Wailea Store Camp, AKA Wailea Mill Camp
The Wailea Milling Company's workforce needed housing. Wailea Mill Camp was the solution.
The Wailea Milling Company, in operation from 1921-1944, served homesteaders. While the homesteader tended to the growing of the cane, fertilizing, and poisoning weeds, the Wailea Milling Company needed a workforce for tasks not carried out by the homesteaders: plowing, harvesting, and milling, Wailea Mill Camp was built to house this workforce.
- "The Wailea plantation population numbers about 400 and the payroll about 200, all inclusive: fields, mill, stables, carpenter and machine shops, store and office staff, day workers and foremen." Source: The Honolulu Advertiser, November 9, 1941, accessed via Newspapers.com.
Location
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There were 2 Wailea camps within about a mile of the Hakalau Camps, heading in a Hilo direction on the old Mamalahoa Highway.
Wailea Town was between these two camps. A segment of the Hakalau Plantation's Domestic Water Map prepared in October 1944, clearly shows the location of both Wailea Camps, along with Hakalau School, a familiar landmark. |
Hakalau Plantation Field Map, 1954, annotated. Courtesy of the Edmund Olson Trust Archive.
Portion of the Hakalau Plantation Domestic Water Map, 1944, courtesy of the Edmund Olson Trust Archive.
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In the 1927 picture below, taken from [Old] Mamalahoa Highway, heading down to Kolekole enroute to Wailea, Wailea Mill Camp houses are clearly visible above the Wailea Mill.
Honolulu Star Bulletin, June 18, 1927, accessed via Newspapers.com.
When were the houses built?Of the 23 homes in Wailea Mill Camp , 70% were built in the 1920s, 6 built in 1937, and only 1 in 1940. That home became the plantation manager's home.
The houses above Old Mamalahoa Highway were larger homes for the plantation manager and plantation superintendents. |
Map created for the Hakalau Plantation in April 1947
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The houses and their occupants
The map below was created from memory and prepared for the Hakalau School and Community Reunion. Creator and date created are unknown. There are clues that multiple time periods are reflected based on landmarks and residents listed. Multiple names are listed for some houses, perhaps identifying residents in different periods.
The earliest time time period is between 1940 and 1944. Here's the reasoning:
The earliest time time period is between 1940 and 1944. Here's the reasoning:
- Plantation Manager Costa's home (shown in the map below) was built in 1940. Note: Mr. Costa moved to the mainland in April 1946.
- The Mill was Dismantled, beginning in 1944 and completed by 1947, after being acquired by Hakalau Plantation, and described in a 1974 Hawaii Tribune Herald article.
- The presence of the Railroad bridge reflects a period prior to the April 1, 1946 tsunami. The tsunami collapsed the center section of the Kolekole Bridge. The Hawaii Consolidated Railroad went out of business.
Pictures of houses and other buildings, along with other information are presented in groups based primarily on location within the camp:
- Houses 341-347: Includes the homes of the manager and superintendents and other homes facing [Old] Mamalohoa Highway. With the exception of the Mill's manager's house, built in 1940, the homes were built in the 1920s.
- Houses 348-353: All of these homes were built in 1937
- Houses 354-365: All of these homes were built between 1920 and 1927
- Houses 364-364: These houses, probably both built in 1920, were located makai of the mill and next to the railroad track.
How did we piece together this history?
Our understanding of plantation camps and life on the plantation comes from a variety of sources:
- A map created from memory for display at Hakalau School and Community Reunions, reflecting the location and occupants of different houses. Note: the map creator and the year created are unknown.
- C. Brewer Records for the Hakalau Plantation, including a hand-drawn camp map (1947), the Domestic Water Map (1944), and Field Map (1954) provided courtesy of the Edmund Olson Trust Archive.
- Hakalau Plantation house photos provided courtesy of the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association Archives at the University of Hawaii-Manoa - Hawaiian Collection. These pictures, taken in the early 1950s, were part of property valuations and were available for all buildings owned by the Hakalau Plantation Company.
- Photos from the Waichi Ouye Collection, courtesy of his family
- Newspaper accounts from the Hawaii Tribune Herald and the Honolulu Star Bulletin, accessed via Newspapers.com. Of particular interest was an article from the Hawaii Tribune Herald dated September 22, 1974. This article recounts the memories of John Vierra, former Sugar Mill Engineer at the Wailea Milling Company.
- Books (Sugar Islands: The 165-Year Story of Sugar in Hawai`i by William H. Dorrance and Francis S. Morgan, Sugar Town by Yasushi “Scotch” Kurisu, and The Hamakua Coast by Ken Okimoto, Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii by Ronald Takaki). Sugar Town was particularly helpful. "Scotch" Kurisu lived in Wailea Mill Camp and relayed stories about other occupants in his book.
- The Voice of Hakalau includes an article about the sale of houses on a removal bases in October 1962.
Caveats and Limitations
- Our information is based on written documentation and pictures. No personal interviews or oral histories were collected.
- Our information is incomplete. We do not know how long families lived in individual houses, nor do we know of all the people who lived in the houses. Usually, just the employed worker's name was provided, and we have assumed they had families. However, it does appear that some families lived in the houses for many years.
- We don't have any documentation [yet] regarding when the Wailea Mill Camp houses were either sold on a removal basis or demolished.