Wahiawa | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

January 5, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tree-named Hotels

Edward Payson Irwin was born in DeWitt, Iowa, May 7, 1875; he graduated from the University of Kansas in 1897. After enlisting and serving in the US Army during the Spanish-American War, he came to Hawai‘i in 1906 to be a reporter for the Bulletin. (HSA)

“Irwin was an accomplished newsman who acted as a gadfly over many years against the establishment and its press and against the fiscal ‘extravagance’ of the government. Progressive in politics and social issues.” (Guide to newspapers of Hawaiʻi, 1834-2000, Chapin)

Irwin served as City Editor and later Editor for the Advertiser. He later founded and was editor for the Weekly Times (also called the Honolulu Times). (Hawai‘i Sate Archives) He worked at other publications.

Irwin developed an interest in Waikīkī. Historically, Waikīkī encompassed fishponds, taro lo‘i, coconut groves and a reef-protected beach that accommodated Hawaiian canoes.

Waikīkī shifted from agricultural to residential uses, with private residences for the Hawaiian royalty and the well-to-do. Near the turn of the 20th century, some of these homes were converted into small hotels and eventually into world-class resorts.

Robert Lewers (whose firm Lewers & Cooke supplied much of the lumber for O‘ahu homes) built a two-story wooden frame bungalow with an open veranda overlooking a coconut grove in 1883.

In 1907, Irwin leased the Lewers’ house and converted the structure into a small hotel called the Hau Tree, in honor of the many trees that shaded the beachside lawn. (Halekulani)

Irwin had another tree-named hotel; this time in central O‘ahu.

“Wahiawa is 25 miles from town by rail. It is the original pineapple district founded by a colony of American agriculturists in 1899. It is a small village surrounded by pineapple fields, and being of an elevation of 1000 feet offers to pleasure-seekers and those seeking the cool atmosphere, recreation and rest.” (Aloha Guide, 1915)

It “also (has) several stores, markets, shops, laundry, etc., and two pineapple canneries. Now that the mails come twice a day by rail instead of twice a week by stage from Pearl City, as was the case formerly, a number of Honolulu people have built country houses.” (Paradise of the Pacific, Oct/Nov 1905)

Mr and Mrs Henry C Brown converted their Wahiawa home into the “Malukukui, their home-hotel among the pineapples at Wahiawa.” (Hawaiian Gazette, September 29, 1909)

“(I)ll health sent them to seek a quiet country life. They settled in Wahiawa, the largest pineapple country in the world, where they bought several acres of ground and built their home, evolving from it a small country inn in which they are now able to accommodate some fifty guests.”

“Every room has a fine view either over the restful pineapple fields or down the deep ravine on the edge of which the house is built. In the distance can be seen magnificent mountain ranges and glimpses of the Pacific ten miles distant.” (The Craftsman, 1909)

Then, in 1911, Trent Trust Co placed advertisements offering the Malukukui and its 10-acres of land for sale or lease. This was followed by, “The lease giving EP Irwin the control of the Wahiawa country resort formerly the Malukukui Hotel was signed yesterday by the trustees of the Atherton estate and the new proprietor took possession at once.”

“Numerous expensive additions and repairs about the place have been already planned and will be immediately executed increasing the capacity of the hotel and making it cosier and nearer the standards of the comfort in city hostelries.”

“An automobile will meet the trains at Wahiawa from the hotel and in its off moments act as a link between the Hau tree Irwins Waikiki Hotel and his new Wahiawa enterprise.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 7, 1911)

“The Kukui Tree, formerly known as Malukukui, at Wahiawa, is now open and ready to receive guests. Extensive Improvement are under way and will soon be completed. No place in Hawaii is as suitable to spend a week end at as the Kukui Tree.”

“Run up today or tomorrow and stay over Sunday and see if this is not true. If you try it once, The Kukui Tree will become a habit with you. The table is excellent, as are the accommodations. Inquiries may be made of EP Irwin, at the Hau Tree, phone 1389.” (Hawaiian Star, March 24, 1911)

“The necessity for a place such as Mr Irwin has reopened exists and he deserves all the patronage his enterprise should bring him. As managers of the Hau Tree at Waikiki, Mr and Mrs Irwin have demonstrated the fact that they know how. (Hawaiian Gazette, March 24, 1911)

However, “The Kukui Tree would pay big in the hands of anyone who could get a liquor license, or who would run a blind pig. … EP Irwin has decided to close the Kukui Tree, at Wahiawa. …”

“The place has not been paying. Mr. Irwin will devote all his attention now to his Waikiki place, the well known Hau Tree.” (Hawaiian Star, July 17, 1911)

However, Irwin’s Waikīkī enterprise also faltered, his lease expired, and the landowners ran an ad for new tenants. (Halekulani)

“Despite its location and modest rent, the business they took over was little better than a boarding house. There were three guests the day they moved into their 40-guest capacity hotel.” (From “Hali‘a Aloha o Halekulani”; Halekulani)

Nearby, the J Atherton Gilman family bought 3-acres and built a two-story house from a man named Hall. La Vancha Maria Chapin Gray rented the Gilman house in 1912 and converted it into a boarding house and named it Gray’s-by-the-Beach. The sandy area fronting it was soon referred to as Gray’s Beach.

In 1917, Clifford and Juliet Kimball acquired the Hau Tree Inn near Gray’s Beach and, in the late 1920s, they decided to expand and bought the Gilman property, including Gray’s-by-the-Sea and an adjacent parcel belonging to Arthur Brown.

When their expansion project was completed, the Kimballs had acquired over five acres of prime Waikīkī beachfront for their resort, which they named Halekūlani, or “house befitting heaven.”

November 29, 2025 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Karsten Thot

An inventory of bridges on Oʻahu, published in 1983, listed 127 built before 1940 and still standing.

Oʻahu’s 127 historic bridges are composed of five different types: reinforced concrete arch bridges, steel bridges, timber bridges, reinforced concrete deck girder bridges and reinforced flat slab bridges.

The historic steel bridges are further divided into three separate types; warren truss, steel girder and metal flume. A bridge is considered historic if built before 1940 and is associated with people and events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of Hawaii’s history.

The Karsten Thot Bridge was identified as worthy of historic recognition.

It was built in Wahiawa over the north fork of the Kaukonahua stream in 1932, by the John L Young Construction and Engineering Company for a price of just over $65,500.

The bridge is named after Karsten Thot, who was a prominent community-minded citizen and it was built by a prominent Honolulu businessman, who was a prolific builder.

The bridge-building company merged with another construction company and upon completion of the Thot bridge called itself the Hawaiian-American Construction Co.

Built in the style of steel railway bridges throughout the continent, it is the only structure of its type in existence on Oʻahu; due to salt water erosion problems steel bridges were phased out on Oʻahu.

The structure is a Warren-type through-truss steel bridge, with a single span 210-feet in length and 40-feet wide, with a vertical clearance of the bridge is 13’5″.

Karsten Thot was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on Feb. 12, 1889. He came to Hawaii in 1904. Thot worked as a field supervisor for Hawaiian Pineapple Co.

In addition, an announcement in the paper noted, ‘Karsten Thot, manager of the Hawaii Preserving Company, has opened a butcher shop at Castner Station, near Schofield Barracks.’ (Honolulu Star-bulletin, July 09, 1915)

Thot died in 1932, the year the bridge was under construction. He was survived by a wife and three children.

He “was very active in community affairs when the Honolulu Board of Supervisors under Charles Crane asked if they could name the bridge after him. This was not carried out until Fred Wright became mayor in 1937. In 1974 a memorial plaque was placed on the bridge by the family.” (Thompson)

When built, the bridge was said to be an important transportation link between the North Shore and Honolulu, contributing to the growth of Wahiawa.

That ultimately changed after the construction of the H-2 freeway, when Kamehameha Highway no longer was “the primary circum-island road.”

Critical emergency structural repairs have been made to the 80+-year-old steel bridge, including replacing rivets and repairing and replacing steel beams.

(Lots of information here from a report by Bethany Thompson, Honolulu-gov and Watanabe, Star-Bulletin.)

September 26, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Malukukui

“The Kukui Tree would pay big in the hands of anyone who could got a liquor license, or who would run a blind pig. … EP Irwin has decided to close the Kukui Tree, at Wahiawa. …”

“The place has not been paying. Mr. Irwin will devote all his attention now to his Waikiki place, the well known Hau Tree.” (Hawaiian Star, July 17, 1911)

Let’s look back …

Mr and Mrs Henry C Brown converted their Wahiawa home into the “Malukukui, their home-hotel among the pineapples at Wahiawa.” (Hawaiian Gazette, September 29, 1909)

“The house was built by Japanese carpenters and has some Japanese features; for example, the bedrooms on the sheltered side of the house have no glass in the windows, but only sliding screens and shutters which fold up on the outside to be used in the case of heavy rain.”

“The house is built of matched boards left rough on the outside but planed within, and over each joint, both inside and out, three-inch battens are laid. The roof is of galvanized iron, roofing much used in this district, and the whole is stained a dark moss green with white trimmings about the windows and doors.”

“The house is of significance to us, not alone because of its attractiveness or the fact that many of the ideas for which we stand have been put into practice within it; but as an example of what can be done in a country where there are few resources, by people who really desire to build a home after their own hearts.” (The Craftsman, 1909)

Wahiawa Hotel operated under the American plan, $2.50 upward per day; $15 upward per week; $45 upward per month. (Aloha Guide, 1915)

“The Hawaiian Islands Pineapple cannery is located here and may be inspected whenever it is running, the height of the canning season being from July to September.”

“Oahu Railway & Land Co … which obtained its franchise in 1888 operates a narrow gauge railway from Honolulu as far as Kahuku, a distance of 71 miles with a branch line to Wahiawa (13 miles), the pineapple district and to Leilehua, the army post.” (Aloha Guide, 1915)

“A large dam has been constructed here for the purpose of storing up water for the Waialua Sugar Plantation.” (Aloha Guide, 1915) “Motor-boating on fresh water is one of the attractions of Wahiawa.”

“The Wahiawa Water Company, desiring to conserve the ten billion gallons of water which annually flowed through the Kaukonahua streams, for use on Waialua sugar-cane lands, spent over a quarter of a million dollars building a dam and system of ditches and tunnels.”

“Forty-seven million gallons was Waialua’s daily allowance recently during the planting season—a good help to dividends. The dam backs water three and one-half miles up one branch and four and one-half of the Wahiawa Colony, whence it passes through the holdings of all the colonists, giving them means of irrigating at moderate rates. Recently a pipe system has been installed, removing all fears of dry weather.” (Paradise of the Pacific, Oct/Nov 1905)

“The lease giving EP Irwin the control of the Wahiawa country resort formerly the Malukukui Hotel was signed yesterday by the trustees of the Atherton estate and the new proprietor took possession at once.”

However, as noted in the initial quote, “The place has not been paying (and) EP Irwin has decided to close the Kukui Tree, at Wahiawa.” There is limited mention of the Malukukui or the Kukui Tree after that.

March 29, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Keanianileihuaokalani – Healing Stone of Wahiawa

Cultures collided at Keanianileihuaokalani.

Keanianileihuaokalani was a large tongue-shaped stone that has since been split into three pieces. Hawaiians view it as a healing stone; Hindus see it as an embodiment of the god Shiva. (According to reports, they appear to have worked (working) out how they work together.)

Reportedly, originally found in Kaukonahua gulch by a Waialua Sugar worker, the 6-foot stone broke when it fell off a wagon while being moved. (They are now situated at the lower end of California Avenue in Wahiawa.)

Hawaiians believe that the stone has sacred healing properties. It was believed that all children of royal lineage were thrice blessed and elevated to a higher status if born at nearby Kūkaniloko, the center of the earth. (Reveria)

After childbirth, the new mothers would bath in the cool springs of Helemano. It was this mingling of blood and water that culminated into the healing mystic rains that fell upon the land, people and most importantly Keanianileihuaokalani giving the healing stone its healing powers. (Reveria)

On the day of a royal birth, all work stopped in anticipation of the first healing rains generated from the blessed event. These rains were Waiʻihiawa, mystical rains tainted with the blood of royalty. This healing rain fell freely on the people who lived and worked in Kūkaniloko. (Reveria)

“This rock being visited by people to worship these days is becoming something that truly is stirring the thoughts of some people here in Honolulu, and some who are living near Wahiawa are appealing to the Government and to the power of the Board of Health to move that rock from where it first stood, because in their opinion, this action by the people will cause an epidemic to grow here where all ethnicities are going and touching themselves against the bodies of others, and this will perhaps cause sicknesses to spread from one to another.”

“The Board of Health refused to step in and block this action by people who believe their ailments will be healed by touching the sick area to that rock of Wahiawa, and the birthing stones of the High Chiefs of this land in ancient times.”

“Some people have said that their weakness due to rheumatism by them going there and touching their areas of pain to that rock. Some say that their weak areas were not cured by touching the rock.” (Hoku o Hawaiʻi, November 1, 1927)

According to practitioners, the stone should be anointed with Waiʻihiawa rainwater. Appropriate and appreciated gifts are awa root, olena sprigs, herbs, lei and flowers. (Reveria)

In 1971 the Wahiawa Community and Businessmen’s Association asked the Hawaii Visitors Bureau to put up a sign to again call public attention to the “Healing Stone of Wahiawa.”

Hindu, who assumed a caretaker role for the stone also revere it as a manifestation of their deity, Shiva (it is interpreted to have a phallic shape.)

The Hindu recognized it as a Shiva image in 1988. At the time, the structure that enclosed the stones on three sides was a dilapidated concrete shed; a Hindu family turned the shed into a white marble shrine.

Hindus anoint themselves with smoke from sacred candles, part of the ceremonial cleansing of the stones. In their ritual, the stone is bathed in milk, rubbed with honey and draped with lei. (Reportedly, contrary to some claims, Hindus do not put oil or candle wax on the stone.)

The “healing stones” of Wahiawa drew hundreds of pilgrims in the 1930s, but few local people or tourists find their way to the off-the-beaten-path location these days. (star-bulletin)

September 19, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Wahiawa Dam and Reservoir (Lake Wilson)

“The greatest irrigation proposition ever undertaken in the Hawaiian Islands is the Wahiawa dam, which will soon be under course of construction in the Wahiawa valley, some miles from Honolulu. …”

“It will also be used for irrigating fruit lands belonging to a colony of settlers in the immediate vicinity of the dam and for generating electric power.” (Louisiana Planter, September 19, 1904)

“This dam will conserve in a great natural reservoir basin over two and a half billion gallons of water which will be used chiefly to irrigate the upper cane lands of the Waialua Agricultural Company’s great sugar plantation, eight miles away.” (Louisiana Planter, September 19, 1904)

“The dam will be built by the Wahiawa Water Company, which consists of the Waialua Agricultural Company and members of the colony of fruit growers who own the land which the reservoir will occupy when filled.”

“The site that has been selected, is just below the junction of the north and south forks of Kaukonahua, the largest and longest stream on the island of Oahu. The reservoir basin lies between the Waianae and Koolau ranges of mountains and extends up the north fork of the stream 3.5 miles and 4.5 miles up the south fork.” (Louisiana Planter, September 19, 1904)

By 1889, sugar cane had become a rapidly-developing crop on Oahu. Despite the fact that the Hawaiian Islands receive significant amounts of total rain, it falls sporadically onto volcanic soil that does little to hold it. For agricultural purposes, much of the terrain is practically desert unless the rainfall can be captured and held. (HeritageMuseumOC)

Initially the sugar plantations were dependent on irrigation systems that used massive pumps to lift rainwater up to 650-feet from artesian wells along the coast to the level of the plantations. This was a very expensive proposition and most likely required a great deal of maintenance. So the idea of building a dam became very attractive.

Leonard Grant (LG) Kellogg had settled in the colony of Wahiawa, which was primarily engaged in pineapple farming. He organized the Wahiawa Water Company with the purpose of providing drinking water and irrigation to the colony. The company constructed a ditch from a local water source to the colony.

The Wahiawā Colony Tract covered an area of 1,300-acres. The homesteaders formed an agricultural cooperative called the Hawaiian Fruit and Plant Company; later, they set aside the central town lots for the use and benefit of the Settlement Association of Wahiawā resident landowners. Within a few years, Wahiawā Town was underway.

In 1902, LG called in his mainland brother, Hiram Clay Kellogg, to survey the area as the site of a potential reservoir. He also turned to the Waialua Sugar Plantation to help finance a reservoir project and be a customer of the water after the dam was built.

Once the survey was completed, LG called on James Dix Schuyler, a prominent consulting engineer from Los Angeles. Schuyler recommended a dam structure that used a combination of rock fill (loose boulders packed together) and hydraulic fill (soil that is moved into place and compacted by water). Clay was hired to do the detailed plans for the dam and to supervise its construction.

Although officially named Wahiawa, the dam is also known as the Waialua. It was constructed at a fork in the Kaukonahua River, backing the water up into two separate valleys to form what may have been considered two reservoirs, implying two separate dams.

Construction began in 1903 and was completed in 1905. The logistics of the construction were challenging. Railroad track was laid for bringing in the boulders for the rock fill portion from as far away as 6-miles. A high trestle was built over the dam site, and the rocks were dropped into place. The long drop compacted them so they held in place.

At its completion, it was the highest dam and largest reservoir in the Hawaiian Islands. The dam rose 98-feet above the stream bed, was 460-feet long and 25-feet wide at the crest, and 580-feet wide at the base. The original capacity of the reservoir was 2.5-billion gallons. It cost $300,000 to build, and was considered something of a bargain.

The water from the Wahiawa dam was transported to the higher cane lands of the Waialua plantation by means of tunnels and ditches and reduced the cost of water from an average of $63-per acre to about $20-per acre. It will also served lands between the 700 and 400-feet levels which could not be supplied by pumps for less than $90 to $100-per acre.

The water supply feeding the reservoir was ample to fill it from 4 to 6-times per year; with rainfall distributed throughout the year, the reservoir was refilled in rapid succession as it is emptied. The average depth is 26-feet, with the maximum depth of 88-feet at the dam.

At the time, the capacity of the pumping plant on the Waialua plantation was 72,000,000-gallons daily (more than double the average consumption of the city of San Francisco, CA.)

Since 1957, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, through a cooperative agreement with Castle & Cooke, Inc., has managed Wahiawa Reservoir as a public fishing area. In 1968, a 14-foot wide concrete boat launching ramp and parking area were constructed by the State for public use.

The reservoir is stocked with both large and small mouth bass, bluegill sunfish, Channel catfish, Threadfin shad, tilapia, peacock bass, oscar, Chinese catfish, and carp. It is the responsibility of DLNR’s Division of Aquatic Resources to manage these gamefish populations within the reservoir for recreational fishing purposes.

In 1999, the invasive aquatic plant, salvinia molesta, invaded the reservoir; within months, its growth exploded to a point in 2003 that it covered 95% of the reservoir’s surface area.

Salvinia molesta is a plant that under ideal conditions will double in number in 2-3 days and double in volume in 7-10 days. Apparently, little was done to stop it. In addition to other concerns, at risk was a die-off of 500-tons of fish.

In the first month of my service at DLNR (January, 2003,) I asked our Chief Engineer (Eric Hirano) to prepare and oversee a plan to rid the reservoir of salvinia. By May 24 2003 (after approximately $1.7-million,) DLNR reopened the popular state park for public use of shore portions.

The park reopening, after nearly 3-months of closure, followed successful completion of intensive bulk extraction activities by State, City and County, and federal and military agencies. A month later, Wahiawa Freshwater Recreation Area was reopened to boat fishing. (Lots of information here from Heritage Museum of Orange County.)