The story of Ko‘olau (1862-1896), the Kekaha cowboy, who after being afflicted with Hansen’s Disease (known also as leprosy), fled to refuge in Kalalau Valley…
Posts published in “Island History”
The big house set on a knoll beyond the hydroelectric powerhouse on Wainiha Powerhouse Road was built circa 1910 and was originally the home of…
In 1945, after years of experimentation on his Anahola, Kauai farm, Joseph Taketsugi Esaki (1919-2010) developed his own variety of watermelon — the Esaki. Basically,…
The first traffic light on Kaua‘i was installed by Kekaha Sugar Co. in the late 1950s to signal the right-of-way for the plantation’s big haul-cane…
This Island History was written to honor John Levinthol III and the other 12 servicemen from Kaua‘i who died in Vietnam. Although born in Honolulu,…
On Sept. 19, 1938, Filipino welterweight boxer and future middleweight world boxing champion Ceferino Garcia (1906-1981) knocked out Otto Blackwell in the ninth round of…
On Jan 1 and 2, 1936, hundreds of Filipinos participated in a two-day Rizal Day celebration on Kaua‘i in honor of Dr. José Rizal (1861-1896),…
Looking back in history, we see that the first mention of Jews in connection with Hawai‘i appeared in the ship’s log of the whaler Neptune,…
In 1946, Olokele Sugar Co. allocated funds totaling $1,750,000 (roughly $23,000,000 in 2020 dollars) for the rehabilitation of all of its plantation housing, in which…
Several hundred Polish immigrant contract laborers arrived in Hawai‘i aboard the sailing ship H.F. Glade from Bremen, Germany, between 1896 and 1899, and were assigned…