ISLAND HISTORY: The old Lihu‘e Armory was in operation from 1917 to 1967
Until 1917, when the Lihu‘e Armory was built, Kaua‘i’s 1st Battalion 4th Infantry Regiment of the Hawai‘i National Guard had no armory and was therefore compelled to store its equipment in inadequate accommodations inside the County Building.
ISLAND HISTORY: Commander John Rodgers’ rescue off Kaua‘i in 1925
Born in Washington D.C., Navy Commander John Rodgers (1881-1926) was a graduate of the Naval Academy, Class of 1903, and served on various ships before training to become only the second Navy flight officer.
ISLAND HISTORY: Sugar was successfully produced on Hawaiian plantations for 181 years
In May 1968, when my fiancée, Ginger Beralas of Lihue, first took me to Kaua‘i, there were eight sugar plantations in operation on the island: Kilauea, Lihu‘e Plantation, Grove Farm, McBryde, Olokele, G & R, Waimea, and Kekaha.
ISLAND HISTORY: Naval Officer William Reynolds resided at Malumalu from 1852-61
Born in Pennsylvania, William Reynolds (1815-1879) joined the Navy in 1831, was promoted to midshipman and lieutenant in 1841, and served as an officer with the U. S. Exploring Expedition, or Wilkes Expedition, as it is also referred to, which explored the Pacific from 1838 to 1842.
ISLAND HISTORY: Sugar’s role in creating Hawai‘i’s cosmopolitan population
Herewith is a brief historical account of the recruitment and importation of foreign laborers, some with wives and children, under contract to Hawaiian sugar plantations, which was first authorized by the Kingdom of Hawai‘i in 1850:
ISLAND HISTORY: Hanapepe Valley taro farmers Shoichi and Shizuko Nagamine
For 36 years, until 1985, when they retired from taro farming, Shoichi Nagamine (1920-2001) and his wife, Shizuko Nagamine (1924-2008), raised taro in Hanapepe Valley on their 12-acre farm.
ISLAND HISTORY: The significance of the tree-planting ceremony at Coco Palms
In 1896, Ernst Lindemann planted a grove of coconut trees to produce copra on leased land that would later become the property of the Coco Palms Hotel.
ISLAND HISTORY: The story of Wailua Valley rice farmer Au Tai Hon
Wailua Valley rice farmer Au Tai Hon (1888-1940), of Chinese ancestry, was born at Kapaa, Kauai and was educated at Mid-Pacific Institute and Iolani.
ISLAND HISTORY: Kaua‘i-born Ruth Ochiyo Tanabe was incarcerated in an internment camp during World War II
In Feb. 1942, during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that authorized the forced removal of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to inland relocation centers.
ISLAND HISTORY: Old-time seafaring man William Whittington of Kalaheo, Kaua‘i
William Whittington (1842-1929), a blue water skipper of the old sailing days, witnessed the evolution at sea from racing clippers of the Victorian Age (1837-1901) through to the era of motorized ships.
ISLAND HISTORY: Kaua‘i-born historian Rubellite ‘Ruby’ Kawena Kinney Johnson
Historian Rubellite “Ruby” Kawena Kinney Johnson (b. 1933), daughter of Ernest Kaipoleimanu Kinney (1906-1987) and Esther Kauikeaulani Kaulili (1913-1979), was born and raised on Kaua‘i and educated at Kaua‘i High School, the University of Hawai‘i and Indiana University.
ISLAND HISTORY: Gurre P. Noble – co-author, with Eric Knudsen, of ‘Kanuka of Kaua‘i’
In her forward to “Kanuka of Kaua‘i,” the biography of west Kaua‘i konohiki (king’s agent) Valdemar Knudsen (1820-1898), which she co-wrote with Valdemar’s son, “Kaua‘i’s Teller of Hawaiian Tales” Eric Knudsen (1872-1957), Isle author and poet Gurre P. Noble (1902-1989) wrote the following in referring to Valdemar Knudsen:
ISLAND HISTORY: Old-time Koloa Landing ship chandler George ‘Old Keoki’ Charman
In 1830 at the age of 16, Englishman George “Old Keoki” Charman (1814-1892) signed on board a whaleship at Sussex, England and went to sea.
ISLAND HISTORY: Preserving the work of Kaua‘i archaeologist Dr. William Kikuchi
Since September 2022, Kaua‘i Community College archivist Jason Ford has been archiving and preserving the work of archaeologist Dr. William Kikuchi (1935-2003).
ISLAND HISTORY: Hawai‘i’s earliest Filipinos
My wife Ginger Beralas Soboleski’s ancestral roots in Hawai‘i extend back to her Filipino grandparents, who immigrated to Hawai‘i during the 1920s, after having been recruited by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association in the Philippines to work in Hawaiian sugar plantations.
ISLAND HISTORY: Kilauea Sugar Co. manager Robert A. Macfie Jr. visited Robert Louis Stevenson at Waikiki in 1889
Robert A. Macfie Jr. (1854-1925), the manager and a principal owner of Kaua‘i’s Kilauea Sugar Co., visited fellow Scotsman and famous novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) at Waikiki in 1889.
ISLAND HISTORY: A history of McBryde Sugar Company
McBryde Sugar Co., named after Judge Duncan McBryde, was incorporated in 1899 as a consolidation of Eleele Plantation, the McBryde Estate, and Koloa Agricultural Company.
ISLAND HISTORY: Old-time seafarer John Manaia Nawela
Born at Laie, O‘ahu, Native Hawaiian John Manaia Nawela (1852-1940) sailed the Pacific for many years as a whaler and expert harpooner.
ISLAND HISTORY: Leong Pah On, Kaua‘i’s rice king
Leong Pah On (1848-1924) arrived in Honolulu from China at the age of sixteen in 1864, during a time when rice was being planted in the islands to supply the needs of nearly 35,000 Chinese in California and about a 1,000 Chinese in Hawai‘i who relied on rice as their staple food.
ISLAND HISTORY: Rev. Hans Isenberg, pastor of the Lihue Lutheran Church
Rev. Hans Isenberg (1855-1918) was born and educated in Germany, and accepted a call to a Lutheran church at St. Andreasberg, Germany in 1882.