Punahou | Page 3 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

July 12, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Plain Living and High Thinking

“For while the pros and cons of a local school for mission children were still being eagerly discussed, the mission in general assembly that year, 1831, resolved prayerfully that the time was not yet ripe and that recourse must still be had for an indefinite period to the long separations and the generosity of friends on the other side of the world.”

“The first recorded hint of Punahou as a possibility is given in that same year in the name of Brother Tinker who, one day, when riding past the scene of Mrs (Sybil) Bingham’s activities, remarked to Brother Baldwin, ‘That, sir, is the site of the future college.’”

“The year 1840 … was the year of visible beginnings. At the General Meeting of the Mission it was voted to establish a school for boys and girls at Punahou …. A committee consisting of Brethren Judd, Castle and Powell Smith was appointed to execute the plans.”

“Three Armstrong children were waiting for that first class at Punahou, four Chamberlains, two Emersons, two Forbes, five Gulicks, one Hall, three Hitchcocks, three Judds, three Parkers and two Richards.”

“For lack of a teacher, no further step was taken until the spring of the following year when Mr and Mrs (Daniel) Dole arrived. Miss Marcia Smith was appointed to assist them”. (Damon, The Friend, March 1924)

Dole brought ‘plain living and high thinking’ as the rule of the school; and by common consent, in retrospect from the present time, the work of those early teachers was nobly done. (Portraits of Missionaries)

George Ripley, a Unitarian minister, conceived a plan of plain living and high thinking. He and his associates became the founders of what is known now as “The Great Experiment.”

He had as his associates such able men as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Charles A. Dana, who afterwards became Assistant Secretary of War in the Cabinet of the President of the United States. This “Great Experiment” came to an end in 1846. (McKay)

“The vital principle which ought to reside in the brain is called away … to assist in … digestion and no mental energy is apparent.”

“Let a mother send a child to school with a basket of food sufficient for a laborer’s dinner, and she must expect nothing else than the return of her child at night with no increase of intellectual wealth.” (Dole, Punahou)

“From a long and somewhat intimate acquaintance I can state that I have rarely met a minister who did not have the best interests of his profession first in his thoughts, and did not abhor necessity which forces him even to think of the material side.”

“’Plain living and high thinking’ is the rule amongst them: few care for more than the average comforts and conveniences of life, and these more for the sake of an often over-burdened wife than for themselves.” (Unitarian Register)

“On July 11, 1842 fifteen of the mission children took their seats in the first session of Kapunahou School. Before the end of the year thirty-four were in attendance, thus more than justifying the estimate for accommodations.”

“In 1844 four new rooms were added, and two much beloved teachers, Mr and Mrs Rice from the station at Hana, Maui, came to make their home at Punahou.”

“Many are the stories that are told, – of wearing three pairs of pants when a whipping was judged imminent; of the old green desks in the school room between the two courts …”

“… of the tamarind tree planted near the house in 1842, which is still standing near Bingham Hall; of Father Dole’s red ruler; of Father Damon spelling down the whole school in the annual “exhibition” on the word “separate” …”

“… of the love letters passed behind books; of secret expeditions to Rocky Hill caves … of the talks on stars; of the ‘little birds who can sing and won’t sing, but must be made to sing’ …”

“… of the intense joy over letters and bundles from homes on other islands, — stories which would take a lifetime to re-tell.”

“It was a happy, busy life, a ‘unique experiment in education,’ which drew to itself the notice of strangers in California and Oregon so that many a child was sent across the Pacific to Punahou from those pioneer settlements as yet touched by no railroad and dignified by no schools other than the few scattered ones for Indians.”

“The first decade of the school was, as well as many of the later ones, filled with ‘plain living and high thinking.’ The journals and letters of those early pupils throb with the eager endeavor to be worthy of all that was being done for them …”

“… some, showing the natural result of isolated and over-stimulated childhood, refer to the writers themselves, all under twelve years of age, as ‘vile worm and thrice black-hearted sinner.’”

“But all of them are wide awake, delighted in their work as a rule, and taking keen pleasure in the rare joy of a Saturday’s tramp among the hills.” (Damon, The Friend, March 1924)

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Daniel_and_Charlotte_Dole,_circa_1853

Miss Marcia M. Smith, Teacher

Punahou-Lily-Pond-and-Tennis-Courts-1916

Punahou Omnibus-1890

Punahou Omnibus

Punahou School-(MasonArchitects)-1848

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Pohakuloa-Entry

March 23, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Stone House

In 1840, a land dispute between Mr. Richard Charlton, the first British ambassador to Hawaiʻi, and the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi would spark the infamous “Paulet episode” which led to the forced cession of the Hawaiian Islands to Britain in 1843. (KSBE)

“The restoration of the Hawaiian Monarchy in July 1843 – ending the five-months-long illegal seizure and occupation by the Englishman, Lord George Paulet – created the chief, and indeed the only, notable site in Kulaokahu‘a.”

“The exact locale – the future Thomas Square – leaped into history with, literally, a bang. On the morning of July 31, two pavilions decorated with greens and a flagstaff stood on the plain east of town.”

“On the street line to the west, tents from warships in port punctuated their arid surroundings. A thick mat of rushes paved the line of march. Thousands waited for the ceremonies of the day.”

“At 9:30, Rear Admiral Richard Thomas of the British navy called on the King to sign official documents. A half hour later, several companies of English sailors and marines were drawn up on a line facing the sea, with an artillery corps on their right.”

“Admiral Thomas and his staff arrived in the King’s state carriage, while the Monarch himself came on horseback, accompanied by the household troops. The artillery honored His Majesty with a 21-gun salute.”

“At a given signal, the British flag officer bowed his colors; the British flag was then lowered and the Hawaiian flag raised amid salvos, first from Thomas’s HMS Carysfort, then from English and American warships, merchantmen and whalers, and finally from the Honolulu fort and the Punchbowl battery.”

“A great cheer arose as the wind caught the folds of the Hawaiian flag. Admiral Thomas read a long declaration, after which marines, sailors, and artillery passed in a review witnessed by Commodore Lawrence Kearney and officers of the USS Constellation.”

“Hawaii’s sovereignty had been restored.” (Greer)

“‘Her Majesty’s Government,’ we learn in a letter from the Earl of Aberdeen, ‘viewed with the highest approbation, the whole of his proceedings at the Sandwich Islands, as marked by a great propriety and an admirable judgment throughout …’”

“‘… and as calculated to raise the character of British authorities for justice, moderation, and courtesy of demeanor, in the estimation of the natives of those remote countries, and of the world.’” (Polynesian, August 3, 1850)

“Richard (Darton) Thomas was born at Saltash, county of Cornwall. … This officer entered the navy the 26th of May, 1790, on board the Cumberland 74, Captain John M. Brule, and sailed in the course of the same year with a squadron under Rear Admiral Cornish, for the West Indies”. (Polynesian, August 3, 1850)

“The King too, Kamehameha III, moved by gratitude, intimated a wish that the Rear Admiral would sit for his portrait in full uniform, that His Majesty ‘might have and preserve in his palace the likeness of a British officer who …’”

“‘… in restoring to him his kingdom, dared to act on his own sense of right, counting upon the approval of his magnanimous, Queen, in which he was not disappointed.’” (Polynesian, August 3, 1850)

“No nobler men ever touched those Islands, than some of the officers of the American and English navies.” (Richard Armstrong) Admiral Thomas died in Stonehouse, Devon on August 21, 1857.

“Our home ‘Stone House’ was named after the English residence of Admiral Thomas, of the British Navy, who restored the national flag which his subordinate, Lord George Paulet, had, in his absence, hauled down, taking possession of the Islands in the name of the Queen.”

“Lord George was compelled by the Admiral to restore the flag and salute it with his own guns. The day was thereafter kept as a national holiday, and the name of Admiral Thomas is held in grateful remembrance.” (Richard Armstrong)

Later, in 1881, the Sacred Hearts Father’s College of Ahuimanu moved from the windward side into the former Rev. Richard Armstrong’s home, “Stonehouse” on 91 Beretania Street adjoining Washington Place.

At that time, the name ‘College of St. Louis’ was given to the institution in honor of Bishop Louis Maigret’s patron Saint, Louis IX.

Then, on September 19, 1883, the Punahou Preparatory School was opened for the full term at Stone House “Three of the trustees were present at the opening exercises, together with many parents of the pupils, of whom there were 85 present, with a prospect of a larger attendance …”

“It is the design of the trustees to have no pupils at Punahou proper, except such as are qualified to proceed with the regular academic course.” (The Friend, October 4, 1883)

By the 1898-1899 school year, there were 247 students in grades 1-8 in the Punahou Preparatory School. Later, in 1902, the Preparatory School was moved to what is now known as the Punahou campus, where it occupied Charles R Bishop Hall.

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Armstrong-Stonehouse

December 27, 2017 by Peter T Young 5 Comments

Chink Store

It was 15 x 20 foot, at 1523 Alexander Street, just makai of Wilder; it was called Alexander Grocery – most called it the Chink Store – at least for me, without derogatory meaning, without thinking of the connotation of the name. It is simply what we called it. (Even the owner’s obituary also called it the same.)

About 100-youngsters were at its door before school in the mornings and between three to four hundred in the afternoon. It was the favorite of Punahou and Maryknoll students. It also served basic grocery needs of the surrounding neighborhood.

It was built by Ah Chong Liu in 1912; later, Albert and Esther Lau took it over. The Laus previously lived in Wahiawa, where Albert founded Albert’s Cleaners.

Esther, early on, also sold the World Book Encyclopedia door-to-door just to earn a set for her own family, and worked as an employee of the State Legislature when it was located at ʻIolani Palace.

The Laus leased and operated the store for 22-years. “It’s the relationship we’ve had with the children, without them and the store, we couldn’t have brought up our own children as well. We’ve learned as much from them as they’ve learned from us.” (Star-Advertiser Obituary)

“(C)hildren are my weakness,’ says Esther Lau, amazing memories not only for hundreds of names and faces but also for personalities, a real interest in all the youngsters”. (Advertiser, 1963)

The Laus had three children of their own, Linda, Michael and Richard. “Mr. Lau sent all his kids to college on profits from shave ice!” (Piper)

It was “one of my favorite places to walk from school in the 1960s & 70s. The Laus were always so friendly! I never dreamed they and their store wouldn’t be there someday, but I’m happy it afforded the Laus a good life and then some!” (Clark)

“The Laus truly loved that little store and their patrons, remembering numerous by name and countless more by face. A true ‘Mom & Pop store – I trust you, you trust me’ existence, good ol’ face-to-face communication with all, just a ‘plain vanilla’ work ethic which succeeded as they intended.” (Star-Advertiser Obituary)

“When the troops arrive they automatically form two lines … one leading to Mr Lau who presides over the shave ice machine, and another wends its way to Mrs Lau behind the candy, sushi and manapua counter.” (Advertiser, 1963)

“Three ground rules at the store are no smoking, no fighting and no profanity, and the Laus make this all stick by ‘keeping a strong eye on the kids, keeping our ears open,’ and asking offenders to leave.” (Advertiser, 1963)

“I’ve given more lectures in here. Sometimes when I hear the older ones talking about dropping out of school I tell them ‘You’re in a competitive world and it’s not easy.’ I see some of them who left school and I don’t think they are very happy.” (Esther Lau, Advertiser, 1963)

A news article upon the store’s closing in the mid-1970s states, “The Laus are a special kind of people they offered advice, philosophy, encouragement and help where needed, kept athletes on training diets, bucked up potential drop-outs …”

“… clamped down on fighting, profanity, smoking, and corrected sloppy English, a year-round lost and found department, (conveyed) messages between parents and children, made hundreds of small loans for phone calls, bus fares, and food.” (Star-Advertiser Obituary)

“‘If they yell “Hey!” we tell them we don’t ‘Hey!’ then either, and we never use pidgin English. If they say ‘da kine’ I say ‘Da kine! What are your getting in English, C?’” (Esther Lau, Advertiser, 1963)

“During the hours the store is bulging with the young and very young, out front there’s a collection of bicycles, book bags, violin cases, school folders and flight bags bulging with athletic equipment or ballet togs.”

“Then, when they’ve all gone home, the Laus pick up what’s been left behind … rain coats, bands for teeth, glasses, bathing suits, umbrellas, bags and books”. (Advertiser, 1963)

“But no spot would have been so anticipated to visit if it had not been manned by Mr and Mrs Lau. Not only were they both kind and friendly to me, I often thought how pretty Mrs Lau was and wondered why she wasn’t a model or something!” (Denison)

“We’ve learned as much from them as they’ve learned from us. We’re really going to miss this.” (Esther Lau speaking of the store’s closing; Star-Advertiser Obituary) There are a lot of former Punahou and Marynoll students that miss them, too.

Albert died in 1997; Esther died in 2014. They had multiple grandchildren, great grandchildren – and a whole lot of others who became better people due to their attention to and care for others. (Esther Lau’s obituary noted ‘Alexander Grocery’ the way we did, ‘The Chink Store.’)

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Alexander Grocery-Chink Store-Chuck Weldon

November 8, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Punahou Dairy

“Here you may be fanned by the breeze from the highlands – here you may look off upon the plains and the harbor of Honolulu and gaze with admiration upon the waves as they break over the coral reefs and upon the floating ship as she approaches …”

“… especially when she spreads the banner of your nation. Having refreshed yourself here a day or two you may return to your field invigorated.” (Lorenzo Lyons, speaking of Punahou)

The gift of land to Hiram Bingham, that later became Punahou School, had additional property beyond the large lot with the spring and kalo patches where the school is situated (Ka Punahou) – the land was an ʻili lele.

Punahou included a lot on the beach near the Kakaʻako Salt Works (‘Ili of Kukuluāeʻo;) the large lot with the spring and kalo patches where the school is situated (Kapunahou) and apparently a forest patch on the side of Mānoa Valley (ʻIli of Kolowalu, now known commonly referred to as Woodlawn.) (Congressional Record, 1893-94)

“The school was opened at Punahou, July 11th, 1842, with fifteen scholars in attendance that day. During the first year there were thirty-four pupils, of whom fifteen were boarders, their ages varying from seven to twelve.” (Punahou Jubilee, 1891)

“In the summer of 1844 the faculty was increased by Mr and Mrs (William Harrison) Rice, who were transferred from Hana Maui, to assist the school, where they remained till 1854, Mr Rice having special charge of financial matters and of the out-of-door work.” (Punahou Jubilee, 1891)

Mānoa was first a supplier of wetland taro and then, as the population in its vicinity grew, became a major dairy and vegetable growing center for urban Honolulu.

O‘ahu College (later known as Punahou School,) was the site of the first recorded dairy in the valley (and possibly the first in the Islands,) started in 1844 by William Harrison Rice. (DeLeon)

Back then, there were two pastures – Upper Pasture (above Rocky Hill) and Lower Pasture, makai of the school. “Mr. Rice built the wall around the upper pasture, surrounding Rocky Hill, and Mr. Spooner the wall enclosing the lower pasture.” (Punahou Catalogue, 1866)

“All cattle belonging to Punahou and the various missionaries were pastured in Mānoa. Each missionary had a herd and a milking pen and every morning and afternoon the cows were driven to their respective pens.” (Wm Hyde Rice; The Friend, March 1924)

“We had a dairy, the Punahou dairy, over on the other side of Rocky Hill. That was all pasture. We had beautiful, delicious milk, all the milk you wanted. The cows roamed from there clear over to the stone wall on Mānoa hill.”

“There were a few gates and those gates caused me trouble because the bulls wanted to get out or some boys would leave a bar down and I would get off the streetcar at the top of the hill and have to walk along the gravel road, 500 miles it seemed to me, to get to the house. …”

“Occasionally, just often enough to keep me alert, there would be a bull wandering around across the road and down the hill onto Alexander Field or just where I wanted to go.” (Eleanor Griffiths ’25 Shaw, the first child raised in the President’s House (Punahou))

All was not always good … “RA Duncan, Food Commissioner and Analyst, in his report for May to the Board of Health says one hundred and twenty milk samples were examined … The list of those supplying milk of inferior quality, other than samples submitted by private parties, (included) Punahou Dairy”. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 9, 1904)

The ‘Punahou Pasture’ was not only for cattle or horses, over the years the National Guard fought ‘sham battle’ training exercises and drills (as did the local Police,) as well as the football and baseball games – even golf.

“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)

“(A)cross Punahou Street in the Punahou lower pasture, Dole, Beckwith, Alexander, and Bingham streets were laid out in 1880 by the Punahou School trustees.”

“All were named for prominent men: the first three were, in order, (principals and) presidents of the school (Daniel Dole, Edward G Beckwith and William DeWitt Alexander;) it was to the fourth, Hiram Bingham, that Governor Boki made the original Punahou land grant in behalf of the mission.” (Clark, 1939)

“During the year 1900, the ‘upper pasture, now known as ‘College Hills,’ was divided into building lots, (most of which have since been sold), and has now become the most attractive suburb of Honolulu.” (Alexander 1907)

Then, in January 1925, Punahou School bought the Honolulu Military Academy property – it had about 90-acres of land and a half-dozen buildings on the back side of Diamond Head.

It served as the “Punahou Farm” to carry on the school’s work and courses in agriculture. “We were picked up and taken to the Punahou Farm School, which was also the boarding school for boys. The girls boarded at Castle Hall on campus.” (Kneubuhl, Punahou) The farm school was in Kaimukī between 18th and 22nd Avenues.

In addition to offices and living quarters, the Farm School supplied Punahou with most of its food supplies. The compound included a big pasture for milk cows, a large vegetable garden, pigs, chickens, beehives, and sorghum and alfalfa fields that provided feed for the cows. Hired hands who tended the farm pasteurized the milk in a small dairy, bottled the honey and crated the eggs. (Kneubuhl, Punahou)

The Punahou dairy herd was cared for by the students as part of their course of studies – the boys boarded there. However, disciplinary troubles, enrollment concerns (not enough boys signing up for agricultural classes) and financial deficits led to its closure in 1929.

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Punahou School, Photograph attributed to Charles Burgess-1866

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Punahou Land-Reg0392

September 14, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pleasanton Hotel

“The premises of the late (Henry) Alexander Isenberg, at the corner of Punahou and Wilder avenue are to be opened today by Mrs JW Macdonald as a family hotel, to be called the Pleasanton.”

“For the purpose there is no more suitable place in Honolulu and Mrs. Macdonald’s experience in catering to the better class of patrons fits her to the duties she will perform as hostess of the larger establishment.”

“The place has been leased by her for a term of years and the lower part of the house has been engaged by guests who had apartments in the Hawaiian and Moana hotels, the closing of which warranted the opening establishment and its spacious grounds.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 1, 1908)

Henry Alexander Isenberg was born “in the islands in 1872 and was sent to Bremen, Germany, to be educated. After leaving college he served in the army for one year and then entered a mercantile establishment, where he remained a short time.”

“He then went to England, also following commercial pursuits there for one year and returned to the islands in 1894. Mr. Isenberg entered the house of H Hackfeld & Co, Ltd” (Logan, 1907,) “going through every clerical position and finally becoming the head of the establishment.” (Evening Bulletin, November 7, 1905)

“As German Consul he entertained both in his consular and private capacities, in a lavish manner. In 1897 Mr. Isenberg married Miss Virginia Duisenberg of San Francisco, daughter of Chas AC Duisenberg, the first German Consul of San Francisco, who arrived there in 1849.”

“The late Hon. Paul Isenberg, formerly of H Hackfeld & Co., Ltd., who died in 1903, was HA Isenberg’s father. … Mr Isenberg came into a large estate on his father’s death and his interests in the H Hackfeld concerns were substantial.” (Evening Bulletin, November 7, 1905)

The Isenberg home-turned-hotel “is in the most beautiful residential portion of Honolulu – Punahou. Lovely grounds occupying five acres of tropical garden surround the palatial building. The O‘ahu College is close by and the entrance to the exquisite and historic valley of Mānoa is reached by the cars running past the hotel.” (CowCard)

It appears shortly after the Macdonald announcement, the Isenbergs took control of the property and planned for expansion. “Mrs. Alexander Isenberg and two sons, Rudolph and Alexander, and maid, and Miss Duisenberg, are aboard the Pacific Mail steamship Mongolia en route to Honolulu to spend the winter at the Hotel Pleasaston, after an absences of about two years.”

“Mrs. Isenberg is coming down, not only to renew old friendships, but to look over the improvements at the Pleasanton. Although many improvements are under way there under the direction of Mrs. Duisenberg, Mrs Isenberg contemplates even more additions.”

“The Pleasanton ‘s business has been increasing rapidly and there are now fifty guests, although the room space is rather limited.”

“A three-story building is in course of erection in the mauka portion of the grounds. This was planned for a bachelors’ house, but owing to the demands for rooms this will be thrown open to general business and will accommodate about fifty people.”

“A cottage on College street has been leased to house additional guests. Another building may yet be erected. The one under construction will be ready in less than a month.”

“The swimming pool is to be remodeled and the building over it enlarged to accommodate numerous bathrooms. The tennis court is to be rebuilt and surrounded by tall iron posts, so that a canvas cover can be drawn over it.”

“A pergola will connect the old building with the annex and at the center, just opposite the tennis court, a bandstand will be built. Spectators will occupy seats on the tennis court. A dancing floor, built in sections, will be built for use on the tennis court.”

“The main entrances to the grounds will be beautified by stone posts surmounted by electroliers.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 24, 1909)

It was promoted as, “on the car lines at Punahou Street and Wilder Avenue, within 12 minutes of the business center, pos toffice
and government buildings.”

“The pleasanton is situated in a tropical garden covering five acres on the at the foot of beautiful Mānoa valley whence it receives the delightful mountain breeze day and night.”

“in this garden are palms and other flowering plants in all the grandeur peculiar to the tropics, affording a most delightful outdoor retreat for guests.” (Hawaiian Star, December 10, 1910)

In 1950, the Lutheran Church purchased part of the old Alexander Isenberg/Pleasanton Hotel property. On another portion of the property the YWCA built ‘Fernhurst’ (in 1952,) offering nightly shared accommodations. Between them is a high-rise condominium building that retains the memory of the old hotel in its name: The Pleasanton.

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