Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Pālolo

Waikīkī (“water spurting from many sources”) ahupuaʻa lies between Honolulu (from the west side of Makiki Valley) and Maunalua (the east side of Wailupe) – essentially from Piʻikoi Street to the ʻĀina Haina/Niu Valley boundary.

Three main valleys Makiki, Mānoa, and Pālolo are mauka of Waikīkī and through them their respective streams (and springs in Mānoa (Punahou and Kānewai)) watered the marshland below.

As they entered the flat Waikīkī Plain (and merge and separate,) the names of the streams changed; the Mānoa became the Kālia and the Pālolo became the Pāhoa (they joined near Hamohamo (now an area mauka of the Kapahulu Library.))

While at the upper elevations, the streams have the ahupuaʻa names, at lower elevations, after merging/dividing, they have different names, as they enter the ocean, Pi‘inaio, ‘Āpuakēhau and Kuekaunahi.

The Pi‘inaio (Makiki) entered the sea at Kālia (near what is now Fort DeRussy as a wide delta (kahawai.))  The ‘Āpuakēhau (Mānoa and Kālia,) also called the Muliwai o Kawehewehe (“the stream that opens the way” on some maps,) emptied in the ocean at Helumoa (between the Royal Hawaiian and Moana Hotels.)

The Kuekaunahi (Pālolo) once emptied into the sea at Hamohamo (near the intersection of ‘Ōhua and Kalākaua Avenues.)  The land between these three streams was called Waikolu, meaning “three waters.”

Pālolo valley, within the ahupuaʻa of Waikīkī, has ʻili for kalo (taro loʻi) and forest products that benefitted other portions of the ahupuaʻa (such as ʻĀina Haina, Wailupe, Niu and areas near the beach) – they are essentially ʻili lele (jumping ʻili) that provide these resource lands (wetland for kalo and mauka forest lands) to the other areas of the ahupuaʻa that do not have them.

According to legend, Kākuhihewa, Māʻilikūkahi’s descendent six generations later, encountered the supernatural rooster, “Kaʻauhelemoa” who flew from Pālolo valley and landed at Waikīkī to challenge Kākuhihewa by scratching the ground.  The place was then named “Helumoa” which means “chicken scratch.”

Kākuhihewa felt that the appearance of the supernatural rooster was an omen, so he planted a grove of trees, which later multiplied into an estimated 10,000-coconut trees (this is the area in and around the Sheraton Waikīkī hotel.)

Fast forward a few centuries.

Pālolo Valley was once home to a golf course, rock quarry, two dairies and, during World War II, an airfield.

Pālolo Elementary School first opened its doors in September 1921 under the leadership of Principal William Kekepa. Its first buildings were converted military barracks and the school was next to a golf course.

Opened in 1931, the nine-hole Pālolo course was first one open to the masses (the Islands’ first course, Moanalua Valley course, opened in 1898; Oʻahu Country Club opened in 1906, Waiʻalae in 1928.)  Later, that golf course was turned into a public housing project that is now Pālolo Valley Homes.

A May 1941 article in the Honolulu Advertiser titled “Army Maps Areas to Be Evacuated in Event of Emergency” informed civilians that 86,000-persons living in Honolulu resided in danger zones, and that half would have to evacuate in the event of a war.  (Johnson)

The Pālolo evacuation camp, which the Office of Civilian Defense had erected in case of another Japanese attack, was later turned over to the Hawaiʻi Housing Authority (HHA) and converted into wartime public housing for several hundred families.  (HHF)

Additional shelters for evacuees were built in Pālolo; however, they were “held in readiness for evacuees in connection with (another) attack.”  The Pālolo Valley Camp never accommodated Islanders displaced after the initial attack on December 7. A memorandum written in February 1942 confirmed that Pālolo remained unoccupied.

The HHA also developed public housing.  Members of a Congressional subcommittee, which came to investigate Honolulu’s housing situation (in Pālolo and elsewhere) in March 1945, learned of “hot bed apartments” where as many as eighteen men occupied one room in three shifts.

With the conclusion of World War II, the Pālolo School Camp was closed as they were deemed unsatisfactory for occupancy.  The Pālolo Evacuation Camp adjacent to the 362-unit emergency housing project in Pālolo remained in operation.

Pālolo provided post-war housing opportunities; a three-bedroom home in 1950 cost about $11,500.  In 1955, the Pālolo Golf Course was replaced by Jarrett Middle School and the Pālolo Valley District Park.  More housing was also provided.

Jarrett Middle School was established in 1955. The school was named in honor of William Paul Jarrett (1877-1929,) who was a delegate to the US Congress when Hawaiʻi was a Territory. Mr Jarrett gained national and international recognition for his efforts as a humanitarian.

After it closed in 1951, the rock quarry became a 200-home residential subdivision and the airfield was developed into Pālolo Valley Housing.  (Shellabarger)  (Lots of information here from Green and Johnson.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

French Invasion of Honolulu

In 1846, a treaty had been concluded with France, eliminating the harsh terms of the treaty of 1839. This produced an exceedingly friendly feeling toward France.

However, in 1848, Consul Dudoit retired from the French consulship and William Patrice Dillon was appointed in his place.  Later, things got worse.

The French Invasion of Honolulu (also known as the Sacking of Honolulu, or the Tromelin Affair) was an attack on Honolulu by Louis Tromelin for the persecution of Catholics and repression on French trade.

On August 12, 1849, French admiral Louis Tromelin arrived in Honolulu Harbor on the corvette Gassendi with the frigate La Poursuivante.  Upon arrival, de Tromelin met with French Consul Dillon.

Dillon immediately initiated a systematic and irritating interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom, arising largely out of personal hostility to RC Wyllie, minister of foreign affairs, picking flaws and making matters of extended diplomatic correspondence over circumstances of trifling importance.

This continued until the French Admiral Tromelin arrived, and after a conference with Dillon the celebrated “ten demands” were formulated and presented to the Hawaiian Government with the commanding request for immediate action.

The ten demands:

  1. The complete and loyal adoption of the treaty of March 26th 1846.
  2. The reduction of the duty on French brandy to fifty per cent ad valorem.
  3. The subjection of Catholic schools to the direction of the chief of the French Mission and to special inspectors not Protestants and a treatment rigorously equal granted to the two worships and to their schools.
  4. The use of the French language in all business intercourse between French citizens and the Hawaiian Government.
  5. The withdrawal of the (alleged) exception by which French whalers which imported wine and spirits were affected and the abrogation of a regulation which obliged vessels laden with liquors to pay the custom house officers placed on board to superintend their loading and unloading.
  6. The return of all duties collected by virtue of the regulation the withdrawal of which was demanded by the fifth article.
  7. The return of a fine of twenty-five dollars paid by the whale ship ‘General Teste’ besides an indemnity of sixty dollars for the time that she was detained in port.
  8. The punishment of certain school boys whose impious conduct (in church) had occasioned complaint.
  9. The removal of the governor of Hawaii for allowing the domicile of a priest to be violated (by police officers who entered it to make an arrest) or the order that the governor make reparation to that missionary.
  10. The payment to a French hotel keeper of the damages committed in his house by sailors from HBM’s (His Britannic Majesty’s) ship ‘Amphitrite.’  (Alexander)

The Hawaiian Government was allowed three days in which to make a satisfactory reply to these demands.  If they were not acceded to, the admiral threatened to cancel the existing treaty, and to “employ the means at his disposal to obtain a complete reparation.”

Sensing disaster, King Kamehameha III issued orders: “Make no resistance if the French fire on the town, land under arms, or take possession of the Fort; but keep the flag flying ’till the French take it down. … Strict orders to all native inhabitants to offer no insult to any French officer, soldier or sailor, or afford them any pretext whatever for acts of violence.”

On August 25, the demands had not been met.

About noon of the 25th, a firm but courteous reply was sent to the admiral, declaring that the Hawaiian government had faithfully observed the treaty of 1846; that the existing duty on brandy was so far from being “an absolute prohibition” that the importation of French brandy had greatly increased under it …”

“… that rigorous equality in the treatment of different forms of worship was already provided for, but that public schools supported by government funds should not be placed under the direction of any mission, whether Catholic or Protestant; and that the adoption of the French language in business was not required by the treaty or by international law, and was impracticable in the state of the islands.

The Hawaiian government offered to refer any dispute to the mediation of a neutral power, and informed the admiral that no resistance would be made to the force at his disposal, and that in any event the persons and property of French residents would be scrupulously guarded.

After a second warning of the impending invasion, 140-French Marines, two field pieces and scaling ladders were landed by boat, which were met with no opposition and Tromelin’s troops took possession of an empty fort.

The invaders also took possession of the customhouse and other government buildings, and seized the king’s yacht, together with seven merchant vessels in port.

But the Admiral was careful not to lower the Hawaiian flag.

The marines broke the coastal guns, threw kegs of powder into the harbor and destroyed all the other weapons they found (mainly muskets and ammunition).

They raided government buildings and general property in Honolulu, including destruction of furniture, calabashes and ornaments in the governor’s house.  After these raids, the invasion force withdrew to the fort.

On the 30th, the admiral issued a proclamation, declaring that by way of “reprisal” the fort had been dismantled, and the king’s yacht, “Kamehameha III,” confiscated (and then sailed to Tahiti,) but that private property would be restored. He also declared the treaty of 1846 to be annulled, and replaced by the Laplace Convention of 1839. This last act, however, was promptly disavowed by the French Government.

He sailed away with the understanding that the King would send an agent to France to settle the difficulties.

In 1850, the Hawaiian government instructed commissioners JJ Jarves and GP Judd to demand an indemnity of $100,060 on account of the seizure of the Kamehameha and damage wrought by de Tromelin’s forces.

But for the consideration of a loss of face, the indemnity would have been paid. Instead, a compromise was decided upon. To Consul Perrin, successor of Dillon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs wrote:
“There is no need to tell you that indemnities are out of question. The word itself should be avoided: however, the Prince-President … wishes that … in his name, you put in the hands of King Kamehameha a very costly present.”

The present turned out to be an elaborate silverware table service. Today, the heavy, ornate silver service sent to Kamehameha III by Louis Napoleon of France is the formal tableware of the Governor of Hawaiʻi in Washington Place.

The image shows Fort Kekuanohu, Fort Honolulu in a drawing by Emmert in 1853 (this is to show a representation of the fort – this was not drawn during the occupancy by the French.)  (The inspiration and information here is primarily from reports in the Hawaiʻi Journal of History through UH-Mānoa.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sun Yat-sen

Sun Yat-sen is the Founding Father of modern China, the Republic of China (Nationalist China) and the forerunner of democratic revolution in the People’s Republic of China.

As part of a philosophy to make China a free, prosperous, and powerful nation Sun Yat-sen adopted “Three Principles of the People:” “Mínzú, Mínquán, Mínshēng“ (People’s Nationalism, People’s Democracy, People’s Livelihood.)

The Qing Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Qing or Great Qing, was the last imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917.

After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution on October 10, 1911, revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen (November 12, 1866 –March 12, 1925) was elected Provisional President and founded the Provisional Government of the Republic of China.

Sun Yat-sen was born to an ordinary farmer’s family in Cuiheng Village, Xiangshan, the South China province of Guangdong.

In 1879, then 13 years of age, he journeyed to Hawaiʻi to join his older brother, Sun Mei, a successful rice farmer, rancher and merchant.  He entered ʻIolani at age 14.  (ʻIolani)

In Sun Yat-sen’s four years in Hawai’i (1879-1883), he is said to have attended three Christian educational institutions: ʻIolani College, St Louis College and Oʻahu College (Punahou School.)  Then, he was called Tai Cheong or Tai Chu.

His three years at ʻIolani are well authenticated. Whether he ever attended St Louis cannot be substantiated by school records, but such a possibility exists. As for Oʻahu College, there is evidence to support the claim, though the time he spent there is not altogether clear.  (Soong)

“During his years at ʻIolani and Punahou, he was exposed to Western culture, was strongly influenced by it, and in his young mind, the seeds of Western democracy were planted.” (Lum, ʻIolani)  It also “led him to want more western education – more than that required to assist in his brother’s business.”  (Soong)

In 1883, Sun registered in the Punahou Preparatory School, one of the fifty children who studied in the two classrooms upstairs in the school building.  He was listed as Tai Chu, he was one of three Chinese students, the others being Chung Lee and Hong Tong.

Sun was also influenced by the Anglican and Protestant Christian religious teachings he received; he was later baptized.

He came to Hawaiʻi on six different occasions, initially for schooling and to support his brother’s businesses on Maui.  Later, his trips were geared to gain support for revolutionizing China and fundraising for that end.

On his third trip in Hawaiʻi (on November 24, 1894) Sun established the Hsing Chung Hui (Revive China Society,) his first revolutionary society. Among its founders were many Christians, one of them being Chung Kun Ai, his fellow student at ʻIolani (and later founder of City Mill.)

Shortly after, in January 1895, Dr Sun left Hawaiʻi and returned to China to initiate his revolutionary activities in earnest.  The funding of the First Canton Uprising mainly came from the Chinese in Hawaiʻi (that first effort failed.)

On another visit to Hawaiʻi (in 1903,) Sun reorganized the Hsing Chung Hui into Chung Hua Ke Min Jun (The Chinese Revolutionary Army) in Hilo.

In 1905, in Tokyo, Sun reorganized the Hsing Chung Hui and other organizations into a political party called the Tung Meng Hui.
Likewise, the Chinese Revolutionary Army was reorganized and all of its members Tung Meng Hui members.

This party spread all over China and rallied all the revolutionists under its wings.  He then made his last visit to Hawaiʻi to form the Hawaiʻi Chapter of Tung Meng Hui.

From 1894 to 1911, Sun traveled around the globe advocating revolution and soliciting funds for the cause. At first, he concentrated on China, but his continued need for money forced him elsewhere. Southeast Asia, Japan, Hawaii, Canada, the United States, and Europe all became familiar during his endless quest.  (Damon)

The revolutionary movement in China grew stronger and stronger. Tung Meng Hui members staged many armed uprisings, culminating in the October 10, 1911 Wuhan (Wuchang) Uprising which succeeded in overthrowing the Manchu dynasty and established the Republic of China.

That date is now celebrated annually as the Republic of China’s national day, also known as the “Double Ten Day”. On December 29, 1911, Sun Yat-sen was elected president and on January 1, 1912, he was officially inaugurated.  After Sun’s death on March 12, 1925, Chiang Kai-shek became the leader of the Kuomintang (KMT.)

The Republic of China governed mainland China until 1949; in that year, during the Chinese Civil War, the communists captured Beijing and later Nanjing. The communist-party-led People’s Republic of China was proclaimed on October 1, 1949.

Originally based in mainland China, Chiang Kai-shek and a few hundred thousand Republic of China troops and two million refugees, fled from mainland China to Taiwan (formerly known as “Formosa.”)

On December 7, 1949 Chiang proclaimed Taipei, Taiwan, the temporary capital of the Republic of China and it now governs the island of Taiwan.  Sun Yat-sen is one of the few Chinese revolutionary figures revered in both the People’s Republic of China (mainland) and Republic of China (Taiwan.)

Hawaiʻi and its people played an important role in the life of Sun Yat-sen as well as in his revolutionary activities. His first revolutionary organization was formed in Hawaiʻi, it developed into the political party directly responsible for the collapse of the Manchus.

Another Hawaiʻi tie for Sun relates to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that blocked Chinese travel to the US.

In March 1904, while residing in Kula, Maui, Sun Yat-sen obtained a Certificate of Hawaiian Birth, issued by the Territory of Hawaiʻi, stating that “he was born in the Hawaiian Islands on the 24th day of November, A.D. 1870.”

He used it to travel to the continent; then, when it was no longer needed, he renounced it.

Sun Yat-sen apparently felt at home in Hawaiʻi.  “This is my Hawai‘i … here I was brought up and educated, and it was here that I came to know what modern, civilized governments are like and what they mean.”  (Sun Yat-sen, 1910)

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

J Alfred Magoon

“A half-dozen mixed in a free-for-all fight, that originated between two lawyers, was the scene witnessed yesterday morning in the judiciary building close to the doors of the Circuit Court.”

“The principal combatants were Hon. Cecil Brown, lawyer, Senator of the Territory and president of the First National Bank of Hawaiʻi, and J Alfred Magoon, lawyer, owner of the Magoon block.”  (San Francisco Call, December 21, 1905)

“The trouble arose through the affairs of the American Savings and Trust Company, a branch of the First National Bank of Hawaii, of which Cecil Brown is president. A meeting of stockholders of the trust company was held last week, Magoon being attorney for the majority.”

“Brown as president ruled out some of their stock … As the Magoon faction was five shares short of a majority, President Brown declared that the old board of directors remained in office.”

“The differences between the stockholders have existed for nearly a year, and the courts will now be called upon to decide them if the Treasury Department at Washington does not step in.”  (San Francisco Call, December 21, 1905)

Whoa … let’s step back and get some perspective here.

John Alfred (J Alfred) Magoon was the son of John C and Maria Sophia Eaton Magoon.

John C Magoon was born on December 9, 1830, at Litchfield, Maine.  In 1857, he married Maria Sophia Eaton; the newly married couple started west and settled in Kossuth, Iowa, where their son and only child, J Alfred Magoon, was born on July 22, 1858.

After suffering intensely from fever they made their way back to Maine, having endured the greatest hardships in the journey owing to the primitive mode of travel.  In 1863, Mr Magoon went to California, where in 1869 his wife and son joined him.

J Alfred enrolled in Heald’s Business College remaining there until he graduated. He entered mercantile life immediately, filling the position of bookkeeper with several well-known firms. He was engaged for a time in the office of the Santa Rosa Democrat.

His father bought a ranch near Lower Lake in Lake County and was afterward engaged in quicksilver mining until he and his wife came to the Hawaiian Islands in 1876. Being a farmer he located at Wahiawa, Oʻahu, but a drought destroyed his crops and he moved to Honolulu.

J Alfred joined them shortly afterward and secured a position as bookkeeper on the Halstead plantation at Waialua. It was during this engagement that he decided to adopt law as a profession, and spent what spare time he had reading his law books.

He remained on the plantation for a year and then entered the office of Benjamin H Austin, where he remained for a year, when his straitened finances compelled him to abandon it for the more lucrative position of deputy sheriff at Makawao, Maui.

He afterward resigned and took the position of bookkeeper at Paia Mill and pursued his study of the law as the opportunity was offered. In 1883 he resigned and went to Ann Arbor University, where he took a law course. Upon his graduation two years later he returned to Honolulu and was admitted to the bar.

“He has, perhaps, the largest practice of any of the members of the Honolulu bar, and it was this fact that compelled him to refuse the judgeship when he was first called upon to take it.”

J Alfred Magoon has been selected by the Executive to fill the position of Circuit Court Judge caused by the appointment of Judge HE Cooper to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Judge Magoon is one of the best young men practicing at the bar.  (Hawaiian Gazette, November 5, 1895)

J Alfred married Emmeline Marie Afong and had 7 children: Julia H S Kamakea Magoon (1887-1933) – Harmon Anderson Kipling of California; John Henry N “Lani” Magoon (1889-1975) – Juliet Carrol; Chun Alfred Kapala Magoon (1890-1972) – Ruth L; Eaton Harry Magoon (1891-1970) – Genevieve Burrall Sicotte (teacher in Makaweli;) Mary “Catherine” Kekulani Magoon (1892-1996;) Marmion Mahinulani Magoon (1896-1969) and Emeleen Marie Magoon (1898-1974) – Orville Norris Tyler.

Oh, the earlier fight … “The pugilistic encounter of the two competing leaders will pass into history. It has been ignored by the local press.”  (San Francisco Call, December 21, 1905)

OK – here are some connections, if you haven’t already seen them (there are more.)

J Alfred’s wife Emmeline was daughter to Chun Afong and Julia Fayerweather Afong.  Afong made his fortune in retailing, real estate, sugar and rice, and for a long time held the government’s opium license.  He was later dubbed, “Merchant Prince of the Sandalwood Mountains” and is Hawaiʻi’s first Chinese millionaire.

Mary Catherine, the second daughter of Emmeline and J Alfred Magoon, married Frank Ward Hustace, becoming step-mother to seven Hustace children.  (Kauai Historical Society) Hustace was the first son of Frank and Mary Elizabeth “Mellie” Ward Hustace, the eldest of seven daughters of Victoria Robinson Ward.  Victoria’s sister, Mary Robinson, married a Foster.

Here are some prior stories on those families:

That’s enough for now.

No wait, back to the Magoons …

Like many businessmen, Magoon bought properties as investments, for development or for sale for a profit at a later date. By 1914, he built on the Queen Street lot a two-story structure with shops on the ground floor and residential apartments on the top floor, described as “Hawaii’s First Apartment House.”

Additional structures were built in the early twentieth century in a parcel called the “Magoon Block” on the eastern side of Kakaʻako.  The apartments were generally low-rent and inhabited by bachelors, although some poorer families crowded into the larger apartments. (Cultural Surveys)

As the population of Honolulu swelled, tenement buildings were quickly constructed to meet the rapidly growing demand for housing. Hawaiians congregated in the Chinatown and the Kakaʻako districts, both of which were near the waterfront and the center of town. (McGregor)

Magoon Block had a meat market, a grocery store, an ice cream parlor, a furniture store, a little restaurant, and a barber shop on the ground floor, all in one big building. Above the storefronts were rooms with a common kitchen, bath and toilet facilities. It was a little shopping center for the district. (McGregor)

J Alfred Magoon helped found the Sanitary Steam Laundry, invested in Consolidated Amusement Co and the Honolulu Dairy.  He died and Emmeline took over leadership of his business interests.  In her 70s, she moved to South Kona and managed the Magoon Ranch at Pāhoehoe – riding horseback and overseeing the cattle ranch.  She died in 1946 at age 88.

J Alfred Magoon, prominent Honolulu lawyer and promoter of the Honolulu Consolidated Amusement Co. (which controlled the Bijou, Hawaii, Ye Liberty and Empire theatres at Honolulu), died July 26, 1916 at Baltimore, following a fall from a bridge. (Variety, 1916)

The family formed Magoon Estate, Ltd t.  In additions to land holdings in Hawaiʻi, the estate owned the 21,000-acre Guenoc Ranch; and also owned and operated Guenoc Winery, a producer of premium California wines. (The winery was sold to Foley Family Wines in 2012, and then to Langtry Farms LLC in 2021. The winery is now known as Langtry Farms Vineyard and Winery.)

OK, that’s enough, for now … by now, you should get the sense that there are more stories on this and related families, properties and businesses.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Some Playground History

“In recognition of the truth of Joseph Lee’s declaration, ‘A boy without a playground is father to the man without a job’, the Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association is making a valiant effort … to secure a trained playground worker for Honolulu.” (The Friend, April 1912)

Initially private groups, rather than public agencies, undertook efforts to build playgrounds in American cities. Some of the first privately operated playgrounds open to the public were established in Boston in the 1880s, but most cities witnessed a burst of private initiative in the following decade.

A major objective of private playground organizers was to convince city officials that public recreation ought to be a municipal responsibility.  As a result, by the opening decade of the twentieth century most large American cities had established playgrounds owned and operated by municipal governments.

Shifting from an initial desire to get children off the streets, the playground movement evolved in the first two decades of the twentieth century into a well-organized and articulate national crusade.

Its proponents saw the playground not only as a refuge from urban perils, but also as a place of social reform. They believed play had educational value, and emphasized that it should be organized and supervised by the director of the playground.

The social mission of playgrounds was emphasized in playground literature across the nation and in Honolulu. In Hawaiʻi, as elsewhere, the goal of playground activities not only included vigorous physical exercise and mental satisfaction, but also the ability to work as a team member and to develop ‘a disposition to strive for high ideals.’

It was felt that playgrounds developed such virtues as: health, physical efficiency, morality, initiative, self-confidence, imagination, obedience, a sense of justice, happiness and good citizenship. At the same time they discouraged such undesirable traits as: idleness, temptation, exclusiveness, social barriers, selfishness, gang spirit, rowdyism, unfairness and delinquency.

Established in 1895, the Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association and one of Hawaiʻi’s first eleemosynary organizations, offered the first teacher training program and free kindergarten to all of Hawaiʻi’s children.

The teacher training program was eventually moved to what became the University of Hawaiʻi, and the kindergartens were taken over by the Territorial Department of Education, allowing the organization to focus on serving younger children.

Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association established the first public playground in the city in 1911, Beretania Playground, at the corner of Beretania and Smith streets in the heart of Chinatown.   It was intended for boys and girls under ten, and for older girls accompanying the very young, and the “play garden” was open seven days a week from 9 am to 5 pm.

Initially, administration of municipal playgrounds was delegated to existing agencies such as park boards or school boards. However, many cities eventually established special playground commissions, which often led to jurisdictional problems.

Largely through the association’s efforts, a Recreation Commission was established within the city government in 1922, following the recommendations of Henry Stoddard Curtis, a former secretary of the nationwide Playground Association and the author of Education Through Play, who lectured in Hawaiʻi in 1920.

Julie Judd Swanzy, the president of the Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association, was named as the Commission’s chair. The association turned its four playgrounds (Beretania, Kamāmalu, Atkinson and Aʻala) over to the city, and promptly opened five new municipal playgrounds: Kaimuki, Dole Park, Kalihi-Kai, Kauluwela and Kalihi-Waena.

By the 1930s and 1940s cities began to consolidate separate parks and playground agencies into a single “recreation” department.

The playground of the early twentieth century represented a significant departure from nineteenth century conceptions of a park.  Rather than a carefully laid out landscape, planned as the antithesis of the cityscape, the twentieth century playground was usually of modest size and was conceived as a utilitarian space, sometimes embellished with landscaping effects or architectural detail, but frequently not.

The playground was a setting for supervised play and not contact with nature. The idea of the playground was to provide usable play space close to home in the densely populated sections of the city, not a green oasis set apart from the city.

During the 1930s, the City and County of Honolulu created a memorable set of parks and playgrounds. It was at this time that the concept of organized play in Hawaiʻi found its most architecturally significant expression.

Charles Lester McCoy, who was chairman of the Honolulu Park Board from 1931 to 1941, is remembered today as the “virtual founder of Honolulu’s modern park system.”  His personal commitment to parks, combined with his administrative ability to get things done despite the scant resources of the time, profoundly shaped the growth of the city park system at this time.

One of McCoy’s most far-reaching decisions was to employ Harry Sims Bent as park architect in 1933. It is Bent’s work that gives the 1930s parks their ‘art deco’ architectural distinctiveness.

Bent started to work for the Honolulu Park Board on the Ala Moana Park project in 1933. His work at Ala Moana included the canal bridge, entrance portals, sports pavilion, the banyan courtyard and lawn bowling green.

In the smaller parks Bent was often responsible for the overall layout as well as the structures, including walls, comfort stations and pergolas.

During the 1930s he designed the following parks for the City and County of Honolulu: Mother Waldron Playground, Kawananakoa Playground, Lanakila Park comfort station, Kalihi-Waena Playground, Haleiwa Beach Park structures, the Ala Wai Clubhouse and the Park Service Center by Kapiolani Park.   (Lots of information here from NPS and KCCA.)

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