Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Punahou – It Had More Than One Campus

Kapunahou, the site of the present Punahou School campus, was given to Kameʻeiamoku by Kamehameha, after the Battle of Nuʻuanu.  The land transferred to his son Hoapili, who resided there from 1804 to 1811. Hoapili passed the property to his daughter Kuini Liliha.

Sworn testimony before the Land Commission in 1849, and that body’s ultimate decision, noted that the “land was given by Governor Boki about the year 1829 to Hiram Bingham for the use of the Sandwich Islands Mission.”

The decision was made over the objection from Liliha; however Hoapili confirmed the gift. It was considered to be a gift from Kaʻahumanu, Kuhina Nui or Queen Regent at that time.

In Hiram Bingham’s time, the main part of the Kapunahou property was planted with sugarcane by his wife Sybil, with the aid of the female church-members.

Bingham’s idea was to make Kapunahou the parsonage, and to support his family from the profits of this cane field, selling the cane to the sugar mills, one of which was in Honolulu.

The other mill was in Mānoa Valley, owned by an Englishman; but he also made rum, and Queen Kaʻahumanu’s consistent hostility to rum caused his failure, and also the failure of sugar-cane culture at Punahou.  (Punahou Catalogue, 1866)

Founded in 1841, Punahou School (originally called Oʻahu College) was built at Kapunahou to provide a quality education for the children of Congregational missionaries, allowing them to stay in Hawaiʻi with their families, instead of being sent away to school.  The first class had 15 students.

The land area of Kapunahou was significantly larger than the present school campus size.

While many see Punahou today as the college preparatory school in lower Mānoa, over the years, the school, though based at Kapunahou, also had campuses and activities elsewhere.

All students who entered the Boarding department were required to take part in the manual labor of the institution, under the direction of the faculty, not to exceed an average of two hours for each day.  (Punahou Catalogue, 1899)

“We had a dairy, the Punahou dairy, over on the other side of Rocky Hill. That was all pasture. We had beautiful, delicious milk, all the milk you wanted. The cows roamed from there clear over to the stone wall on Manoa hill. There were a few gates and those gates caused me trouble because the bulls wanted to get out or some boys would leave a bar down … Occasionally, just often enough to keep me alert, there would be a bull wandering around across the road and down the hill onto Alexander Field or just where I wanted to go.”  (Shaw, Punahou)

By vote of the trustees, the standard of the school was raised, and the course of study included a thorough drill in elementary algebra, Latin, colloquial and written French, and a careful study of the poems of Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Holmes, Bryant and Emerson. There is also regular instruction in freehand drawing and vocal music through the year. Lectures were given with experiments, designed to serve as an introduction to the study of physical science. A brief course in physiology and hygiene was given by the president of the College.  (Punahou Catalogue, 1899)

In 1881, at the fortieth anniversary celebration of the school, a public appeal was made to provide for a professorship of natural science and of new buildings.   President William L Jones in his speech expressed the need for Punahou to meet the changing times.

He said: “The missionaries when they landed here were all cultivated gentlemen, trained in the colleges of the United States, and they were unwilling that their children would suffer from their self exile into this country. … A change has been coming over the aims of college education lately; people desire less Latin and Greek and more Natural Science, more Astronomy, more Chemistry, more modern language … We have to teach Chemistry without laboratory, Astronomy without a telescope, Natural History only from books. More men and machinery is what we want.”  (Soong)

The appeal was so successful that the trustees moved to purchase the Reverend Richard Armstrong premises at the head of Richards Street (at 91 Beretania Street adjoining Washington Place) from the Roman Catholic mission for the Punahou Preparatory School (the property had previously been used by the growing St Louis High school.)

On September 19, 1883, the Punahou Preparatory School was opened for the full term at the Armstrong Home … Three of the trustees were present at the opening exercises, together with many parents of the pupils, of whom there were 85 present, with a prospect of a larger attendance … It is the design of the trustees to have no pupils at Punahou proper, except such as are qualified to proceed with the regular academic course.  (The Friend, October 4, 1883)

By the 1898-1899 school year, there were 247 students in grades 1-8 in the Punahou Preparatory School campus downtown.  Later, in 1902, the Preparatory School was moved to the Kapunahou campus, where it occupied Charles R Bishop Hall.

Near the turn of the last century, the Punahou Board of Trustees decided to subdivide some of the land above Rocky Hill – they called their subdivision “College Hills;” at that time the trolley service was extended into Mānoa, which increased interest in this area.

The College Hills subdivision, the largest subdivision of the time (nearly 100 acres of land separated into parcels of from 10,000- to 20,000-square feet,) opened above Punahou and became a major residential area.

Then, in January 1925, Punahou 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.  (The Honolulu Military Academy was originally founded by Col LG Blackman, in 1911.)

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 Kaimuki 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 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.)

In addition to these, there belonged in former times, as an appurtenance to the land known as Kapunahou, a valuable tract of salt-ponds, on the sea-side to the eastward of Honolulu Harbor, called Kukuluāeʻo, and including an area of seventy-seven acres (this was just mauka of what is now Kewalo Basin.)  (Punahou Catalogue, 1866)

It’s not clear how/when the makai land “detached” from the other Punahou School pieces, but it did and was given to the ABCFM (for the pastor of Kawaiaha‘o Church.)

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waipuhia

Huli ae au e nana ia Waipuhia, ua moni ia kona mau huna wai e ka makani ; me he lauoho kalole la i luhe i ka makani, i kiaweawe makalii i ka lau o ke kawelu, ka puaki i ka pua o ka ahihi o Malailua. (Kamakau, Ka Nūpepa Kū‘oko‘a, July 13, 1865)

I turned and looked at Waipuhia; its fine droplets of water were being absorbed by the wind. Like straight hair drooping in the wind, it streamed finely down the leaves of the kawelu grass and gathered on the blossoms of the ‘āhihi of Malailua.  (Kamakau; Cultural Surveys)

A story is told in the legend of two children who lived on two hills, one in Nuʻuanu and one in Kalihi.

The boy would visit his playmate on the neighboring hill.

When the girl’s godmother, who was the mist of the valley, saw how happy this made the girl, she enveloped the boy in a mist so he could not leave and return home.

The boy’s parents thought that the boy was dead and went on with their lives.

However, the parents angered the “Lady of the Ferns” a goddess of Kalihi Pass, when they collected lehua, sacred to this goddess, for their lei and forgot to make an offering.

The goddess summoned a horrendous storm to strike the family on its hill.

The cries of his family woke the boy from his spell and he tried to return home, but the lady created a great wind that picked him up and killed him. When the boy did not return, the girl began to weep.

“… lo! Her tears were wafted into the air. They rose in a silvery mist, and to this day the maiden weeps and the mist of her tears rises to caress the spirit voice of her youthful love.”  (Raphaelson; Cultural Surveys)

Waipuhia (blown water,) near the mauka boundary of Nuʻuanu Valley, are more commonly called the “Upside Down Waterfalls.”

At normal times (with typical tradewinds,) the falls only appear after a rain, and the water from the falls never reaches the base of the cliff; it is “blown” up by the winds and “in midair, it suddenly changes its course and rises upward to a cloud of mist”.

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Let them take the Islands”

“I wish to inform you that your King has surrendered recently the Kingdom due to the incessant demand to the Commander of the British battleship.  We have tried all means of settling the controversy, but in vain.”

“And therefore, we were given the time to consider as to the matter of surrendering from the hours of the morning to four in the afternoon; that, if we fail to recognize and adhere to the demand, we would likely be killed.” (Kekāuluohi to Kuakini, February 27, 1843)

Let’s see how we got there.

April 25, 1825, Richard Charlton arrived in the Islands to serve as the first British consul. A former sea captain and trader, he was already familiar with the islands of the Pacific and had promoted them in England for their commercial potential (he worked for the East India Company in the Pacific as early as 1821.)

Charlton had been in London during Kamehameha II’s visit in 1824 and secured an introduction to the king and his entourage.  By the time he arrived in Hawai‘i in 1825, instructions had already arrived from Kamehameha II that Charlton was to be allowed to build a house, or houses, any place he wished and should be made comfortable.  This apparently was due to favors Charlton had done for the royal party.  (Hawaiʻi State Archives)

In 1840, Charlton made a claim for several parcels of land in Honolulu. To substantiate his claim, Charlton produced a 299-year lease for the land in question, granted by Kalanimōku.  There was no disagreement over the parcel, Wailele, on which Charlton lived, but the adjoining parcel he claimed, Pūlaholaho, had been occupied since 1826 by retainers and heirs of Kaʻahumanu.

In rejecting Charlton’s claim, Kamehameha III cited the fact that Kalanimōku did not have the authority to grant the lease.  At the time the lease was made, Kaʻahumanu was Kuhina Nui, and only she and the king could make such grants.  The land was Kaʻahumanu’s in the first place, and Kalanimōku certainly could not give it away.  (Hawaiʻi State Archives)  The dispute dragged on for years.

This, and other grievances purported by Charlton and the British community in Hawai‘i, led to the landing of George Paulet on February 11, 1843 “for the purpose of affording protection to British subjects, as likewise to support the position of Her Britannic Majesty’s representative here”.

That day, Paulet sent King Kamehameha III six demands, threatening war if they were not acceded to by 4 pm of the next day.

  1. Restoration of Charlton’s land and reparation for losses
  2. Acknowledgment of the right of Mr Simpson to serve as acting Consul
  3. Guarantee that no British subject shall be subjected to imprisonment, unless it is a felony under  English laws
  4. Written promise given by Kamehameha III for a new trial for Captain Jones
  5. Adoption of steps to resolve disputes between British subjects and Hawaiians
  6. Immediate settlement of grievances and complaints of British subjects against the Hawaiian government

Pressed by demands which became more and more impossible, the King said, “Let them take the islands.”  (Smith)  Before the deadline, the King acceded to the demands under protest, and appealed to the British Government for damages.

But a fresh series of demands having been made, and claims for, the king decided, by Dr Gerrit Judd’s advice, to forestall the intended seizure of the Islands by a provisional cession, pending an appeal to the justice of the home government.

On February 25, the King acceded to his demands and noted, “In consequence of the difficulties in which we find ourselves involved, and our opinion of the impossibility of complying with the demands in the manner in which they are made … “

“… we do hereby cede the group of islands known as the Hawaiian (or Sandwich) Islands, unto the Right Honorable Lord George Paulet … the said cession being made with the reservation that it is subject to any arrangement that may have been entered into by the Representatives appointed by us to treat with the Government of Her Britannic Majesty…”

Under the terms of the new government the King and his advisers continued to administer the affairs of the Hawaiian population.  For business dealing with foreigners, a commission was created, consisting of the King (or his representative,) Paulet and two officers from Paulet’s ship.  Judd served as the representative of the King.  (Daws)

Interesting, at the same time this was going on, three representative of the Hawaiian government were already on the continent and Europe to seek recognition of Hawaiʻi’s sovereignty by other countries.  The King and others were concerned that there may be takeovers by others.

Great Britain claimed Australia and Aotearoa (New Zealand,) the French Marquesas and Society Islands … the Hawaiian Islands’ strategic mid-Pacific position made it a likely next target. Invasion, overthrow and occupation seemed imminent.

In the face of this threat, Kamehameha III commissioned and dispatched three Ministers – an American, Briton and a trusted childhood friend; William Richards, Sir George Simpson and Timoteo Haʻalilio – to secure the recognition of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s independence and protection of public international law that accompanied recognition.  (Hawaiian Journal of Law & Politics)

In April 1842, Simpson left for England; in July, Haʻalilio and Richards departed for the US. By December 1842, the US had recognized the Hawaiian Kingdom; shortly thereafter they secured formal recognition from Great Britain and France.

On April 1, 1843, Lord Aberdeen, on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria, assured the Hawaiian delegation that: “Her Majesty’s Government was willing and had determined to recognize the independence of the Sandwich Islands under their present sovereign.”

On November 28, 1843, the British and French Governments united in a joint declaration and entered into a formal agreement recognizing Hawaiian independence (Lord Aberdeen signed on behalf of Britain, French ambassador Louis Saint-Aulaire signed on behalf of France.)

The Declaration states:
“Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of the French, taking into consideration the existence in the Sandwich Islands of a government capable of providing for the regularity of its relations with foreign nations have thought it right to engage reciprocally to consider the Sandwich Islands as an independent State and never to take possession, either directly or under the title of protectorate, or under any other form, of any part of the territory of which they are composed.”

“The undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty’s principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, and the ambassador extraordinary of His Majesty the King of the French, at the court of London, being furnished with the necessary powers, hereby declare in consequence that their said majesties take reciprocally that engagement.” (Hawaiian Journal of Law & Politics)

Back in the Islands … after five months of British rule, Queen Victoria, on learning the injustice done, immediately sent Rear Admiral Richard Darton Thomas to the islands to restore sovereignty to its rightful rulers. On July 31, 1843 the Hawaiian flag was raised.  The ceremony was held in area known as Kulaokahuʻa; the site of the ceremony was turned into a park Thomas Square.

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

What Had Long Been Feared

“What has long been feared by some, and considered a certain event by others, has happened. The Chinese quarter of Honolulu has been devastated by a fire, that, gaining headway in the dense aggregation of wooden buildings, was quickly beyond control and sweeping in all directions.” (Daily Bulletin – April 19, 1886)

It started on April 18, 1886.  A few minutes before 1 o’clock the fire started in a Chinese cook house on the corner of Hotel street and Smith’s lane. It started accidentally by the owner of the premises in lighting his fire for cooking.

“Although not a breath of wind stirred … quicker than can be told the fire was leaping from roof to roof, gliding along verandahs, entwining itself about pillars and posts, festooning doors and windows . … In the calm the smoke rose in a vast volume . . . . Both [Smith and Hotel] were soon lanes of fire.”  (Daily Bulletin – April 19, 1886)

After a seven-hour ordeal-about half of it in darkness-the walls of the last building to collapse fell in. It was exactly 11:20 and the place was the makai side of the King Street bridge leading across to the Palama district.

As the embers cooled, tempers flared.

Hawaiians of Chinatown, especially around the ʻEwa side of Maunakea Street, where they had been the greatest losers, were bitter.  They blamed it all on the Chinese.

By midnight a mob of perhaps 3,000 crowded around the King Street bridge and back to the Chinese theater. As Hawaiians itched for a fight, things could get nasty – fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and while skirmishes occurred, a full-on riot was avoided.

Honolulu’s Chinatown, then and now, is the approximate 36-acres on the ʻEwa side of Downtown Honolulu.  It developed into a Chinese dominated place, following the in-migration of Chinese to work on the sugar plantation, starting in 1852.

Between 1852 and 1876, 3,908 Chinese were imported as contract laborers, compared with only 148 Japanese and 223 South Sea Islanders. Around 1882, the Chinese in Hawaii formed nearly 49% of the total plantation working force, and for a time outnumbered Caucasians in the islands.

It had been noted, according to one observer in 1882, for the fact that the great majority of its business establishments “watchmakers’ and jewelers’ shops, shoe-shops, tailor shops, saddle and harness shops, furniture-shops, cabinet shops and bakeries, (were) all run by Chinamen with Chinese workmen.”

By 1884, the Chinese population in Honolulu reached 5,000, and the number of Chinese doing plantation work declined.   As a group they became very important in business in Hawaii, and 75% of them were concentrated in Chinatown where they built their clubhouses, herb shops, restaurants, temples and retail stores.

By 1886, there were 20,000 people living in the area between Nuʻuanu Stream, Nuʻuanu Avenue, Beretania Street and Honolulu Harbor.

Most of the structures were one- and two-story wooden shacks crammed with people, animal and pests. Chinatown had a poor water supply system and no sewage disposal.

Although the fire intensified anti-Chinese feeling, this group had long been under attack. During the 1880s, spurred by what was considered an alarming influx, the Hawaiian government had limited – and for a time halted – their coming.

The year before the fire, massive Japanese immigration started. It had been conceived and encouraged not only to man plantation fields, but also to provide a counterbalance to the Chinese.

The 1886 blaze destroyed eight blocks of Chinatown. While the government soon after established ordinances to widen the narrow streets and limit building construction to stone or brick, nothing was enforced. More ramshackle buildings went up, laying the groundwork for future disaster and disease.

The 1886 fire started at the corner of Hotel and Smith Streets.

They rebuilt.

In 1900, fire struck again.  However, in 1900, the Board of Health intentionally set “sanitary” fires to prevent further spread of the bubonic plague.  Those got out of control.

The 1900 fire caused the destruction of all premises bounded by Kukui Street, River Street, Queen Street (presently Ala Moana Boulevard) and Nuʻuanu Avenue.

Today, the majority of buildings in Chinatown date from 1901 with very few exceptions which escaped the January 20, 1900 fire.

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Arakawas

Established over 100 years ago, “old” Waipahu was once a vibrant, multi-ethnic sugar plantation town whose key corporate element was the Oʻahu Sugar Company.  For over 85 years, Waipahu served as a major commercial center outside of Honolulu.    (Waipahu Community Association)

“In the early days of Waipahu, the parking lot behind Bank of Hawaiʻi was a wetland next to Kapakahi stream.  People who lived near the stream grew rice and watercress and had truck gardens.  All of us kids used to swim in the stream and fish for dojo, funa and goby.”  (Goro Arakawa, Clark)

Another Waipahu institution (unfortunately, now gone) was Arakawas.

Zempan Arakawa, patriarch of the Arakawa (born on August 7, 1885,) came to Hawaiʻi from Okinawa in 1905.  First working at the Oʻahu Sugar Plantation, “Arakawa got to know all the workers and what they needed. He ran errands for them. This understanding proved useful when he went into retail a few years later. He knew his customers.” (Purcell; Sigall)

The real legacy of the Arakawa family began in 1909, when Zempan and Tsuru (Ruth) Arakawa, opened their first store, Arakawa Shoten on Waipahu Street. (Okinawa Association)

In 1912 he moved the store to Depot Road, where it was in the location later taken over by Big Way market.   (Then, in 1955, he opened the 1 1/2-level store.)  (Star-Bulletin)

From humble beginnings of selling kau-kau bags and sewn tabis to Waipahu plantation workers, they expanded their business and turned Arakawas into Hawaiʻi’s best known “everything” store. If you needed to find something – you would find it at Arakawas. (Okinawa Association)

Learning from his experience working on the plantation, where Zempan took orders for sewing and mending work that he did at night, he soon recognized that the sugar workers needed functional and sturdy work clothing, at a price they could afford.  (Kawakami)

By the 1920s, palaka (typically a white plaid pattern over a dark blue background) became very popular.  The Arakawa store specialized in selling palaka fabrics to plantation workers.  They referred to palaka as gobanji, the Japanese term for a plaid or check design.  Apparently, the early immigrants used palaka only as work jackets; they did not wear palaka shirts.  (Kawakami)

When Zempan retired in 1955 his children; sons Kazuo, Takemi, Shigemi and Goro; daughters Leatrice and Joan and their husbands (Sei Kaneshiro and Horace Taba) took over the running of the store.  (In 1959, Zempan Arakawa was recognized as Father of the Year by the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce.  (Sigall))

From the 1920s to the 1960s, Arakawas was the only clothing supply and general merchandise (including food, household goods, etc) store in the area, serving the general population and Waipahu Sugar Mill workforce.  (Environet)

Eighth child, daughter Joan (who attended Wolfe Fashion Design School,) was Arakawas’ Manager of apparel and accessories. She is known for the use of palaka material and apparel that became symbolic of Arakawa.

Fourth son, Shigemi, started out as the Manager/Buyer of the Import and Gift section of Arakawas, Shigemi was often described as a “creative merchandising genius” by his siblings and wholesalers and manufacturers throughout the Pacific Rim.   (Star Advertiser)

He developed the planned chaos concept of retailing that gave the store its special ambiance and was reflected in every Arakawas’ Sunday newspaper ad.  (Star Advertiser)

Every nook and cranny was crammed with merchandise, from clothing and jewelry to hardware, food and even sporting goods.  (Star-Bulletin)

Goro Arakawa, the youngest son of Zempan and Ruth, received a marketing degree from New York University and returned home to work in the family store.  There, he wrote advertising copy that incorporated the sights and sounds of Waipahu (such as the rooster crowing radio commercials.)  (Filipino Chronicle)

Ads ended with, “Arakawa’s – located on historic Depot Road, just below the Sugar mill.”    Goro also came up with catchy slogans like “If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’ll find it at Arakawa’s” and “Don’t say you can’t find it until you shop at Arakawa’s.”  (Filipino Chronicle)

The 1 1/2-level store was actually the third incarnation of the small plantation store first opened by Zempan. In fact, the reason for the 1 1/2 levels was the one-half level upstairs occupied by the sporting goods. Going to Arakawa’s was like stepping back in time, back to the old sugar plantation days when life in Hawaiʻi seemed simpler and more relaxed.  (Star-Bulletin)

On buying trips around the world, he displayed an uncanny eye for finding things that would catch people’s fancy and sold goods as varied as sculptor Noguchi lamps, tapa-themed dinnerware, mosquito coils, and plastic orchid leis.  (Star Advertiser)

With the gradual decline of the sugar industry, the community’s economic and social vitality slowly began to deteriorate.  The historic town core centered on Waipahu Depot Road was devastated by the closures of the sugar mill and Bigway Market in 1999.  (Waipahu Community Association)

Through the generosity to the communities they served – Arakawas became the symbol of an era in Hawaiʻi’s history that represented hard work, sincerity, honesty and generosity of spirit. (Okinawa Association)

It was a sad day when Arakawas in Waipahu (operating from 1909 to 1995) closed its doors.  Gone was the assortment of colors and sizes of palaka wear, as well as the myriad needs filled by the diversity and depth of the merchandise in the store.

© 2023 Hoʻokuleana LLC