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July 14, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hobrons

Two brothers (Thomas Henry Hobron (1823-1889) & Ebenezer Coit Hobron (1834-1921)) came to Hawaii in about 1853 or ‘54, from New London, Conn. Thomas’ son, Thomas William Hobron, also has a role in this story.

Captain Thos. H Hobron “laid his schooner on the Kahului route and became identified with the East Maui trade, making his home at Grove Ranch, where he started the sugar plantation known by that name, which [later] consolidated with the Paia Sugar Company.”

Grove Ranch was on 3,000 acres in Hāli‘imaile and Pā‘ia; his Waihe‘e sugar mill was managed by Samuel Alexander and his field boss is H.P. Baldwin. (Orr)

“From his schooners and plantation he accumulated quite a large fortune. … [H]e engaged very successfully in the codfish and salmon expeditions sent out from San Francisco to the North Pacific. …”

On July 17, 1879 Captain Thomas H Hobron ran the first train line from Kahului to Wailuku; the 3-foot-wide was eventually extended to over 15 miles in length along the north coast to Kuiaha with a number of branch lines. (AASHTO) The Kahului & Wailuku Railroad began passenger service on Maui on, thus initiating the first rail common carrier in the Islands. (Schmitt)

That year, Hobron issued in 12 ½ cent copper tokens bearing the initials ‘T. H. H.’ (as well as G. R. P.) and ‘12 ½’ on the obverse. In the same year he also issued a 2 ½ cent copper token, intended also for use on the Kahului railroad.

Within a year or two the line was extended eastward from Kahului to Pāʻia. The enterprise was incorporated July 1, 1881 as the Kahului Railroad Company.

The Kahului station was located southeast of the harbor at Hobron Point (the east side of the harbor (which includes Pier 1)) and tracks extended through Spreckelsville as well as to the sugar mill at Puʻunene.

Hobron, who also was postmaster of Kahului, allowed mail to be sent free over the railroad. Later, in 1884, a subsidy of $25 per month was paid for hauling mail. Mail carried on the railroad was in closed bags for delivery to postmasters along the route. Probably loose letters were also carried. (HawaiianStamps)

Thomas H Hobron’s son, Thomas William Hobron, was “a druggist by profession”.  (HnlAdv, March 21, 1922) “Hobron, Newman & Co were incorporated September 21, 1891. TW Hobron and ER Newman, the principals, went to San Francisco in the following October, and procured a complete stock of drugs, chemicals toilet articles, etc.”

“They opened for business on November 16th, 1891, in a handsome new store at Fort and King sts.  All car lines pass the store, so that there is not a more central stand in Honolulu.”

“On May 31st, 1894, TW Hobron purchased ER Newman’s stock.  The name of the corporation changed to Hobron Drug Co in August [1894].  One feature of the young corporation’s enterprise is its liberal advertising.” (Daily Bulletin, Dec 22, 1894)

Hobron Drug Co (that noted themselves as ‘Cut-rate Druggists,) marketed themselves saying, “Anything bearing our name is a guarantee.  We cannot afford not to make good anything bearing our name.”

“We believe in generous dealing. We are going to give the people the most for their money; we are doing it every day.  Test us.”

 (Hawaiian Star, April 4, 1896)

Thomas William Hobron, allowed Jack London and his wife Charmian to stay in Hobron’s bungalow at Pearl Harbor.  In 1906, Jack London announced he was planning a trip on a boat – the Snark – he was to build and do blue-water sailing on a round-the-world cruise.  (The Snark was named after one of Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poems.)

“‘Honolulu first,’ said London yesterday. ‘After that we are not very definite. Everybody’s in good health, the bourgeoise tradesmen have finally freed us, the boat is staunch, the weather fine. What more a man wants I don’t know.’”

“‘Meet me in Paris,’ called Mrs. Jack London back through the megaphone as the boat disappeared. ‘Isn’t it glorious? Good-by, everybody!” [April 23, 1907]

“On the mainland, before sailing out through the Golden Gate, [Jack and Charmian] made the fortunate acquaintance of one, Mr. Thomas W. Hobron, artist, merchant, good fellow, and citizen of Honolulu, who spoke in this wise: …”

“‘I wonder if you two would care to put up in my little shack on the peninsula? It isn’t much to look at, and there’s only room enough for the two of you; but it’s brimful of Aloha, if you care to use it.’ …”(Jack London in Hawaii, Blunt)

“Folks flocked down to the waterfront to get a glimpse of the little craft which was designed to circumnavigate the globe.”

“A glimpse was all they got, for the Snark gave a line to Young Brothers’ tug Waterwitch and was towed to Pearl Harbor, where she dropped anchor off the Hobron place, and will probably remain there for the best part of the next two months.” (Hawaiian Gazette, May 21, 1907)

“So here are we, blessing good Tom Hobron, as we shall bless him all our years, for the gift of so idyllic a resting-spot after the tumult of our first traverse on the bit of boat yonder. …”

“Leaving the crew aboard to make everything snug, Jack and [Charmian] were carried by launch farther up the Loch to a long wooden foot-pier that leads over the shallow shore-reef to a spacious suburban place where live Albert Waterhouse and his little family.” (Jack London in Hawaii, Blunt)

Thomas Henry Hobron’s brother E Coit Hobron was a little over 18-years of age when they arrived; he became a resident of the Islands for almost 70 years. “He was prominent on Honolulu business circles for many years and was … one of the founders of the Honolulu Brewing & Malting company”. (PCA, Feb 13, 1921)

“The Honolulu Brewing and Malting Company, Limited, which has been in course of formation for several weeks. Has incorporated … A. Hocking, the Senator, is president of the new company.  He is also treasurer and Mr E Coit Hobron is secretary.” (PCA, Nov 23, 1898)

A new plant and their first brew came out in 1901; “On Saturday afternoon the offices and buildings of the Honolulu Brewing and Malting Co were thrown open to the general public …”

“… a large crowd of citizens assembled at the brewery, some attracted by curiosity and a desire for knowledge and others actuated by a laudable desire to sample the product”. (Evening Bulletin, June 17, 1901)

“The Honolulu Brewing and Malting Co have a home production – ‘Primo Lager Beer’ – why not order some when it is the equal of any beer brewed?” (Honolulu Republican, June 27, 1901)

“There is not a brewery of its size in the world more thoroughly adapted to the uses designed. There have been mistakes it details and not cost has been spared to make the plant like the beer, ‘Primo.’”  (Evening Bulletin, June 17, 1901)

“Following more dredging to widen a path to sea through the reef, the Territorial Government initially constructed the Ala Wai Boat Harbor in 1935 at the mouth of the Canal with purported financial support from the Hobron family, who had purchased land in the Kālia area.” (DLT) Kalia’s Hobron Lane in Waikiki is named for brothers Thomas Henry Hobron and Ebenezer Coit Hobron.

© 2025 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: General, Prominent People, Economy Tagged With: Hobron, Ebenezer Hobron, Hobron Drug, Grove Ranch, Honolulu Brewing, Hawaii, Jack London, Kahului Railroad, Thomas Hobron

July 17, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kahului Railroad Company

Wū-wū Kaʻa Ahi Kahului
Ke alahao a i Wailuku
Wū-wū Kaʻa Ahi Kahului
Chūkū-chūkū mua o Hawai`i

Chorus:
Woo-woo! Kahului Railroad
Tracks all the way to Wailuku
Woo-woo! Kahului Railroad
The first train of Hawaiʻi
(Kaʻa Ahi Kahului; Palani Vaughan)

Less than a decade after the construction of the first transcontinental railway in the US, the first steam railroad line in Hawaii was established. (Akinaka)

On July 17, 1879 Captain Thomas H Hobron ran the first train line from Kahului to Wailuku; the 3-foot-wide was eventually extended to over 15 miles in length along the north coast to Kuiaha with a number of branch lines. (AASHTO)

That year, Hobron issued in 12 ½ cent copper tokens bearing the initials ‘T. H. H.’ and ‘12 ½’ on the obverse. In the same year he also issued a 2 ½ cent copper token, intended also for use on the Kahului railroad.

Within a year or two the line was extended eastward from Kahului to Pāʻia. The enterprise was incorporated, July 1, 1881, as the Kahului Railroad Company.

Since then, railroad lines have been built on the four larger Islands connecting the sugar plantations and other industrial communities with their shipping points. (Akinaka)

But passengers were not the primary part of the rail’s business. The isthmus between Haleakala and West Maui contained rich soils ideal for crop cultivation. Within a few short years, the region soon supported one of the largest sugar plantations in the world.

In 1876, following the Reciprocity Treaty, other Westerners gained interest in Maui’s agriculture potential, including Claus Spreckels (who came to Hawaiʻi from San Francisco.)

Spreckels leased land from the government and obtained the water rights needed to build a large irrigation ditch that provided water for crops. These events set the stage for the establishment of Maui’s first railroad system. Rail transported cane from the fields to the harbor.

The Kahului station was located southeast of the harbor at Hobron Point (the east side of the harbor (which includes Pier 1) and tracks extended through Spreckelsville as well as to the sugar mill at Puʻunene.

By 1889, the company reported more miles of track plus three locomotives, two passenger cars, one baggage-mail car, 14 platform cars and 60 boxcars. (JoDorner)

By the turn of the 19th century, Kahului supported a new customhouse, a saloon, a Chinese restaurant and a small but growing population.

In 1901, Kahului Railroad purchased its first tugboat, the Leslie Baldwin, to tow lighters to and from vessels. The railroad company was instrumental in Kahului Harbor development.

The final stretch of line even included a steel bridge over the Maliko Gorge which, at nearly 230-feet, was the highest railway bridge in Hawaiʻi. (AASHTO)

Besides rail equipment, “the Kahului Railroad Company owns and operates the steamer Leslie Baldwin, two wharves with the necessary appliances for handling freight, and nine lighters of 65 tons capacity each.” (Report of Governor, 1903)

Hobron, who also was postmaster of Kahului, allowed mail to be sent free over the railroad. Later, in 1884, a subsidy of $25 per month was paid for hauling mail. Mail carried on the railroad was in closed bags for delivery to postmasters along the route. Probably loose letters were also carried. (HawaiianStamps)

In 1894, the Kahului Railroad decided to obtain a set of stamps and turned to the American Bank Note Company to produce lithographed stamps for special use on the railroad to pay freight and packages sent outside the mail. (HawaiianStamps)

Hobron also owned Grove Ranch Plantation in Makawao. (Hobron Drug Company, that was based in Honolulu, was owned by TW Hobron, the son of Thomas H Hobron.)

Steam locomotive No. 12 was built in 1928 for the Kahului Railroad Company in Hawaii by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Kahului Railroad hauled sugar from the fields to a mill and then took the finished sugar to the port of Kahului. Later extensions of the line allowed it to haul other commodities, such as pineapple, to the port. No. 12’s Hawaiian background has earned it the nickname “Pineapple Princess”. (MCRR)

Trains hauled goods to stores and mills, pineapple from field to cannery, and passengers to school or work. The military took over the rails during World War II, transporting everything from food to amphibious vehicles. (Engledow)

The Kahului Railroad outlasted its fellow railways in the state, in addition to the honors of being the first railway, it was also the last public railroad in operation. Today, some of the tracks and equipment are used for a tourist train that was constructed on the west side of Maui. (AASHTO)

Engine No. 12 made its last run on May 24, 1966 and in 1967 was sent to the mainland. Eventually, Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, Idaho purchased the engine. Now Engine No. 12 is a part of Colorado history and has been returned to service as part of the Georgetown Loop Historic Mining & Railroad Park. (JoDorner)

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© 2016 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Kahului_Railway-hawaii-gov
Kahului_Railway-hawaii-gov
Kahului Railroad engines line up for a picture taking session in 1911.
Kahului Railroad engines line up for a picture taking session in 1911.
Kahului Railroad Steam Locomotive-WC-1911
Kahului Railroad Steam Locomotive-WC-1911
Kahului_Railway-No._12-hawaii-gov
Kahului_Railway-No._12-hawaii-gov
12_in_Hawaii
12_in_Hawaii
Kahului, Maui. Puunene Store, left. Kahului Railroad Station and post office, right-hawaii-edu-Circa 1930s
Kahului, Maui. Puunene Store, left. Kahului Railroad Station and post office, right-hawaii-edu-Circa 1930s
1879 Thomas Hobron Kahului & Wailuku Railroad_Token
1879 Thomas Hobron Kahului & Wailuku Railroad_Token
1879 Thomas Hobron Kahului & Wailuku Railroad Token
1879 Thomas Hobron Kahului & Wailuku Railroad Token
SS Claudine docked at the Claudine Wharf-(MasterPlan2025)
SS Claudine docked at the Claudine Wharf-(MasterPlan2025)

Filed Under: Economy, General Tagged With: Kahului Railroad, Thomas Hobron, Rail, Hawaii, Maui

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