Maunaʻolu Seminary - Makawao, Maui

The last of the female seminaries that was begun by the missionaries was initially called the Makawao Family School.  Reverend Claudius B. Andrews and his wife, Anne Seward Gilson Andrews, began it in 1861 in a location above Makawao Village on the island of Maui.

Maunaʻolu Seminary is an out-growth of the “East Maui Female Seminary.”  It first sprang into existence, through the earnest desire of the Andrews for a school for Hawaiian girls, where they might he educated in the atmosphere of a Christian home, and so be equipped for their future life work.

Mr. Andrews purchased a piece of land called “Maluhia,” selecting a site about 2,000-feet on the slopes of Haleakalā.

It was here that Mr. and Mrs. Andrews with their family first conceived the idea of a "Home School" for Hawaiian girls, as Mr. Andrews said, "Where the girls are to be taught as my own daughters".

It was not so much the idea of book knowledge as that in the early years of the child-life they would be given the essential elements of true character building, looking to future development of Hawaiian womanhood.

 A year after the school began, Mrs. Andrews died.

Throughout the next seven years, Reverend Andrews received help from a variety of people, and attendance grew to 70 students.  But then, in 1869, the school building burned; the school was temporarily closed, but reopened in 1871.

Reverend Andrews, along with his second wife, Samantha Andrews, were in charge of operating the school.  (The second Mrs. Andrews was a sister of his first wife.)

Miss Helen E. Carpenter was engaged as an assistant teacher.  Both Samantha Andrews and Helen Carpenter were graduates of Mount Holyoke Seminary.  In 1874, the latter was appointed principal.

Throughout the following years, the curriculum included the usual academic courses in reading, mathematics, literature, history, language (all instruction was in English), geography, spelling, civics and the Bible.  The industrial departments included sewing, domestic arts and culinary.

During the last two decades of the 19th century, the school was nicknamed the Mount Holyoke Seminary of the Hawaiian Islands due to the connection of its instructors with that American seminary and the large number of Hawaiian Islands ministers' daughters in attendance.

Additions to the buildings and aid from both the Government and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) led to the enrollment climbing to 100 students.

At the end of the century, all the female seminaries in Hawai‘i began to lose students to the newly-founded Kamehameha School for Girls.

This latter school was established in 1894; it was not technically a seminary or founded by missionaries, but all the girls enrolled were Hawaiian, and its curriculum was very similar to what was used at the missionary-sponsored seminaries.

After a second fire in 1898, Maunaʻolu Seminary moved into temporary quarters in the buildings of the old Haleakala government boy’s school, also above Makawao.

In 1900 Maunaʻolu was rebuilt in a place closer to Pā‘ia on land known as Pu‘u Makani (windy hill).  This was brought about by the generosity of the honored trustee, Mr. Henry P. Baldwin.

Maunaʻolu Seminary continued to exist through the 1920s, offering a high school diploma to their graduates.  Its last commencement was in June 1942.

The school was used for the military hospital during World War II.  Reopened in 1950 as a coeducational junior college run by the Hawaiian Evangelical Association of Congregational Christian Churches, Maunaʻolu Community College offered the last two years of high school and the first two years of college.

A four-year college curriculum was developed in 1969, but the college had difficulty attracting students.

In 1971, Maunaʻolu College was acquired by United States International University, and later by the County of Maui. The college is no longer in existence.

The image is an undated drawing by Edward Bailey of the Maunaʻolu Seminary.  In addition, I have added some other images of the school in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

Bond Historic District – North Kohala, Hawai‘i

The Bond  Historic District  is  located  in  the  rural,  agricultural  area  south  of the  town  of Kapaʻau, North Kohala, on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

The buildings  are  grouped  in  three sections  -  The Bond Homestead (established in  1841  by  Boston missionary Reverend  Elias  Bond,)  Kalāhikiola Church (completed  in  1855) and  Kohala  Seminary (Kohala  Girl's  School - complex founded  in  1872.) 

The Reverend and Mrs. Bond sailed with the Ninth Company of Missionaries from Boston and settled at Kohala, Hawai‘i.  Bond arrived in Honolulu in May of 1841.  They were then assigned to Kohala.

Reverend  Isaac Bliss, an  elderly missionary in  Kohala,  had  already completed  the main house of what  is  now known  as  the  Bond  Homestead  compound when  Bond  arrived  in  Kohala  in June,  1841.

As a means to provide employment to the people in the region and support his church and schools, Reverend Bond founded Kohala Sugar Company, known as "The Missionary Plantation,” in 1862.

Reportedly, by 1885, Bond, who gave all his dividends and profits beyond his living expenses to the Board of Missions, was their largest single contributor.  The plantation was shut down in 1973.

The heart of the Bond District is the Bond Homestead located in makai portion of the property.  The Homestead consists of two residential buildings, one doctor's office and several out buildings.  The buildings contain many historic furnishings and artifacts dating from 1844.

The area is described in an 1849 account (in ‘The Island World of the Pacific’) as follows:  "It stands in the center of an area of some five or six acres, enclose with a neat stone wall, and having a part of it cultivated as a garden, adorned with flowering shrubs and trees, as the pineapple, guava, acacia, mimosa, tamarind, kukui, mulberry,  geranium, banana, Pride of China, sugar cane, etc.  The house is thatched with long  leaves of the hala-tree (Pandanus), and has a very pretty, neat appearance, in connection with that tasteful keeping of the walks and grounds, like the pictures we  have of thatched cottages and rural scenes of Old England."

Kalāhikiola Church is located on a gently sloping site in the middle section of the property.  The structure was a rectangular building made of lava rock walls.

Kalāhikiola (“the life-bringing sun” or “the day bringing salvation”) is the name of a small hill on the side of the Kohala Mountain; the name goes back to the time of the arrival of the first Christian missionaries.  ‘Ōhi‘a timbers from forests on the hill were used in building the church; so when the church was consecrated on October 11, 1855 it was appropriately given the name Kalāhikiola.

In 2006, an earthquake severely damaged the building.  In the restoration, the congregation decided to remove the stone walls entirely, shore and brace the building, and erect new walls of reinforced concrete, which was then plastered and scored with mortar lines to resemble the church's original exterior.

The Kohala Girl's School was Reverend Bond's last major undertaking.  For 30-years prior to the 1874 founding of the Kohala Girl's School, Reverend Bond ran a boarding school for boys.  His decision to build a separate facility to educate native Hawaiian women in Christian living and housekeeping was made in 1872.

The Kohala Seminary (Kohala Girl’s School) is located mauka of Kalāhikiola Church; it consists of six wood frame buildings scattered over approximately 3 acres.

The main residence building is a generally rectangular two-and-one-half story structure; the building was constructed in 1874 and was used as dormitory and classroom space.  In 1955, the school stopped functioning.

In addition to the missionary work and founding and operating the school, the Bonds had 11-children born in Hawai‘i.

The District is listed on both the State of Hawai’i and the National Registers of Historic Places.

Many years ago, I had the good fortune to have been able to tour the Bond Homestead with Lyman Bond, great grandson of Reverend Elias Bond.  It was a wonderful experience to have a descendent relate stories of the people and the place.

My brother-in-law, Paul Morgan, while studying architecture, did extensive review of the Kohala Girls School structures; he gave me a tour of the Girls School.

New Moon Foundation acquired about 48 acres of the Bond Historic District and 580 surrounding acres from the Bond family.  The purchase agreement included covenants specifying that real property located in the Bond Homestead is of historic significance and should be preserved and protected.

New Moon Foundation has been working to restore the buildings and put them to education adaptive reuse.  As part of its future vision, they intend to offer public tours of the Historic District.

The image shows the Bond Homestead in about 1900.  In addition, I have included additional Bond Historic District images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii