HistoricHawaii

The Restoration of Hana Buddhist Temple The Hana Hongwanji Gakuen Temple also known as Hana Buddhist Temple, was built in the 1940s and still stands as a historic cultural beacon in the Hana community. Thanks to an incredible community of dedicated individuals, the Temple restoration is in full swing.  It means so much to so many, to preserve the history of this special symbol of spiritual and cultural values of the Japanese people who lived and worked in Hana, and to work to ensure it remains as a link to the past and a gathering place for the present. Historic Hawai‘i Foundation: Please describe the genesis of the Hana Hongwanji Gakuen Temple restoration project. Joe & Miho Brower, Hana Buddhist Temple Preservation Association: The Hana Temple is a gem hidden in plain sight of the tiny coastal town. My wife and I fell in love at first site with the Temple shortly after arriving in Hana nearly twenty years ago. I, being a builder, was drawn by the style, workmanship and aura of the building while my wife, a Japanese Buddhist, had a familiar spiritual connection to the temple. Out of admiration and wanting to be involved with the temple and her grounds we wrote a letter to the Temple caretaker, a stern original member who had been the caretaker of the Temple since returning to Hana from WW II, asking to be given a chance to help out with the maintenance. The letter was returned with the words “The Answer is No - Stay Away” written in black sharpie. Some years later, in 2012, the aging caretaker fell ill and was forced to leave Hana for an extended hospitalization.  At this point the [...]

Visitor Service Building Rehabilitation More than 500,000 visitors frequent the Kīlauea Lighthouse Wildlife Refuge annually.  Established in 1985 to preserve and enhance seabird nesting colonies, the Refuge was expanded in 1988 to include Crater Hill and Mōkōlea Point. It's a beacon of hope for threatened Hawaiian wildlife & their habitats as well as the home of the historic Daniel K. Inouye Kīlauea Point Lighthouse, built in 1913, which sits on the northernmost point of Kaua‘i. Photo courtesy of Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA)/Tor Johnson. The Visitor Service Building is an important historic structure noted as a contributing resource to the Kīlauea Point Light Station, which is listed on the Hawai‘i and National Registers of Historic Places, associated with the development of transportation and navigational history in Hawai‘i and the US.  Used as the light keeper's residence in the past, the building is now a visitor center--prominently on display.  The center will continue to play an eminent role now and into the future, as a place to share local history through story-telling and other projects and exhibits. Rehabilitation work included replacement of the non-historic vinyl windows with custom double-hung wood windows in keeping with the historic character of the building.  New windows and interior trim were designed and executed to match the original 1913 window condition with new interior wood trim handmade to exactly match original trim profiles. The successful completion of this project which preserves the character-defining features to their original condition, celebrates the continued use of these historic support structures to the Lighthouse and is an essential step forward in protecting and preserving one of Kauai's most well-known, well-loved historic places.   The Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Service Building Rehabilitation will be [...]

The Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu Celebrates its Centennial The Hawaiian civic club movement was the fulfillment of a dream for Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole.  The Prince was eager for the Hawaiian people to know more about government and the community at large, in order to carry on the tradition of civic responsibility that he felt was vital to the development of Hawaii and its people.  He was among those principally involved in the planning and formation of the pioneer Hawaiian Civic Club in 1917 to support initiatives that benefit the native Hawaiian community. This emerged from Prince Kuhio’s concern over what he saw as the decline in spirit and the devastating spike in the mortality rate of the Hawaiian people, and his fear that they would not have the educational skills to protect their interests. Prince Kuhio believed that the future of the Hawaiian community and its people could be safeguarded and promoted only through an organized effort led by Hawaiian leadership. He believed that the Hawaiians should help their young people secure an education that would enable them to compete successfully in the cultural environment of the 20th century. The first Hawaiian Civic Club was formed with several principal objectives.  These included providing scholarship aid for the education of Hawaiian students; preserving and promoting the Hawaiian heritage, traditions, language and culture; promoting and supporting organizations interested in improving the conditions of the Hawaiian people and community at large as well as legislation beneficial to the Hawaiian community; and perpetuating the values that dignify all human life, which are the moral and ethical foundation of the cultural expressions that comprise the unique, rich, and enduring legacy of the first people of Hawaii. In 1918, [...]

Manoa Marketplace Monkeypod Trees Saved! Written by Lowell Angell and Neil Bond, Members, Board of Directors, Malama Manoa The Manoa community and countless others on Oahu breathed a collective sigh of relief when Alexander & Baldwin announced on January 26, 2018 that they would retain all 17 mature monkeypod trees at Manoa Marketplace. They had planned to remove 7 trees and relocate 2 more because the surface roots were creating a tripping hazard and they also wanted more room for parking. A&B, a kamaaina firm founded in 1869, purchased the Marketplace in 2016. A view of the Monkeypod trees at Manoa Marketplace. Photo credit: Malama Manoa. After witnessing the strong reaction to their initial presentation at the Manoa Neighborhood Board meeting on December 6, 2017, the A&B Project Team agreed to delay the project and solicit community input. The Outdoor Circle played a large role and helped widely publicize the situation, Neil Bond and the Manoa Alliance created an online petition which resulted in almost 20,000 signatures including 10,000 from Hawai`i, and Malama Manoa's board of directors voted unanimously against removal of any trees. Together with these organizations, many concerned residents joined in a cooperative community effort to find a way to save the 40-year old trees. This included multiple meetings with A&B representatives. After exploring several alternatives, A&B decided to place large planters around the trees between Safeway and Longs. One monkeypod tree fronting Longs Drugs is obstructing a storm drain and will be moved to the grassy area along Manoa stream. A White Tecoma tree will replace it. A companion monkeypod tree will be planted along the stream bank, bringing the total number of Marketplace monkeypods to 18. The trees will [...]

Lyon at 100 By Stephen Haus As Lyon Arboretum celebrates their 100th anniversary* this year, it is appropriate to remember the founding father, a matriarch, and those who have contributed to this vast collection of over 5000 species of plants from around the world, spread over 194 acres. The founding father, Dr. Harold Lyon, arrived in Hawaii in 1907 from the University of Minnesota where he was a professor of Botany. He was recruited by the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association (HSPA) first serving as a plant pathologist and then in 1918 was sent by the HSPA Department of Botany and Forestry on an around the world plant collecting trip. The replanting of a Hawaii devastated by the free reign of cattle and mountains pockmarked by the harvesting of Sandalwood, Koa and Ohia Lehua began as a watershed restoration project in the back of Manoa Valley. Hawaii was transitioning from a kapu system of harvest restrictions to a market economy where the land itself was the commodity. The Ficus species, a non-lumber tree, was Lyon’s most prolific introduction. The dominant canopy tree at Lyon, the Albizia, was actually introduced prior to Lyon by the Austrian Botanist Dr.Joseph Rock. From 1936-48 the Arboretum was the HSPA Experimental Station for testing re-vegetation schemes. In a letter to H.G. Agee, the Director of the Experimental Station, Lyon wrote, "continued neglect of these watersheds is suicide, for everything fails with the failure of the water supply". In 1956, Dr. Lyon wrote an article titled Honolulu Can Have A Botanical Garden. "Here there is a golden opportunity to build in upper Manoa Valley a vast botanical garden of native and introduced plants and at the same time carry through a project in [...]