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April 23, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Meyer Sugar

At the age of twenty-four, Rudolph Wilhelm Meyer emigrated from Germany to Hawaiʻi where he arrived on January 20, 1850. At the time, Meyer listed his occupation as a surveyor.

His main purpose in leaving Germany was to join the “Gold Rush” to California in 1848, but he was delayed on a stopover in Sidney, Australia, and again in Tahiti, after which he landed at Lāhaina, Maui.

Meyer spoke German, French and English when he arrived in Hawaiʻi, and soon wrote and spoke fluent Hawaiian.

Meyer settled on Molokai. There, he met the Reverend Harvey Rexford Hitchcock I, who accepted him as a house guest at Kaluaʻaha, Molokai.

While living with Reverend Hitchcock, he met High Chiefess Kalama Waha, who later became his wife. Sometime later, he moved his family to Honolulu where he worked for Austin and Becker at an office located on Maunakea Street.

The Meyer family later moved back to Molokai and made their permanent residence at Kalaʻe. They eventually had eleven children, six boys and five girls.

He supported his family, in part, by holding a number of local commissions from the Royal Hawaiian government, but primarily from his diverse agricultural activity.

Ranching began on Molokai in the first half of the 19th-century when Kamehameha V set up a country estate on the island, part of which is now the Molokai Ranch. Rudolph Meyer, one of the first western farmers on Molokai, served as ranch manager for King Kamehameha V. (DLNR)

He planted at various times coffee, corn, wheat, oats, taro, potatoes, beets, cassava, peaches, mangoes, bananas and grapes. He was the first on Molokai to grow, produce and mill sugar and coffee commercially and he exported these to Honolulu and California. He also operated a large dairy from which he produced butter.

Meyer started to grow sugar at the time when the 1876 Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Hawaiʻi removed the tariff on Hawaiian sugar sold in the United States.

Rather than the expansion and innovation that followed the Treaty, Meyer scaled his mill to satisfy the modest 50- ton annual production from his family’s 30-acres of sugar cane.

Constructed in the 1870s the RW Meyer Sugar Mill is one of the only sites in Hawaiʻi with sufficient material remains intact to demonstrate, fairly completely, a nineteenth-century process of sugar manufacture. The equipment included a mule-driven cane crusher, redwood evaporating pans and some copper clarifiers.

In the early-1880s, when the average investment in Hawaiʻi’s fifth-six sugar plantations exceeded $280,000, the Meyer family investment of $10,000 made their mill one of the smallest in Hawaiʻi.

Meyer adopted and followed mill practices more representative of the 1850s and the 1860s than the 1870s and 1880s. In the 1850s, animals powered the mill equipment; while he stuck with this method into the future, others replaced the animal power with steam and water.

The Meyer Sugar Mill easily accommodated the milling requirements of the family’s sugar lands and repaid the investment within a few years; however, during the 1880s the price paid for sugar steadily declined.

The Planters’ Monthly reported in July, 1887, that “Low prices of sugar still prevail…and many a man who once thought himself assured of reasonable wealth through sugar, now finds that it will not even yield him a competence…only running the sugar business on a large scale can it be made to pay.”

In 1892, CM Hyde reported that the Meyer Mill stopped producing sugar cane when “The low price of the product for the last few years … made it more than unprofitable to engage in sugar manufactured in a small way. Now the lands are given up to grazing.”

Meyer also served as the Superintendent of the isolated Kalawao settlement (Kalaupapa) (serving with Father Damien and Mother Marianne Cope (now, both are Saints)) from 1866 till his death in 1897 (he continued to live with his family at the top of the cliffs, rather than on the Kalaupapa Peninsula.)

He also created one of the first trails used to travel between Kalaupapa Peninsula and the mauka lands. It was used to transport cattle and supplies down to Kalawao.

RW Meyer Ltd still owns property in the southwest corner of the Kalaupapa National Historical Park near the Kalaupapa Trailhead and maintains a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Park for trail access, maintenance and the planting of native plants. The Meyer Mill has been restored and is operating as a museum. Lots of information here is from NPS and rwmeyer-com.

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Meyer_house-late-1800s-(rwmeyer-com)
RW Meyer Sugar Mill-Museum
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Meyer Sugar Mill Museum (Crusher)
Meyer Sugar Mill Museum (Crusher)
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Meyer Sugar Mill Museum
Meyer Sugar Mill Museum
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Meyer Sugar
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R.W._Meyer

Filed Under: General, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Molokai, Sugar, Treaty of Reciprocity, Saint Damien, Kalaupapa, Kalawao, Saint Marianne, Meyer Sugar

February 28, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1880s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1880s – Kalākaua goes on his world tour, Matson acquires his first vessel, Pauahi dies, Bayonet Constitution and Pearl Harbor is leased by US Navy. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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Timeline-1880s
Timeline-1880s

Filed Under: General, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Military, Place Names, Prominent People, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks, Economy Tagged With: King Kalakaua, Pearl Harbor, Matson, World Tour, Saint Marianne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bayonet Constitution, Hawaii, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Kalakaua

August 4, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Henry P Baldwin Home for Boys and Helpless Men

In 1879, Father Damien established a home at Kalawao for boys and elderly men. In 1886, Father Damien had some twenty or thirty of the patients in a little cluster of shanties and cabins scattered around his house.

Ira Barnes Dutton read about the work of Father Damien and he sought to help Damien on Molokai – “to do some good for my neighbor and at the same time make it my penitentiary in doing penance for my sins and errors.” From San Francisco, he sailed for Molokai. (McNamara)

When he arrived on July 29, 1886, although he never took religious vows, he became known as “Brother Joseph” and “Brother Dutton,” “brother to everybody.” (McNamara)

Father Damien’s home for boys at Kalawao had always been one of the most important facilities at the settlement and a project very dear to his heart. After Brother Dutton’s arrival, most of the work of the home fell to him, which consisted of providing leadership and discipline, medical treatment, and food and clothing.

“In 1887 (the Home) began to spread, and we built two houses of considerable size. This enlargement was sufficient as to capacity up to 1890 – in fact, we had to do with it until May, 1894. … It also housed some women and girls.” (Dutton)

On January 1, 1889, the Damien Home was accepted as an official reality by the Board of Health and operated as a home under the management of Father Damien.

After Damien’s death (April 15, 1889,) the Board of Health placed Mother Marianne in charge of the home, and provided a horse and carriage for the sisters to use in traveling between Kalaupapa and Kalawao. (Mother Marianne and the Sisters were operating the Charles R Bishop Home for Unprotected Leper Girls and Women that was constructed in 1888 at Kalaupapa.)

On May 22, 1889, Sisters Crescentia and Irene arrived at Kalaupapa from Kaka‘ako to help at the Boys’ Home. While the sisters generally supervised the domestic operations, such as sewing and housekeeping, Dutton was expected to be disciplinarian and leader.

He, however, concentrated mostly on keeping the accounts, attending to correspondence and general business affairs, handling the sore dressing, and attending the sick at the home and in the Kalawao hospital.

(Most of Brother Dutton’s work, however, would eventually revolve around the Baldwin Home for Boys, an enlargement of Father Damien’s Boys’ Home, and it was there that he probably made his most valuable and lasting contribution. (Greene, NPS))

By 1899, one of the chief features of Kalawao was the garden attached to the home – a banana plantation with several acres of vegetables. Vegetation at the home became quite lush through the years.

In his memoirs, Dutton described bushy masses of countless Croton plants – actually small trees – back of the garden and all around the sides. The variegated foliage gave the home the appearance of being set in a big, red bouquet.

By late spring 1890, the first official Home for Boys at Kalawao was completed. On May 15, Sister Crescentia (Directress), Sister Renata, and Sister Vincent moved into the new Convent of Our Lady of Mercy at Kalawao and assumed charge of the home.

Its purpose, decided upon in discussions among William O Smith, president of the Board of Health, Brother Dutton, and Baldwin, was to assist the men of the colony, make them comfortable, provide some recreation, and generally help them make the most out of their lives.

In 1892, funds were given to the board by Henry P Baldwin, Protestant sugar planter, financier and philanthropist of missionary stock, for the erection of four separate buildings to comprise the Baldwin Home for Leprous Boys and Men at Kalawao.

The new home was occupied during the first week of May 1894. The complex consisted of twenty-nine separate structures, most new, but some moved across the street from the grounds of St. Philomena.

In the dormitories the smaller boys were at the lower end on the right side in front of the tailor shop. Advancing up the hill, the residents increased in age and size to the recreation hall. On the other side were full grown men, gradually increasing in age so that the two lower dormitories housed the old and helpless.

From there they were moved to the house for the dead, near the church, just below the singing house. Below the two dorms for old and helpless patients was the office, containing the stock of drugs and a storage room for drugs, surplus small materials, and tools, opening into the shoe shop, saddle room, and Dutton’s bathroom.

The bathhouse and sore dressing rooms connected with the office by ten-foot-wide verandahs. The verandahs, with long benches lining the sides, were used for playing games and musical instruments and for perusing magazines and books.

Under one roof were the poi house, boiler house, beef room, pantry, and banana room. Nearby were a dining room, kitchen, woodshed and coal room, a lime and cement room, and a slop house. The storage house, for provisions and housekeeping articles, fronted on the road.

While the institution was primarily for the housing and care of boys, regulations were passed later by the Board of Health which permitted the entrance, when room was available, of older patients who desired to live there, although only males were allowed.

The Baldwin Home was to be a retreat at all times open to leprous boys and to men who, through the progress of the disease or some other cause, had become helpless.

All boys arriving at the settlement under the age of eighteen, unless in the care of their parents or guardians or near relatives who would watch over them, were to enter the home until reaching eighteen, when they could leave with permission of the superintendent.

The patients were given clothing, food, care, and medical attention, and in return were expected to work about the establishment.

By the time the home was finished, the general movement of people toward Kalaupapa had already begun. This was a slow process, actually beginning in the 1880s.

Because of the disciplinary problems involved in running a home full of active boys, it was decided that a group of strong Christian men should be put in charge.

On December 1, 1895, the Catholic sisters were relieved of duty at the home by the arrival of four Sacred Hearts brothers, who were placed under the direction of Brother Dutton. (Greene, NPS)

According to Dutton, it was not until 1902 that all the patients at Kalawao, except for those in the Baldwin Home, had moved to the other side of the peninsula. As originally built and expanded upon, the home consisted of forty-five buildings, mostly dormitories.

Buildings in the complex by the early 1930s numbered about fifty-five, including small structures such as the ash and oil houses. The brothers’ house (formerly lived in by the Catholic sisters) was the best constructed, with a fine yard in front, on the road nearly opposite the singing house (fashioned from Damien’s old two-story house).

In 1932, the ice plant and airport at Kalaupapa were completed and a new hospital opened. The old Kalaupapa general hospital was converted to the new Baldwin Home, after the old home at Kalawao burned down.

This completed the transfer of patients to the Kalaupapa side of the peninsula. In 1950, the Baldwin Home for Men and Boys merged with the Bay View Home. (Bay View Home, first established in 1901, served as a group home for older, disabled, and blind residents. Patients at Bay View shared meals in a central dining room, and received round-the-clock nursing care.)

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Baldwin Home & St. Philomena Church
Baldwin Home & St. Philomena Church
Baldwin Home Kalawao
Baldwin Home Kalawao
Damien at the Boys' Home
Damien at the Boys’ Home
Baldwin Home-Molokai-eBay
Baldwin Home-Molokai-eBay
Baldwin Home-Kalawao-NIH
Baldwin Home-Kalawao-NIH
Baldwin Home Kitchen Ruins, West of St. Philomena Church-LOC
Baldwin Home Kitchen Ruins, West of St. Philomena Church-LOC
Baldwin Home Kitchen Ruins, West of St. Philomena Church-Kalawao-LOC
Baldwin Home Kitchen Ruins, West of St. Philomena Church-Kalawao-LOC
Rock Crusher, At ruins of Baldwin Home For Boys,Molokai-LOC
Rock Crusher, At ruins of Baldwin Home For Boys,Molokai-LOC

Filed Under: Buildings, Prominent People, General Tagged With: Sister Crescentia, Sister Irene, Hawaii, Saint Damien, Kalaupapa, Kalawao, Saint Marianne, Brother Joseph, Ira Barnes Dutton, Molokai, Baldwin Home

June 24, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kapiʻolani Home

“In fulfillment of the commands of His Majesty, and to carry out the views of my colleagues of the Board of Health and the community in the erection of a Home for leper girls, I now present to Your Majesty, as Lady Patroness of this benevolent institution, named after Your Majesty, the keys of this Home.” (Gibson, Dedication of Kapiʻolani Home, November 9, 1885)

“Queen Kapiʻolani took the keys in her hand and proceeded to the door leading into the refectory. She put a key, especially marked, into the door, unlocked it, and then, withdrawing the key, handed it to the Reverend Mother Superior, with the remark:”

“’I deliver these keys to you.’ The President of the Board of Health then said: ‘By command of His Majesty the King I declare the Home now open.’” (Dedication of Kapiʻolani Home, November 9, 1885)

Kapi‘olani had visited Kalaupapa in 1884 to learn how she could assist those who were diagnosed with leprosy and exiled there, and she raised the funds to build the Kapiʻolani Home for Girls. (KCC)

Queen Kapiʻolani, Father Damien de Veuster (now Saint Damien,) Dr Eduard Arning and Mother Marianne (now Saint Marianne) recognized the need for a home for the non-infected children of the leprosy patients.

On November 9, 1885, the healthy girls living in Kalawao moved into Kapiʻolani Home on the grounds of the sisters’ convent at the Kaka’ako Branch Hospital. (Hawaii Catholic Herald)

“It will accommodate fifty inmates, besides the matron, and will be under the supervision and control of the Sisters of Charity, of whom there are now seven, including the Mother Superior attached to the Convent of their order, which is within the enclosure of the Branch Hospital.”

“The Home is a two-story building, on the mauka side of the Branch Hospital, and separated from it by a high fence. The building is 70 feet by 50 feet, and is surrounded by open-railed verandas, 10 feet wide, which furnish a cool and sheltered place for play in all weather.”

“On the ground floor, which is approached by a wide flight of steps to the lower veranda, are two store rooms, an office, class room and refectory. The last two are spacious rooms, well lighted and ventilated, the height of the ceiling being 13 feet 1 inch.
A wide flight of stairs on the outside loads to the upper floor, on which are situate two large dormitories, two bath rooms and matron’s room.”

“The arrangement of these dormitories deserves mention. The one on the mauka or land side, which is the breeziest, from the prevailing wind, will be occupied by girls who have developed the disease; the other will be occupied by girls who are as yet free from it, but who, having been born of leper parents, may be reasonably suspected of having the disease latent in their blood.”

“There will be no communication between these rooms. Separate closets and baths have been provided for each class of inmates. In this way it is hoped to minimize the risk of contagion, by preventing the clean breathing the same atmosphere with the unclean at night.”

“During the daytime, when there is a free circulation of air, the risk of contagion is so slight that it need hardly be estimated. At the same time it should be stated that no bad case of leprosy will be admitted to the Home, but only such as gives hopes of yielding to cleanliness, wholesome food, moderate exercise and kind and scientific treatment.”

“A notice of this kind would be incomplete were no mention made of the Branch Leper Hospital contiguous to the Home, and the noble Christian work performed therein by the Sisters of Charity. The Branch Hospital was established in 1881, and as in the case of the Leper Settlement at Molokai, it was not well managed at the outset, nor indeed, until after the arrival of the first party of the Sisters two years ago precisely yesterday.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 9, 1885)

“I had the honor to address the Bishop of Olba a letter, dated January 4, 1883, in which I informed His Lordship that the care of the sick poor of this Kingdom had most earnestly enlisted the sympathies of Their Majesties the King and Queen and awakened the solicitude of the Government) that they appreciated the necessity for trained and faithful nurses, and felt that nowhere could such invaluable assistance be obtained so readily as among the ranks of those blessed Sisterhoods of Charity, who have, in various parts of the earth devoted themselves to the care of the sick”. (Address by Gibson, President of the Board of Health)

From 50 other religious communities in the United States, only Mother Marianne’s Order of Sisters agreed to come to Hawaii to care for people with Hansen’s Disease (known then as leprosy.)

The Sisters arrived in Hawaii on November 8, 1883, dedicating themselves to the care of the 200 lepers in Kaka‘ako Branch Hospital on Oahu. This hospital was built to accommodate 100 people, but housed more than 200 people. (Cathedral of Our lady of Peace)

Kapiʻolani Home was devoted to the care of non-leprous girls of leprous parents, not yet confirmed as lepers, and others suspected of the disease.

Under the care of the Franciscan Sisters, the government has provided a home for many little girls born of leper parents. It is exceedingly rare that a child inherits leprosy, and even where both parents are lepers, if the child be removed before it has become infected with the disease there is small danger of its developing leprosy.

These non-leprous children are generally taken from their parents when 2 years of age. Sometimes friends of the family provide for them, and in other cases they are taken to the home.

Girls, ranging from 2 to 20 years of age, who are not only given a good school education, but trained in such branches of domestic work as are necessary to fit them to become useful members of the community thereafter.

This home is for girls, and is insufficient to accommodate the present number of inmates comfortably. There is a necessity for a similar institution for boys and for enlarging the present capacity of the Kapiʻolani Home. (Hawaiian Commission, September 8, 1898) (A Boys Home was later built in Kalihi.)

After the hospital closed in 1888, the home was moved three times: first, to a more suitable new building adjacent to the Kalihi Receiving Station; second, to a temporary camp in Waiakamilo when a typhoid epidemic closed the previous home in 1900; finally, in 1912 to Kalihi where the patients’ children were housed until 1938. (Hawaii Catholic Herald)

Mother Marianne died in Kalaupapa on August 9, 1918. The Sisters of St. Francis continue their work in Kalaupapa with victims of Hansen’s Disease. No sister has ever contracted the disease. (Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace)

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Gibson_and_Mother_Marianne_Cope-Kakaako_Leper_Detention_Center
Gibson_and_Mother_Marianne_Cope-Kakaako_Leper_Detention_Center
Kapiolani Girls Home-1907
Kapiolani Girls Home-1907
Kapiolani Girls Home-new_dormitory-1907
Kapiolani Girls Home-new_dormitory-1907
Kapiolani Girls Home-Sisters_Residence-1907
Kapiolani Girls Home-Sisters_Residence-1907
Queen Kapiolani Statue
Queen Kapiolani Statue
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Mother_Marianne_Cope_in_her_youth

Filed Under: General, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Prominent People Tagged With: Hawaii, Oahu, Saint Marianne, Molokai, Kapiolani Home

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Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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