History of Maui

According to Maui legends, the hero, Maui, lived at Ka'uiki, across the bay from Hana. He 'fished up' the islands of Hawaii on a fishing trip with his famous magical fishing hook, but failed to pull them all together when his brothers quit paddling the canoe in which they were sailing, so the islands were left spread apart from each other. Maui was later persuaded by his grandmother to slow the sun down, so she could grow more food and dry her tapa cloth. Maui agreed to help, so he stood on the summit of Mount Haleakala and lassoed the sun's ray legs and broke them off one by one, threatening to kill him if he didn't slow down. The sun obliged.

Polynesians settled the island of Maui in at least three gradual waves; the earliest possibly from the Marquesas sometime before 450 A.D., then people from the Marquesas about 450 A.D., and lastly settlers from Tahiti from 700 A.D. The late Tahitian arrivals introduced the core pieces of Hawaiian traditional culture: language, economic activities, the hereditary class system, land tenure, religion, and customs such as the strict kapu system that affected all aspects of life. Hawaiian oral tradition lists an unbroken chain of twenty-five rulers in Maui beginning with Paumakua the first Ali'i Nui of Maui.

A common legend throughout the islands, including Maui, were the magical deeds of the Menehune. Scholars disagree as to the origin of Menehune stories. One theory is that the stories were borrowed from European brownie and pixie stories told by sailors or settlers. Another theory is that the Menehune actually were the descendants of Hawaii's earliest settlers from the Marquesas who were pushed into the forest by Tahitian newcomers. The Tahitian word 'manahune' refers to low-class workers who did the most menial tasks which, the theory goes, the second-class original settlers were forced to perform. In time the Menehune became legendary and were given magical powers to help the helpless and to punish evil actions. A third possible explanation is that the Menehune were later, non-Tahitian immigrants who were not permitted to live with or intermarry with descendants of Tahitians.

Maui's oldest known temple enclosures (heiau) are at Haleki'i and Pihana which have been dated about 1200 A.D. They are located at Wailuku next to Iao Stream overlooking Kahului Bay. The structures were, according to legend, built by the Menehune in a single night from stones on Paukukalo Beach. A more likely explanation is that they began as small structures and were expanded over time as the prestige of the Wailuku ali'i grew. The last additions were thought to have been made by King Kahekili. Haleki'i was a heiau for the ali'i at Wailuku, who were viewed as divine by the ordinary people of Maui. Pihana, also called Pihanakilani and Pi'ihana, was a 'luakini' where human sacrifice was carried out. According to accounts written by outsiders, victims were most often commoners, kapu breakers, or war captives. Execution was generally swift, use of clubs very common. The bodies were laid out in front of the wood or stone images which were set upon the platforms along with other offerings of pigs, food or flowers. At the insistence of Kamehameha I, Princess Kauko'oluaole who had insulted Kamehameha, was ordered to be sacrificed at Pihana after the defeat of Kalanikupule in 1790. Poloahilani, a foster-sister of the princess, was sent to be sacrificed in the princess' place; the last time the heiau was used for that purpose. Pihana was ordered destroyed in 1819 as part of a campaign against the old religion upon the death of Kamehameha I. Near Pihana was a warrior training camp at Kauahea.

Until the 1400s Maui was divided at times into three chiefdoms: Wailuku, Lele (Lahaina), and Hana. Eventually all of West Maui was consolidated at Wailuku, with Hana as an independent-minded chieftancy in the east of the island. West Maui and East Maui were joined about 1550 when King Pi'ilani married the daughter of Hoolae, the 6th Ali'i Nui of Hana. From that time until conquest Maui was ruled by a single joint royal family (Hawaiian: ali'i). Pi'ilani and his successors were known for the peace and proseprity that followed. They constructed a highway that ran around the perimeter of the island; parts of which may still be seen. They also built the island's and Hawaii's largest temple enclosure (Hawaiian: heiau). Today it is called Pi'ilanihale, built on an older temple site from about 1294. It is about 40 feet (12 m) high and 300 feet (91 m) long. Other heiau were constructed at Olawalu and Waianapanapa.

Many ancient structures on Maui are named in story but no longer extant. There was a fort at Ka'uiki Head at Hana which was the scene of several battles between chiefdoms on Maui or invasions from Hawaii. The last when King Kahekili fought off a Hawaiian raid in the 1780s. On a small island at the tip of Ka'uiki Head a huge statue of Kawalakii was erected by King Umi of Hana to frighten off would-be invaders. The Hauola Stone in Lahaina Harbor was believed to have healing qualities; it is still there. Extensive archaeological research has been undertaken at Kahikinui on Maui's southeast coast. Several heiau have been located, as well as villages, and fields. Heiau in the Wailuku area include: Keahuku, Olokua, Olopia, Malena, Pohakuokahi, Lelemako, Kawelowelo, Kaulupala, Palamnaihiki, and Oloolokalani. There were at least three additional heiau between Kahului Harbor and Wailuku. There is a partially collapsed heiau at Keone'o'io (La Perouse Bay) In several parts of the island small shrines were set up, usually a single or cluster of standing stones where fishermen could pray and give offerings. Rarely walled canoe 'sheds' are still preserved. The Ke'anae Peninsula's taro field system is certainly a prehistoric field system still in use.

Maui has several petroglyph sites which have been variously interpreted as ancestral voyages, historic events, and religious stories. One of the best remaining sites is in the cliffs above Olowalu. Nearby Maalea had an extensive panel which was destroyed by a developer. Kaupo has little 'footprints' across a lava flow said to the prints of Menehune. The Kula area has several sites on private land. There are some at Nu'u as well. Unfortunately, vandalism to these sites has led to their closure or access limited to permit holders.

Hawaiians developed a complex and effective land tenure system. The island of Maui was divided into nine districts with Lanai, Molokai, Kaho'olawe as an additional three districts (Hawaiian: moku). Each district was ruled from earliest times by a family and later by chiefly families (Hawiian: ali'i). Each moku was divided into many community units (Hawaiian: ahupua'a) which ran from the top of the mountain to the ocean in a roughly triangular shape ruled by subchiefs. Boundaries were natural features such as streams, rock outcrops, or forest. Each community unit was subdivided into extended family units (Hawaiian: ili) that also ran from the top of the mountains down to the ocean, so that each family had access to mountain forests, uplands, coast plains for farming, and ocean. Family untis were further divided into personal plots (Hawaiian: mo'o) that were used but not owned by commoners.

Each district had a sanctuary (Hawaiian: pu'uhonua) where individuals could go to escape vengeance or penalty or in time of war. Maui's sanctuary was located at Kukuipuka on Maui's west side near Waihee. Once a person fled there, it was necessary to make restitution and usually after a period of time the offender could return home. During warfare, women, children, and older persons could go there and not be harmed.

One of the characteristics of the social system on Maui and the other islands was the kapu system. Kapu means something akin to forbidden. According to legend the system was brought to the islands from Tahiti by the priest, Paao perhaps as early as 1300. His ideas changed the family-centered local rule to one where the chiefly ali'i elite ruled. The kapu system was rooted in the class system and religious practice. People were born into one of four ranks. At the top were the ali'i of chiefly rank, next were the kahuna, those of priestly rank who conducted religious rituals and ceremonies, served as spiritual advisors, and healers. The third rank were maka'aina, the commoners who worked the farms, built canoes, gathered wood, fished and performed labor. The fourth rank, kauwa or outcasts, were really outside the system and lived outside the community much like 'untouchables' in Hindu society of the past.

Kapus were an accumulation of memorized restrictions. There were three main types: fixed kapu, flexible kapu, those which could be altered according to circumstances, and temporary kapu. Kapu were in place to prevent problems and to presrve the existing order. Examples of a fixed kapu were the complete separation of men and women at meals and menstruating women had to live outside the household. Other fixed kapu related to the ali'i which set them apart from commoners and maintained their status in a society without many material possessions. Flexible kapu could be altered by the local chief. For example, certain kinds of fish could not be caught at certain times of the year. Temporary kapus were invoked by local ali'i for a period of days. For example, following a funeral, no one could fish for a period of time. The net effect was to maintain order in the community. Everyone knew his or her place and did what was expected. Kapu also conserved the environment by protecting plants and wildlife from overuse. The end result of the kapu system was to preserve the 'mana' or sacredness of the totality of the environment which would bring about peace, harmony and stability. Kapu breakers disrupted the mana of place and placed the entire community in jeopardy.

Violation of a kapu was often punished by death, usually by clubbing, though exile was not uncommon. Kapu breakers were often taken to sacrifice heiau and used as human sacrifice to the gods. The ultimate verdict was the local chief's to make. At his word the sentence was instantly carried out. The chief could invoke religious kapu (Hawaiian: kapu akua) which called for clemency, reconciliation, and mercy. If a person was spared, that was the end of the matter as well. Each of the islands had at least one place of sanctuary (Hawaiian: pu'uhonua) Usually this was one of the communities (Hawaiian: ahupua'a) where someone could flee by land or canoe and once there, be spared.

Oral tradition in Hawaii indicates that the first foreigners were castaways, most likely Spanish, shipwrecked on the islands sometime between 1521 and 1530. Versions of this story are found on Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui. In the Maui version several white men and a woman were shipwrecked during the reign of King Kakaalaneo at Kiwi near Waihee. The captain's Hawaiian name was Kukanaloa. The men married and had families and became ancestors of some of the chiefs.

Spanish ships sailed between Asia and Mexico or South America regularly. Recent analysis of documents purporting to record a 'discovery' of Hawaii by Manuel Gaetan in 1555 show that whatever ever islands he noted in his log were too far east to have been any of Hawaii's main islands.

In the mid-1700s a series of wars and conquests erupted in the islands and Maui's king (Hawaiian: mo'i), Kahekili II, brought all of the islands except Hawaii under his rule. Kahekili was described as a fearsome fighter with one vertical half of his body completely tattooed. In 1754 he crossed the channel to reconquer part of Molokai. While he was on that campaign, King Kalaniopuu of Hawaii, his son, and a young Kamehameha crossed from the island of Hawaii and took control of the fort at Ka'uiki (Hana). Another chief from Hawaii, Ke'eaumoku Papaiahiahi and his wife, Namahani'Kaleleokalani, the wife of a former king of Maui, Kamehameha Nui, fled from Hawaii to Hana and sought sanctuary with the Hawaiians. A little girl, Ka'ahumanu, was born there, according to tradition, in a cave. She later married Kamehameha I, a distant cousin. Kalaniiopuu tried several times to take control of Maui, but was defeated at Maalea, Kaupo, and Wailuku by Kahekili.

In 1750 the last eruption on Mount Haleakala occurred from two vents on the south flank at Keone'o'io above Perouse Bay. Legend has it that a woman and a child survived the explosion by waiting until the lava flows cooled. It caused the abandonment of several villages at Keone'o'io.

In 1781 Kahekili succeeded in driving the Hawaiian's from Ka'uiki Fort by cutting off their water supply. He had the defenders baked alive in earth ovens to show his contempt.

First European Encounters

On November 26 1778, Captain James Cook became the first European explorer to see Maui. Cook never set foot on the island because he was unable to find a suitable landing. The first European to visit Maui was the French admiral Jean François de Galaup de La Pérouse, who landed on the shores of what is now known as La Perouse Bay on May 29 1786.

Kahekili II of Maui succeeded in forcing most of the Hawaiian Islands into a type of feudal kingdom where a system of allegiances among local chiefs recognized Kahekili as the paramount chief of the islands; only the island of Hawaii lay outside his sphere of influence.

In 1790 an American trader, Samuel Metcalf, anchored his own ship, the Eleonora, and a sloop, the Fair American, under command of his son south of Lahaina. During the night, a Hawaiian named Kaopuiki and several accomplices killed a guard and cut the ships's cutter loose and ran it ashore. The next morning when the incident was discovered, Captain Metcalf fired his cannon into the closest village and kidnapped several Hawaiians who told him that people from the village of Onowalu were responsible. Metcalf moved his ships to Onowalu only to discover the village under a kapu for three days while the local chief celebrated a family occasion. As soon as the three days were over canoes from Olowalu flocked toward Metcalf's ship to trade. Metcalf shouted that the seaward side of the ship was kapu and waved the canoes around to the landward side and then opened fire with several cannons loaded with small shot on several hundred Hawaiians in their canoes. Over 100 Hawaiian were massacred at what came to be called Kalolopahu, another 150 were injured.

Metcalf's son paid a heavy price when the ships split up and sailed back to Hawaii to trade. Young Metcalf's ship was captured by Chief Kame'eiamoku, who his father had previously offended. Metcalf and the entire crew were killed except for one young man, Isaac Davis, who he sent as a captive to Kamehameha along with guns and cannons taken from Metcalf's sloop. Another American from Samuel Metcalf's ship, John Young, was also captured to prevent Metcalf from hearing about his son's murder, and sent to Kamehameha as well.

A young Chief Kamehameha, later King Kamehameha I, one of the principle chiefs of Hawaii, set about to wrest control of the islands from Kahekili. With the help of allied chiefs on Hawaii, 1200 warriors, and canons and guns taken from Metcalf, Kamehameha launched an invasion of Maui. Two Americans, John Young and Isaac Davis who were pressed to operate the cannons at the bloody Battle of Kepaniwai. Kamehameha defeated Prince Kalanikupule in 1790 in the Iao Valley west of Wailuku. The name of the battle denotes the 'damming of the stream' by the bodies of the warriors killed. Kalanikupule and his chiefs escaped by climbing the pali and escaping to Oahu. Kamehameha failed to gain ultimate control of Maui until 1794 when he defeated by that time King Kalanikupule's army at the battle of Nu'uanu on Oahu Kalanikupule was sacrificed to Kamehameha's war god at Papaenena heiau, built by Kahekili at the base of Diamond Dead above Waikiki. With his death the Kingdom of Maui ended. Kamehameha made his capital) at Lāhainā in 1802 with his Queen, Ka'ahumanu. He built his hale on an island in the middle of Mokuhinia Pond. In 1798 Kamehameha began a brick 'palace' in European fashion as his capitol, but Queen Ka'ahumnu refused to live in it when it was comeplete in 1802. Successive rulers lived there until the 1840s when the king and his adviosrs began to spend more time on Oahu at Honolulu.

ʻĪao Valley

The first trading encounters between Europeans and people on the islands were independent businessmen on ships attempting to make a profit from trade goods in China. Hawaiians had little with which to purchase goods except for foods and livestock, until sandalwood trees were found. It was highly sought after in China for incense. King Kamehameha tightly controlled contact with foreigners and the sandalwood trade was centralized under his personal oversight in 1805. It became the first important source of goods and income for the king and the ali'i. The resource was limited, however, and by the 1830s sandalwood became so scarce that the logging stopped.

Whaling ships plied the Pacific in search of sperm whales along the coast of Peru and off the coast of Japan as early as 1818. Hawaii sat directly half way between the two. Lahaina and Honolulu became the main Pacific ports for the entire north Pacific whaling fleet. Since Lahaina had no real harbor, ships anchored in the 'roads' off Maui's southwest coast for what would be called 'r&r' today. By 1824 over a hundred ships visited Lahaina a year. As Hawaii's capital, it quickly drew enterprising immigrants who opened taverns, brothels, inns, and shops. Hawaiians swarmed out to the ships to trade fresh fruit and produce for trinket trade goods such a beads, mirrors, metal implements, and cloth. Whaling at its height in the 1850s brought more than 400 ships a year to Lahaina. The close contacts between whalers and Hawaiians had several consequences. Hawaiians were exposed to all the communicable diseases and venereal diseases Europeans carried with them. Hawaiians populations were subjected to a series of epidemics which in time would destroy the social and cultural fabric of traditional Hawaiian life. Hawaiians also began to plant many types of crops which were introduced to the islands: coffee, potatoes, sugar cane from which rum could be distilled, pineapples and rice. Sailors were introduced to the art of tattoos. At the height of the whaling era (1843-1860), Lāhainā was a major whaling center with anchorage in Lāhainā Roads. Ships tended to stay several weeks rather than days which explains complaints about the drinking and prostitution in the town at that time. Whaling declined steeply at the end of the 19th century as crude oil (petroleum) replaced whale oil.

The introduction of outsiders disrupted the mana of the islands and began the erosion of the class, kapu and religious system. Even before Christian missionaries arrived in force, the system was weakened by decades of civil war among the island chiefs, non-Hawaiians residents who did not fit into the system, disease, and the introduction of new ideas about society, religion and government. The kapu system, human sacrifice and caste system in the islands appalled European visitors who condemned the entire culture. The ali'i who ruled Maui were quickly influenced by foreign visitors and the religious and social system was further weakened by them. Ultimately, it was the ali'i who ended the kapu and traditional religion. They could not foresee that by doing so they had weakened the foundation on which their own power was based. Kamehameha I ruled Hawaii from Lahaina until his death in 1819. At his death he refused to order the human sacrifice that traditionally occurred at the death of chiefs. Queen Ka'ahumanu had little confidence in her son, Kamehameha II's ability to rule well, and upon her son's accession was recognized as a co-ruler. She challeneged many of the conventions of Hawaiian society. Until her time it was kapu for men and women to eat together. She broke the kapu at a dinner arranged for foreign guests to the consternation of the kahunas (priests). She went further and demanded an end to the whole kapu system which was implemented in 1819 with the approval of Kamehameha II. Heiaus were destroyed, images burned or broken, and the priests chased away. These events threw the religious life of Hawaiians into confusion. Within two years the first Christian missionaries appeared when many Hawaiians were wracked with a loss of confidence in their traditional religion and social system.

A native Hawaiian, Opukaha'ia, was taken on board an American ship and eventually made his way to New England and became one of several young Hawaiians who became students at the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall, Connecticut. Their description of Hawaii as a possible field of missionary activity inspired the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to send missionaries to Hawaii.

The first Christian missionary arrived on Maui from New England in 1821 when a Dr. Holman built a house in Lahaina and taught with some success, but left Maui for Honolulu. It was quickly realized that in order to teach in Hawaiian they would have to develop an alphabet. Among others, Hiram Bingham used Latin letters that approximated the Hawaiian sounds in English. The only exception was the 'okina', a glottal stop, which separates double vowels in many Hawaiian names. The result was a twelve letter alphabet with additional vowel combinations. The first literature in Hawaiian was printed in 1822. By 1826 the final version had evolved by simplifying interchageable letters b/p, k/t, l/r, v/w and eliminating several letter used only in writing foreign words. Its simplicity was remarkable and Hawaiians learned to read rapidly in their own language.

In late May 1823 Reverends William Richards and Charles Stewart and their wives from the Congregational and Presbyterian American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions ABCFM) were assigned to open a formal mission at Lāhainā at the personal invitation of Queen Ka'ahumanu. Richards was permitted to build a stone house on the present site of Campbell Park in downtown Lahaina. He gradually left missionary service and became an advisor to several kings of Hawaii serving as personal envoy and Minister of Education and drew up Hawaii's first constitution. Stewart remained in the islands for two and a half years, but when his wife became ill, he took her home to New England. He kept a journal of his experiences which has become an important source for the time period. Betsy Stockton, an emancipated slave came with the Stewarts and began to teach ordinary Hawaiians which was later approved by the ali'i. Her efforts resulted in the first classes for commoners on Maui and by the time she left in 1825 with the Stewarts, she had taught 8000 Hawaiians. The missionaries set up a printing shop and began printing bibles, and educational materials which supplied schools throughout the islands. The first stone church was built in 1828 at Lahaina called Waiola Church. The churchyard there contains the remains of many early foreigners and Hawaiians, among them, Queen Ke'opuilani, the first of the ali'i converted to Christianity, and Queen Ka'ahumanu, wife of Kamehameha. Waiola Church was unroofed and the belfry blown down by a storm in 1858. The church was burned down in 1894 by anti-annexation protesters and later rebuilt. In 1831 the Lahainaluna Mission School, later Lahainaluna Seminary was established, and publishing of Hawaiian language bibles, educational materials, and other tracts that made it possible for schools to be built throughout the islands.

Missionaries were determined to change Hawaiians in the belief that they were 'civilizing' them. Missionaries were tireless in their efforts to help Hawaiians become literate in their own language and in English, and decrease drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, infanticide (exposing disabled children), gambling, theft, and murder. They attempted to replace Hawaiians' own religion with basic Protestant Christianity. They also introduced American notions about customs involving clothing, food, language, entertainment, education, hygiene and economy.

In the early 1830s a 'second wave' of missionaries arrived and began to establish churches in other parts of Maui. A congregation was established at Wailuku sometime before 1831 by Pastors Jonathan Green and Reuben Tinker. The minutes of the ABCFM gives an insight into the swift conversion of Hawaiians. 'Until recently the chiefs have been regarded as something more than mortal. So when the chiefs are motivated by the Holy Ghost to embrace Christianity, their advice to join it has the force of law. So if told to attend or study, they did so.' Pastors reported that they had attendance at Wailuku on Sundays of 3,000 by 1832. By 1870 Hawaiian churches had been established in 13 locations throughout Maui and all of them with Hawaiian pastors trained at the Lahainaluna Seminary.The missionaries taught reading and writing, created the 12-letter Hawaiian alphabet, started a printing press in Lāhainā, and began writing the islands' history, which until then existed only as oral accounts.

The efforts of the early missionaries came into direct conflict with whaling fleet when they attempted to keep sailors out of the bawdy houses or Hawaiian women from visitng the ships. In 1825 the crew from the 'Blonde' attempted to demolish the house of Rev. Richards in Lahaina for his efforts to keep Hawaiians and Americans apart. A small fort was built at Lahaina after a whaling ship, 'John Palmer' fired its cannon at Rev Richards house after an altercation with missionaries about women visitng ships. Remains of the fort can still be seen. Ironically, the work of the missionaries both altered and preserved the native culture. The missionaries' new religious teachings and strict Victorian ideas altered many aspects of Maui's culture while their literacy efforts preserved native history and language for posterity.

In 1841 the first survey of Haleakala was conducted by Pickering and Breckenridge of the US Exploring Expedition under Captain John Wilkes.

19th Century

One of the overlooked tragedies of Maui's history was the cumulative effect of the terrible diseases which ravaged the population. When the people of Maui came into contact with diseases for which they had no immunity and no effective treatment, they began to die in vast numbers. Small pox, measles, influenza, tuberculosis, cholera, typhus, typhoid fever and sexually transmitted diseases decimated the population of the island within a generation. No exact numbers exist, but estimates range from 30% to 50% of the population died within a generation. By 1850 only 6% of the 1778 population estimates had survived. The effect was catastrophic on the culture of Maui. The Hawaiian social system fell apart and permitted outsiders to fill the vacuum of power.

In 1837 after several years of conflict between Protestants and Catholics King Kamehameha III issued a decree banning the Catholic religion from the islands and forbad any ship from 'bringing teachers of the Catholic religion into these islands'.Some Catholic teachers had been jailed or expelled form the islands. The French government dispatched a frigate to Hawaii under C.P.T. LaPlace in 1839 who had orders to demand religious freedom for Catholics throughout the islands. He demanded a release of anyone jailed for teaching Catholicism, land for a Catholic church in Honolulu and $20,000 in cash as a gesture of the king's intent to comply or there would be war. Kamehameha capitulated and within a year Catholic congregations began to grow.

By the 1840s sugar cane production had gained a foothold on Lanai and Maui. Descendants of the old missionary families went into various businesses and with their close connections to Hawaiian royalty, received special concessions, including land ownership. Sugar cane only worked as a cash crop if it was commercially farmed, then known as the plantation system. Early sugar planters tried to make a profit with small plantings, however larger companies began to consolidate plantations. Alexander and Baldwin (A&B) at Paia were among the early companies to be successful.

Kahului had been a landing point on Maui's north coast since ancient times. Kamehameha's fleet of war canoes landed there in 1790 with his army and canons to fight King Kalanikupule for control of Maui. The Alexaqnder and Baldwin plantation at Paia stretched as far west as the ancient landing site. The plantation needed a port facility for transhipment of goods and a dock was built so goods could be tendered from ships at anchor.

In 1845 King Kamehameha III moved his capital from Lahaina to Honolulu. Honolulu was increasingly the hub of business and transport in the islands and it had a fine harbor, which Lahaina lacked. Since sailors were prosecuted in Honolulu began to be prosecuted for drunken or disorderly behavior, the whaling fleet abandoned Honolulu and moored off Lahaina at times 100 ships at a time.

Father Aubert of the Congregation of Mary and Jesus arrived in Lahaina in 1846 to establish the first Catholic parish on Maui. He and his early congregants faced opposition from the Protestant missionaries, but the live and let live attitude of Hawaiians overcame initial hostility. Father Aubert first meeting places were open air and under thatched roofs. A adobe church, Maria Lanikula (Victorious) was built in downtown Lahaina. A stone church was dedicated on the spot in 1878. Wailuku had a schurch and a school with more than 200 pupils in 1847.

In 1876 A&B Sugar Company decided to bring water from the north side of Maui to the arid south central plain. They had a lease from the government of Hawaii on the condition that the ditch be built within two years. The Hamakua Ditch was built within the stipulated time period by a subsidiary of A&B now called the East Maui Irrigation Company which still controls water from the slopes of Haleakala. But the near failure to complete stimulated a competitor, Claus Spreckels, owner of the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company (HC&S). Spreckels, a Californian, received a second lease to any water not captured by A&B. A third competitor, Maui Agricultural Company (MA) expanded alongside the others. A sugar mill at Hamakuapoko was built in 1879 to process the increasing amounts of cane produced on Maui.

In 1848 so few Hawaiians remained and land rights so hopelessly confused that a land redistribution scheme, known as the Great Mahele, was promulgated. The effect of it was that most Hawaiians were dispossessed of their hereditary land rights. Sugar interests bought up huge tracts of land and changed the economy of the island complelely. Many native Hawaiians went to work in the cane fields instead of their own family small holdings. Since there weren't enough native workers for the vast acreages to be cultivated by hand, planters began importing Asian contract workers to work the fields. The idea was that workers would come to Maui, work for a period of time and then return home. The first Chinese laborers arrived in 1852. To counter the tightly organized Chinese workers, thousands of Japanese laborers first came to Maui in 1868. Koreans followed in 1903, and Filipinos in 1909. Conditions on the planatations were terrible and the system ensured that workers always owed more than they made at the end of the season. Workers were more like indentured servants than contract laborers. About half the contract laborers returned to their homelands; the rest stayed to make a life in the islands. These immigrants forever altered the food, language, customs, and population of Maui. The imposition of the plantation system effectively disenfranchised the native and immigrant populations of Maui. Foreign corporations and local bosses became the real authority behind the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

In 1860 and 1861 church leaders on Maui noticed a significant increase in the number and severity of leprosy cases. Aleper census was conducted in Lahaina which listed 60 individuals suffering from symptoms another reported several cases in a missionary school. Citizens became alarmed at what they thought might be the beginning of an epidemic. At the suggeston of a doctor working Hana it came to the attention of the Board of Health that such an outbreak had been reported in Canada and that the patients were isolated fromthe general population, provided with food and clothing until they recovered for died of the disease. In 1864 Dr. William Hildebrand suggested that a place such a box canyon be found where lepers could be quarantined. A hospital at Kalihi on Oahu was used as a gathering place where those infected presented themselves for inspection. Those with leprosy were quarantined. Kalihi was only a temproary solution. Property was purchased on the isolated north coast of Molokai at Kalaupapa where lepers could be located without any way to contact the outside. By December 1865 the "Leper Colony' was ready. The hospital on Oahu at Kalihi sent 104 persons to the ship to be taken to Molokai. The first difficulty was that ships could not get close to Kalaupapa. The surf was savage and the patients had to be shuttled to shore by whaleboats. It was dangerous and terrifying to those who had been ordered into the colony. They had already suffered an emotional separation by force from their friends and families. In time lepers were forced over the side at gunpoint to swim through the surf to reach safety at Kalaupapa. The patients were marched across the peninsula to Kalawao where they found the huts and tiny cottages purchased for them in near ruin. Once the colony was established a hunt was conducted on all the islands including Maui and those determined to have leprosy were forced off the island.

In 1878 the need for improved transportation from sugar plantations to the port at Kahului caused Thomas Hobron to build the first narrow gauge railroad on Maui. Operations commenced in July 1879 between the tiny landing at Kahului and Wailuku; it was formally named the Kahului Railroad in 1881. K.R.R. was such a success that it added passenger service and was extended to Paia in 1884 where a new mill was to be built. Hobron was named postmaster and obtained the government contract for carrying mail to the plantations and towns it serviced.

In 1882 Father Beissel arrived at Makawao and established a church and school for the many Portuguese who settled in the area.

In 1889 David and Henry Baldwin purchased land in west Maui at Honolua and Honokohau north of Lahaina adding to property they already owned at Hai'ku in east Maui. They planted pineapple as an experimental crop in 1890. Pineapples did very well as a plantation crop and additional acreages were planted resulting in the founding of Hai'ku Fruit and Packing Company in 1903. Henry baldwin did so well that he formed the Maui Pineapple Company. The 'ranch' at Honolua had tried a variety of crops and added pineapple at the suggestion of ranch manager David T. Fleming. The operations were so successful that by 1933 over 22,000 acres of pineapple were under production.

That same year Father Joseph Damien, the pastor of the leper colony on Molokai was buried in the cemetery at St. Philomena Catholic Church in Kalaupapa, Molokai. His life and work among those suffering from Hansen's Disease are an inspiring story of courage and service.

Queen Liliuokalani ruled in 1893 when the monarchy was overthrown. One year later, the Republic of Hawaii was founded. The island was annexed by the United States in 1898 as part of the Territory of Hawaii in 1900.

In 1894 Holy Ghost Mission Catholic Church was completed in Upcountry Maui at Kula. The mission served a growing Portuguese population employed in the sugar cane fields.

20th Century

Kahului's development as Maui's main port was stopped cold in 1900 when bubonic plague was found in the town. For health reasons the shanty-town port was burned to the ground deliberately to destroy the rats which were known to carry the disease. The port was quickly rebuilt and a rubble stone breakwater was constructed to improve the harbor in 1884.

Sugar cane was grown on Maui's west coast in the area between Ka'anapali and Lahaina. A short line narrow-gauge railroad, the Lahaina Ka'anapali and Pacific Railroad (L.K.&P. R.R. brought cane to the Pioneer sugar mill at Lahaina. It shut down operations in the 1950sw when trucks were introduced to carry cane.

HC&S built one of the largest sugar mills in the world in 1901 at Puunene. Not to be outdone, a reinvented Maui Agricultural built its own sugar mill at Paia in 1906. The next decades brought explosive growth in the sugar industry and the key to its growth was water. Sugar companies bought up water rights, Maui Agricultural Company built the Waihee Ditch in cooperation with Wailuku Sugar. The new Wailoa Ditch brought additional east Maui water to the plantations. Companies also began to drill deep wells to bring water from beneath the surface. Maui Agricultural Company also began pineapple plantation farming as an experiment and it eventually became Maui Pineapple Company. In west Maui the Honolua Ditch was reconstructed to the Pioneer sugar mill in Lahaina supervised by David T. Fleming. In 1913 the K.R.R. built a railroad to Hana and in the course of construction built an enormous trestle across Maliko Gulch which was the highest trestle ever constructed in the islands at 230 feet (70 m).

Maui County was established by the territorial legislature in 1905 including the islands of Maui, Lanai, Molokini (uninhabited), Kahoolawe (uninhabited), and part of Molokai, with the county seat at Wailuku.

In 1916 Prince Jonah Kuhio, Hawaii's territorial representative in Congress was able to achieve passage of an act establishing Hawaii National Park which included Mauna Loa and Kilauea on Hawaii and the summit of Haleakala on Maui. During the debate on Oregon senator quipped, "It shouldn't cost much to run a volcano!" Funding for the 12th national park didn't arrive for another six years. The first permanent ranger was assigned in 1935. The next year improvements were made to the road to the summit and the first visitor center was constructed at the summit by the Civilian Conservation Corps and WPA funds and workers.

The Vibora Luviminda trades union conducted the last labor strike of an ethnic nature in the Hawaiian Islands against four Maui sugar plantations in 1937, demanding higher wages and dismissal of five foremen. Manuel Fagel and nine other strike leaders were arrested, charged with kidnapping a worker. Fagel spent four months in jail while the strike continued. Eventually, Vibora Luviminda made its point and the workers won a 15% increase in wages after 85 days on strike, but no written contract was signed.

Maui's first airport was built at Maalea in 1927 on land the legislature purchased from HC&S. Regular air service began in November 1929 for amphibious planes. Runways were completed with convict labor in 1930 and wers imply leveled dirt and useless in wet weather. By 1936 the location and condition of the runway at Maalea had become inadequate for the lager planes which were introduced by Inter-Island Airlines. With WPA funds a new airport was surveyed in 1936 at Pu'unene, but lack of funds prevented its completion. In 1938 the Maalea airport was condemned by the Federal Bureau of Air Commerce for its close proximity to the mountains of west Maui. Since it was Maui's only airport it continued operations, but on ly for small aircraft. Puunene Airport opened in 1938 with one paved runway and others unpaved. A small US Navy facility opened at the airport for military use. After the December 7th attack, all airfields in the islands were militarized including the one a Puunene. The military determined that the airport at Puunene was unsatisfactory and condemned land to build a new Naval Air Station in 1942. Puunene was also expanded as the war continued.

Maui was involved in the Pacific Theater of World War II as a staging center, training base, and for rest and relaxation. At the peak in 1943-44, the number of troops stationed on Maui exceeded 100,000. The main base of the 4th Marine Division was in Haiku. Beaches (e.g., in Kīhei) were used for practice landings and training in marine demolition and sabotage. Maui Agricultural converted its lime kiln facility to a cement plant for the duration of the war. Two unforeseen impacts of the war were that thousands of G.I.'s who were stationed on the islands returned to settle among the islands. Those who didn't not settle returned as tourists which became the foundation of Maui's modern economy. Maui's first resort hotel, Hotel Hana, opened in 1946.

After the end of World War II the military decommissioned the naval air station at Kahului so it could be used for commercial aviation. Despite the improvements to Puunene Airport, many of them were not useful for commercial aviation and the decision was made to make the Kahului airport the main airport for Maui. In 1952 a congressional act turned the airport over to the Territory of Hawaii and all civil air functions at Puunene were transferred to Kahului.

In 1948 Maui Agricultural Company and HC&S merged under the name HC&S forming the largest sugar production company in the islands. HC&S began to make significant changes to its operations including the closure of the narrow-gauge railway, it had owned since 1899 in favor of trucks.

Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state in 1959.

In 1960 Mount Haleakala was created as a separate national park and in the course of several years expanded including the Kipahalu district of Oheo Gulch in 1969. The entire mountain was declared a federal wilderness area thereby protecting its unique character in perpetuity.

In 1961 Maui's first planned resort community opened at Ka'anapali on what had been part of the old pineapple plantation belonging to the Maui Pineapple Company on Maui's west coast.

In 1969 the first hippies arrived on Maui and settled in south Maui at Oneloa Beach. They introduced marijuana culture to Maui and Maui's reputation for the best marijuana only grew with the telling. Other 'hippie' scattered communities were established near Paia and on the slopes of Haleakala. They were not well-received by locals and confrontations with authorities resulted in arrests and protests. The production of marijuana was curtailed wherever it was found.