Oahu | Page 52 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

December 9, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Italian POWs

On July 7, 1937, Japan invaded China to initiate the war in the Pacific; while the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, unleashed the European war.

World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that was underway by 1939 and ended in 1945.

Italy entered World War II on the Axis side on June 10, 1940, as the defeat of France became apparent. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and the US entered the conflict.

World War II was fought between two sets of partners: the Allies and the Axis. The three principal partners in the Allies alliance were the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union and the United States; the three principal partners in the Axis alliance were Germany, Italy and Japan.

During World War II, American forces captured 50,000 Italian soldiers and sailors. 5,000 Italian prisoners of war were sent to Hawaiʻi and held at Schofield, Kāneʻohe, Kalihi Valley and Sand Island.

Japanese Americans were also incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaiʻi. On December 8, 1941, the first detention camp was set up on Sand Island.

The Sand Island Detention Center held war captives as well as civilians of Japanese, German or Italian ancestry who were under investigation.

This Italian prisoner contingent was highly skilled in construction and engineering, and as a voluntary effort they were used extensively on many construction projects around the island where skilled labor was, at that time, in short supply, particularly around Honolulu Harbor, Sand Island, etc. (Ponza – Army-mil)

“For the most part, the US Army welcomed their labor and skills in construction of needed military facilities.” (Moreo)

“At the end of each day, the Italians would salvage whatever waste materials were about as well as scouring and scooping up cement from spillage.” (Moreo)

With this salvaged material the Italian POWs built buildings and works of art (fountains and statues) at various locations on Oʻahu (these pieces are at Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter, Sand Island and the Immigration Building.)

The Mother Cabrini Chapel, designed by POW Astori Rebate, “was huge, with an alter, and two large paintings of Mother Cabrini all done by the POWs. The chapel had a full basement for vestments and religious articles. Out in front of the chapel, the area was paved and filled by ‘well constructed benches acting as pews for a thousand or more worshippers.’” (Moreo)

The Italian POWs “decided to dedicate to the memory of Mother Cabrini, who was at that time being considered for sainthood for her earlier good works in the United States, and who was subsequently canonized as the first American saint by the Vatican around the year 1946.” (Ponza -army-mil)

Upon the chapel’s completion, Sunday mass was celebrated every week with the prisoners exiting the prison compound in order to attend the services, seating themselves in the open air pews. As word spread to the adjoining areas, Pearl City, Honolulu, Nanakuli, and even as far as Waikiki, a small group of Catholic worshipers started to drive up to the chapel on Sunday mornings to attend the services.” (Ponza – army-mil) In the way of Kamehameha Highway construction, it was torn down in 1948.

At Sand Island, “(a)t sunset, hundreds of Italians formed a male chorale and sang for an hour. It became widely known and so popular that visitors came in the evening to listen and applaud.” (Moreo)

At Fort Shafter, a fountain crowned with pineapples was designed and crafted by POW Alfredo Giusti, with winged lions and topped with pineapples. (Reportedly, Giusti inscribed his name and address on the north side of the fountain.)

Dedicated to give hope to those without hope, Giusti also crafted two statues, “The Hula Dancer” and “The Bathing Beauty,”) which now sit outside the Coast Guard administration building on Sand Island.

A hard-to-see fountain crafted by the Italians is within the secured Immigration Center on Ala Moana Boulevard (you can see it through a chain link fence on the makai/Fort Armstrong side of the facility.)

The war ended in December 1945 and the Italian POWs were repatriated in 1946, having left some lasting legacies of the war and their time in Hawaiʻi. (Unfortunately, due to increased security concerns, access is restricted at the facilities where their work is located.)

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photo taken: 18JAN2006

Sand_Island_Coast_Guard_Building-Bathing_Beauty-(Burton)

154044_1.tif. VESPUCCI SAILOR>>August 30, 2002/BRUCE APS/BRUCE ASATO PHOTOMarinaio Sergio Cadalano of the Italian Tall Ship Amerigo Vespucci touches a part of the Hula Dancer sculpture that was created by Italian Prisoner of War Alfredo Giusti in 1944 while interned at Sand Island. Cadalano is aboard the Amerigo Vespucci which sailed into Honolulu Harbor last week and will head to Tahiti and New Zealand after departing Honolulu.

Sand_Island_Coast_Guard_Building-Hula_Dancer-Bathing_Beauty-(Burton)

Fountain and landscaping, Honolulu INS building (U.S. Immigration Station)-(Burton)

Fountain INS building (U.S. Immigration Station)-(Burton)

Detail of 1942 Chamber of Commerce tourist map showing Sand-(Burton)

December 5, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiʻanae

The Waianae Coast received its name from the mullet that was once farmed here. Wai means water, and ʻanae means large mullet (perhaps from mullet in the muliwai, or brackish-water pools, that were once common in the backshore on many Waiʻanae beaches.) These fish were once produced in large amounts.

A legend describes the origins of niu (coconut) in the Hawaiian Islands, as well as the naming of Pōkaʻī Bay. Pōkaʻī was a voyaging chief of Kahiki (Tahiti) who is said to have brought coconut palms to Hawai‘i. A huge grove of coconuts once lined the shore of Pōka‘ī Bay.

The trees provided shelter and useful materials for the ancient Hawaiian village. This grove, known as “Ka Uluniu o Pokai,” was not just a legend as it was noted by western sailors in the 1700s.

Waiʻanae Ahupuaʻa within the Waiʻanae District was its Royal Center in the late-1600s to the 1700s. The ahupuaʻa had numerous important heiau and the largest population of the district at European contact.

Prior to contact with the Hawaiian Islands by Captain James Cook in 1778, the population of Waiʻanae was approximately 4,000 to 6,000 people.

In 1793, Vancouver described Waiʻanae as desolate and barren: “From the commencement of the high land to the westward of Opooroah [Puʻuloa] was … one barren rocky waste, nearly destitute of verdure, cultivation or inhabitants, with little variation all to the west point of the island. …”

“Nearly in the middle of this side of the Island is the only village we had seen westward of Opooroah. … The shore here forms a small sandy bay. On its southern side, between the two high rocky precipices, in a grove of cocoanut and other trees, is situated the village. …”

“The few inhabitants that visited us from the village, earnestly entreated out anchoring and told us, that if we would stay until morning, their chief would be on board with a number of hogs, and a great quantity of vegetables. … The face of the country did not, however, promise an abundant supply.” (Vancouver)

A Waiʻanae kahuna (priest) prophesied the coming of a “big fish” who “would eat all the little fish.” The following year (1795,) Kamehameha invaded and conquered Oʻahu. Following Kamehameha’s succession as ruling chief, “the despoiled people in large numbers fled to Waiʻanae and settled there. This part of Oahu being hot, arid, isolated, with little water, was not coveted by the invaders”. (City P&R)

In direct contrast was an inland description of Waiʻanae recorded by Handy in 1940: In ancient times Waiʻanae Valley had extensive systems of terraces along its various streams, in what is now forest and water reserve, and well down into the broad area not covered by sugar cane.

Names were obtained for 14 district terrace sections, watered by Olahua Stream, extending as far down as the site of the present power house. The section named Honua, including the group of terraces farthest inland, belonged to the aliʻi of the valley. (City P&R)

In the 1800s, missionary Levi Chamberlain traveled to Waiʻanae, describing it as: “… a very beautiful place, opening an extensive valley … having a view of the sea from those points …”

“… on the left is a grove of coconuts on low ground through the midst of which runs a beautiful stream of clear water from the mountains. Houses are scattered here and there in the grove and clumps of sugar cane and rows of bananas are see interspersed.” (Chamberlain)

The census in 1835 listed 1,654 residents on the Waiʻanae coast. In 1855, JW Makalena, the Waiʻanae tax collector, listed these figures for taxpayers: Waiʻanae Kai – 62, Kamaile – 44, Mākaha – 38, Makua – 21, Maile – 9, Nanakuli – 8. These were generally adult males. Assuming each adult male had a family of four, estimates of population are: Waiʻanae Kai – 250, Kamaile – 175, Makaha – 150, Makua – 85, Maili – 35, and Nanakuli – 30.

Christian missionaries were quick to establish missions throughout Oʻahu following their arrival in 1820. Ordained in 1850, Stephen Waimalu became the first Hawaiian minister of Waiʻanae.

In the mid-1800s, Paul Manini (son of Don Francisco de Paula Marin) had a lease over Waiʻanae Valley; he raised cattle on the land. By the late-1870s most of Waiʻanae Ahupuaʻa was in ranching. JM Dowsett had acquired Waiʻanae Uka by 1870 and by 1880 was running a grazing ranch on 17,200 acres of the Waiʻanae Valley. (City P&R)

Prior to the 1880s, the Waiʻanae coastline may not have undergone much alteration. The old coastal trail probably followed the natural contours of the local topography. With the introduction of horses, cattle and wagons in the nineteenth century, many of the coastal trails were widened and graded.

However, sugar was to be the economic future of Hawaiʻi and with the passing of the treaty of reciprocity in 1876, allowing sugar into the United States duty free, the profits became enormous.

In 1879 Judge Hermann A Wideman, GN Wilcox and AS Wilcox started the Waiʻanae Company to grow sugar in the Mākaha, Waiʻanae and Lualualei valleys.

With the addition of a railroad for hauling cane, Waiʻanae Company carried the distinction of being the most modern and efficient in all of Hawai`i.

As the success of sugar cultivation grew, so did Waiʻanae Village. By the 1890s, there was a resident postmaster, two mail deliveries a week, a steamer arrival every Friday and the plantation manager’s office boasted a telephone (McGrath).

Eventually as the sugar lands increased, squabbles arose between the plantation and the taro farmers over the precious and limited water resources. Wells dug by the McCandless brothers solved the crises for the plantation for a while. At its peak, the plantation produced 13.79 tons of sugar per acre in 1935.

John Papa ‘Ī‘ī describes a network of Leeward O‘ahu trails, which in early historic times crossed the Waiʻanae Range, allowing passage from Central O‘ahu through Pōhākea Pass and Kolekole Pass. The Pu‘u Kapolei trail gave access to the Waiʻanae district from Central O‘ahu, which evolved into the present day Farrington Highway.

In 1888, Benjamin F Dillingham secured a franchise from King Kalākaua to build a railroad that eventually extended from Honolulu, along the Waiʻanae coast, around Kaʻena Point, to Waialua and Kahuku. With easy access to the Waiʻanae coast by train came limited development

The arrival of WW II changed the character and land use of Waiʻanae. Some of the best sugar lands were taken over by the military, which was the beginning of the end for the Waiʻanae Plantation, that closed in 1947. Lots of information here from McGerty and Spear in City P&R.

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Farrington_Highway-Makaha_Beach-(CulturalSurveys)-1947

Farrington_Highway-(Cultural_Surveys)-late-1940s

Suydam Cutting, NY explorer & writer; Jouett Todd, Louisville attorney; Walter Dillingham; W. Averell Harriman, chmn Board; Sloan Colt, pres NY Banker’s Trust Co; Hugh Chrisholm, Portland MO.

Plantation manager's home, Waianae, Oahu-(HSA)-PPWD-18-2-012-1885

Waianae Beach, Poka'i Bay-(vic&becky)-1953

December 3, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kulaokahu‘a

On January 9, 1847, the Polynesian reported there were 1,386 buildings in Honolulu, 1,337 of these were residences: 875 made of grass; 345 adobe; 49 coral; 49 wood and 29 stone/coral below, wood above.

Washington Place was built that year by future-Queen Liliʻuokalani’s father-in-law.

Excluding visiting sailors, foreigners made up only some 6 per cent of Honolulu’s approximately 10,000-residents.

Following a road realignment program directed by Kuhina Nui Kīnaʻu (Kaʻahumanu II) to straighten out the streets, Honolulu was linked by four “big paths” or alanui: Beretania and Queen bordered it in the north and south and Alakea and Nuʻuanu defined its eastern and western limits.

Nearly two-decades before (about 1830,) Queen Ka‘ahumanu ordered that a wall be built in the Makiki area to keep cattle from the inland residential areas. The stone wall also marked a path across Makiki which was first called Stonewall Street; this former path is now covered by Wilder Avenue.

The government decreed that after May 4, 1850 no horses, cattle, or other animals could run at large there; more than 30 years later agents were being appointed to take up strays. (Greer)

Beyond Honolulu’s limits there were few residences other than the grass houses of Hawaiians. The population was growing toward and up Nuʻuanu, but Honolulu was hemmed on the Diamond Head end by the barren plains called Kulaokahuʻa.

Kulaokahu‘a translates as “the plain of the boundary.”

Kulaokahu‘a was the comparatively level ground below Makiki Valley (between the mauka fertile valleys and the makai wetlands.) This included areas such as Kaka‘ako, Kewalo, Makiki, Pawaʻa and Mōʻiliʻili.

“It was so empty that after Punahou School opened in July 1842, mothers upstairs in the mission house could see children leave that institution and begin their trek across the barren waste. Trees shunned the place; only straggling livestock inhabited it.” (Greer)

This flat plain would be a favorable place to play maika, a Hawaiian sport which uses a disc-shaped stone, called an ‘ulu maika, for a bowling type of game.

Pukui states that the name makiki comes from the type of stone used to make octopus lures. This is the same type of stone that was used to make ‘ulu maika, and some have speculated that the name of the ahupua‘a (Makiki) may have originated from its association with the maika sport rather than, or addition to, the making of octopus lures.

There were several horse paths criss-crossing the Kulaokahu‘a Plains. In the 1840s, it was described as “nothing but a most exceedingly dreary parcel of land with here and there a horse trail as path-way.” (Gilman) The flat plains were also perfect for horse racing, and the area between present-day Piʻikoi and Makiki Streets was a race track.

The Plains were described as dry and dusty, without a shrub to relieve its barrenness. There was enough water around Makiki Stream to grow taro in lo‘i (irrigated fields,) and there was at least one major ʻauwai, or irrigation ditch.

From 1840 to 1875, only a few unpaved roads were in the area, generally along the present course of King, Young, Beretania and Punahou Streets. These roads or horse paths “ran a straggling course which changed as often as the dust piled up deep”. (Clark)

“As early as 1847 a number of sales took place of lots in Honolulu, Kulaokahuʻa plain, Manoa and Makawao.” (Interior Department, Surveyor’s Report, 1882)

In the Great Mahele, the Kulaokahu‘a Plains were awarded to the Crown. On July 11, 1851, an Act was passed confirming certain resolutions of the Privy Council of the previous year, which ordered “that a certain portion of the Government lands on each island should be placed in the hands of special agents to be disposed of in lots of from one to fifty acres in fee simple, to residents only, at a minimum price of fifty cents per acre.” (Interior Department, Surveyor’s Report, 1882)

Between the years 1850 and 1860, nearly all the desirable Government land was sold, generally to Hawaiians. The portions sold were surveyed at the expense of the purchaser. (Interior Department, Surveyor’s Report, 1882) Most of the Kulaokahuʻa lands were not included.

Clark noted that “the settling of the Plains did not come until the 1880s, after water was brought from Makiki Valley.” Kulaokahu‘a became more hospitable when water became available from springs and artesian wells, and would gradually be transformed into an attractive residential district in the 1880s.

A notation concerning an 1878 article in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser notes a new 400,000-gallon Makiki reservoir (to be completed June 1879) to supply the Kulaokahuʻa plains and Waikikī, and eventually Kapiʻolani Park. (Krauss)

In marketing material advertised in the Pacific Commercial in 1881, the area is described as, Beretania, King, Young, Victoria, Lunalilo and Kinau Streets, no taro patches, good roads, plenty of water, best of soil, beautiful scenery and pure air. (Krauss)

The Daily Bulletin on July 13, 1882 noted, “Mr. Philip Milton has some fine grape vines growing at his residence on King street, Kulaokahuʻa Plains. They are now bearing. A specimen of the grapes may be seen in the show window at Messrs. JW Robertson & Co.’s store. Those fond of eating this delicious fruit may have an opportunity of purchasing the article from AW Bush on Fort Street, who will have a small lot for sale.”

When looking at renaming the place in 1883, names suggested were Artesia, because of wells sunk there, also Bore-dumville, and Algarroba (kiawe) because the area was then covered with trees, thickly shaded. (Krauss)

Never-the-less, in 1892, Thrum noted that to get to Mānoa “for nearly a mile the road leads by or along pasture fields with no visage of tree or shrub other than the lantana pest … and passes along Round Top of Ualakaʻa”.

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No._2._View_of_Honolulu._From_the_Catholic_church._(c._1854)-Honolulu_to_Waikiki

Paul_Emmert_-_'Diamond_Head_from_Aliapaakai_(Salt_Lake)',_c._1853-59

No._2._View_of_Honolulu._From_the_Catholic_church._(c._1854)-Honolulu_to_Waikiki-Detail

Kakaako-From the cupola of Old Plantation, looking across the fish pond to the Ward’s beachfront lands, Kukuluae‘o-(avisionforward)

Edward_Clifford_(1844-1907)_-_'Diamond_Head,_Honolulu',_watercolor_painting,_1888

George_Henry_Burgess_-_'Queen_Street,_Honolulu',_watercolor_over_graphite_painting,_1856

Kawaiahao Church in 1885-Look towards Diamond Head

Honolulu_Harbor_to_Diamond_Head-Wall-Reg1690 (1893)-(portion_development_in_Kulaokahu‘a-and-wetlands_below_in_Kewalo)

Trails from Punchbowl Street to Waialae as described by 'I'i

November 26, 2019 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

President William McKinley High School

McKinley High School (Oʻahu’s oldest public high school) was officially established in 1865, as the Fort Street English Day School by Maurice B. Beckwith. In November 1869, the English Day School moved from the basement of the old Fort Street Church to a new stone building on the corner of Fort and School Streets.

The Fort Street School was split in 1895 into Kaʻiulani Elementary School and Honolulu High School (the high school moved into Keōua Hale – former residence of Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani.)

In 1907, Honolulu High School moved to the corner of Beretania and Victoria Streets. The school’s name was then changed to President William McKinley High School, after President William McKinley, whose influence brought about the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.

McKinley High School enjoyed the use of an “imposing” building opened in 1908. In an article which appeared in Thrum’s “Hawaiian Almanac and Annual for 1909” (published in 1908), CE King said:

“A very marked improvement has been attained in the architecture of buildings recently erected in Hawaii … This is notably true of the imposing McKinley High School, a building which compares most favorably with any of its kind in the world. …”

“In addition there is a principal’s office, ladies’ retiring room, each provided with all conveniences, two hat rooms for the use of students, a specimen and apparatus room for the physics laboratory, a private chemistry laboratory and a dark room connected with the chemical laboratory.”

That former McKinley High School building is still there. McKinley was later relocated, the old site (Beretania and Victoria) was occupied by the Linekona (“Lincoln”) Elementary School (that later relocated to the Makiki District.) In 1990, the building was renovated as the “Academy Art Center,” the largest art private school in Hawaiʻi, under the administration of the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

With growing enrollment, the school quickly outgrew its new building and a new and bigger school was necessary. In 1921, the present site on King Street was acquired through territorial condemnation. In 1923, the school was moved from the Beretania/ Victoria site to its present location, nearby on King Street.

At that time, McKinley had no auditorium; however, in 1927 the Marion McCarrell Scott Auditorium was dedicated. This new auditorium was then the largest theater in Hawaiʻi with a seating capacity of 1,114 (it served not only the students but the community at large.)

The school’s swimming pool was the students’ pride of the 1920s because they played an active part in its construction. Armed with picks, shovels and determination, the students began the excavation for a pool in 1923. The pool was completed in 1926 and named in honor of the late Honolulu Mayor Fred Wright.

Through the 1920s, more than half of the high school students in Hawaiʻi attended McKinley.

December 8, 1941 the US Government commandeered the nearby St Louis campus for the use of the 147th General Hospital. Elementary students attended classes at Saint Patrick School and St Louis high school classes shared classes at McKinley High School.

Sharing a campus by the high schools led to a fierce rivalry. To ease some of the tension, reportedly, Saint Louis football coach (later Honolulu Mayor) Neal Blaisdell created the “poi pounder trophy,” to go to the winner of the annual Saint Louis/McKinley football game (this continued from 1942 to 1969.)

The Second World War proved to bring other challenges to the students of McKinley. They wanted to do their part in the nation’s war effort. A savings bond drive was conducted, and the students responded by buying over $200,000 in bonds and stamps.

The overwhelming success of the bond drive instigated a new project; the goal was to purchase a fighter bomber for the US Air Force. Students raised an additional $333,000 in war bonds to cover the cost of a Liberator bomber. In February 1944, the plane, christened “Madame Pele,” was presented to the US Air Force.

With the ending of WW II, Veterans’ School was begun on campus to help the McKinley young men who had left school for the war. One hundred and five veterans came back to McKinley and finished their education.

In the 1960s, the students had an opportunity to choose from a wider range of subjects in preparation for their post-high school education. McKinley continued to be a comprehensive public high school in Hawaiʻi.

Comprehensive high schools are meant to serve the needs of all students; typical comprehensive high schools offer more than one course of specialization in its program and usually have a college preparatory course and one or more scientific or vocational courses.

The school colors, black and gold, were selected when McKinley High School was very young. Gold was chosen for McKinley’s close association with Hawaiian royalty. Not only was the school started during the reign of Kamehameha V, but also Honolulu High School, the predecessor of McKinley High School, used the home of Princess Ruth for a school house.

In searching for a color to compliment the gold, black was agreed upon. Part of the reason for the selection was that many McKinley graduates continued their education at Princeton University, whose colors are also black and gold. The nickname, “Tigers”, was possibly derived from the close association with Princeton.

Another proud aspect of McKinley’s history is the Code of Honor written in 1927 by student Mun Chee Chun. The code expressed the high standard of behavior which McKinley students tried to maintain. The original plaque of the code is proudly displayed in the main foyer of the Administration building.

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Fort Street Church-(HSA)-the_beginning_of_McKinley_School-started_in_the_basement

Fort Street Church-(WC)-the_beginning_of_McKinley_School-started_in_the_basement

Keoua Hale

Keōua Hale,f Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani at 1302 Queen Emma Street - site of Central Intermediate School

McKinley High School-Linekona-Academy_Art_Center-(ksbe)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

'Madame Pele'-Consolidated_B-24-Liberator_bomber

'Madame Pele'-over_Truk (just missed by bombs from higher elevation bomber)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

McKinley-1-Commercial_2-Home_Economics_3-Art_4-Mathematics_5-Auditorium_6-Senior_Core_ Buildings

Honolulu-(centralunionchurch-org)-1892-Fort_Street_Church-beginning_of_McKinley_School-in_basement

Downtown and Vicinity-Dakin-Fire Insurance- 5-Map-1891-CentralUnion_was_Fort_Street_Church

Downtown and Vicinity-Map-1923-(portion)-noting_prior_McKinley_site_and_present_site

Honolulu_Harbor-Diamond_Head-Monsarrat-Reg1910 (1897)-(portion)-noting_Fort_Street_School-and_High_School-forerunner_to_McKinley

McKinley_HS_Athletic_Complex_Master_Plan_Conceptual_Rendering

November 25, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Tantalus

Tantalus is located in the Koʻolau mountain range in the Kona district of the island of O‘ahu. The ridges that carry Tantalus Drive and Round Top Drive surround Makiki Valley. Within this valley, three streams, Kānealole, Moleka and Maunalaha, eventually drain into Māmala Bay off of the Honolulu Plain.

Early Hawaiians grew taro near the mouth of Makiki Valley where runoff from the three streams created ideal agricultural conditions.

Archaeologists speculate that by the 1600s the lowland forests had been extensively harvested and that approximately eighty-percent of the land below 2,000-feet elevation was altered.

Puʻu ʻŌhiʻa, its traditional name, had been given the name “Tantalus” during a hiking excursion by the Punahou student hiking club, the Clan Alpine (mid-1800s.)

The students began their hike at Pu‘u ‘Ualaka‘a. As night approached, they found themselves at the edge of the ridge overlooking Poloke Valley. Unable to continue due to the thick undergrowth, the boys were forced to give up their ascent. Versed in Greek mythology, the students named the mountain ‘Tantalus’. (National Register)

(The mythological Tantalus was condemned to an afterlife of insatiable hunger and thirst due to unreachable pools of water and overhanging fruit.)

‘Round Top’ and ‘Sugar Loaf’ were also named by early Punahou students; these names appear on an 1873 ‘Map of Makiki Valley’ surveyed by William De Witt Alexander.

Mo‘olelo (Hawaiian stories) indicate that Pu‘u ‘Ualaka‘a was a favored locality for sweet potato cultivation and King Kamehameha I established his personal sweet potato plantation here.

Pu‘u translates as “hill” and ‘ualaka‘a means “rolling sweet potato”, so named for the steepness of the terrain. Within the valley is a quarry where the basalt outcrop was chipped into pieces to make octopus lures. That is believed to be the origin of the word ‘makiki’ – a type of stone used for weights in octopus lures.

Historical attempts at cultivation in the Makiki-Tantalus area included a coffee plantation by JM Herring along Moleka Stream in the late-1800s (valley conditions proved too wet for coffee beans to flourish) and Hawai‘i’s first commercial macadamia nut plantation along the west side of Pu‘u ‘Ualaka‘a. Rows of macadamia nuts trees from the original orchard remain today.

Due to the close proximity to Honolulu Harbor, the Makiki-Tantalus forest underwent severe deforestation in two periods. In the first period, heavy timber was cut for the sandalwood trade with China from 1815 to 1826.

In the second period, 1833 to 1860, wood was primarily harvested as fuel for the whaling trade to render whale blubber into oil. By the late-1800s most of Makiki was bare, denuded of trees. The native forest was gone.

As early as 1846, the Kingdom of Hawai‘i was facing development pressure from the public regarding the Makiki-Tantalus watershed. The barren hillsides were heavily eroded and the quantity and quality of fresh water in the streams was compromised.

That same year, King Kamehameha III passed a law declaring forests to be government property. In 1876, the Kingdom passed the “Act for the Protection and Preservation of Woods and Forests” including watershed preservation. In 1880, further legislation was enacted to protect all watershed areas that contributed domestic water supplies in the Makiki, Tantalus, Round Top and Pauoa area.

Despite the establishment of the protected area, 1890s legislation allowed citizens to acquire residential property on Tantalus.

The beginnings of Tantalus and Round Top drives date to 1892. The 10-mile drive was completed as gravel roads in 1917, and first paved in 1937. The Tantalus-Round Top road is a 10-mile drive that begins near the entrance to Pūowaina (Punchbowl -National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.)

The Biennial Report of the Minister of the Interior to the Legislative Assembly of 1892 states that the Tantalus carriage road “begins at the Punchbowl Road, forming a junction with the same at the rear of the hill, at an elevation of about 285 feet, and follows a 5% grade up the ridge known as the forest ridge, to the narrow ridge, dividing Makiki from Pauoa Valley, at an elevation of about 1450 feet; then around the South Slope of Tantalus and head of the ravines leading into Makiki, to a point by the Pond just above ‘Sugar Loaf.’”

The roadway climbs Tantalus Drive along the Kalāwahine ridge between Pauoa and Makiki Valleys and then descends along Round Top Drive on the ridge linking Pu‘u ‘Ōhi‘a (Mount Tantalus, 2,013-feet,) Pu‘u Kākea (Sugarloaf, 1,408-feet) and Pu‘u ‘Ualaka‘a (Round Top, 1,052-feet,) then past Maunalaha Valley Road to Makiki Street.

The continuing development of the carriage road was reported in the June 1898 issue of the Paradise of the Pacific, “Myth of Mountain Tantalus”: “At every turn are new sections of the glorious and ever expanding panorama of ocean and sky; of mountain, town and plain, including large portions of the island.”

“But the richest part of the road above where it cuts through the upper wildwood of koa and kukui, intermingled with luxuriant fern and wild ginger- all overhanging the deep canyons. One is here in another world – cool, green, moist…it is a long and tedious climb to Tantalus, but once there, the lingering visitor will never regret or forget its romance and the melancholy cadence of its winds.”

In 1906, the Civic Federation of Honolulu brought Charles Mulford Robinson, a well-known civic adviser from Rochester, New York for a survey of streets, parks and public works in Honolulu. He recommended securing the top of Tantalus for “the one great park for Honolulu that cities now are learning to secure and save for the people, that they may get close to nature, forgetting the fences and survey lines which civilization has thrown like a network of prison walls upon the world.”

The Tantalus-Round Top stretch is the first roadway on Oʻahu to be placed on the state historic register. Kūhiō Highway on Kauaʻi and Hana Highway on Maui are on the state and national registers of historic places. (According to Historic Roads, a national group dedicated to preserving old thoroughfares, there are 97 roads in the nation listed as historic.) (Info from Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation and National Register.)

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Buggies on Mt. Tantalus, Honolulu, 1900s.

Round_Top_Sugar_Loaf-Tantalus-(UniversityOfHawaiiMuseum)

Alexander_Scott_-_Diamond_Head_from_Tantalus',_oil_on_canvas,_c.1906-8

Makiki_Valley-Tanatalus-Alexander-DAGS-Reg1038-1873

Makiki_Valley-Tanatalus-Newton-DAGS-Reg2521-1911

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