This is part 2 on McBryde. The first part was in the July 14 edition. Turning back the clock to 1905, we see that Walter McBryde was made manager of Kaua’i Fruit & Land Company, and would hold that position until
This is part 2 on McBryde. The first part was in the July 14 edition.
Turning back the clock to 1905, we see that Walter McBryde was made manager of Kaua’i Fruit & Land Company, and would hold that position until his death in 1930. (Kaua’i Fruit & Land Company later became Kaua’i Pineapple Company, generally known locally as “Kaua’i Pine,” and it remained in operation until the early 1960s. What little is left of its cannery, which at one time produced over 4,800 cases of pineapple per week, is still to be seen in Lawa‘i.)
A generous individual, McBryde turned over tracts of McBryde land in Kalaheo and Lawai to the Territory of Hawai‘i with the stipulation that the land be used for homesteading, and from 1906 through 1914, these lands were opened to homesteaders in four phases.
The first, in 1906, encompassed lands in north Kalaheo; the second phase occurred in 1907 on lands in south Kalaheo. In 1913, the Kalaheo Homesteads at Kukuiolono were phased in, and the final phase at Kalaheo-Lawa‘i was implemented in the following year.
Because of McBryde’s generosity, many families were able to become landowners at a time when the great majority of people on Kaua‘i lived in sugar plantation camps.
Homesteads sold for $1 to $5 per acre, depending on the land’s location and the size of the homestead, and as long as homesteaders worked the land by cultivating crops and planting trees, it would be theirs in three to five years.
As a consequence of homesteaders settling in the Kalaheo area, a small community took shape on the high land between Lawa‘i and ‘Ele‘ele — the town of Kalaheo, which would not have been built, had it not been for Walter McBryde’s generosity.
McBryde made his home at Kukuiolono (today’s Kukuiolono Park and Golf Course). Kukui-o-lono means “Torch-of-god-Lono,” since its summit was the site where Hawaiians in ancient times set a beacon light so fishermen and others at sea far below could get their bearings in the darkness of the night.
From 1905 through 1921, he also served on the Kaua’i Board of Supervisors.
McBryde lived, died and was buried in Kukuiolono, which was gifted by him to the public for its enjoyment in perpetuity.
