49th State Fair

During the First World War the Chamber of Commerce sponsored the first Territorial Fair, with the idea that an event held every 2-3 years could draw from across the Territory to “display the results of their efforts along agricultural lines.”

The Hawaiʻi Territorial Fair was largely focused on "a demonstration in intensive cultivation of staple and special field products and also as a demonstration in food conservation ... it was found (that) the islands depended too largely on the mainland for food supplies”.

A site was selected and “set aside for territorial fair and amusement park purposes that portion of the government lands lying mauka of the proposed Waikiki drainage canal (Ala Wai) and adjacent to Kapahulu road.”

The Territorial Fair continued for a number of years.  Starting in 1923, golf started at the Fair Grounds, when someone placed a salmon can down as its first hole; by 1931, more holes were built and the fairgrounds were converted to a golf course, instead.  The place was renamed the Ala Wai Golf Course.

The United States Junior Chamber of Commerce (the Jaycees) were formed on the continent in 1920.  The Jaycees first appeared in Hawaiʻi in 1930 with the chartering of the Honolulu Junior Chamber of Commerce.

In 1939, Jaycee chapters sprouted up in Hilo, Maui, Kauaʻi and Wahiawa.  In 1943, an umbrella organization ‘Hawaiʻi Junior Chamber of Commerce’ was formed.

Coinciding with these timeframes, the (senior) Honolulu Chamber and Commerce was conducting the Hawaiian Products Exhibit, first held in 1930.

Hawaiʻi was suffering from the effects of the Depression; the Chamber launched the Hawaiian products exhibit at the old National Guard Armory downtown to boost interest in local goods, 33,000 attended.

For seven years the senior Chamber ran the Show, until 1937, when the Jaycees were looking for a signature fundraising event for their organization.  The Chamber passed the responsibilities to the Jaycees; from then, it was a Jaycees event.

A decision was made to include mainland manufactures and agricultural products in 1940, resulting in a significantly larger event.  It was held under tents in Kapiʻolani Park.

The next year the Show moved to the corner of Kalākaua Avenue and Kapiʻolani Boulevard. During the war years, the shows were not held.  After the war, the first post-war show was held at McKinley High School.

The 1948 show was the first to be named "The 49th State Fair" (the Honolulu Jaycees copyrighted the name;) it was held at Kapiʻolani Park.  (The Jaycees were anticipating that Hawai'i would become the 49th state.)

“By this time the country was actively debating the issue of Statehood for Hawaii and Alaska.  Most people thought Statehood would be granted first to Hawaii and then to Alaska  … we had the 49th State Fair, businesses called 49th State such-and-such …”  (George Ariyoshi)

“Statehood was in the air, and everyone expected Hawaii to become the 49th state; hence there was a 49th State record label and a 49th State fair at the old Honolulu stadium.”  (Tom Moffatt, Star Revue)

Hawaiʻi’s 1948 “State Fair” won a national award from the National Jaycees who rated it the best project in the field of profit-making conducted by a Jaycee entity in a city of 100,000 or more.

The next year event also won a national Jaycee award (in the field of trade promotion.)  The 1949 State Fair was held in warehouses on the Ala Moana Boulevard, EK Fernandez furnished the entertainment.

Then, again, in 1950 the 49th State Fair was selected as the “Outstanding Project of the Year” conducted by Jaycees throughout the nation in cities with populations of 250,000 and more.

In 1952, the 49th State Fair moved to Sand Island.

On January 3, 1959, Alaska became the 49th state – Hawaiʻi’s Fair name changed, again.

Hawaiʻi joined the union on August 21, 1959 – since then it hosts the 50th State Fair.

(“The Territorial Savings and Loan Association said its name would be continued to denote the firm’s ‘age, stability and pre-Statehood background.’”  (star-bulletin))

The image is the program cover for the 49th State Fair held in 1954 at Sand Island (Lots of images and information from vicandbecky.)  In addition, I have included some related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Pākī Sisters

High Chief Abner Pākī and his wife High Chiefess Laura Kōnia (Kamehameha III's niece) had one child, a daughter, Bernice Pauahi Pākī (born December 19, 1831.)

High Chief Caesar Kapaʻakea and his wife High Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole had three children, a daughter was Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha (born September 2, 1838.)

As was the custom, Liliʻu was hānai (adopted) to the Pākīs, who reared her with their birth daughter, Pauahi. The two girls developed a close, loving relationship.

They lived on the property called Haleʻākala, in the house that Pākī built on King Street.  It was the 'Pink House,' made from coral (the house was name ʻAikupika (Egypt.))  It later became the Arlington Hotel.

The two-story coral house was built by Pākī himself, from the original grass hut complex of the same name at the same site; he financed the construction through the sale of Mākaha Valley (ʻAikupika would later become the primary residence of his daughter Bernice Pauahi and her husband.)

The girls attended the Chief’s Children’s School, a boarding school, and were known for their studious demeanor.

Founded in 1839 during the reign of King Kamehameha III, the original Chief's Children's School was in the area where the ʻIolani barracks now stand. Mr. and Mrs. Amos Cooke, missionaries from New England, were commissioned to teach the 16 royal children (others who joined the Pākī sisters were Lot Kapuāiwa (later Kamehameha V), Queen Emma, King William Lunalilo and Liliʻu’s brother, David (later King Kalākaua.)

In 1846 the school's name was officially changed to Royal School; attendance was restricted to descendants of the royal line and heirs of the chiefs. In 1850, a second school was built on the site of the present Royal School; it was opened to the general public in 1851.

These two women left lasting legacies in Hawaiʻi.

In 1850, Pauahi was married to Mr. Charles Reed Bishop of New York, who started the bank that is now known as First Hawaiian Bank.

When her cousin, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani, died,  Keʻelikōlani's will stated that she "give and bequeath forever to my beloved younger sister (cousin), Bernice Pauahi Bishop, all of my property, the real property and personal property from Hawaiʻi to Kauaʻi, all of said property to be hers." (about 353,000 acres)  (Keʻelikōlani had previously inherited all of the substantial landholdings of the Kamehameha dynasty from her brother, Lot Kapuāiwa (King Kamehameha V.))

Bernice Pauahi died childless on October 16, 1884.  She foresaw the need to educate her people and in her will she left her large estate of the Kamehameha lands in a trust "to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as, and called the Kamehameha Schools."

She further stated, "I desire my trustees to provide first and chiefly a good education in the common English branches, and also instruction in morals and in such useful knowledge as may tend to make good and industrious men and women".

On September 16, 1862, Liliʻu married John O. Dominis. Dominis’ father, a ship’s captain, had built a New England style home, named Washington Place, for his family.  They lived with his widowed mother.  The home became the official residence of Hawai‘i's Governor and today serves as a museum.

On February 12, 1874, nine days after the passing of King Lunalilo, an election was held between the repeat candidate David Kalākaua (her brother) and Queen Emma - widow of King Kamehameha IV.  Kalākaua won.

At noon of the tenth day of April, 1877, the booming of the cannon was heard which announced that King Kalākaua had named Liliʻuokalani heir apparent to the throne of Hawaiʻi. (Liliʻu's brother changed her name when he named her Crown Princess, calling her Liliʻuokalani.)

King Kalākaua died on January 20, 1891; because he and his wife Queen Kapiʻolani did not have any children, his sister, Liliʻuokalani succeeded him to the Hawaiian throne.  Queen Liliʻuokalani was Hawaiʻi’s last monarch.

In 1909, Queen Liliʻuokalani executed a Deed of Trust that established the legal and financial foundation of an institution dedicated to the welfare of orphaned and destitute children of Hawaiʻi - Queen Liliʻuokalani Trust.

Her Deed of Trust states that “all the property of the Trust Estate, both principal and income … shall be used by the Trustees for the benefit of orphan and other destitute children in the Hawaiian Islands, the preference given to Hawaiian children of pure or part-aboriginal blood.”

The trust owns approximately 6,200-acres of Hawaiʻi real estate, the vast majority of which is located on the Island of Hawaiʻi.  92% is agriculture/conservation land, with the remaining land zoned for residential, commercial and industrial use.

The trust owns approximately 16-acres of Waikīkī real estate and another 8-acres of commercial and residential real estate on other parts of Oʻahu.

The image shows the Pākī sisters, Bernice Pauahi Paki and Lydia Kamakaʻeha Paki, in 1859.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Hawaiʻi and the American Civil War

When the first shot of the American Civil War was fired at Fort Sumter off the coast of South Carolina on April 12, 1861, nearly six thousand miles away, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was a sovereign nation.

On August 26, 1861, five months after the outbreak of hostilities and four months after the news of Civil War arrived in Honolulu, Kamehameha IV issued a Proclamation that, in part, stated, “hostilities are now unhappily pending between the Government of the United States, and certain States thereof styling themselves “The Confederate States of America”.”

With the Proclamation, the King also stated “Our neutrality between said contending parties.”

The discussion of neutrality versus partisanship had to include the reality that the Hawaiian kingdom had no standing army, and most importantly, no navy to protect its harbors if supporting either the Union or Confederacy brought the other side's vessels to threaten the principal cities of Honolulu or Lāhainā. (Illinois-edu)

Likewise, while the majority of foreigners in Hawaiʻi were Americans from New England who supported the Union cause with great fervor, leadership and advisors to the King included European ties who believed that the Confederacy would succeed in securing its independence.

King Kamehameha IV declared a neutral stance but held largely Unionist sympathies - as did the majority of people living in Hawaiʻi.  (NPS)

Although neutrality was declared, Hawaiʻi’s close relationship economically, diplomatically and socially with the United States ensured that the wake of the American Civil War reached the Hawaiian Islands.

Slavery was prohibited by Hawaiʻi’s Constitution of 1852; however, there was considerable debate comparing it to the contact labor system that brought workers from Asia to fill the growing need for labor on the sugar plantations.

This was a kind of indentured servitude, some in Hawaiʻi argued, that was little better than American slavery, a position that tended to fuel opposition to the American slaveholding South.

Prior to the Civil War, whaling and related activities were the primary economic engine of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.  The war enabled Hawaiʻi to fill part of the void left by the absence of then-blockaded southern exports, including sugar.

Hawaiian-grown sugar soon replaced much of this southern sugar through the duration of the conflict.  By the end of the war, over thirty extremely prosperous plantations were in operation and expanded to new levels previously unheard of before the war’s commencement.

In part, because of this boom in business, the majority of Americans living and working on the islands were devoutly pro-Unionist.  In fact, many living in Hawaiʻi had an ardent desire to serve in the armed forces.

Hawaiʻi’s neutrality did not prevent many of its citizens from enlisting in either Union or Confederate forces.  One, a Hawaiian from Hilo, was Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman, son of Kinoʻole O Liliha, a Hawaiian high chiefess of Hilo.  He enlisted in the Union Army and later died of disease in Richmond, Virginia’s infamous Libby Prison.

A dozen Hawaiians (possibly from captured ships) also served as Confederate sailors aboard the famous raider CSS Shenandoah which circumnavigated the globe and sank or captured nearly forty Union and merchant vessels throughout the Pacific.  (Captured sailors could be put in chains below deck, marooned on an island or be given the chance to join the crew of the Southern vessel – many chose the latter.)

About 40 individuals who were born and raised in Hawaiʻi served in the Civil War.  As many as 200 immigrants to Hawaiʻi who were living here at the outbreak of the war in 1861 may have served in the conflict.

To honor these men, the Hawaiʻi Sons of the Civil War Memorial Committee installed a bronze and stone memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. It is dedicated to those from Hawai'i who served in the war.

Oʻahu Cemetery has thirty Union veterans who rest in a Grand Army of the Republic section of the burial ground (it is identified with four cannons at each corner.)  (The Grand Army of the Republic was founded by Union veterans in Decatur, Illinois, in 1866.)

The war lasted from 1861 to 1865.  Immediately following the war, many of the once prosperous sugar plantations collapsed as a result of the northern states reestablishing trade with their southern counterparts.

On May 11, 1865, Ka Nupepa Kuokoa (noting the death of Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865) noted “No words of ours can do justice to our grief.  ... All over the world the friends of liberty and justice, the poor, the oppressed everywhere, will weep for him, the Savior of his country, the Liberator of four million slaves, the People’s friend. … His name will forever be revered … The Nation still lives.”

In 1868, three years after the Civil War ended, a group of Union veterans established "Decoration Day" on May 30 as a time to remember and decorate the graves of service members with flowers, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.  By the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation.

(Lots of information here is from a Civil War summary prepared by the National Park Service.)  The image shows the Civil War Memorial Plaque at Punchbowl.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Old Plantation

Curtis Ward was born in Kentucky and arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1853, when whaling in the Pacific was at its peak. Curtis worked at the Royal Custom House, which monitored commercial activity at Honolulu Harbor for the kingdom.

Victoria Robinson was born in Nu'uanu in 1846, the daughter of English shipbuilder, James Robinson and his wife Rebecca, a woman of Hawaiian ancestry whose chiefly lineage had roots in Kaʻū, Hilo and Honokowai, Maui.

Ward started a livery with headquarters on Queen Street and expanded into the business of transporting cargo on horse-pulled wagons. The size of Ward's work force became just as big as the harbor's other major player, James Robinson & Co. (Victoria's father.)

When tensions began to rise between the American North and South in the late-1850s, Ward would defend his Southern heritage. As a result, Ward's home, named "Dixie," was often stoned by Northern sailors.  (Hustace)

Curtis and Victoria married in 1865 and for many years they made their home near Honolulu Harbor on property presently occupied by the Davies Pacific Center.

Seven daughters were born during these years: Mary Elizabeth, Kulamanu, May, Einei, Lucy, Kathleen and Lani.

As was common for many young married couples of English and Hawaiian ancestry during this period, the Wards socialized comfortably with Honolulu's expatriate British families, as well as with members of the various Royal families.

This was a period of considerable turbulence in Hawaiian political affairs, and Curtis and Victoria joined with their friends in resisting the rising power of the sugar barons and firmly opposed reciprocity with the United States.  (Ward Centers)

Even in later years, Victoria Ward held to her political convictions and remained a loyal friend and supporter of Liliʻuokalani after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893. (Ward Centers)

Then, the Wards bought land on what was then the outskirts of Honolulu, eventually acquiring over 100-acres of land running from Thomas Square on King Street down to the ocean.

They built the "Old Plantation" in 1882, a stately, Southern-style home on the mauka portion of the property.  It featured an artesian well, vegetable and flower gardens, a large pond stocked with fish, and extensive pasturage for horses and cattle. Self-sufficient as a working farm, Old Plantation was surrounded by a vast coconut grove.

In 1882, Curtis Ward died at age 53, leaving Victoria to raise seven daughters and manage the estate.

Old Plantation became one of the showplaces of Honolulu and remained substantially unchanged for nearly 80 years.

Members of the Ward Family worked hard to preserve Hawaiian cultural traditions and also supported many social service activities in the community.  (Ward Centers)

The Wards were early supporters of child welfare and animal rights, and they devoted considerable energy toward the establishment of the Hawaiian Humane Society. They also contributed financial support to Kapiʻolani Maternity Hospital, St. Clement's Church and to the Academy of the Sacred Hearts.  (Ward Centers)

Victoria Ward established Victoria Ward Ltd. in 1930 to manage the family's property, primarily the remaining 65-acres of Old Plantation, now part of the core of Kakaʻako real estate adjoining downtown Honolulu.  Victoria Ward died April 11, 1935.

In 1958, the city bought the mauka portion of the Old Plantation Estate and tore it down to build the Honolulu International Center (later re-named Neal S. Blaisdell Center (after Honolulu's former Mayor.))

The Blaisdell Center has been in operation since 1964 and in 1994 was remodeled and expanded.  The Blaisdell Center complex includes a multi-purpose Arena, Exhibition Hall, Galleria, Concert Hall, meeting rooms and parking structure.

In 2002, Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc (owner of Ala Moana Center) closed on an agreement to buy Victoria Ward Ltd., giving it control of one of the state's largest private landowners and operator of a growing retail complex in Kakaʻako.

In 2010, General Growth spun off its development properties as the Howard Hughes Corporation and is working on plans for the creation/redevelopment of an urban master planned community in Kakaʻako.  (OHA and Kamehameha Schools are other large landowners in Kakaʻako.)

The image shows Old Plantation.  In addition I have added other images related to the property in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Leina a Kauʻhane – Ka Lae O Kaʻena

Here was where the spirits of the dead could be reunited with their ancestors.  The path of the spirits of dead kinsmen always led westward; so as to return to the land of their ancestors.

On every island there existed a prominent bluff pointing westward, bearing the name: “leap of the spirit” (leina-a-ka-uhane). The name marked the jumping-off place where the soul of the dead was believed to depart beyond the land of the living.

Kaʻena or Kaʻena Point (‘the heat’) is the westernmost tip of land on the island of Oʻahu. The point can be reached on foot from both the East (via Oʻahu’s North Shore / Mokuleʻia) and Southeast (via Waiʻanae Coast;) you cannot drive around the point.

When an individual lay on the deathbed, his soul left the body and wandered about; if all earthly obligations had been fulfilled, the soul continued wandering, otherwise it was returned to the body. In its continued wandering it then approached Leina a Kauʻhane.  (DLNR)

“I send you with this a sketch of the west end of the Island of Oahu, showing the position of the Leina-Kauhane as related to that portion of the island. From this you will see that it is on the land near the shore line, about three-quarters of a mile from the western end of the Island of Oahu, known as Ka Lae-o-Kaena, or Kaena Point. The Leina-Kauhane is a large rock on a level plain, overlooking the sea with its sandy shore. On passing it the other day in the steam-cars, I was surprised to see a couple of little straw huts leaning against it. I presume they must have been erected by Japanese fisherman, for it is difficult to believe that any native Hawaiian would think of spending a night there where the spirits are supposed to pass. JE Emerson”  (Journal of the Polynesian Society, 1902)

The volcano that created the Waiʻanae Mountain Range last erupted over 3-million years ago. On the narrow western point, the hard volcanic rock shows the mark of millennia of pounding waves – the carved sea cliffs of Mokuleʻia that rise above Kaʻena.

Dunes such as these were once found on most of the main Hawaiian Islands, and on them developed ecosystems unique in the world.  The intense sunlight, low rainfall, strong winds and salt spray created a challenging environment at Kaʻena.  It is the site of one of the last intact dune ecosystems in the main Hawaiian Islands.

Unfortunately, these dunes and the native species that live on them have almost entirely been lost to 1,500-years of change (since the humans first came to the Islands.)

The Kaʻena ahupuaʻa was probably the poorest ahupuaʻa in terms of arable land resources on Oʻahu. It is likely that Kaʻena was devoted exclusively to sweet potato, except for about 20 taro patches, terraced with rock facings, on the slopes below Uluhulu Gulch (irrigated from a spring on the hillside west of the gulch.)  (Handy, DLNR)

Although very poor in terms of land, Kaʻena faced out onto very rich deep sea fishing grounds. Family groups fished along the shore for sustenance, and Chamberlain, in his journals written between 1822-1849, noted one such group, “... we passed Nenelea, a settlement of fishermen and a convenient place for hauling up their canoes ...” (DLNR)

The abundance of fishing koʻa attests to the rich fishing off the coastline: Ponuahua, "a fishing shrine near the point, though it is not known which group of rocks was so designated” and Alauiki fishing shrine, "a group of stones near the edge of the water”.  (DLNR)

In modern times (1983,) the State of Hawaiʻi designated Kaʻena Point as a Natural Area Reserve to protect nesting Laysan Albatrosses and wedge-tailed Shearwaters, Hawaiian monk seals and the fragile native strand vegetation that has been restored there.

The reserve provides refuge and a nesting area for the Laysan albatross, and is a potential nesting site for the green sea turtle and Hawaiian monk seal. During the winter breeding season, humpback whales will frequent the waters surrounding the point.

Nearly six feet of sand were lost due to vehicular erosion in less than five years. In response, motor-vehicles are now prohibited within the Reserve to help the dune ecosystem recover.

Because dogs and rats have killed nesting seabirds, a nearly ½-mile long, 6½-foot high predator-proof fence was constructed following an existing roadbed and encloses the tip of the Kaʻena Point peninsula, a total of 59-acres.  Three unlocked double-door gates allow access by people.

After the fence was constructed, project personnel began to remove predatory animals from the reserve by using traps for larger animals and a combination of bait boxes and traps for rodents.

One of the last few remaining and easily-accessible wilderness areas on Oʻahu, Kaʻena Point is also part of the State Park system.

As part of the State Park, the Kaʻena Point Trail follows an old railroad bed and former dirt road that ran around the point.  The trail leads to Kaʻena Point Natural Area Reserve.

From the Waiʻanae side, the trailhead is at the end of the paved road in the Keawaʻula Section of Kaʻena Point State Park and follows the dirt roadway for 2.4 miles to Kaʻena Point Natural Area Reserve.  From the Mokuleʻia side, the trailhead is at the end of the paved road and follows the dirt roadway for 2.5 miles.

The image shows Kaʻena Point (DLNR.)  In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Hawaiian Tuna Packers

In lawaiʻa hi aku (fishing for aku,) “the slapping of the fish against the men's sides and the arching of the bamboo poles as the aku bent them were like a double rainbow or the crescent shape of the moon of Hoaka.”  (Maly)

A special canoe was used that served as a live bait well (malau,) it was joined by a double hulled canoe for the fishers (kaulua;) following the noio birds to the schooling aku, several canoes would form around them and the live bait released - then the lines of the bamboo fishing poles were cast.  (Maly)

When the fish took the bait and broke water, the fisherman stood up straight and grasped the pole with both hands.  The fish came completely out of the water and slapped against the side of the fisherman, who then shoved the aku forward in the canoe and cast again.  (Maly)

In 1899, Gorokichi Nakasugi, a Japanese shipwright, brought a traditional Japanese sailing vessel, called a sampan, to Hawai‘i, and this led to a unique class of vessels and distinctive maritime culture associated with the rise of the commercial fishing industry in Hawai‘i.  (Cultural Surveys)

The Japanese technique of catching tuna with pole-and-line and live bait resembled the aku fishing method traditionally used by Hawaiians.  The pole-and-line vessels mainly targeted skipjack tuna (aku.)

In the modern fleet, with an average length of 75- to 90-feet, these boats were the largest of the sampans. The pole-and-line fleet generally fished within a few miles of the main Hawaiian Islands, because few vessels carried ice and the catch needed to be landed within four to five hours from the time of capture.

The modern fishing method used live bait thrown from a fishing vessel to stimulate a surface school into a feeding frenzy. Fishing was then conducted frantically to take advantage of the limited time the school remains near the boat.

The pole and line were about 10-feet and used a barbless hook with feather skirts which is slapped against the water until a fish strikes. Then the fish is yanked into the vessel in one motion. The fish unhooks when the line is slacked so that the process can be repeated.

On a pole-and-line vessel a fisherman was required to learn how to cast the line, jerk the fish out of the water, catch the tuna under his left arm, snap the barbless hook out, slide the fish into the hold and cast the line back out - all in rapid succession.

The fishery was dependent on having sufficient bait fish, nehu (Hawaiian anchovy;) a lot of the bait fish, came from Kāneʻohe Bay.  Dozens of aku boats would set their nets in the Bay’s shallows; the pier at Heʻeia Kea Boat Harbor was homeport for more than 20 of them.

Initially, most sampans docked in Honolulu Harbor. In the 1920s, Kewalo Basin was constructed and by the 1930s was the main berthing area for the sampan fleet and also the site of the tuna cannery, fish auction, shipyard, ice plant, fuel dock and other shore-side facilities.

The Hawaiʻi skipjack tuna fishery originally supplied only the local market for fresh and dried tuna.  Then, the Hawaiian Tuna Packers, Ltd. cannery was established (in 1916,) enabling the fishery to expand beyond a relatively small fresh and dried market.

Six sampans made up the cannery’s initial fleet.  The fleet grew and before WWII the fishery included up to 26 vessels.  Following the war, as new vessels were built, fleet size increased to a maximum of 32 vessels in 1948.

These vessels carried crews of 7-9 fishermen, and frequently worked 6 days a week.  It was hard work and the fishing day may begin with catching bait fish at dawn, followed by fishing to dusk.

Historically, the pole-and-line, live bait fishery for skipjack tuna (aku) was the largest commercial fishery in Hawaiʻi. Annual pole-and-line landings of skipjack tuna exceeded 5.5 million lb from 1937 to 1973.

The new and expanding market for canned product allowed the fishery to grow; from 1937 until the early 1980s most of the skipjack tuna landed in Hawaiʻi was canned.

F Walter Macfarlane opened the Macfarlane Tuna Company at Ala Moana and Cooke street.  By 1922, after having changed hands a couple times, the company was incorporated by local stockholders as Hawaiian Tuna Packers Ltd.

Around 1928, tuna processing started in Kewalo Basin.  Nearby was the Kewalo Shipyard that serviced and repaired the local aku boats.  They also had an ice house.

From the beginning, Hawaiian Tuna Packers label was Coral Tuna or Coral Hawaiian Brand Tuna.

By the 1930s, the Honolulu cannery employed 500 and produced nearly ten-million cans of tuna per year.  For several years Hawaiian Tuna Packers also operated a smaller cannery in Hilo.

About ninety percent of the output was shipped to the mainland; the remaining ten percent was sold in Hawaiʻi. (The cans for packing the tuna are furnished by the Dole Company.)

Fishing stopped during WWII because the larger sampans were used by the military for patrol duties and the Japanese fishermen were not allowed to go to sea.  (Wilson)

With the entry of the United States in the Second World War came the imposition of area and time restrictions on fishing activities in Hawai'i that virtually eliminated offshore harvesting operations.  Many fishing boats were requisitioned by the Army or Navy.  (Schug)

The tuna cannery was converted into a plant for the assembly of airplane auxiliary fuel tanks and the shipyard was converted to the maintenance of military craft. Hawaiʻi's fishing industry was forever changed.  (Schug)

In 1960, Castle & Cooke bought out Hawaiian Tuna Packers and made it a part of Bumble Bee Seafoods out of the northwest.  They operated the cannery until late-1984, when it ultimately closed.

The image shows aku boat fishing (SOEST.)  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Freemasonry in Hawai‘i

Freemasonry, with its commitment to interdenominational and international fellowship, originated in the British Isles.  The secret society emerged from the medieval guilds of stonemasons in Britain and Europe that set standards, protected workers' rights and provided other benefits.

Though only Scottish and English associations can be connected to the modern Masonic fraternity, similar craft guilds and companies existed across Europe, playing an important role in the construction of abbeys, cathedrals and castles.

Masons’ tools such as the level, square and compass served to underline the fraternity's values: equality, honesty, spirituality.  Freemasonry spread like wildfire throughout Europe and America during the eighteenth century.

Hawai‘i was first visited by Freemasons as early as the early-1790s, with the visit of George Vancouver.  In addition other lesser known Freemasons (mariners, merchants and professionals) visited the Islands.

Oddly enough, it was a French mariner who introduced this British cultural export into Hawai‘i at a time when the Union Jack flew over the kingdom's capital.

On April 8, 1843, during the reign of King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli,) Freemasonry was formally established in Hawai‘i by Joseph Marie Le Tellier, Captain of the French whaling barque "Ajax" when he warranted Lodge Le Progres de l'Oceanie No. 124, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Supreme Council of France.

This was the first Masonic Lodge to be instituted in the Sandwich Islands (as Hawai‘i was referenced at that time) and is quite likely the first Lodge to be founded in the Pacific and West of the Rocky Mountains.

With it, Freemasonry became firmly established in the Sandwich Islands.  In Honolulu, the original lodge members were European and American mariners, shopkeepers and farmers.

Membership in Masonic lodges has always served to facilitate business contacts, as well as social ones.  By the late-1840s there were about thirty-five merchants and storekeepers in Honolulu, of whom about one third were Masons.  Similar ratios existed for the other 150 skilled "mechanics" and professionals in town.

Hawaiian Royalty soon looked to membership.  The association between Freemasonry and the Hawaiian Monarchy started with Prince Lot when he was raised in Hawaiian Lodge in 1853, and became the first Native Hawaiian to become a Freemason (he later became Kamehameha V.)

Prince Lot was followed into the fraternity by his younger brother Prince Alexander Liholiho, who later became Kamehameha IV, and was the Master of Lodge le Progres de l’Oceanie in 1859, 1861 and 1862.

In June 1853, Foreign Minister Robert Crichton Wyllie sent the lodge a request from King Kamehameha III that the reigning monarch be initiated “into our ancient and benevolent order.”  Apparently, the lodge did not take the opportunity to enroll King Kamehameha III.

In July 1860, the ground breaking for Queen’s Hospital included a traditional Masonic cornerstone laying ceremony attended by thousands and presided over by the young monarch.

Later, in 1879, King Kalākaua (one of the most active members of the Craft in the Island Kingdom,) conducted a grand Masonic ceremony at the site of the new ‘Iolani Palace, using Masonic silver working tools specially crafted for the occasion.

Other public buildings dedicated under Masonic rites were Ali‘iolani Hale (now home to Hawai‘i’s Supreme Court) and Lunalilo Home.

Other notable Masons of that time included John Dominis (husband of Queen Lili’uokalani,) Archibald Cleghorn (Governor of O‘ahu,) Prince William Pitt Leleiohoku (younger brother of King Kalākaua) and Prince David Kawananakoa.

During the first decades of Masonic activity in the Islands, Americans constituted 40 percent to 50 percent of all members, and Scots, Irish and English together constituted another 30 percent.

Native Hawaiians, on the other hand, comprised no more than 5 to 10 percent of the fraternity, but because they were frequently royalty or important governmental officials, they were highly conspicuous.

In 1852, Hawaiian Lodge was chartered by the Grand Lodge of California and all Hawaiʻi lodges became part of that grand lodge from 1902 until 1989, when the Grand Lodge of Hawaiʻi was established.

After 137 years to the month (when the Hawaiian Lodge was chartered,) May 5, 1852 - May 20, 1989, of being a part of the California Jurisdiction, Hawai‘i established its own regular Grand Lodge.

On May 20, 1989, the twelve Masonic Lodges of Hawaiʻi instituted The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Hawai‘i.

The Grand Lodge of Hawai‘i is the smallest and youngest of American jurisdictions, consisting of eleven constituent lodges and about 1,700 members.  Over the years, its members have included three kings, four governors and six chief justices of the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court.

The image shows the Masonic temple on the corner of Alakea and Hotel (1905.)  In addition I have added other images related to the property in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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