The east side of upper Manoa (and a roadway through it) is known today as “Woodlawn.” It’s named for the Woodlawn Dairy and Stock Company. It became the largest milk dairy in the Hawaiian Kingdom.
“This Dairy commenced business in June, 1879, under the name of “Woodlawn Dairy,” with stock consisting of ten native cows.” (Hawaiian Planters Monthly Advertisement)
“Mr (BF) Dillingham’s beautiful residence, ‘Woodlawn,’ at Punahou, about a mile and a half from town, (is) where the dairy was originally started. Here there is about 350 acres controlled by the company, including land in Mānoa Valley …”
“… and on this pasturage there is a herd of about 450 head of cattle, including Short horns, Durhams, Devon, Ayreshires, Holsteins and Jerseys.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 15, 1885)
“With the steady growth of the business, special regard has been paid to the importation of the best Dairy Stock. In the early part of 1883, a “Short Horn” Bull was imported from California, known on the Record as the ‘19th Duke of Manchester.’” (Hawaiian Planters Monthly Advertisement)
Later, a newspaper announcement noted: “Lost, Strayed or Stolen. “The 19th Duke of Manchester,” a larger red shorthorn Bull, property of the Woodlawn Dairy & Stock Co., anyone finding this Bull and returning same to said Company will be suitably rewarded. Woodlawn Dairy & Stock Co.” (Daily Bulletin, June 1, 1885)
“In 1884, the Thorough Bred Short Horn “Duke of the Valley” was purchased at $400; the animal was then 15 months old. In the spring of 1886 two thorough bred Holsteins were imported by the Company, from Syracuse, New York.”
“These animals were sent out to California by rail, thence by sail to Honolulu. These are probably the finest bred animals for beef and milk combined, ever landed on these Islands.”
“One of these bulls now in use at this Dairy weighed 1400 pounds when two years old, and about 1800 at 30 months.”
“A few Holstein Cows and Heifers have been added to this stock, one Heifer from Syracuse cost $450 there. One Holstein Heifer raised here, came in with her first calf last spring, her age being about 30 months, and gave, for nearly three months, 16 quarts of milk per day. Several other heifers raised at this Dairy have given from 12 to 15 quarts per day.”
“The Manager Mr. John Grace recently returned from a trip to California where he purchased with great care from the best dairy farms in that State, including the well-known Jersey farm of Mr. Maillard, 63 head of graded and thorough bred Jersey Cows and Heifers and one thorough bred Jersey Bull.”
“Any one desiring to improve their stock Cannot Do Better than to apply to the Woodlawn Dairy and Stock Company for some of their superior young Bulls, raised in this country from as fine dairy stock as can be found anywhere.” (Hawaiian Planters Monthly Advertisement)
“Visitors to the Pali, at the head of Nuʻuanu Valley, always notice the range of stables on the right of the road going up, at an elevation of about 700 feet above the sea, and upon inquiry are told that they are the property of the Woodlawn Dairy and Stock Company, who here own nearly 250 acres of fine valley and side-hill land.”
“This locality is what was long known as the ‘Wood’s plantation,’ where Mr. John Wood carried on for a number of years the cultivation of sugar cane and the manufacture of sugar.” (The Nuʻuanu section was later called Highland Park.)
“Mr Dillingham purchased the property from Mr. Wood, and shortly after the Woodlawn Company was incorporated, and now the establishment is run on an extensive scale, with Mr. Graham as manager.”
“This will be understood from the fact that the dairy has grown in the past five years from a beginning of ten cows, with an output of 600 quarts a month, to 150 cows in milk, with an output of 30,000 quarts per month.”
“Adjoining the old Wood residence there has been erected a substantial and convenient dwelling, which is under the care of Mrs. Grace, the wife of the sub-manager, John Grace, who constructed the new buildings, stables, etc., and now superintends that branch of the ranch.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 15, 1885)
“There are six men employed as milkers, each one taking a ‘string,’ as it is called, of twenty-five cows. When a milker is ready be opens the half door leading to his particular division of the milking platform, and calls the cows by name to come in to their breakfast or supper, as the case may be.”
“They walk forward in an orderly, methodical manner, and each one, going to her own place, is locked in by the pair of bars previously described, which confine her loosely by the neck. Until 7 o’clock the whole of the herd, averaging 150 in number, quietly enjoy their generous feed and then are milked.”
“Commencing at one end of his ‘string,’ the milker finishes with each cow in succession, releasing the one milked as soon as the operation is completed. She quietly walks out to the pasture again, where she generally enjoys a short nap ere resuming grazing.”
“Thus the milker never has a cow behind him while at work, and when his ‘string’ is finished the stable is empty and ready to be washed out.”
“From the milking stable the milk is carried into an adjoining room, where it is poured through strainers made of fine wire gauze and thick white flannel into the clean cans in which it is carried to the company’s customers.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 15, 1885)
Later, noted developer Charles Desky was identified as the ‘sole agent’ for lots in this ‘Fashionable Section of Honolulu.’ “This estate, Woodlawn, covering five hundred acres of the (Mānoa) valley and sloping up to the mountain top …”
“… is being improved by the construction of miles of automobile roads that on a gentle grade ascend the mountain side, giving great plateaus here and there with unmolested views of city, sea and mountains; ideal homesites, the views from which can never be obstructed.” “These ideal homesites may be had from $750.00 an acre up.” (Mid-Pacific Magazine, 1911)
Then, in 1920, Central Union Church’s then-pastor, Dr. Albert Palmer, chose a desirable 8.3-acre site at Punahou and Beretania streets for the site for the relocated church. The site was “Woodlawn,” for years the residence and dairy farm of prominent businessman BF Dillingham and his family.
Mrs. Emma Louise Dillingham, by then a widow, agreed to sell – she had been a member since Bethel Union days. In 1922, the cornerstone was laid, and the present sanctuary, designed in traditional New England style, was completed in 1924. Central Union Church, also known as the “Church in a Garden”, moved to its present location on Beretania Street.
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