Oahu | Page 72 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 5, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kukuionapeha Heiau

Kaimuki, before man, was a site of rocky land, red soil high in iron and largely covered by lava.

Where Kaimuki got its name is not known. However, there are many stories and legends which tell what the name means. One is from a legend that menehune (legendary little people of Hawaiʻi) chose the place to build their ti ovens. Breaking the word down, ‘Ka’ means the, ‘imu’ – roasting-pit or ti-oven, and ‘ki’ – ti. (Kapio)

William Lunalilo ended up with most of the area known as Kaimuki through the Great Māhele (1848.) Lunalilo was born on January 31, 1835 to High Chiefess Miriam ‘Auhea Kekauluohi (Kuhina Nui, or Premier of the Hawaiian Kingdom and niece of Kamehameha I) and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina.

When Kamehameha V died on December 11, 1872 he had not named a successor to the throne. The Islands’ first election to determine who would be King was held – Lunalilo defeated Prince David Kalākaua (the Legislature met, as required by law, in the Courthouse to cast their official ballots of election of the next King. Lunalilo received all thirty-seven votes.)

Lunalilo was the first of the large landholding aliʻi to create a charitable trust for the benefit of his people. He was to reign for one year and twenty-five days, succumbing to pulmonary tuberculosis on February 3, 1874.

His estate included large landholdings on the five major islands, consisting of 33-ahupuaʻa, nine ʻili and more than a dozen home lots. His will, written in 1871, established a perpetual trust under the administration of three trustees to be appointed by the justices of the Hawaiian Supreme Court.

His will instructed his trustees to build a home to accommodate the poor, destitute and infirm people of Hawaiian (aboriginal) blood or extraction, with preference given to older people. The will instructed the Trustees to sell all of the estate’s land to build and maintain the home. (Supreme Court Records)

In 1884, the Kaimuki land was auctioned off. The rocky terrain held little value to its new owner, Dr. Trousseau, who was a “physician to the court of King Kalākaua”. Trousseau ended up giving his land to Senator Paul Isenberg. Theodore Lansing and AV Gear later bought the Kaimuki land (in 1898.) (Lee)

In 1898, Kaimuki was still the barren, rocky and red-dirt land filled with panini, kiawe, and lantana. However, Lansing, a real estate agent, thought it was a great place to build a high class residential district. Initially, sales were slow.

But in 1900, the Chinatown fire forced folks to find places for new homes and businesses – many came to Kaimuki. This eventually led to the construction of the Lēʻahi Hospital (1901.)

Lēʻahi Hospital was once called Honolulu Hospital for the Incurables. The patients were there to die. Most died of tuberculosis which spread to hundreds. The hospital was nicknamed ‘Make house,’ or the house for the dead. (Kapio)

This and other activity in the area destroyed and/or displaced the landscape.

A heiau, Kukuionapeha Heiau (Napeha’s light or beacon) was in the vicinity.

It was in an “Area seaward of 8th and 9th avenues, Ka-imu-ki, Honolulu, that was once a heap of rocks.” (Ulukau) “Kaimuki, at the town side of old signal station. All destroyed.” (Thrum.)

The image shows what is believed to be Kukuionapeha Heiau in Kaimuki (Hawaiʻi State Archives.)

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Kukuionapeha_Heiau-HSA-S00067

September 18, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Myles Yotaka Fukunaga

“The fates have decided so we have been given this privilege in writing you on this important matter. We presume you will be alarmed at first. Nevertheless we hope that you will get over this surprise soon and listen to the writers namely. What is it all about?”

“Your son has been kidnapped for ransom!” (Fukunaga; Sullivan; Cool)

Speculation ran rampant in the streets, but nearly everyone was convinced that it was a racial matter. It’s more than likely, they said among themselves, that the kidnapper is Japanese. Racial tensions began to heat up between the haoles and the Japanese. (Kawatachi)

“All Honolulu became a posse today seeking Gill Jamieson, 10, son of Frederick W Jamieson, vice president of the Hawaiian Trust Company, who was kidnapped yesterday and held for ransom of $10,000 under the threat of death.”

“Twenty thousand school children were released from their classes this afternoon to join in the search.” (Schenectady Gazette, September 20, 1928)

Here is what happened … “Under pretext that the boy’s mother had been injured in an accident, a man prevailed upon a teacher at the Punahou School to allow Gill to accompany him.” (Schenectady Gazette, September 20, 1928)

On Tuesday morning, September 18, 1928, Myles Yotaka Fukunaga, dressed as a hospital orderly, picked up Jamieson at Punahou School.

Earlier, school officials had received a call indicating that Jamieson’s mother had been injured in an auto accident and that an orderly was being sent to pick him up at school.

About one hour after picking him up, Fukunaga killed the boy, choking him to death after hitting him three times with a steel chisel. His body was left in a clearing of kiawe trees near the Ala Wai canal.

Fukunaga was born on February 4, 1909 in Makaweli, Kauai. He attended ʻEleʻele and Kapaʻa schools achieving the reputation as being very bright and eager to learn.

In 1924, when he was 15, Fukunaga and his family moved to Waialua. He attended Waialua Grammar School and graduated from eighth grade, top of his class. Eventually the Fukunagas moved to Honolulu.

To help pay the rent, Fukunaga and his father worked at the Queen’s Hospital as messenger and gardener, respectively. (Kawatachi)

While he was recovering from appendicitis and unable to work, his family was unable to pay its rent on the small house they occupied near the corner of Beretania and Alapai Streets.

A rent collector from the Hawaiian Trust Company visited the family in May 1928 demanding the immediate payment of $20 the family did not have and threatened to evict them.

Feeling somewhat responsible for the family’s plight, Fukunaga developed a scheme to kidnap Jamieson, partly in revenge against the Hawaiian Trust Company. (Niiya)

“After receiving a call at around 9:00 pm, the elder Jamieson followed the instructions in the note and brought the ransom money to the indicated contact point.”

“After turning over $4,000, Jamieson demanded to see his son before paying the rest of the money. The kidnapper agreed, but disappeared into the bushes and didn’t return.” (Niiya)

Fukunaga was apprehended a few days later coming out of a Fort Street adult establishment after the serial numbers on the ransom money were traced. He was arrested and later confessed to the murder. (Song)

Fukunaga was charged, convicted and sentenced to hang despite the fact that the entire trial lasted less than a week, his court-appointed attorneys called no witnesses on his behalf, and concerns about Fukunaga’s sanity were never resolved. (Nakamura)

“Executive clemency for Myles Fukunaga, convicted of murdering little Gil Jamieson, was asked of the Governor in a petition presented to him today by Robert Murakami, attorney for the condemned man.”

“Fukunaga was sentenced to hang for the kidnapping and murder of Jamieson. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, which confirmed the verdict.”

“The petition asking for clemency was drawn up because many believed the youth to be insane. Insanity of the accused, however, was not established during the trial.” (San Jose News, November 9, 1929)

There was standing room only at Myles Fukunaga’s execution. (Theroux) He was hung at Oʻahu Prison on November 19, 1929, at 8:24 am. (Song)

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Myles Fukunaga

August 20, 2015 by Peter T Young 7 Comments

Kawaiahaʻo Female Seminary

“The inception of this school emanated from Mrs Halsey Gulick. In 1863, when living in the old mission premises on the mauka side of King street, she took several Hawaiian girls into her family to be brought up with her own children … The mother love was strong in that little group as some of us remember.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1897)

The usefulness of such a school became evident; as the enrollment grew, the need for a more permanent organization was required.

“It might be claimed that the real beginning was when Rev. Dr. Gulick and wife first occupied the Clark house, and on March 6, 1865, opened a family school for girls.” (The Friend, April 1, 1923)

In 1867, the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society (HMCS – an organization consisting of the children of the missionaries and adopted supporters) decided to support a girls’ boarding school. An early advertisement (April 13, 1867) notes it was called Honolulu Female Academy.

HMCS invited Miss Lydia Bingham (daughter of Reverend Hiram Bingham, leader of the Pioneer Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi) to return to Honolulu to be a teacher in this family school; she was then principal of the Ohio Female College, at College Hill, Ohio.

“Her love for the land of her birth and Interest for the children of the people to whom her father and mother had given their early lives, led her to accept the position, and in March, 1867, she arrived on the Morning Star via Cape Horn.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1897)

HMCS appropriated funds for repairs and additions to the buildings; “(t)he old stone buildings which had formerly been used as printing office and bindery by the mission, with the house of Rev EW Clark, then occupied by Dr. H. Gulick, were repaired and remodelled, to enlarge and make more comfortable the necessary rooms for the school now successfully started.”

“It would be impossible to tell those of you who only know the present building, how crowded and uncomfortable some of those rooms were but we rejoiced, for it was improvement! Miss Bingham soon became principal of the school.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1897) It was later named Kawaiahaʻo Female Seminary.

It started with boarders and day students, but after 1871 it has been exclusively a boarding school. “Under her patient energy and tact, with the help of her assistants, it prospered greatly, and became a success.” (Coan)

At first the school was designed to prepare Hawaiian girls to become ‘suitable’ wives for men who were at the same time preparing to become missionaries and work in the South Seas.

This objective took the back seat to industrial education as new industrial departments were added. This included sewing, washing and ironing, dressmaking, domestic arts and nursing.

The mainstay of the curriculum involved furnishing complete elementary courses, including music, both vocal and instrumental, and training in the household arts. Concerts given by the girls helped the school to make money.

In January 1869, Miss Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu (Lizzie) Bingham arrived from the continent to be an assistant to her sister. Lizzie was a graduate of Mount Holyoke and, when she was recruited, was a teacher at Rockford Female Seminary. (Beyer)

“To those of us who were then watching the efforts of these Christian ladies the school became the centre of great interest. The excellent discipline, the loving care, the neatness and skill shown in all departments of domestic life, the thoroughness of the teaching and the high Christian spirit which pervaded it all caused rejoicing that such an impulse had been given to education for Hawaiian girls.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1897)

“Every Sunday one of the teachers accompanied the Girls to Kawaiahaʻo Church diagonally across the street to the morning service.” (Sutherland Journal)

“When Miss Bingham came to Hilo (on October 13, 1873 she married Titus Coan,) the seminary was committed to the charge of her sister, whose earnest labors for seven years in a task that is heavy and exhausting so reduced her strength, that in June, 1880 she was obliged to resign her post.” (Coan)

While Kawaiahaʻo was both growing and changing into an industrial school, two other female seminaries came into existence: Kohala Female Seminary and Maunaʻolu Seminary (East Maui Female Seminary.)

At the end of the century, all the female seminaries began to lose students to the newly founded Kamehameha School for Girls. This latter school was established in 1894.

It was not technically a seminary or founded by missionaries, but all the girls enrolled were Hawaiian, and its curriculum was very similar to what was used at the missionary sponsored seminaries.

Since Kawaiahaʻo Seminary was located only a few miles from this new female school, it experienced the biggest loss in enrollment and adjusted by enrolling more non-Hawaiian students.

In 1905, a merger with Mills Institute, a boys’ school, was discussed; the Hawaiian Board of Foreign Missions purchased the Kidwell estate, about 35-acres of land in Mānoa valley.

By 1908, the first building was completed and the school was officially operated as Mid-Pacific Institute, consisting of Kawaiahaʻo School for Girls and Damon School for Boys.

Finally, in the fall of 1922, a new coeducational plan went into effect – likewise, ‘Mills’ and ‘Kawaiahaʻo’ were dropped and by June 1923, Mid-Pacific became the common, shared name.

Kohala Female Seminary and Maunaʻolu Female Seminary continued to exist through the 1920s, offering a high school diploma to their graduates. (Hiram and Sybil Bingham, parents of Lydia and Lizzie, are my great-great-great grandparent.)

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Kawaiahaʻo_Female_Seminary,_Honolulu,_c._1867

Lydia Bingham-1866

Kawaiahaʻo_Female_Seminary

Kawaiahaʻo_Female-Seminary

Honolulu Female Academy-PCA-April_13,_ 1867

Gulick_Home_expanded_to_house-Kawaiahaʻo_Female-Seminary

May 10, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kaluanui

The old custom of placing laʻi (ti) or ʻohiʻa ʻai (mountain apple) leaves under a stone at stream crossings on the way was a requirement to make one safe from falling stones, handed down over generations; a custom of this place, though not necessarily a custom of other places. (Thrum, 1907)

Kaluanui is one of 23-ahupua‘a (traditional land division) that make up the district of Koʻolauloa on the island of O‘ahu It extends from the sea to the summit (approximate 2,700-foot elevation) and contains approximately 1,650 acres of land.

“The district of Koʻolauloa is of considerable extent along the sea coast, but the arable land is generally embraced in a narrow strip between the mountains and the sea, varying in width from one half to two or three miles.”

“Several of the vallies are very fertile, and many tracts of considerable extent are watered by springs which burst out from the banks at a sufficient elevation to be conducted over large fields, and in a sufficient quantity to fill many fish ponds and taro patches.” (Hall, 1839; Maly)

“The valley, which is about two miles deep, terminates abruptly at the foot of a precipitous chain of the mountains which runs the whole length of this side of Oahu, except a narrow gorge, which affords a channel for a fine brook that descends with considerable regularity to a level with the sea.”

“(E)ntering this narrow pass, which is not more than fifty or sixty feet wide, the traveler winds his way along, crossing and recrossing the stream upon the stones to obtain the smoothest path, till he seems to be, and in fact is, entering into the very mountain.”

“The walls on each side are of solid rock, from two hundred to three hundred, and in some places four hundred feet high, directly over his hear, leaving but a narrow strip of sky visible. After following up the stream for the distance, perhaps, of one fourth of a mile, the attention is directed by the guide to a curiosity called by the natives a waa (canoe.)” (Hall, 1839; Maly)

Kaluanui is perhaps best known for this deep valley and steep cliffs which form the waterfall of Kaliuwaʻa. Kaliuwaʻa falls drop some 1,500 feet from the pali of Koʻolauloa, and its course resembles the inner hull of a canoe—thus the name “Kaliu-wa‘a,” (“The-canoe-hold or inner hull.”)

“(H)ere is the noted valley of the celebrated Kamapuaʻa’s exploits, and residents … seldom fail to remind visitors of the fact and point with pride to Kaliuwaʻa gorge, where the demi-god escaped from his pursuers.” (Thrum, 1911)

“For this a guide will have to be obtained. Almost any of the natives around will be willing to undertake the task. The valley is really a cleft in the mountains, with almost precipitous sides. The vegetation is very dense, showing varieties of almost every tree and plant found on Oʻahu.” (Whitney, 1890; Maly)

Semicircular cuts in the cliff, extending from the base to the top, look like the half of a well. In no other part of the islands is a similar formation found. (Whitney, 1890; Maly)

Kamapuaʻa was accused of eating ʻOlopana’s chickens. ʻOlopana, chief of O`ahu, decided that he must apprehend the hog-thief, so he called to all of Oʻahu to wage war against Kamapuaʻa.

Kamapuaʻa heard of ʻOlopana’s plans and took his people to Kaliuwaʻa, where they climbed up his body to the safety of the cliff top. In doing so, Kamapuaʻa’s back gouged out indentations on the cliff-side that can still be seen today.

Once his people were safe, Kamapuaʻa dammed the water of Kaliuwaʻa. ʻOlopana and his men arrived, and a battle ensued. Kamapuaʻa was nearly killed, but he released the dammed water, killing ʻOlopana and all but one of his men; Makaliʻi knew that Kamapuaʻa could not be killed and escaped to Kaua`i. (McElroy)

Because of this association to Kamapuaʻa, the valley is considered sacred. Forms of the modern name first appear in historical documents in the 1890s, where the valley is called Sacred Ravine.

Over the next ten years, this name evolved into Sacred Valley, and it wasn’t until the 1950s that the name Sacred Falls appeared in the literature. (McElroy)

By the 1950s, visitor publications were also introducing readers to, and informing them how to get to Kaliuwaʻa. One such, in 1958 noted:

“Sacred Falls may be visited by taking a road through the cane-field marked by the Hawaiian Warrior of the Visitors Bureau. The falls are located in a spectacular gorge at the head of Kaliuwaʻa valley. The lower falls drop over an 87-foot cliff at the head of the gorge which is only 50 feet wide. Above the falls, the palis of the Koʻolau range tower 2,500 feet.” (Thrum; Maly)

In the early 1970s, Kaluanui was held by private interests. As a result of community input, the State of Hawaiʻi acquired about 1,375-acres of Kaluanui land (1976.) The land was then set aside to the DLNR and made into a State Park (May 28, 1977.)

Then, on Mother’s Day (May 9, 1999,) tragedy struck.

Portions of the sheer rock face fell. The landslide material dropped a total of about 480-feet: the first 330-feet it cascaded down a precipitously steep waterfall chute, and the last 150-feet it was airborne and fell straight down to the impact zone. (USGS)

Eight people were killed and 50-others were injured. Following that, the Sacred Falls State Park at Kaluanui was permanently closed.

(Entry into a closed park is a petty misdemeanor offense and subject to criminal penalties of not less than $100 for a first offense; $200 for a second offense; and $500 for a third or subsequent offense; in addition to administrative penalties of $2,500 for a first offense; $5,000 for a second offense, and $10,000 for a third violation.)

Here’s a video on consequences associated with illegally entering the valley:

https://vimeo.com/115830643

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Aerial View-Kaluanui-Kaliuwaa Falls

Kaliuwaa_Falls-DMY

Kaliuwaa-(missionhouses)

Kaliuwaa-early_years

Kaliuwaa_Falls

Sacred_Falls-(bluehawaiian)

Sacred Falls

Kaliuwaa-gouge

Kaliuwaa

koolauloa ahupuaa

Punaluu-Kaluanui-1885

Sacred Falls closed

Source area (indicated by arrow) of Sacred Falls rock fall (USGS)

March 24, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

St Catherine’s Church

The original name of the peninsula “Moku-Kapu” was derived from two Hawaiian words: “moku” (island) and “kapu” (sacred or restricted.) “Mokapu” is the contraction of “Moku Kapu” which means “Sacred or Forbidden Island.”

Mokapu Peninsula was divided into three ahupua‘a – Kailua, Kaneʻohe and Heʻeia – these were extensions of the ahupua‘a across the large basin of Kaneʻohe Bay. Dating back to 1300-1600 AD, three fishponds separated Mokapu Peninsula from the rest of Kaneʻohe.

Hawaiians lived on Mokapu Peninsula for at least 500 to 800 years before Western Contact. Farmers cultivated dryland crops like sweet potato for food, and gourds for household uses.

There were at least two small villages on the peninsula, as well as scattered houses along the coastline. They tended groves of hala trees (pandanus) for the leaves to weave into mats and baskets, and wauke plants for kapa (paperbark cloth.)

The highly prized wetland taro might have been grown in the marshy area at the center of the peninsula. Mokapu people fished in the protected waters of Kaneʻohe Bay, in Kailua Bay, and in the deep ocean to the north; and took advantage of the rich shore resources. (MCBH)

On July 7, 1827, the pioneer French Catholic mission arrived in Honolulu. Their first mass was celebrated a week later on Bastille Day, July 14, and a baptism was given on November 30, to a child of Don Francisco de Paula Marin.

The American Congregationalists encouraged a policy preventing the establishment of a Catholic presence in Hawaiʻi. Catholic priests were forcibly expelled from the Islands in 1831. However, on June 17, 1839, King Kamehameha III issued the Edict of Toleration permitting religious freedom for Catholics.

When the Vicar Apostolic of Oriental Oceania was lost at sea, Father Louis Désiré Maigret was appointed the first Vicar Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands (now the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.) They sought to expand the Catholic presence.

Maigret divided Oʻahu into missionary districts. Shortly after, the Windward coast of Oʻahu was dotted with chapels.

A Catholic church was established on Mokapu peninsula in the late-1830s or early-1840s. According to the records of the Catholic diocese, the first baptismal ceremony at Mokapu took place in 1841. (Tomonari-Tuggle)

Parish tradition suggests a village chief had gone to a Protestant Missionary asking for lamp oil. The missionary could not give him any oil. The chief then went to the Catholic mission (at that time located at Mokapu Point) and received his oil. In gratitude, the chief gave the missionaries a piece of property. (St Ann’s)

In the mid-1840s Father Robert Martial Janvier, the Catholic missionary in Heʻeia, built St Catherine’s Church on top of the Mokapu heiau. (Klieger)

In 1844, the stone edifice of St Catherine’s Church rose on the high ground of Keawanui on the western edge of Mokapu (in the area now called Pali Kilo.) The Catholics were attracted to Mokapu because it had a large population. (Devaney)

St Catherine’s was abandoned in the late-1850s after plague and migration decimated the peninsula population. The church was moved to a location at Heʻeia across the bay.

Church members, friends, and family carried coral stones and blocks by hand and canoe from the Mokapu site to the new church, what is now St Ann’s Church. (Tomonari-Tuggle)

Saint Ann’s Catholic Church and schoolhouse grounds included “a large priest house, comprising 13 small rooms, a kitchen, a dining room and a community room”.

It is also noted, “… the little monastery was ideally situated in a large French garden replete with flowers, green shrubbery, and a great variety of trees ….” (Cultural Surveys)

“The schoolhouse was built near the church. On the outskirts of the five acre property …Catholic Hawaiians had dug four large ponds in which taro was raised in sufficient quantity to feed the 150 schoolchildren and a number of women occupied in the workshop.”

“Father Martial’s first work was to build a school, native style, and also a hall 70 feet long, which he opened as a workshop for women…The success of the womens workshop was very encouraging for Father Martial, so much …(he) planned a similar shop for men and boys.”

A new schoolhouse was built in 1871 close to St Ann’s Catholic Church. The new St Ann school became “the best school in Koolau District”. After 1927, five classrooms were added to the schoolhouse, which had consisted of two classrooms plus one small building. (Cultural Surveys)

The US military first established a presence on the Mokapu peninsula in 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order establishing Fort Kuwaʻaohe Military Reservation on 322-acres on the northeast side of Mokapu.

The Army stayed there until August 1940 when the Navy decided to acquire all of Mokapu Peninsula to expand Naval Air Station Kaneʻohe; it included a sea plane base, it began building in September 1939 and commissioned on February 15, 1941.

Between 1939 and 1943, large sections of Kaneʻohe Bay were dredged for the dual purposes of deepening the channel for a sea plane runway and extending the western coastline of the peninsula with 280-acres of coral fill.

As of December 1941, two of five planned, steel hangars had been completed, each measuring 225-feet by 400-feet.

On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, two waves of Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft bombed and strafed Kaneʻohe Naval Air Station, several minutes before Pearl Harbor was attacked.

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