Oahu | Page 61 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

September 3, 2017 by Peter T Young 13 Comments

Roosevelt High School

At time of annexation, there were 140 public schools, including industrial schools at Lahaina and Hilo, and 55 private schools (including one Japanese school.)

`Through the 1920s, more than half of the high school students in the Territory attended McKinley High School. Among its 1929 student body of 2,339, nearly one of ten students was (Caucasian) … 43% were of Japanese ancestry and 20% of Chinese parentage. Eleven percent … were Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian and 4 percent were Portuguese’. (Javonovich)

In the entire territory, there were four high schools: McKinley (the former Honolulu High School;) Hilo, established in 1905; Maui (1913;) and Kauai (1914). The Territory had a proportionally smaller high-school enrollment than any of the forty-eight states, Puerto Rico or the Canal Zone.

Unhappy that so many students came from homes where English was not spoken, Caucasian parents forced the first English Standard grammar school, Lincoln. Admission required a passing grade in an English proficiency exam. (Javonovich)

When the upper grades of Lincoln school became the nucleus of Roosevelt Junior High School, the English standard plan was carried over to that institution. (LRB) Roosevelt was the only public, English-standard secondary school in the Territory of Hawai‘i.

It was initially composed of grades seven to eleven and housed in temporary quarters in an old, Normal School building that formerly trained teachers for Hawai‘i’s public schools. When Roosevelt became a senior high school (President Theodore Roosevelt High School) – Robert Louis Stevenson Intermediate School taking over the Roosevelt junior high school grades. (LRB)

In 1937, the seventh, eighth and ninth grades were permanently removed to the Normal School building, reorganized as an intermediate school, and Roosevelt High remained as a school for tenth and eleventh graders until 1939 when it became a three year high school. (NPS)

Honolulu students would typically go to Lincoln, then to Jefferson or Stevenson (both English Standard) and then to Roosevelt.

The school’s property encompasses a little over 20-acres in upper Makiki, in Honolulu. From 1883-1927, the site had been the home of Lunalilo Home, an institution for the aged and infirm Hawaiian , whose creation was willed by the estate of Hawaii’s sixth king , William Charles Lunalilo.

Crowning a wide, grassy knoll is the Main, or administration, building of President Theodore Roosevelt High School , named in honor of the twenty-sixth US President.

This predominantly three-storied building with its tower and auditorium are of the Spanish Revival style with plain, cream-colored stucco walls, a symmetrically placed window, decorative arches and vents and a red tile roof. It is the only Spanish Revival building in an eleven-building complex.

The building was designed by Guy Rothwell and Marcus Lester and built of reinforced concrete in 1932. Its plan is generally H-shaped with slight modifications. Attached to the front of the shorter east wing in 1935 are a square tower, approximately 75-feet high, and to that, an auditorium.

The campus classrooms are loosely arranged in a generally horizontal formation on three graded levels of sloping topography. All other buildings, added after 1932, are two stories high and of contemporary design. (NPS)

A heated football rivalry began in 1933 between Roosevelt and nearby Punahou. Roosevelt seniors Lex Brodie, Rufus Hagood and Gibby Rietow responded by painting the blue pie sections of Punahou’s Pauahi Hall dome green.

(At the time Roosevelt’s school colors were green and gold; out of deference for Leilehua High School, Roosevelt’s colors were changed to today’s red and gold in 1939.)

After several years of costly vandalism on the eve of their games, the ‘Paint Brush Trophy’ was jointly created in 1948 by the student bodies of both schools as a peacemaking gesture. Thereafter, the winner of the annual Punahou-Roosevelt football game took possession of and proudly displayed ‘The Paint Brush Trophy.’

The tradition continued until 1969, after which Roosevelt became a part of the O‘ahu Interscholastic Association and Punahou the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, and the two schools no longer played regular season games against each other. (Punahou)

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Roosevelt High School

Roosevelt High School-HHF

President-Theodore-Roosevelt-High-School-WC

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Roosevelt-Map

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Cartoon from the Nov. 08, 1932 issue of Ka Punahou-Punahou

Cartoon in the Oct. 28, 1941 issue of Ka Punahou – Roosevelt’s successful prank of flying its flag on the Punahou flagpole-Punahou

August 26, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mānoa – Home of Hawai‘i’s Commercial Agricultural Ventures

Mānoa translates as “wide or vast” and is descriptive of the wide valley that makes up the inland portion of the ahupuaʻa of Waikiki. The existence of heiau and trails leading to/from Honolulu indicate it was an important and frequently traversed land.

Mānoa Valley was a favored spot of the Ali‘i, including Kamehameha I, Chief Boki (Governor of O‘ahu), Ka‘ahumanu, Ha‘alilio (an advisor to King Kamehameha III), Princess Victoria, Kana‘ina (father of King Lunalilo), Lunalilo, Ke‘elikōlani (half-sister of Kamehameha IV) and Queen Lili‘uokalani.

In early times Mānoa Valley was socially divided into “Mānoa-Aliʻi” or “royal Mānoa” on the west, and “Mānoa-Kanaka” or “commoners’ (makaʻāinana) Mānoa” on the east. The Ali‘i lived on the high, cooler western (left) slopes; the commoners lived on the warmer eastern (right) slopes and on the valley floor where they farmed.

Mānoa is watered by five streams that merge into the lower Mānoa Stream: ‘Aihualama (lit. eat the fruit of the lama tree), Waihī (lit. trickling water), Nāniu‘apo (lit. the grasped coconuts), Lua‘alaea (lit. pit [of] red earth) and Waiakeakua (lit. water provided by a god). (Cultural Surveys)

In 1792, Captain George Vancouver described Mānoa Valley on a hike from Waikīkī in search of drinking water: “We found the land in a high state of cultivation, mostly under immediate crops of taro; and abounding with a variety of wild fowl chiefly of the duck kind … “

“The sides of the hills, which were in some distance, seemed rocky and barren; the intermediate vallies, which were all inhabited, produced some large trees and made a pleasing appearance. The plains, however, if we may judge from the labour bestowed on their cultivation, seem to afford the principal proportion of the different vegetable productions …” (Edinburgh Gazetteer)

The well-watered, fertile and relatively level lands of Mānoa Valley supported extensive wet taro cultivation well into the twentieth century. Handy and Handy estimated that in 1931 “there were still about 100 terraces in which wet taro was planted, although these represented less than a tenth of the area that was once planted by Hawaiians.” (Cultural Surveys)

“(T)he valley is under almost complete cultivation of taro”. “(T)he whole valley opens out to view, the extensive flat area set out in taro, looking like a huge checker-board, with its symetrical emerald squares in the middle ground.” (Thrum, 1892)

In 1825 an English agriculturist named John Wilkinson, who in his younger years had been a planter in the West Indies, arrived at Honolulu on the frigate Blonde. He had made some arrangement with Governor Boki, while the latter was in England, to go out and engage in cultivating sugar cane … and, probably, rum. (Kuykendall)

Although sugar cane had grown in Hawaiʻi for many centuries, its commercial cultivation for the production of sugar did not occur until 1825. In that year, Wilkinson and Boki started a plantation in Mānoa Valley. Within six months they had seven acres of cane growing and processing. The sugar mill was later converted into a distillery for rum. (Schmitt)

Over the years, sugar‐cane farming soon proved to be the only available crop that could be grown profitably under the severe conditions imposed upon plants grown on the lands which were available for cultivation. (HSPA 1947)

At the industry’s peak a little over a century later (1930s,) Hawaii’s sugar plantations employed more than 50,000 workers and produced more than 1-million tons of sugar a year; over 254,500-acres were planted in sugar.

The sugar industry is at the center of Hawaiʻi’s modern diversity of races and ethnic cultures. Of the nearly 385,000 workers that came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix.

Hawai‘i continues to be one of the most culturally-diverse and racially-integrated places on the globe. And remember, commercial-scale sugar production started in Mānoa.

That was not the only plantation-scale agriculture started in Mānoa. In 1885, John Kidwell started a pineapple farm with locally available plants, but their fruit was of poor quality. That prompted him to search for better cultivars; he later imported 12 ‘Smooth Cayenne’ plants.

An additional 1,000 plants were obtained from Jamaica in 1886, and an additional 31 cultivars, including ‘Smooth Cayenne’, were imported from various locations around the world. ‘Smooth Cayenne’ was reported to be the best of the introductions.

Kidwell is credited with starting Hawai‘i’s pineapple industry; after his initial planting, others soon realized the potential of growing pineapples in Hawaii and consequently, started their own pineapple plantations.

The “development of the (Hawaiian) pineapple industry is founded on his selection of the Smooth Cayenne variety and on his conviction that the future lay in the canned product, rather than in shipping the fruit in the green state.” (Canning Trade; Hawkins)

The commercial Hawaiian pineapple canning industry began in 1889 when Kidwell’s business associate, John Emmeluth, a Honolulu hardware merchant and plumber, produced commercial quantities of canned pineapple.

Emmeluth refined his pineapple canning process between 1889 and 1891, and around 1891 packed and shipped 50 dozen cans of pineapple to Boston, 80 dozen to New York, and 250 dozen to San Francisco.

By 1930 Hawai‘i led the world in the production of canned pineapple and had the world’s largest canneries. And remember, the first commercial cultivation of pineapple and subsequent canning of pineapple started in Mānoa.

Other smaller scale agriculture activities across the Islands also started in Mānoa. Wilkinson, noted for starting commercial sugar in Mānoa, also started commercial coffee in the Islands in Mānoa Valley.

Coffee was planted in Mānoa Valley in the vicinity of the present UH-Mānoa campus; from a small field, trees were introduced to other areas of O‘ahu and neighbor islands.

In 1828, American missionary Samuel Ruggles took cuttings of the same kind of coffee from Hilo and brought them to Kona. Henry Nicholas Greenwell grew and marketed coffee and is recognized for putting “Kona Coffee” on the world markets.

At Weltausstellung 1873 Wien (World Exhibition in Vienna, Austria (1873,)) Greenwell was awarded a “Recognition Diploma” for his Kona Coffee. (Greenwell Farms)

Writer Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) seemed to concur with this when he noted in his Letters from Hawaiʻi, “The ride through the district of Kona to Kealakekua Bay took us through the famous coffee and orange section. I think the Kona coffee has a richer flavor than any other, be it grown where it may and call it what you please.”

By the 1930s there were more than 1,000 farms and, as late as the 1950s, there were 6,000-acres of coffee in Kona. The only place in the United States where coffee is grown commercially is in Hawaiʻi. And remember, ‘Kona Coffee’ was the same as that in Mānoa Valley.

Another commercial crop, macadamia nuts, also has its Island roots in Mānoa. Macadamia seeds were first imported into Hawaiʻi in 1882 by William Purvis; he planted them in Kapulena on the Hāmākua Coast. A second introduction into Hawaii was made in 1892 by Robert and Edward Jordan who planted the trees at the former’s home in Nuʻuanu Honolulu. (Storey)

“Brought in ‘solely as an addition to the natural beauty of Paradise’ (Hawaiian Annual, 1940,) it was not until ES (Ernest Sheldon) Van Tassel started some plantings at Nutridge in 1921 that the commercial growing of the plant began. On June 1, 1922, the Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Company Ltd. was formed.” (NPS)

The Van Tassel plantings were at ʻUalakaʻa on a grassy hillside of former pasture land (what we call Round Top on the western slopes of Mānoa Valley.)

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.

In order to stimulate interest in macadamia culture, beginning January 1, 1927, a Territorial law exempted properties in the Territory, used solely for the culture or production of macadamia nuts, from taxation for a period of 5 years.

In just over 10-years (1933,) “the Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Company has about 7,000 trees in its groves at Keauhou, Kona District, Hawaii, which are now coming into profitable bearing. The company has also approximately 2,000 trees growing and producing in the Nutridge grove on Round Top, Honolulu, or a total of 9,000 trees.” (Mid-Pacific, October 1933)

Macadamia nut candies became commercially available a few years later. Two well-known confectioners, Ellen Dye Candies and the Alexander Young Hotel candy shop, began making and selling chocolate-covered macadamia nuts in the middle or late 1930s. Another early maker was Hawaiian Candies & Nuts Ltd., established in 1939 and originators of the Menehune Mac brand. (Schmitt)

In 1962, MacFarms established one of the world’s largest single macadamia nut orchards with approximately 3,900-acres on the South Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

Today, about 570 growers farm 17,000 acres of macadamia trees, producing 40 million pounds of in-shell nuts, valued at over $30 million. Additionally, nuts are imported from South Africa and Australia, who currently lead the world market, with Hawai‘i at #3. (hawnnut) And remember, commercial cultivation of macadamia nut’s started at Mānoa.

One last thing, Mānoa was home to the Islands’ first dairy; William Harrison Rice started it at what was then O‘ahu College (now Punahou School.) Later, Woodlawn Dairy was the Islands’ largest dairy (1879.)

As you can see, what became significant commercial-scale agricultural ventures in the Islands – Sugar, Pineapple, Coffee and Macadamia Nuts – all had their start in the Islands, in Mānoa.

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Manoa_Valley_from_Waikiki,_oil_on_canvas_by_Enoch_Wood_Perry_Jr.-1860s

Taro Lo’i Agriculture in Mānoa Valley-(UH_Heritage)-ca_1890

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Manoa-back of valley

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Buggies on Mt. Tantalus, Honolulu, 1900s.

Old Manoa Valley-1924

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Hawaiian Pineapple Company Canning Lines, Honolulu, O‘ahu, 1958

Coffee

Nutridge-Van_Tassel_Tantalus Home-HonoluluMagazine

August 24, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻIolani Palace ‘Fountain’

Water supply was relatively primitive in the early days of Honolulu. The residents commonly relied on the water from springs and streams, sometimes carrying calabashes of water great distances over rugged terrain.

Wm R Warren reportedly made the earliest attempt to dig a well in Honolulu, around 1820, but failed to find water. The first successful well was dug two years later by Joseph Navarro in his yard near the Bethel.

Visiting Honolulu about the same time, in 1822, Tyerman and Bennet recorded that “good fresh water is obtained from wells sunk eight or ten feet through the coral reef.”

The first unit of a public water system was completed by March 31, 1848, using lead pipe acquired from Ladd & Co. the previous September.

According to the Minister of the Interior, “a water tank, for the convenience of shipping, was placed in the basement of the new Harbor Master and Pilots’ Office, near the wharf (foot of Nu‘uanu street), and it was supplied through a leaden pipe from a reservoir at Pelekane….” (Schmitt)

After the completion of the Bates Street reservoir in 1851, nearby businesses and homes were connected with the main. The system was further expanded in 1860-1861, eventually covering most of the city.

The first artesian well in the Islands was drilled in the summer of 1879 near James Campbell’s ranch house in Ewa and on September 22, a good flow of water was obtained. On April 28, 1880, an artesian well was successfully completed on the land of A. Marques near Punahou. (Schmitt)

To supply water for ʻIolani Palace, Kalākaua authorized a well on Palace grounds. “On Saturday morning (January 27, 1883) at 5 o’clock the water was reached in the well sunk in the Palace yard.”

“No means were available to stop or check the flow, and the whole grounds were soon covered with water. Alakea and Richard streets, from King street to the sea, were flooded all day.” (Daily Bulletin, January 29, 1883)

“Water was struck at the artesian well which is being sunk at the Palace grounds by Messrs McCandless and Braden … an increased flow was struck at a total depth of 760-feet the water rising fully six inches above the top of the 8 3/8 iron pipe.”

“Very little obstruction has been encountered during the sinking of the well, the soil being mostly of a clayey description. The stream whistles which announced the strike of water, both on the morning and evening, sent many people wandering to the wharves to look for the Suez.” (Hawaiian Gazette, January 31, 1883)

However, concern was raised on the impact of the Palace well on the city’s water supply. “During the last three weeks the water in the well in the Palace yard has fallen two inches. That is, it now rises to one foot below the height to which it rose when it was first bored.”

“At this rate it would take less than 10 years to lower the water to such an extent that no Artesian well on the would flow.”

“And that calculation is based on the supposition that no more wells will be bored and that no greater consumption of water will be found during that time than at present.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 13, 1883)

“On Monday the well in the Palace yard was connected with the mains along Hotel street to Nu‘uanu, and up Fort, Richard, and Alakea streets to Beretania, so that we have that additional supply.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 13, 1883)

Later, “During those periods when there was a shortage in the water supply of Honolulu, especially in the hot summer months and at which time the Water Department of the City and County of Honolulu limited the hours in which irrigation was permitted …”

“… the grass and trees in the Capitol (ʻIolani Palace) Grounds suffered and decidedly showed it from lack of sufficient water. For this reason it was deemed advisable to utilize this re-cased artesian well to supply water for irrigating said grounds.”

“As the ordinary pump house seemed rather out of place and would be somewhat of an eyesore to the Capitol Grounds, it was decided to construct the pump house under-ground and make that portion projecting out of the ground a large ornamental flower pot, enclosed in which is located the pressure tank.”

“The pump house will be circular in section measuring 8 ft. inside diameter and 6 ft. high, on top of which is located the pressure tank 6 ft. inside diameter and 3 ft. high, lined with galvanized iron and ornamented and so constructed that ferns or flowers may be planted in same.”

“There will be a small fountain in the top and an iron manhole for access to the pressure chamber. Access to the pump chamber will be by a winding staircase. The entire structure except as noted will be constructed of reinforced concrete.”

“The pressure tank will be connected to a piping system laid around the Capitol Grounds, which has been so laid out that different sections of the grounds may be irrigated independently by operating the proper valves.”

“The work of installing the piping, pump, etc., and placing this system in operation, will be paid for out of funds appropriated by the 1921 Legislature for that purpose. It is hoped that with this system in operation there will be an abundance of water for irrigation purposes even in the driest periods.” (Report of the Superintendent of Public Works, 1921)

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Iolani Palace Artesian_Well-Pump

Iolani_Palace Artesian Well-Pump

Iolani Palace Artesian Well-Pump

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ʻIolani Palace ‘Fountain’

July 27, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kou and Kuloloia

Early on, Waikiki was the Royal Center; Royal Centers were where the aliʻi resided. Aliʻi often moved between several residences throughout the year. The Royal Centers were selected for their abundance of resources and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored.

Waikiki had better surfing, greater proximity to the ocean for deep sea fishing, inland pools suitable for fishponds, a smooth, sandy plain for houses, and many channels through the reef leading to sandy shores, so convenient for beaching canoes.

At Honolulu, for canoe landings, Honolulu Harbor was limited; according Levi Chamberlain in the first half of the nineteenth century, the area in what is now Pier 12 “was the only place where the natives could bring in their canoes.” (Stokes)

But the Western sailing ships that started calling at Hawai‘i had too deep of drafts to maneuver into Waikiki. In 1794, Honolulu Harbor, also known as Kuloloia, was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the British schooner Jackal, accompanied by Captain Gordon in the sloop tender Prince Lee Boo.

They called the harbor “Fair Haven” which may be a rough translation of the Hawaiian name Honolulu (it was also sometimes called Brown’s Harbor.)

In 1809, Kamehameha I, who had been living at Waikiki, moved his Royal Residence to Pākākā at Honolulu Harbor. (Today, the site is generally at the open space now called Walker Park at the corner of Queen and Fort streets (ʻEwa side of the former Amfac Center, now the Topa Financial Plaza, near the fountain.))

A large yam field (what is now much of the core of downtown Honolulu – what is now bounded by King, Nuʻuanu, Beretania and Alakea Streets) was planted to provide visiting ships with an easily-stored food supply for their voyages (supplying ships with food and water was a growing part of the Islands’ economy.)

John Whitman noted in his journal (1813-1815,) “… Honoruru is the most fertile district on the Island. It extends about two miles from the Harbour where it is divided into two valleys by a ridge of high land. The district is highly cultivated and abounds in all the productions of these Islands.”

“The village consists of a number of huts of different sizes scattered along the front of the Harbour without regularity and the natives have lost much of the generous hospitality and simplicity that characterize those situated more remotely from this busy scene.”

Whitman goes on to note, “… everything necessary for the subsistence and comfort of man is found in the (Nuʻuanu) valley, watered by a rivulet it produces the best taro in great abundance, the ridge dividing the taro patches are covered with sugar cane.”

“The high ground yields sweet potatoes and yams and all the other productions of the Island are found in the various situations and soils adapted to their nature.”

“One of the finest ‘Ulu-maika’ places on the islands was the one belonging to Kou (what is now downtown Honolulu.) This was a hard, smooth track about twelve feet wide extending from the corner on Merchant and Fort Streets … along the sea ward side of Merchant Street to the place beyond Nuʻuanu Avenue … Kamehameha I is recorded as having used this maika track.” (Westervelt)

In 1815, Kamehameha I granted Russian representatives permission to build a storehouse near Honolulu Harbor. But, instead, directed by the German adventurer Georg Schaffer (1779-1836,) they began building a fort and raised the Russian flag.

When Kamehameha discovered the Russians were building a fort he sent several chiefs (including Kalanimōku and John Young (his advisor,)) to remove the Russians from Oʻahu by force, if necessary.

The partially built blockhouse at Honolulu was finished by Hawaiians under the direction of John Young, and mounted guns protected the fort. Its original purpose was to protect Honolulu by keeping enemy or otherwise undesirable ships out. But, it was also used to keep things in (it also served as a prison.)

By 1830, the fort had 40 guns of various calibers (6, 8, 12 and probably a few 32 pounders) mounted on the parapets. Fort Kekuanohu literally means ‘the back of the scorpion fish,’ as in ‘thorny back,’ because of the rising guns on the walls. In 1838 there were 52 guns reported.

Fort Street is named after this fort; it is one of the oldest streets in Honolulu. Today, the site of the old fort is the open space called Walker Park, a small park at the corner of Queen and Fort streets (also fronting Ala Moana/Nimitz.)

Tradewinds blow from the Northeast; the channel into Honolulu Harbor has a northeasterly alignment. Early ships calling to Honolulu were powered only by sails. The entrance to the harbor was narrow and lined on either side with reefs. Ships don’t sail into the wind. Given all of this, Honolulu Harbor was difficult to enter.

In the late-18th and early 19th centuries most vessels sailing through the North Pacific stopped for supplies at the Hawaiian Islands. Boats either anchored off-shore, or they were pulled, towed or tracked into the harbor (this was done with canoes; or, it meant men and/or oxen pulled them in.)

The harbor’s narrow entrance and channel were always a problem for vessels entering. The small inter-island schooners could negotiate it without help, but the larger foreign vessels were towed in – first by their own boats and later by double-canoes.

This might take eight double canoes with 16-20 men each, working in the pre-dawn calm when winds and currents were slow. Otherwise you had to contend with tradewinds blowing out of the harbor.

In 1816, Richards Street alignment was the straight path and served as the inland tow-path for Governor Kekūanāo‘a’s ox-team as it drew the larger vessels up the narrow channel into the harbor.

The ox team waited on the eastern point of the harbor entrance until connected by a towline with the vessel anchored in the deep water outside. The towline necessarily was very long because the shoal water extended outward for quite a distance.

When all was ready, the team walked along the channel reef but, as such towing must be in straight line, on reaching the beach the cattle could only proceed straight inland until the long towline had drawn the vessel right into the basin. (Clark)

A few years after, in 1825, the first pier in the harbor was improvised by sinking a ship’s hull near the present Pier 12 site. As Honolulu developed and grew, lots of changes happened, including along its waterfront. What is now known as Queen Street used to be the water’s edge.

The first efforts to deepen Honolulu Harbor were made in the 1840s. The idea to use the dredged material, composed of sand and crushed coral, to fill in low-lying lands was quickly adopted.

In 1845, Commander Charles Wilkes criticized the city of Honolulu by saying: “The streets, if so they may be called, have no regularity as to width, and are ankle‐deep in light dust and sand … and in some places, offensive sink‐holes strike the senses, in which are seen wallowing some old and corpulent hogs.”

“The boundaries of the old town may be said to have been, on the makai side, the waters of the harbor; on the mauka side, Beretania street; on the Waikiki side, the barren and dusty plain, and on the Ewa side, the Nuʻuanu stream. There were few, if any, residences other than the straw houses of the natives mauka of Beretania street.”

It wasn’t until 1850 that streets received official names. On August 30, 1850, the Privy Council first officially named Honolulu’s streets; there were 35‐streets that received official names that day (29 were in Downtown Honolulu, the others nearby.)

At the time, the water’s edge was in the vicinity of what we now call Queen Street. Back in those days, that road was generally called ‘Makai,’ ‘Water’ or Ali‘i Wahine.’ (Gilman)

‘Broadway’ was the main street (we now call it King Street;) it was the widest and longest ‐ about 2‐3 miles long from the river (Nuʻuanu River on the west) out to the “plains” (toward Mānoa.) (It was also referred to as ‘Ali‘i and ‘Chapel,’ ‘Halepule,’ ‘Church’ (due to Kawaiahaʻo fronting it.)

To date, 17 of those original names have survived the passage of time: Queen, Richards, School, Smith, Victoria, Young, Mauna Kea, Merchant, Mission, Nuʻuanu, Punchbowl, Beretania, Fort, Hotel, Kīnaʻu, King and Marin. (Gilman)

Some of the earlier-named streets that are no longer in use include, Garden, Crooked Lane, Printers Lane, French Place, Palace, Stone House, Eden House and Kaʻahumanu.

In 1854 the first steam tug was used to pull sail-powered ships into dock against the prevailing tradewinds. Captain Jacob Brown was captain of the towing tug “Pele.” The “Pele” was the first steam tug used in Hawaiʻi (screw tug with thirty-horse power.)

in 1857, the fort was dismantled; its massive 12-foot walls were torn apart and used to fill the harbor to accommodate an expanding downtown.

To replace the prison that was once in the fort, in 1856-57 a new prison was built at Iwilei. (It was where the Salvation Army building is on Nimitz – it’s the old Love’s Bakery building.) The new custom-house was completed in 1860. The water-works were much enlarged, and a system of pipes laid down in 1861.

Between 1857 and 1870, the coral block walls of the dismantled Fort edged and filled about 22-acres of reef and tideland, forming the “Esplanade” or “Ainahou,” between Fort and Merchant Streets (where Aloha Tower is now located.) At that time, the harbor was dredged to a depth from 20 to 25-feet took place.

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Honolulu Harbor-Ships pulled by canoes-Henry Walker-1843

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‘Port_of_Honolulu’_by_Louis_Choris-1816

Battle_of_Honolulu-Dolphin-(Massey)-1826

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July 21, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kawaiahaʻo Steeple

“On this spot … Ka‘ahumanu started her prayer meeting for women. Here the elder Hiram Bingham preached the first sermon ever delivered in this city from the text, “Be not afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people’ …”

“… and here, in 1838, Mr. Bingham with the chiefs and the people of the land broke ground for the foundations of the church.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 12, 1894)

The Reverend Hiram Bingham prepared plans for a stone building of two stories with cellar, galleries, pillars in front, and a bell tower. The final dimensions were 144 feet long by 78 feet wide, large enough to accommodate thousands.

“March 12th, 1839. Work on meeting house commenced. June 5th. Cornerstone of church laid.” (Judd Journal; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 14, 1894)

“They went down six or seven feet and laid their foundations upon the coral rock. From this time on the place of building was the theater of constant activity.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 12, 1894)

“The cornerstone of the church was laid in the presence of a vast concourse of people. In a hole under the stone now deposited is a brass plate with some writing upon it. Dr. Judd’s book on anatomy, Brother Andrew’s on surveying, geometry navigation, etc., and an entire Bible. Also a map of the islands and one of Honolulu.” (Cooke Diary, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 14, 1894)

“The high chief Abner Paki furnished the corner stone which was laid in 1839. It was hewn out of the reef at Waianae and floated to Honolulu on a raft, some say on canoes.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 12, 1894)

“We then assembled in the meeting house (the grass one) and Brother Bingham preached from Hagai 1:11: ‘Go ye up to the mountains and bring timber, etc., etc.’ After the sermon Auhea (w.) said a few words, then Kekuanaoa and also the King Kamehameha III.” (Cooke Diary, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 14, 1894)

“July 8th, 1840. Having received the promise of a ‘mano’ (a mano is 10 x 40 equal to 400) or two of mamaki and 200 cattle from the King, I started on the 8th for Waialua to hire 100,000 shingles made.” (Judd Journal; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 14, 1894)

“The ground was covered with great piles of stone. Lime kilns were burning day after day. Nearly seventy thousand cubic feet of stone were used in the building.”

“It was not an uncommon thing to see from five hundred to a thousand men at work. The stone for this vast edifice was hewn out of the reef between Honolulu and Waikiki. It was then drawn on trucks and sleds to its proper place. Men, horses and oxen were used in hauling the material.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 12, 1894)

“Most of the timber used in the roof and for the floor beams was cut in the mountains at Helemano, back of Waialua. It was dragged to the sea at Honouliuli and thence floated to Honolulu. Much of the lumber came from California and the northwest coast; boards, nails, sashes and glass from Boston.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 12, 1894)

“The whole basement story is excavated down to the coral rock, and the foundation walls are laid on that rock. The basement walls are 44 inches thick and about 12 feet high. … Above the basement, the walls were carried up 36 inches thick to the sills of the gallery windows, and thence 27 inches to the plates.”

“Rev. R. Armstrong succeeded (Hiram Bingham) as Pastor of the church, and under him it was completed and dedicated July 21, 1842 (before the steeple and gallery had been completed.)” The Friend, November 1885)

Rev. Mr. Bingham, designer of the church, returned to the US in 1840, while the building was yet incomplete. He had left for the continent on August 3, 1840, due to his wife, Sybil’s illness, hoping to recover and return; he never came back to see the finished church. (The Friend, November 1885)

In 1850 the town’s first clock, presented by the King, was installed in the Kawaiaha‘o tower, having come around the Horn from Boston. It cost $1,000.00 and commenced running January 10, 1851. The tower chock has continued in operation to this date, with only an occasional interruption.

The structure of 1842 resembled his original drawings except for the bell tower, which was topped by ‘an absurd wooden spire,’ blunt and without much visual attraction, looking for all the world like a lamp extinguisher. (HABS & NPS)

Kawaiaha‘o Church ordered an organ in 1867 to replace the melodion then in use. To prepare for its installation, the pulpit was moved forward some twenty or thirty feet to nearly the center of the auditorium, and a new choir loft built behind the pulpit. Music was under the leadership of Mrs Lydia Dominis (later Queen Lili‘uokalani) and Mrs Bernice Pauahi Bishop.

Pauahi died on October 16, 1884. Her will (Clause 13) states her desire that her trustees “provide first and chiefly a good education in the common English branches, and also instruction in morals and in such useful knowledge as may tend to make good and industrious men and women”. Kamehameha Schools was later formed.

But Pauahi’s will also provided funds to Kawaiaha‘o Church. “Eleventh. I give and bequeath the sum of Five thousand Dollars ($5000.) to be expended by my executors in repairs upon Kawaiaha‘o Church building in Honolulu, or in improvements upon the same.” (Bernice Pauahi Bishop Will)

The Bishop funds were used at Kawaiaha‘o to build up the tower with coral stone to give it the square tower (at its present height) and remove the pointed spire.

“The builders of the new section of the stone church tower have nearly completed its first square, and evidently in a substantial manner.” (Daily Honolulu Press, October 20, 1885) The November 11, 1885 issue or the Daily Honolulu Press noted, “The steeple of the Kawaiaha‘o church is finished.”

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