A look back at Kaua‘i banking

Editor’s note: On Dec. 3, the Kaua‘i Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary. Museum leaders have chosen 50 stories from exhibits, collections and the archives of the museum to share with the public. One story will run daily through Dec. 3.

LIHU‘E — It is true that the more you have the more complicated life is. With a cash economy comes the problem of how to acquire cash and where to keep it. Wealth was not often acquired by just hard work, but by investing money in other people’s hard work. There were many novel ways to obtain money, usually just borrowing from those that had it.

The first coinage of Hawai‘i was the 1-cent copper coin issued in 1847 bearing the portrait of King Kamehameha III, otherwise most coinage made of precious metals were acceptable currency.

The Kingdom of Hawaii’s first bank was established in 1858 in Honolulu. Several banks followed, but all in Honolulu. In 1903 Bank of Hawai‘i opened its first branch on Kaua‘i in Lihu‘e and in 1911 Bishop & Company opened its first branch on Kaua‘i at Waimea. These were Kauai’s first commercial banks.

Plantations, the largest employers up until the late 1930’s, paid their employees in cash. As worker’s income improved this became a serious problem and the courts were full of theft cases, some rather colorful.

Although bankers visited and serviced businesses banking was not convenient for the average person. The mattress, loose floorboard or a can buried in the back yard were still the norm.

In 1938 the plantations took the lead in organizing credit unions. Interracial governing boards made up of plantation neighborhood leaders were set up to encourage all workers to use these services. This was as the nation was coming out of the Depression Years and a deep suspicion of banks and how safe money would be if stored there. How different banking is 80 years later.