially opened on March 11, 1901. Designed in the old colonial style architecture of the period, it was the costliest, most elaborate and modern hotel building in the Hawaiian Islands at the time.

Each room on the three upper floors had a bathroom and a telephone – innovations for any hotel of the times. The hotel also had its own ice plant and electric generators.

In 1905, Peacock sold the hotel to Alexander Young, a prominent Honolulu businessman with other island hotel interests. After Young’s death in 1910, his estate continued to operate the hotel.

In 1918, five-story concrete additions were added to the original wooden structure changing the floor plan from a simple rectangle to the present H-shaped plan that encloses the Banyan Court on three sides.

In the center of the Moana’s courtyard stands a large Banyan tree. The Indian Banyan tree was planted in 1904 by Jared Smith, Director of the Department of Agriculture Experiment Station (about 7-feet at planting, it is now over 75-feet in height.)

The original 240-foot-long timber Peacock Pier (subsequently renamed Moana Pier) was taken down in 1931, due to its deterioration. (Wiegel)

In 1909, Peacock died at the age of 51. He was buried in the Oʻahu Cemetery in a section known as the “Peacock Plot.” His mother, Margaret, age 82, three years later would join him in the grave. Mother and son are memorialized on a joint headstone. (Sullivan)

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Waikiki-Coastal_Area-Apuakeahu_Stream-to-Bridge-Reg1841-(1897)-Google Earth-noting Peacock
Waikiki-Coastal_Area-Apuakeahu_Stream-to-Bridge-Reg1841-(1897)-Google Earth-noting Peacock
Waikiki-Coastal_Area-Apuakeahu_Stream-to-Bridge-Reg1841-(1897)-portion-noting Peacock
Waikiki-Coastal_Area-Apuakeahu_Stream-to-Bridge-Reg1841-(1897)-portion-noting Peacock
WC Peacock-Whiskey Bottle
WC Peacock-Whiskey Bottle
WC Peacock-Whiskey Glass
WC Peacock-Whiskey Glass
Royal Saloon (NPS)
Royal Saloon (NPS)
Royal Saloon-(NPS)
Royal Saloon-(NPS)
Royal Saloon Building, 1890
Royal Saloon Building, 1890
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WC_Peacock-Envelope-rumseyauctions
W C Peacock & Bro Plough Hammer Spanner. © Ozwrenches
W C Peacock & Bro Plough Hammer Spanner. © Ozwrenches
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Moana_Hotel-HSA-1908
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Moana_Hotel-Peacock_Cottage-Cleghorn_Beach_House-Hustace_Villa-postcard-(CulturalSurveys)-ca_1910
Moana Hotel-Apuakehau Stream-(Kanahele)-1915
Moana Hotel-Apuakehau Stream-(Kanahele)-1915
Moana Sign
Moana Sign
Moana_Hotel-Tram Line
Moana_Hotel-Tram Line
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Moana_Hotel-Early-Layout-(Sanborn_Fire_Maps)-1914
Peacock Advertisement
Peacock Advertisement
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WC_Peacock_Thanksgiving_Ad-Evening_Bulletin-Nov_20,_1909
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Peacock-headstone

Filed Under: Prominent People Tagged With: Moana Hotel, Merchant Street, Merchant Street Historic District, Royal Saloon, Walter Chamberlain Peacock, Hawaii, Waikiki, Oahu

May 13, 2013 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Honolulu – About 1850

On the continent: the Donner Party was trapped in heavy snow (1846;) California Gold Rush was underway (1848;) and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War, giving the United States Texas, California, New Mexico and other territories (1848.)  Europe was in political upheaval with the European Revolutions of 1848 (aka “Spring of Nations” or “Springtime of the Peoples.”)

In Hawaiʻi, Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III, was King and the Great Māhele (1848) was taking place; it was the most important event in the reformation of the land system in Hawaiʻi that separated land title to the King, the Chiefs and the Konohiki (land agents,) and eventually the people.

At about that time, Honolulu had approximately 10,000-residents.  Foreigners made up about 6% of that (excluding visiting sailors.)  Laws at the time allowed naturalization of foreigners to become subjects of the King (by about that time, about 440 foreigners exercised that right.)

The majority of houses were made of grass (hale pili,) there were about 875 of them; there were also 345 adobe houses, 49 stone houses, 49 wooden houses and 29 combination (adobe below, wood above.)  In 1847, Washington Place was built by future-Queen Liliʻuokalani’s father-in-law.

Kawaiahaʻo Church (Stone Church) generally marked the eastern edge of town; it was constructed between 1836 and 1842.  The “Kauikeaouli clock,” donated by King Kamehameha III in 1850, still tolls the time to this day.

Honolulu Harbor was bustling at that time.  Over the prior twenty years, the Pacific whaling fleet nearly quadrupled in size and in the record year of 1846; 736-whaling ships arrived in Hawai‘i.

Shortly after, however, in 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the Hawaiʻi whaling industry.

At the time, Honolulu Harbor was not as it is today and many of the visiting ships would anchor two to three miles off-shore – cargo and people were ferried to the land.

What is now known as Queen Street was actually the water’s edge.

From 1856 to 1860, the work of filling in the reef to create an area known as the “Esplanade” (where Aloha Tower is now situated) and building up a water-front and dredging the harbor was underway.

Fort Kekuanohu (Fort Honolulu) was demolished in 1857; its walls became the 2,000-foot retaining wall used to extend the land out onto the shallow reef in the harbor – some of the coral blocks are still visible at Pier 12.

The old prison was built in 1856-57, to take the place of the old fort (that also previously served as a prison.)  The custom-house was completed in 1860.  The water-works were much enlarged, and a system of pipes was laid down in 1861.

The city was regularly laid out with major streets typically crossing at right angles – they were dirt (Fort Street had to wait until 1881 for pavement, the first to be paved.)  Sidewalks were constructed, usually of wood (as early as 1838;) by 1857, the first sidewalk made of brick was laid down on Merchant Street.

Honolulu Hale was then located on Merchant Street (now the park/vacant lot between the Kamehameha V Post Office and Pioneer Plaza.)  County governance was still 50-years away (1905) and what we now know as Honolulu Hale today was 75-years away (1928.)

To get around people walked, or rode horses or used personal carts/buggies.  It wasn’t until 1868, that horse-drawn carts became the first public transit service in the Hawaiian Islands.

At that time, folks were 50-years away from getting automobiles (the first gasoline-powered arrived in 1900;) that same year (1900,) an electric trolley (tram line) was put into operation in Honolulu, and by 1902, a tram line was built to connect Waikīkī and downtown Honolulu. The electric trolley replaced the horse/mule-driven tram cars.

Honolulu was to be a planned town. Kinaʻu (Kuhina Nui Kaʻahumanu II) published the following proclamation (1838:) “I shall widen the streets in our city and break up some new places to make five streets on the length of the land, and six streets on the breadth of the land… Because of the lack of streets some people were almost killed by horseback riders ….”  By 1850, there was much improvement.

By the 1840s, the use of introduced horses, mules and bullocks for transportation was increasing, and many of the old traditional trails – the ala loa and mauka-makai trails within ahupua‘a – were modified by removing the smooth stepping stones that caused the animals to slip.

At the time, “Broadway” was the main street (we now call it King Street;) it was the widest and longest – about 2-3 miles long from the river (Nuʻuanu River on the west) out to the “plains” (to Mānoa.)

There were five food markets in Honolulu (in thatched sheds) one of which was more particularly a vegetable market.  Irish potatoes were $2-$3 per bushel (about 50-lbs;) eggs were $0.25 to $0.75 per dozen; oranges $0.25 per dozen and turkeys and ducks were about $.05 each, chickens started at about $0.25 a piece.

Butter was mostly made on the Big Island and Kauaʻi – about 19,000-lbs produced – and sold at an average price of $0.30 per pound; milk was 12 1/2 cents a quart.  Fresh beef sold for $0.06 per pound.

The fledgling sugar industry was starting to spread across the islands (with the first successful commercial sugar plantation founded in 1835 at Kōloa, Kauaʻi.)  It wasn’t until 1852 that the Chinese became the first contract laborers to arrive in the islands.  Of the nearly 385,000 foreign contract workers that eventually came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix.

Founded in 1839, Oʻahu’s first school was called the Chief’s Children’s School.  The school was created by King Kamehameha III to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chief’s children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaii’s Kingdom.

Missionaries Amos and Juliette Cooke were selected by King Kamehameha III to teach the 16 royal children and run the school.

Here, Hawai‘i sovereigns (who reigned after Kamehameha III over the Hawaiian people after his death in 1854) were given Western education, including, Alexander Liholiho (King Kamehameha IV,) Queen Emma, Lot Kapuaiwa (King Kamehameha V,) King William Lunalilo, King David Kalākaua and Queen Lydia Lili‘uokalani.

Lots of information here from ‘The Polynesian’ (January 1, 1847,) Greer and Gilman.  The image shows Honolulu from the Harbor in 1854.  In addition, I have added some other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: General, Place Names, Economy Tagged With: Merchant Street, Honolulu Harbor, Chief's Children's School, Amos Cooke, Honolulu Hale, Hawaii, Oahu, Kawaiahao Church, Fort Kekuanohu, Great Mahele

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