Curtis and Victoria Ward’s Legacy

The Wards, Old Plantation, and New Ward Village

By Kristen Pedersen 

Imagine owning all the property between Thomas Square on King Street down to the ocean, including most of eastern Kaka’ako. Now envision the property, not as part of urban Honolulu, but as a green and productive plantation, as it was in the 1880’s.

This vision was real and it began in 1870 when Curtis and Victoria Ward purchased this exact 100 acres of land. Over the next several years, the Wards established a self-sufficient farm and built a beautiful Southern-style house, called Old Plantation. The house was located on the mauka side of the property, and included an artesian well, a large fishpond, vegetable and flower gardens, more than 7000 coconut trees, and extensive pastures dedicated to raising horses and cattle.

According to Frank Ward Hustace, in his book “Victoria Ward and Her Family: Memories of Old Plantation,” the fishpond was filled with amaama, mullet, and aholehole. The artesian well was fed by a spring of cool water, as clear as glass. According to Hustace, “Queen Emma loved the cool water from the Wards’ artesian well and would stop to drink out of kaio leaves folded into cups.”

Unfortunately, Curtis Ward did not get to enjoy the plantation for long. Just a year after construction on the house was finished, Curtis died and Victoria took over the plantation’s commercial operations. She successfully ran the business on her own until 1930 when she and her seven daughters established Victoria Ward Ltd, which assumed daily management of the property. Victoria died in 1935.

The Old Plantation property remained largely intact until 1958, when the last Ward daughter died and the city of Honolulu bought a substantial portion of the grounds to build the Neil S. Blaisdell Center. The fishponds around the Blaisdell Center today are fed by water from the Ward’s spring. During the following years, several other parcels of Ward property were developed and leased out for commercial use.

In 2002, Victoria Ward Ltd, one of the state’s largest private landowners, was sold to General Growth Properties, Inc. for $275 million. Eight years later, in 2010, the Howard Hughes Corporation took over all of General Growth’s development properties, including the Ward Center area, and began working on plans for redevelopment. The highest profile project, Ward Village, was designed with Old Plantation in mind. This Ward Village video contains several photos of Old Plantation.

 

If you are interested in learning more about the Ward family and life at Old Plantation, I recommend Frank Ward Hustace’s book, “Victoria Ward and Her Family: Memories of Old Plantation.” Also, check out the Sigall article (below) which contains some fascinating details about the land and its various uses over the years.

 

Kristen Pedersen is an adjunct professor in Strategic Communication and Organizational Behavior at Portland State University and Managing Director at Mambo Media. Prior to finishing her PhD, she worked in film and television in Miami, Los Angeles, and Brussels, Belgium. She is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, an avid researcher, and has many fond childhood memories of Kailua Beach.

 

 

Source material:

Hustace, F. (2000). Victoria Ward and her Family: Memories of Old Plantation. Honolulu, HI: Victoria Ward Ltd.

Ruel, T. (2002). A link to lost Hawaii. Star Bulletin, July. Retrieved from http://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/07/07/business/story2.html

Sigall, B. (2014). Rifle range, airfield, among historic uses of Ward land. Honolulu Star Advertiser, May. Retrieved from http://www.pressreader.com/usa/honolulu-star-advertiser/20140509/284047664877374

Trifonovich, K.A. (2001). Victoria Ward Ltd. Hawaii Business, Nov. Retrieved from http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/victoria-ward-ltd/

Ward Village (2014). Ward Village [Video]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/96874167

Young, P.T. (2013, April 11). Old Plantation [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://totakeresponsibility.blogspot.com/2013/04/old-plantation.html