Oahu | Page 62 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

July 18, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Remond Grove

BF (Frank) Dillingham’s OR&L company, created in 1889, changed the landscape of west Honolulu. The first section of track extended only as far as Aiea. (Burlingame)

In the beginning, since there were as yet no real destinations along the line, Dillingham created the concept of picnicking along Pearl Harbor, and within days of the line’s opening began marketing excursions.

These excursions had several purposes: they helped train the employees—from the on-board crews of engineers, firemen, conductors and brakemen to those on the ground like ticket agents and mechanics …

… they also built up an excitement among the public that the railroad was a reality; and most importantly perhaps, they brought in at least some income.

Some excursions included boat rides, others picnics and dancing, where people could be entertained with piano, banjo, trumpet, and saxophone performances. Community groups were encouraged to plan picnics and parties there, the larger the better. (Next Stop)

“A few years ago, when a party of a dozen or more gentlemen made a circuit of Oahu, and inspected the lands proposed to be bonded and made available for the purposes of settlement and public use, they were facetiously called the ‘colonization party’ by the wags of Honolulu, who stood upon the street corners and wished the party a sarcastic good-bye.” (Daily Bulletin, November 27, 1890)

He held a contest that gave to Mānana the new name ‘Pearl City,’ and on its main thoroughfare, Lehua Road, he promoted a dance pavilion named Remond Grove. (de Silva, ksbe)

“The then manager of the development scheme took all jokes good-naturedly. He had faith in the scheme which the public had not. His faith proves now to have been founded in reason; if faith, followed by good works, as exemplified at Pearl City and along the line of the Oahu Railway, are to count for anything.”

“The development of this scheme, the largest individual enterprise ever set afloat in Hawaii, barring Col. Spreckel’s steamship lines and mammoth plantation, has grown so gradually but steadily amongst us that many people as yet hardly realize the sacrifices which have been made …”

“… and the work that has been done by the management of the Oahu Railway and Land enterprises to develop the resources of Oahu, by bringing the large Pearl City tract into quick communication with the Honolulu market …”

“… and making it available to the better classes of Honolulu’s business and professional people, who desire to live in the country within reach of town.” (Daily Bulletin, November 27, 1890)

“The new town lies just beyond Remond Grove. It marks the beginning of a suburban city within twelve and a half miles, or thirty
minutes’ run of Honolulu. The new town is laid out to the best advantage and covers a series of splendid building terraces which arise from the depot to the branch reservoir 100 feet above the sea level and within half a mile of the station.”

“The lots offered for sale are mostly situated upon graded streets and are ready for building upon. The soil is a rich, red loam in which will flourish cither trees, or vegetables, or flowers.”

“The main avenues of Pearl City are Lehua, Maile and Woodlawn, laid not in the order named. The cross streets are numbered from First to Tenth. The avenues are each eighty feet wide and the cross streets are sixty feet each. (Daily Bulletin, November 27, 1890)

The pavilion at Remond Grove has for some time been one of the attractions. It was built for the use of picnickers and dancing parties by the railroad company.

It is seventy feet square, open on all sides, and is lighted by electricity. Surrounding it is a well-kept lawn, with a playing fountain in front, and provided with swings, croquet games, etc.

During an evening fete at the pavilion it is brilliantly lighted, and gorgeously decorated, presenting an animated spectacle. (Next Stop)

To further expand the number of passengers on his train, in 1890, Dillingham carved up the Mānana peninsula to create O‘ahu’s first major housing development.

His railroad ran regular tours to Remond Grove, and according to his advertising, it was “always at the disposal of Pleasure Parties.” (de Silva, ksbe)

The Remond Grove grounds are beautifully laid out with flowers and shrubbery. The large dancing pavilion had a capacity for 1,000 people; it was located in the center of the Grove, both grounds and pavilion being lighted throughout with electricity.

During the Spanish-American War, Army Engineers established Camp Langfitt at Pearl City and was occupied from September 27 to October 19, 1898. It was named after Major William Campbell Langfitt, commanding officer of the battalion of the 2nd Engineers.

The troops camped inside the large dance pavilion. Remond Grove was south of Kamehameha Highway, east of Lehua Avenue and primarily north of the H-1 freeway (at the present Hale Mohalu Site.) (Greguras)

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OR&L Advertisement-Remond Grove noted

July 14, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Dole Street

The beginning of the original Dole Street was just below the Punahou School campus and was part of a small subdivision of lots the school developed to raise money for the school’s endowment.

“In 1880 the ‘lower pasture,’ containing 31.3 acres, was divided into building lots, and streets laid out in it. The sale of these lots has added twenty-one thousand four hundred ($21,400.00) to the endowment.” (Alexander, 1907)

The Punahou Lots development was surveyed in 1880 by SE Bishop (Reg 848) – streets within the subdivision were named for prior leaders of the school.

Dole, Beckwith, Alexander and Bingham Streets, were named for prominent men associated with Punahou School.

Rev. Daniel Dole (1841-1854), Rev. Edward Griffin Beckwith (1854-1859) and William DeWitt Alexander (1864-1871), were initial and early leaders of the school.

Another street within the Punahou Lots development, Bingham, was named for Rev. Hiram Bingham, the initial recipient of the land grant, on behalf of the American Protestant mission, that eventually became Punahou School.

Apparently, some at the University of Hawaiʻi are trying “to restore Dole Street to its Hawaiian name” – suggesting Dole Street was originally named Kapaʻakea Street. (HNN)

“University of Hawaiʻi graduate student Kepoo Keliipaakaua found it on an 1882 survey map of the Mānoa area. Kapaʻakea means coral bedrock or limestone.” (HNN) The students also suggest the street was named for Sanford Dole.

That is not true. The history is clear; Dole Street was formed in 1880 by Punahou School and was named for Rev. Daniel Dole, the first teacher/administrator of Punahou (it was not named for Dole’s son, Sanford).

Regional maps from 1887, 1893, 1912 and 1923 (and others) show Dole Street and its subsequent extensions in the direction of where the University of Hawaiʻi is presently situated.

None of those early maps show any roads around or below where the UH is today (keep in mind the University didn’t make it to Mānoa until 1912); and none of these maps show a Kapaʻakea Street at all.

There is a 1934 map noting a short street as part of the St Louis Heights that Dole Street was proposed to extend to – however, that street in St Louis Heights was not named Kapaʻakea Street.

The ‘1882’ map noted by the UH students shows a notation for a road segment noted as Kapaʻakea Street – suggesting the road was there in 1882 (although all other mapping clearly note otherwise).

In addition, that ‘1882’ map also includes references on it dated in 1927, 1928 and 1930, suggesting edits made to the map over time.

Those edits relate to executive orders and other actions for the University – again, the UH campus wasn’t built until 1912 (well after the ‘date’ of the map).

Even an untrained, casual observer will see that the delineation of the ‘Kapaʻakea Street’, the printing of its name and the surrounding notations are in a different style than most of the other writing on the map.

So that map, over time, was obviously updated, although some suggest it carries only the 1882 time-reference.

And, it’s not clear when that text and portion of the map were put on the map; it is also not clear if Kapaʻakea Street was ever built.

In the broader area, there is a short road segment below King Street, generally running mauka-makai, called Kapaʻakea Lane; it is well removed from the University campus area and is (was) not possibly interconnected with Dole Street.

Some of the old maps note wetland area identified as Kapaʻakea. Kapaʻakea Spring was originally known as Kumulae Spring (later Hausten Spring/Pond). In 1944, the Willows Restaurant opened there.

As noted, starting in 1880, Dole Street in Mānoa was named for Rev. Daniel Dole, the initial teacher/administrator at Punahou School – other nearby streets in the Punahou Lots subdivision (below the existing Punahou campus) are named for other early school leaders.

Suggestions that the ‘original’ name of Dole Street was Kapaʻakea Street are simply wrong and not consistent with the clear history of the road and its subsequent extensions.

The image is a portion of an 1892 map of the area. It notes Dole Street and the Punahou Lots subdivision (on the left); note that there are no roads on the right, and definitely nothing labeled Kapaʻakea, other than the wetland. Check out the full story and multiple maps that show the same – Dole Street, but no Kapaʻakea Street below UH.

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1892-Downtown_Honolulu-Map-portion

1912-HonoluluDoveRandMcNally-map-portion

1923-Honolulu-and-Vicinity-Map

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1950-Honolulu and Vicinity – Pearl Harbor to Hawaii Kai – DAGS-portion

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1882-Manoa_Valley-Baldwin-(DAGS)-Reg1068-portion-zoom to 1920s Exec Orders

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July 13, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sailor’s Home and Seamen’s Institute

“Resolved, That the Petition for a lot of land for a Sailor’s Home be granted, provided it shall be a rule established in such home, and strictly enforced …”

“… That no intoxicating liquors shall be drunk on the promises; no women of lewd character admitted; no gambling allowed, nor any other disorder tolerated.” (By order of Privy Council, this 20th day of November, 1854.)

“One old sailor mentioned that he had been at sea for forty-two years and that this is the best sailor’s home he has ever known … we have now a Home and Institute that is much better fitted for our work, and is said by sailors to be the most homelike place of its kind that they have been in ’round the world.”

“Sailors from twenty nationalities were received from every class of vessel visiting the port: liners, army transports, America; and foreign cargo vessels, timber ships etc., and from these many interesting and encouraging details of successful work accomplished by Seamen’s Institutes in different parts of the world have been received …”

“… showing that the great chain of Seamen’s Missions of different Societies, by co-operation with one another, are having a steady and firm spiritual and moral influence upon the lives of those who go down to the sea in ships. (Superintendent’s Annual Report, 1921)

It opened September 11, 1856, “That little affair at the Sailor’s Home came off on Thursday, and if the house is ever again so full of merry laughter and innocent enthusiasts, it may congratulate itself upon being the scene of a second triumph.”

“We have not yet heard what the receipts were. If ever an institution was introduced to public notice under happy patronage it is the Sailor’s Home. Long may it flourish. (Polynesian, September 13, 1856)

The nearby Seamen’s Bethel Chapel was built by the American Seamen’s Friend Society of New York, in 1833, the materials having been shipped from New London, Ct, for Honolulu via Cape Horn. It was the first edifice for the public worship of English-speaking people, erected in Polynesia. It was open to both seamen and foreign residents. (Damon Memorial)

The Honolulu Sailor’s Home provided mariners with room and board at a reasonable price. In this building were the offices of “Hawaiian Board and Bible Society;” office of the Friend; the “Bible and Tract Depository,” and YMCA Reading Room. (Damon Memorial)

“One of the most important effects of such a well conducted boarding house for seamen was the speedy improvement of other lodgings in town for sailors, which ceased to be the disreputable dens which they had been.”

“The institution was fairly prosperous financially, under the administrations of a succession of stewards. The building was a three story one, of wood.”

“It came near being destroyed by the fire of 1886, and indeed was seriously damaged by explosives in an effort to destroy it, so that it remained unused until pulled down. It is of interest to know that its materials were used in constructing the house above Punchbowl street, now occupied by the Portuguese Mission.”

“In exchange for the land the Government gave some money and a spacious lot on the made ground between Richards and Alakea streets, just above the new Fish Market. On this lot, surrounded by a beautiful lawn, stands the new Sailors’ Home, finished a year ago, but only of late fairly in use for seamen.”

“In the front part of the lower story is a Library and Reading Room, also a Billiard room. In the rear of the west side are three living rooms for the Superintendent and his family. On the east side is dining room accommodating forty at table, and in its rear the pantry and kitchen with every facility to cook for a hundred men.”

“As just the person for this department has not yet been secured, seamen stopping at the Home for the present receive meal tickets on some good restaurant.”

“In the main seamen’s ward up-stairs are sixteen excellent iron beds with spring mattresses. A number of so-called ‘mate’s rooms’ also furnish private lodgings at low rates. Opening on the upper front veranda are a few more stylishly furnished apartments for captains and their friends.”

“This upper floor is supplied with every convenience, bath rooms, etc. All the rooms have incandescent lights. Grading of the adjacent streets will soon be completed, and that part of the town will become an attractive one.” (The Friend, April 1895)

It soon took on a partner, “When Bishop Nichols came here in April, 1902, to receive the transfer of the Anglican Church in Hawaii to the American Episcopal Church he consulted T. Clive Davies and others about starting a branch of the Seamen’s Church Institute in Honolulu.”

“The Sailors’ Home was lodging sailors and Captain Bray was managing it but it was not doing the work for seamen which the Seamen’s Institute does in its branches all over the world where British ships call.”

“Committees from each organization met and an agreement was reached to the effect that the Sailors’ Home would lease their land and building to the Seamen’s Institute for a nominal sum and that the Institute should carry on its work and that of the Home. This agreement was made in 1907.”

“Those who are not familiar with the many-sided work of the Seamen’s Institute have little idea of what is done in the building, and outside on ships … The sailor on shore, the world over, knows that he will find friends and brotherly treatment at a Seamen’s Institute.” (The Friend, June 1, 1933)

A summary in the Seaman’s Handbook for Shore Leave, 1920, gives a sense of the cost: “Seamen’s Homes. Sailors’ Home and Seamen’s Institute, Alakea St. Accommodations for about 25 officers and men. …”

“Rates per night, 25c and 50c; per week, $1.00 to $2.50, not including subsistence. Check-room, reading-room, writing-room, library, pool tables and indoor games; concerts and entertainments every week.” (Seaman’s Handbook for Shore Leave, 1920)

The Honolulu Sailor’s Home remains on Alakea (now a ground floor space in a Honolulu high-rise at 707 Alakea, near Nimitz) as a non-profit lodge for merchant seamen (rates start at $25 per night for a single room.) Their website notes they are accepting retired seamen to lodge for a duration of up to 3 months at any one time (with certain limitations).

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Sailor’s Home (Bethel) MissionHouses

Sailor’s Home and Seamen’s Institute -1895(HonoluluTown)

Sailor’s Institute at Honolulu (AnglicanHistory)

‘Good Luck’ Off to Sea Again (AnglicanHistory)

Depositing Money for Safe Keeping (AnglicanHistory)

Cadets USS Training Ship Brookdale (AnglicanHistory)

A ‘Sing’ at Honolulu (AnglicanHistory)

A Happy Crowd and the Seamen’s Institute in Honolulu (AnglicanHistory)

Bethel_Block-DAGS_Reg1158-1886-noting Sailors’ Home

Bethel’s Church, Honolulu, Hawaii, founded in 1833 as Seamen’s Bethel Church

June 20, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Kidwell’s Mānoa Pineapples

John Kidwell was born January 17, 1849 in the small north Devonshire village of Marwood. At the age of fifteen (in 1864,) he left home to become an apprentice to a second cousin, who was a nurseryman in London. He emigrated to the US in 1872 and became a nurseryman in San Francisco.

In 1882, with letters of introduction, Kidwell sailed to Honolulu. At the time, there was great demand for fresh Hawaiian pineapples in San Francisco. He acquired shoots of wild pineapple from Hawaii Island and set out to plant them in Mānoa (1885.) (Hawkins)

“‘Diversified industries’ have been one of the gospels rung in the ears or rather paraded before the eyes of the people of this country by the press for many years.”

“That everything in the direction indicated has not been preaching is proved by instances of very gratifying practice. One of these cases is that of Mr J Kidwell’s farm at Wailele Manoa Valley, The Advertiser reporter mounted that gentleman’s wagon on Friday and was driven by him out through Punahou to his estate.”

“Mr Kidwell has thirty six acres at Wailele all cultivable but only a portion of it cleared. The principal crop now growing is of pine apples there being different varieties covering the greater part of four acres. Without irrigation and notwithstanding the prolonged scarcity of rain the plants are flourishing in appearance even to luxuriance.”

“They are also fruiting finely and the owner is not harassed with doubt as to thorough success of the crop. Ground is cleared for more planting of the same fruit besides which there is room where grapevines have been taken out for rows between some of the present ones.”

“Mr Kidwell besides having been a practical farmer all his life is also an energetic one. During the few months he has been in possession of this farm he has with very little hired help eliminated a quantity of lava boulders and stones from the soil which would have appalled a man of less grit.”

“There is the making of a very fine place in this property and Mr Kidwell is bound to have it such. There are natural springs of excellent water centrally situated which occupy a patent windmill in pumping into a tank and system of pipes.”

“Almost anything capable of cultivation in the country can be raised on the farm but at present the owner is making a specialty of pineapples. A grove of young lime trees looks luxuriant in spite of drought and indicates a profitable fruit that may be raised in odd pockets or borders.”

“An excellent style of fowl yard enclosed with an airy but substantial article of wire netting is tenanted by many feathered bipeds of high breeds. This is another diversification of profitable home industry that the proprietor can incidentally carry on with comparatively little trouble.”

“The place is very pleasantly situated amid the finest scenery Diamond Head Round Top other on the highest mountain peaks on this island and the Pacific Ocean being all in the surrounding prospect.” (Hawaiian Gazette, April 2, 1889)

In 1885, Kidwell started a pineapple farm with locally available plants, but their fruit was of poor quality (Hawkins, 1997). That prompted him to search for better cultivars; he later imported 12 ‘Smooth Cayenne’ plants.

An additional 1000 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 pineapple cultivar that would form the foundation of the future Hawai‘i industry had become well established in the islands, presumably because it was vigorous, productive, tolerant of most pests and diseases, and had fruit of good quality that canned well. (Bartholomeow)

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.

One of the last laws passed by the Legislative Assembly before the overthrow had been an act to encourage the cultivation, canning, and preserving of pineapples in an attempt to diversify the economy away from sugar.

For a period of ten years after 1892, all tools, machinery, appliances, buildings, and all other personal property used in the cultivation, canning, or preserving of pineapples and held for export had been exempted from all taxes.

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June 3, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Executive Building

‘Iolani Palace was the official residence of both King Kalākaua and Queen Lili‘uokalani. (‘Io is the Hawaiian hawk, a bird that flies higher than all the rest, and ‘lani’ denotes heavenly, royal or exalted.)

The cornerstone for ‘Iolani Palace was laid on December 31, 1879 with full Masonic rites. Construction was completed in 1882; in December of that year King Kalākaua and Queen Kapi‘olani took up residence in their new home.

The first floor consists of the public reception areas – the Grand Hall, State Dining Room, Throne Room and Blue Room (where informal audiences and small receptions took place) The second floor consists of the private suites – the King’s and Queen’s suites, Music Room and King’s Library.

“The apartments of the King and Queen occupied the rear of mauka side of the Palace on this floor. The King’s room which is on the Ewa side is 25 feet by 30 feet with dressing room and bath room, etc., opening from it. Adjoining is the library designed to be used also as a Privy Council chamber’.

“The Queen’s apartment is the same size as His Majesty’s and there are on the same side of the building, two guest chambers of about 23 feet. The rooms in the corner towers form agreeable additions to the apartments with which they communicate being entered directly from them.” (Pacoific Commercial Advertiser, September 24, 1881)

In 1895, Queen Lili‘uokalani was held under house arrest for eight months, following a failed counter-revolution by royalists seeking to restore the Queen to power after the overthrow of 1893.

After the overthrow of the monarchy, ‘Iolani Palace became the government headquarters (Executive Building) for the Provisional Government, Republic, Territory and State of Hawai‘i.

The palace was used for nearly three-quarters of a century as a government capitol building under the Provisional Government, the Republic of Hawai‘i, the Territory of Hawai‘i and the State of Hawai‘i – until the existing capitol building was completed in 1969.

It was during that time that the Palace served as a government office building, and for a while it also had a less that regal appearance.

The uses of the respective rooms changed. A major addition to the Palace (Executive Building) occurred in 1894. On April 26, 1894, a new vault for the treasury was put in the Blue Room.

The Finance Minister moved into the Blue room, and the dining room was taken over by the Minister of the Interior. Upstairs it was first planned that the President of the Executive would occupy the King’s bed chamber, with the Foreign Office moving into the old library and the Attorney General situated in the previous music room.

The Throne Room was converted into council chambers. The Waikiki side of the second floor was to be used for storing furniture. Some shuffling of uses occurred in the respective rooms.

Interior rooms were partitioned into office space and the exterior of the building was encrusted with many temporary wooden additions to increase the floor space required for the office personnel.

Little else was done to the Palace during the remaining years of the Republic. At the turn of the century, during 1900, the Territorial government took over control of Hawai‘i.

The legislature set aside a sum for alterations, repairs and improvements to the Territorial Capitol Building, and during the year just ended the Department has complete the work outlined in the plans for repairs and improvements.

This included the laying of ohia flooring throughout the entire building, reshingling the roof, painting of the exterior and the decoration of the interior of the building. Special care was given to the Governor’s office, the Senate Chamber, and the Throne Room.

Koa benches were placed in the corridors, the lanais were retiled, the old tile having broken or sagged in many places, and the building in general was completely renovated, including the installation of modern plumbing. An elevator. . . was installed.” (Public Works Report; Fairfax)

The former throne room had been used for sessions of the Territorial House of Representatives. The state dining room was used as the chamber of the Territorial Senate.

The private apartment of Kalakaua and later Lili‘uokalani was used as the Governor’s office. These formerly territorial functions were then moved to the new State Capitol in 1969.

The state government then vacated the Palace and plans were initiated an authentic restoration of the Palace to its appearance during the Hawaiian Monarchy, 1882-1893.

Click on the following link for a virtual tour of Iolani Palace: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=E9uDoFAP3SH

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