Central Union Church dates back to the days of the Seaman’s Bethel Church in 1828. It was formally founded in 1887 and it moved into its present location in 1924.
In addition to developing new institutions within the church, the congregation made great strides in the field of missionary work in the city of Honolulu, including the beginning of the present Pālama Settlement.
Social worker James Arthur Rath, Sr. and his wife, Ragna Helsher Rath, turned Pālama Chapel into Pālama Settlement (in September 1906,) a chartered, independent, non-sectarian organization receiving contributions from the islands’ elite.
“… they called them ‘settlement houses,’ the philosophy being that the head worker, as they called them, settled in the community. Instead of going in to spend the day working and coming out, they settled in, raised their families there and in that way learned …”
“… one, what the people needed; two, gained their confidence so that they could help them fulfill their needs; and then, three, went ahead and designed programs for exactly what the people needed.”
“So they were settlers and therefore they called them settlement houses. Which is what the origin of Pālama Settlement was because my father and my mother settled there and all five of us children were born and raised in our home in the settlement.” (Robert H. Rath, Sr)
The fear of tuberculosis had gripped the nation, parents were advised to remove children from crowded cities where the disease could easily spread. A country-like setting with fresh air, room to exercise and a diet of healthy food would keep the malady at bay, they were told. They went to “Fresh Air Camps.”
Parents were advised to remove children from crowded cities where the disease could easily spread. A country-like setting with fresh air, room to exercise and a diet of healthy food would keep the malady at bay, they were told.
Palama Settlement offered a camping experience to the people of the neighborhood who were much in need of fresh air and outdoor spaces.
Quite a few of the attendees were tuberculosis patients who learned how to take better care of themselves. But it was not just tuberculosis that drew people to these camps.
Initially, it was a camp for young mothers to get a break from the demands of taking care of their families, but it quickly grew to include children, who thrived there.
Children who had never seen the ocean learned to swim, fish and play games on the beach and lawn. The first camp, opened in 1914, was called the Mother’s Rest Camp. It was located at Kaipapau, near Hauula, on land donated by WR Castle.
Mothers learned about hygiene and nutrition, as well as the importance of exercise and outdoor activities for their children. The camp was a melting pot, with 39 different ethnicities represented.
The Kaipapau Camp was closed to make way for “Palama By the Sea,” a new Fresh Air Camp opened in 1916 at Kaiaka Point, near Waialua. (Palama Settlement)
Palama built cabins by the beach, a mess tent and dining hall with a stove and refrigerator. Vegetable gardens were planted to help provide healthy foods.
The primary purpose of the camp was rest and recreation for those living in lower-income neighborhoods. In addition, a goal was to help underweight keiki gain three pounds during their two-week stay. In addition to taking part in sports, music, fishing and swimming, they learned about hygiene, dental care and nutrition.
“[A] Star Bulletin representative went to see Honolulu’s tiny bit of paradise about which much has been said. One whole day, full of sun and frolic and fun, this newsman spent with the mothers and kids at Palama Settlement Fresh Air camp and he left believing that if there were a hell on earth, just as surely was there ‘A Little Bit of Heaven; near this town.”
“He saw 51 vacationists at their games, in the surf and at the dinner hour; he peeked into every corner of that popular place, a stone’s throw from Waialua, and returned with the party of rested mothers and sun-burned ‘kids’ leaving their two-weeks holiday to make way for another similar crew coming the following Monday.”
“The camp proper is a long curve of 144 rough-board. Substantial dwellings standing directly on the beach and looking more like bathhouses.”
“The camp site is a five-acre tract leased from Bishop Estate and free roaming grounds adjoins. … There is order in the camp but no suggestion of dissatisfaction. A regular schedule varies enough not to be monotonous.”
“Watch this care-free crew, cut off from the tenements’ sordid environments, eat the good eats and sleep the long sleep; see the wan faces take color and fill; note the brightening of eye and quickening of step. There is no worry about money, nor who will supply the meals.”
“The fresh air campers grow fast during their brief country holiday. Every nationality, and they are usually all represented, takes on weight. He total gain made by the 51 campers was 76 pounds or about 1 ½ pounds each in two week.” (Star Bulletin, July 18, 1916)
The Palama camps were much in demand. More than 300 campers traveled 35 miles on the train to the North Shore to enjoy the change of scenery and plethora of programs each summer. (Palama Settlement)
“We used to have a camping program, the Palama-by-the-Sea was called the fresh air camp and this was way before my time.”
“They had a homemaker service for mothers, and they’d put a homemaker in the house for the weekend or several days and take the mother out to camp, let her have fun and relax with her neighbors and friends and give ‘em courses in budgeting and home economics and sewing and a whole range of things.”
“Homemaker camp must have been a neat camp. And then they come back home, homemaker leaves and they take over again, raise their skills. They’re really innovative, good programs.”
“They had a TB dorm on Palama and was right behind Kaumakapili Church. I think the building’s gone now. It’s being used as a boarding house for single men, but it was an inhouse, in-town facility. And then those were the days when they believed that fresh air could cure TB.” (Lorin Gill, Oral History)
“‘There is really a little bit of heaven for these women and children, and if it does nothing else, it lifts them up bodily from the cramped life they have always seen and gives them such a complete change for two weeks that they take a new hold on living.’” (James A Rath, ‘head worker’ at the Settlement)
Palama-by-the-Sea (Waialua Fresh Air Camp) was located near Kaiaka Bay. After damage from the 1957 tsunami, the camp relocated to the mountains in Opaeula and was renamed Palama Uka. It was open from 1957-1977. (lots of information here is from Palama Settlement.)
