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May 31, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Symbolism of Central Union Church

“We have built this building so that everyone who looks upon it will say, not: ‘Is that a library, or a club house, or a school, or city hall?’ but, promptly and without question, ‘That is a church!’”

“And we have built it after the colonial style of architecture so that all might say with equal assurance, ‘And it is a church with a New England background!’- for we wanted this church to be a fitting tribute to the missionaries who came to these Islands from New England over a century ago bringing Christian civilization with them.”

“We were greatly pleased when Ralph Adams Cram, our artist-architect, assured us that the colonial style was fitting for our climate because its essential elements had grown up in the semi-tropic lands around the Mediterranean and it had been used successfully in the extreme South as well as in New England.”

“We have put this building not on some noisy dusty corner but in a beautiful eight acre garden. One comes back from Japan deeply impressed by the beautiful setting of the temples of that beautiful land.”

“Why not, in Hawaii also where things grow so wonderfully, why not a Christian Church surrounded by the beauty of nature? And so the garden around the church is a symbol of natural religion. We come to worship through the beauty of nature and we say with the poet, as we approach the sanctuary,

‘A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Rose plot, fringed pool,
Ferned grot! The veriest school
Of peace. And yet the fool
Contends that God is not—
Not God? In gardens? When the eve is cool?
Nay, but I have a sign
‘Tis very sure God walks in mind!’

“For a long time we were uncertain as to whether or not we could afford a spire. Now that it is built we all realize how incomplete would have been the picture without the spire like ‘a sacrament of hope,’ as Dr. Ross called it, pointing above the trees of the garden. How wonderfully Mrs. Frear has caught the symbolism of it in her poem!

‘Lo here among the palm-trees
Our isle has flung a spire—
A slender bud of beauty
Pointing higher, higher—
A lifted torch awaiting light
From Heaven’s altar fire.”

“At the entrance to the church is a broad and simple porch of welcome – yet only one door, with a cross above the grille work. That door stands open every day and is the symbol of Christ who says, ‘I am the door, by me if any man shall enter in, he shall be saved; and shall go in and out, and shall find pasture!’”

“But the approach to the door is through four columns and lighted by three great lanterns. The columns are the four gospels through which we come to know the character of Christ and hear his voice and, as to the three lanterns, they may symbolize the mystery of the Trinity – one God, one light, yet revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or …”

“… if you are practically minded rather than theological, let them stand for the three Christian graces of faith and hope and love which, seen from afar and shining upon the church, shall draw men unto the door.”

“High in the lantern of the spire is another light shining out over land and sea as though One said, ‘I am the Light of the world – he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness.’  “And above the spire flies the dove as a weather-vane – the dove of peace and symbol of the Holy Spirit.”

“Once inside, each man can make his own interpretation for this is a church of freedom in the quest of truth, but, if you are interested, I will give you mine.  I find a symbolism of world fellowship in the different countries represented in the wonderfully beautiful interior.”

“The general design is clearly English, yet the chaste white beauty of it all reminds me of churches in Holland. The basilica form and vaulted ceiling are Roman but the columns speak of Greece and, back of that, of Egypt. Corinthian are the capitals, yet the details are copied not from the acanthus but from the pineapples and coconut palm fronds of Hawaii.”

“New England contributed the small paned, round topped windows but the redwood pews and chancel are from California and the lighting fixtures are old Italian sanctuary lamps, slightly modified to burn electricity in place of oil.”

“‘What a mixture!’ one might say who reads this in cold type. But look about you – all is harmonious, all fits together as a symbol of the unity of all men and races in Christ Jesus.”

“To continue the symbolism may I suggest that the twelve great columns shall stand here as long as the church shall last calling to mind the twelve apostles and that the thirteen lamps represent thirteen churches – the lamp has ever been a symbol of the church.”

“You can make up your thirteen any way you choose. Take the seven churches of Asia and add those others which figure so largely in Paul’s letters – Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, Rome. Think of their light shining down upon us through the centuries!”

“Or take thirteen churches of today – the Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, Quakers, Presbyterians, Disciples, Lutherans, Unitarians, Christian Scientists, Episcopalians, Dutch Reformed, Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholic. Let them all shine with the light of a common love of Jesus Christ.”

“Even though we may not follow them in all details of liturgy or doctrine we will welcome their light upon the world – ‘Many are the lamps, but the light is one.’”

“There are four plain panels at the rear of the church. It might be perilous to paint pictures on them in reality but let us paint them there in our imagination. On one will be Buddha, meditating on the sorrows of life beneath the sacred Bo tree, on another Confucius writing down the wisdom of China, on a third Moses coming down from Sinai and on another Mohammed kneeling in prayer. All to remind us that there is a kinship and a common aspiration in all religions.”

“You may notice that there are ten glass doors opening directly out into the garden – five on either side. They are the ten commandments – we look out into life through the clear and transparent doors of the moral law.

“‘Oh,’ someone says, ‘But here is another door at the mauka end of the aisle upon the right.’  Yes and over that door the eyes of faith see written: ‘A new commandment I give you, that ye love one another even as I have loved you!’”

“Above the doors are fourteen windows through whose clear glass we look up to the blue sky and flying clouds of heaven. They are for the saints and heroes of the faith who served their day and generation and are now delivered from the labors and struggles of this life. Let us put them there, not in colored glass, but in the fairer colors of our imagination.”

“Here above the choir is St. Paul and around the corner, still to the left of the pulpit, St. Augustine. Looking directly down into the pulpit, to remind the preacher of all humility and tenderness, is St. Francis of Assisi and just beyond, to make him brave and fearless, come Joan of Arc, Savonarola, Wyclif and John Huss.”

“On the other side of the church stand Luther, John Robinson, the pastor of the Pilgrims, David Livingstone, the representative of all missionaries, Florence Nightingale and General Booth.”

“Above the gallery is a triple window reserved for the saints of our own land.  Just now we will place in the center panel Abraham

Lincoln and on either side Booker Washington and Alice Freeman Palmer.”

“But these are not all the windows. High in the clerestory are twelve more. We will put no names upon them. They are reserved for the future! New saints and heroes must arise in the new days that lie ahead.”

“We reserve one for some American Pasteur who shall win the battle against cancer and tuberculosis. One for some prison reformer who shall make our jails true hospitals for moral disease.  One for some social leader who shall solve the conflict of capital and labor and bring justice and good-will to industry.”

“Another shall yet be dedicated to some President or Senator who shall lead America out into fellowship with an organized world. Another is reserved for some Saint who shall so reveal the awfulness of the city slums that the conscience of the people shall be aroused to abolish them, and yet another window awaits the great prophet who shall burn into the souls of his generation the folly and impiety of race-prejudice and make humanity to be a real brotherhood at last.“

“Do not forget, young men and women of the future, these unnamed windows high above you. They set the goal for

tasks yet unaccomplished and challenge you with unattained ideals.”

“As one approaches the chancel in this beautiful church home of ours the symbolism deepens. Here is the lectern with the Bible on it, reminding us of what we owe to the inspiration of the past. Here is the pulpit – for the prophetic message looking toward the future. And here in the center and focus of it all is the Communion Table ever reminding us of the mystic presence of the Christ who says, ‘Lo, I am with you alway.’”

“High above all is the cross, the supreme symbol of our holy religion – a symbol of suffering, yet a symbol of hope. It is not a crucifix with a dead Christ upon it. Our cross is empty.”

“Our Christ is not holden of death- He is risen and triumphant. Our cross has trefoil ends that touch it with a beauty that was not present at Calvary because for us the cross is not a symbol of defeat but of victory – Even as the text says, high above it, we hold the sublime faith that, even though crucified, ‘Love never faileth.’”

“One word more! It says in Acts, ‘God dwelleth not in temples made by hands’ and again in First Corinthians, ‘Ye are a temple of God.’”

“It is not the buildings that make the city but the people in it and no church can serve apart from the men and women who gather beneath its over-arching roof. Not only the church must stand in friendly welcome in its garden in the midst of the city – its members must have the friendly heart as well.”

“It is not enough to write ‘Love never faileth’ upon its walls – we who worship here must believe it and practice it. Even the uplifted cross may be mute to men who do not find its power changing the lives of those who look upon it.”

“‘Ah, friend, we never choose the better part

Until we set the cross up in the heart.’”

“How long will this church endure and speak its magic unto men? Only so long as the people who use it are themselves first of all temples of the living God!” (All here is, in part from a sermon preached by Albert W. Palmer, D.D., LL.D., Litt.D. Central Union Church, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 1, 1924.)

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: Buildings, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings Tagged With: Hawaii, Central Union Church, Woodlawn

August 17, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Largest Milk Dairy in the Hawaiian Kingdom

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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© 2017 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Woodlawn-Manoa-Mid-Pacific Mag
Woodlawn-Manoa-Mid-Pacific Mag
Woodlawn, B. F. Dillingham home at the corner ofBeretania and Punahou streets-(centralunionchurch-org)
Woodlawn, B. F. Dillingham home at the corner ofBeretania and Punahou streets-(centralunionchurch-org)
Woodlawn_Dairy-Award-Coin-1884
Woodlawn_Dairy-Award-Coin-1884

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Woodlawn, Woodlawn Dairy, Hawaii, Manoa, Benjamin Franklin Dillingham

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