Kauai railroad historian Rick Burrell
It was Rick Burrell’s grandfather, John F. Barretto, a longtime locomotive engineer for Makee Sugar Co. and Lihue Plantation, who first sparked his intense interest in Kauai’s railroad history.
An Expensive Charter Crisis on Maui
Maui has figured out a way to bleed cash from its budget very quickly. It’s called a “Charter Crisis.”
G. N. Wilcox Memorial Hospital Administrator Elizabeth H. Middleton
Born in New Jersey, Miss Elizabeth H. Middleton, R. N. (1899-1996) was the G. N. Wilcox Memorial Hospital administrator for 23 years, from 1944 until her retirement in 1967.
Pfc. Clyde J. Caires was killed in the Vietnam War
This Island History was written to honor Clyde J. Caires and the other 12 servicemen from Kauai who were killed in Vietnam.
The Kauai Rebellion Of 1824
In 1810, Kamehameha I and King Kaumualii of Kauai formed an alliance whereby Kauai would remain a separate kingdom, but within the realm of Kamehameha I, so long as Kaumualii lived.
The Nawiliwili Bulk Sugar Plant
The old Nawiliwili Bulk Sugar Plant, which was reconstructed and opened for business by Guardian Self-Storage in 2016, was originally built in 1950 for the purpose of storing raw sugar in bulk and then loading it aboard freighters, thereby eliminating the previous, more costly process of filling and shipping sugar in bags.
Grove Farm Co. History – The Wilcox Era
Grove Farm Co. of Kauai originated in 1856 when Herman Widemann bought lands in Halehaka and Huleia valleys from James Marshall for $8,000, named them Grove Farm, and began planting sugarcane on them.
Queen Emma’s residence at Mauna Kilohana
During Queen Emma’s sojourn on Kauai during December 1870 through April 1871, she resided at Mauna Kilohana, which was located within the 4,200-acre ahupuaa of Lawai deeded to her by her aunt Hikoni.
A look back at ‘The Hanapepe Massacre’
In 1924, Filipino labor leader Pablo Manlapit declared a Hawaiian sugar workers strike, demanding $2 for an 8-hour work day and better housing.
Makee and Lihue Plantation Railroad Engineer John F. Barretto
Born in Kealia Camp, Kauai, the son of Portuguese immigrants Francisco and Francisca Barretto of Madeira, Portugal, John F. Barretto (1901-1988) ended his formal education at the eighth grade and began his 40-plus year railroad career at Makee Sugar Co. of Kealia sometime between 1915 and 1919 as a locomotive brakeman and fireman, and was promoted to engineer.
Kauai Fish and Game Warden Roland Israel
Born and raised in California, Kauai Fish and Game Warden Roland Israel (1890-1941) settled on Kauai in 1919 and acquired a homestead in Wailua that he worked successfully until he sold it 1926.
The movie ‘The Hawaiians’ filmed on Kauai
The movie, “The Hawaiians,” released in 1970, was based on the novel, “Hawaii,” written by author James Michener and covered the time period from arrival of Chinese and Japanese immigrants in Hawaii during the mid to late 19th century, as well as the birth of the pineapple industry, and the political development in the Islands from the days of the monarchy through to shortly after Hawaii became a territory of the United States in 1898.
Kauai Volunteers Commander Paul Townsley
Paul Townsley (1899-1956) was Lihue Plantation’s office manager from 1929 to 1954 and the commander of the Kauai Volunteers, a militia formed during World War II to supplement the Armed Forces and National Guard in defense of Kauai.
German Consul protests the St. Catherine’s Fair of 1938
On Nov. 7, 1938, Robert Lange, the German consul at Honolulu, notified the press that he would be asking Territorial governor Joseph Poindexter to eliminate the “sock ‘em” game to be held at the Saint Catherine’s Church fair on Saturday and Sunday, November 19 and 20, at Kealia Park, the present Kealia, Kauai rodeo arena.
Kauai School Teacher Diedrich Prigge Sr.
Born in Germany, Diedrich Prigge Sr. (1878-1954) immigrated to Kauai with his parents in 1881, and beginning in 1897, when he was just 19 years old, he was employed for fifty years by the Department of Public Instruction on Kauai as a vocational teacher, until he retired in 1947.
Hanapepe’s Aloha Theater
On Sunday, Oct. 4, 1936, dedication services for the newly constructed Aloha Theater on Hanapepe Road, Kauai were conducted by Shinkan Tahara, the Shinto priest of the Lawai Shinto Temple.
Kauai and ‘Victory at Sea’
During World War II, thousands of American military personnel were stationed on Kauai, while hundreds of Kauai’s men and women served overseas in the Armed Forces and in the Merchant Marine of the United States and as civilian volunteers both home and abroad.
Kauai School Teacher Yone Kagawa Miyake
Kauai school teacher Yone Kagawa Miyake (1903-1981) was born at Makaweli, Kauai, the daughter of Japanese immigrants Saichi and Yoshi Kagawa, who’d arrived in Hawaii in 1895, with Saichi under contract to work at Paauhau Sugar Plantation on the Big Island for three years.
A Glimpse of military life on Kauai during World War II
During World War II, more than 40,000 American soldiers were stationed on Kauai, where the Army established camps, training areas, firing ranges and artillery impact zones for the purpose of training troops for combat in the Pacific.
Episodes from Noboru Miyake’s Early Years
Born and raised on a 20-acre rice farm on land his parents leased deep within Waimea Valley, Kauai, far beyond the present swinging bridge, Noboru Miyake (1896-1988) would become the first person of Japanese ancestry to hold public office in Hawaii, when voters elected him to the Kauai Board of Supervisors in 1930.