National Register Eligible Honouliuli Stream Bridge - Farrington Highway Over Honouliuli Stream
Abstract From NRHP Nomination
The Honouliuli Stream Bridge is a one-span, reinforced-concrete, T-beam bridge that carries Farrington Highway over the Honouliuli Stream. It is located on the mauka side of Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health. The bridge measures fifty-four feet in length, thirty-two feet in height, and approximately ten feet in height above the stream bed. The bridge’s concrete parapets are composed of balustrades distinguished by vertically oriented openings in the form of a thick cross. These openings are commonly referred to as a Greek-cross void, which was a standardized pattern for bridge railings of this period.
Constructed in 1939, the Honouliuli Stream Bridge was designed by City and County of Honolulu engineer Frederick Ohrt as a transportation improvement for the Leeward community. The bridge was constructed over the Honouliuli Stream to straighten a winding road alignment to Waianae. The older road segment and bridge, that snaked through the gully and crossed the Honouliuli Stream with a smaller bridge, remain on the makai side of Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health.
The bridge is eligible for the NRHP under Criterion A for its association with the history of government road development in southwestern O`ahu and under Criterion C as a good example of a late 1930s concrete T-beam.
Constructed in 1939, the Honouliuli Stream Bridge was designed by City and County of Honolulu engineer Frederick Ohrt as a transportation improvement for the Leeward community. The bridge was constructed over the Honouliuli Stream to straighten a winding road alignment to Waianae. The older road segment and bridge, that snaked through the gully and crossed the Honouliuli Stream with a smaller bridge, remain on the makai side of Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health.
The bridge is eligible for the NRHP under Criterion A for its association with the history of government road development in southwestern O`ahu and under Criterion C as a good example of a late 1930s concrete T-beam.
Photographer: Dee Ruzicka
Date Photographed: December 20, 2011
National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
Narrative Description
A. TYPE OR FORM
The 1939 Honouliuli Bridge is a single-span reinforced-concrete tee-beam bridge carrying the two-lane Farrington Highway (now Route 93) over the Honouliuli Stream. The tee-beam construction of the Honouliuli Bridge was the most common pre-World War II design in Hawaii.
B. SETTING
The bridge is located along a rural section of Farrington Highway one-half mile west of Waipahu’s commercial district boundary. The original rural setting of the property is largely retained. Open fields remain to the north and west and are largely obscured by the region’s upscale terrain and dense vegetation. Directly south of the bridge is the campus of Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health Center, constructed in 1983 and now screened by a landscaped buffer of large trees. Beyond the campus, out of view to the southeast, a golf course and housing were built in recent decades. The low density of these modern developments and the tree screens maintain an open, rural character around the bridge and allow it to retain integrity of setting. Further to the south, and not visible from the bridge, is the small original plantation-era community of Honouliuli.
Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph (Provide a summary paragraph that includes level of significance, applicable criteria, justification for the period of significance, and any applicable criteria considerations.)
The Honouliuli Bridge is significant on a state-wide basis under Criteria A. Prior to the period of this construction, most road and bridge development had followed pre-contact Hawaiian trail routes that followed the contour of the land. The construction of the Honouliuli Bridge was provided by the Bill of Rights passed by the Hawaiian Legislature in 1923, demanding equal benefits with the nation’s states and was signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge in March 19243. The bridge facilitated movement of military personnel between bases at Pearl Harbor, ‘Ewa Field and the Lualualei Naval Ammunition Storage Facility as part of the build-up activity leading up to World War II and for the transportation of Korean, Italian and German prisoners of war during World War II travelling for work details in Honolulu and windward O‘ahu from the Honouliuli Internment Camp. Additionally, the bridge was an integral component for the movement of Japanese-American and a lesser number of German- American citizens interned following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor from Sand Island Internment Camp in Honolulu Bay, which closed in March 1943, to the Honouliuli Internment Camp located to the northwest. The bridge was also important to the area’s plantation industry, namely the Oahu Sugar Company (OSC) plantation in Waipahu and ‘Ewa, as it provided an efficient route for the transportation of agricultural products and equipment to or from the west side of the island and Honolulu Bay.
The bridge is also locally significant under Criterion C as an intact example of pre-World War II tee beam concrete bridge design featuring parapet architecture that provided greater strength than previous concrete slab structures.
Narrative Statement of Significance (Provide at least one paragraph for each area of significance.) Honouliuli
The ahupua‘a of Honouliuli is the largest land division in the ‘Ewa district. Pre-contact inhabitant settlements once occupied the makai (seaward) areas along the coast that thrived near the protected bay now known as West Loch in Pearl Harbor that supported abundant marine and estuarine resources. The name Honouliuli is composed of two separate terms: hono and uliuli. Hono is translated as “bay, valley, and gulch” and Uliuli means “dark color including the dark blue sea”.
Therefore, when combined the terms can be interpreted as “dark bay”, “deep blue bay”, or “blue harbor”. According to a mo‘olelo (story, narrative), the ahupua‘a was believed to be the name of a pre-contact ali‘i (chief) called Honouliuli.
The water running under the Honouliuli Bridge originates from the Honouliuli and Kaaikukui gulches of the ahupua’a and flows into Kaihuopala’ai, one of the sheltered bays of West Loch.4 The water once flowed through the lowland terraces of kalo (taro) along the estuaries of Kaihupala‘ai. In these lo‘i (kalo terraces), native inhabitants of the pre-contact period cultivated four varieties of kalo: kaikea, kaikoi, haokea, and lehua.
The connection between Honouliuli inhabitants and kalo is apparent in a well-known narrative referring to the plain in upper Honouliuli called Keahumoa in which a pule (prayer) was composed by the chief Kapa’ahulani who wished that the new leader, Kuali‘I, might serve the people well and blessed his army with the phrase:
“Uliuli ka poi e piha nei ‘o Honouliuli.”
Blue is the poi which appeases [the hunger] at Honouliuli
The term “blue” refers to the waters that feed into Kaihuopala‘ai, estuaries, and the lo‘i. The term “poi” refers to the kalo—thus emphasizing the importance of water to the culture of the pre-contact people in Honouliuli. The sheltered bay of Kaihuopala‘ai is home to the ‘anaeholo, or traveling mullet.
According to “He Moolelo Kaao no Ka Puhi o Laumeki”, the bay was the starting point of the
‘anaeholo’s journey around the island and provided them with essential nutrients important for the collective ecological balance in Kaihuopala‘ai.
Honouliuli had a network of pre-contact pathways or alaloa/alahele for people to travel within and beyond their ahupua‘a. By 1847, King Kamehameha III enacted the Alanui Aupuni (Government Roads) laws that for the development of new roads over ancient trails, as the John Papa I‘i, an 18th century chronicler of Native Hawaiian life, noted:
Only in instances when a more direct route could be developed (say by
installing a bridge), or access was developed to clear wet-lands or newly
developed property rights, were the early government roads redirected
from the original trails. Throughout the 1800s many trails fell from use
because of the steady decline in the native population, changes in land use
practices [through] the blocking of mauka-makai accesses as large
ranching and plantation interests developed, and the consolidation of
population centers evolved.5
Thus, the access roads associated with the Honouliuli Bridge (including Farrington Highway), generally follow the pre-contact routes utilized by the native populace. One such alaloa/alahele of the area, described by John Papa I’i, began at the shore of Kaihuopala‘ai, then followed the boundary between Honouliuli and Hoae‘ae ahupua‘a, to the Pōhākea Pass and Kolekole Pass to Wai‘anae.
The people of Honouliuli traded their favored kalo and ‘anaeholo for other food resources along these pathways. During the early 1790s, cartographer Lt. C.R. Malden drafted a map of a portion of Oahu that included Honouliuli providing the earliest cartographic record of the region. The map depicts several clusters of houses, fish weirs, and fishponds in the area. As the record dates from the early period of western contact, the map is believed to represent the basic pre-contact settlement pattern for Honouliuli and the surrounding vicinity; however, given the rapid decline of the native population just after western contact, it is likely that the pre-contact population would have been higher and settlement more dense than indicted by Malden (See Fig. #2).
A densely populated, fertile area called Honouliuli has existed downstream from Honouliuli Bridge since pre-contact times and retained its extensive agricultural fields and fishponds through the mid- 1800s. By the late 1800s, disease and poor grazing practices mauka denuded the hillsides, sending large amounts of sediment downstream that choked the wetland agriculture and fisheries. This resulted in a sharp population decline within the area as residents sought alternative employment opportunities in Ewa.6
By the early 1900s, only a small contingent of family farms remained in Honouliuli as it transitioned from a major agricultural center to a mere stopping point along Fort Weaver Road for travellers bound to ‘Ewa Villages, adjacent to ‘Ewa Plantation Mill, that had become the new population center of the ‘Ewa plain. Eventually, an assortment of Honouliuli businesses were established that took advantage of the increased traffic along Fort Weaver Road including a general store, feed store, gas station, mechanic shop, and barbershop.7
By 1927, a community of about 160 homes and a church had grown on the west side of Fort Weaver Road, about ¾ mile south of the future site of the bridge.8
The 1939 construction of the Waipahu Cutoff and the Honouliuli Bridge lead to the decline of this Honouliuli community as east-west traffic bypassed it on the new section of road.9
Waipahu The O’ahu Sugar Company (OSC) plantation and mill began in Waipahu as a development project of Benjamin F. Dillingham, who had leased land from James Campbell, prompting noted historian Michael Muricio’s observation: “The town of Waipahu is a child of Oahu Sugar [Company].”10
Dillingham partnered with J. Hackfeld and Company (Paul Isenberg) and Mark Robinson (who provided land for the mill site) to form the company, which was incorporated in March 1897. OSC was one of several sugar companies that were formed immediately prior to annexation. In late 1897, the first OSC manager, August Ahrens, utilized a land exchange to re-route the original “Government Road” traversing Waipahu, creating the new Waipahu Road (now Waipahu Street) that ran south of the mill to avoid interference with the plantation’s rail lines.11
OSC’s first harvest was in 1900 and yielded 7,900 tons of raw sugar. The population of Waipahu grew as the plantation increased production and required more field and mill laborers, tradesmen, supervisors, and engineers. By the late 1920s, Waipahu extended southward along Waipahu Road with a business district centered at Waipahu Depot Street, while residential areas were located both north of the mill and to the east along Waipahu Road.
By the 1930s, Waipahu “included second and third generations” that “had grown up on the plantation and considered Waipahu their home”.12 In 1940, Waipahu had a population of 6,900.
The 1939 Waipahu Cutoff created an alternate road (Farrington Highway) bypassing Waipahu and provided expanded opportunity for a new business district. Expansion of commercial activities into the space along the road was slow despite the ca. 1939 flood control project initiated by the City that diverted Waikele Stream directly into Pearl Harbor via a dredged canal to eliminate the flooding that occurred during heavy rains near Waipahu Depot Street at the convergence of Waikele and Kapakahi Streams.
‘Ewa Plantation
At the time of the Honouliuli Bridge’s construction, the area immediately to the south included undeveloped land around the small village of Honouliuli, while the rest of the land surrounding the bridge was a large expanse of sugar cane that extended from the Kunia pineapple lands in the north to the OR&L tracks in the south and west past Pu’u Kapolei. In 1940, the ‘Ewa Plantation Company leased over 9,000 acres of the sugar cane fields to the south and west of the bridge and harvested the remainder of the area to the north.
‘Ewa Plantation was founded ca.1889 by Benjamin F. Dillingham, who leased the land from James Campbell. Dillingham then subleased a portion to William R. Castle, who organized the ‘Ewa Plantation Company. Adequate irrigation, carefully timed crop rotation, and ample fertilization resulted in unprecedentedly large yields on the thin soil of the plantation. The relatively level terrain of the plantation made fluming of cane to the mill impossible. Therefore, it was transported from field to mill via railroad locomotive until 1947 when trucks became available.
‘Ewa Plantation constructed the majority of the workers’ camps and associated facilities near the mill.13 Historic maps from the early 20th century indicate that as the number of houses within the residential camps (Verona, Renton, and Tenny) of ‘Ewa Plantation increased, the number of houses in the village of Honouliuli declined accordingly since employees living outside mill camps faced social isolation.
During the first decades of the 1900s, “‘Ewa Plantation was gradually transformed [from a working farm staffed by transient labor] into a community of employees.”14
Thus, by the time Honouliuli Bridge was constructed, only a few primarily Korean and Waimanalo worker’s camps of ‘Ewa Plantation were located outside the mill’s immediate vicinity.
Honouliuli Internment Camp
The Honoluliuli Internment Camp, located in a gulch in Central Oahu, opened on March 1, 1943 after the closure of Sand Island Internment Camp in Honolulu Harbor. The camp was one of at least five sites throughout the Hawaiian Islands used to house local Japanese after the December 7, 1941 attach on Pearl Harbor.15
From 1943-1945, approximately 3,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry residing in Hawaii were imprisoned at the 160-acre Honouliuli Internment Camp about 2 ½ miles northwest of the Honouliuli Bridge. Most were influential male leaders of the Japanese immigrant community in Hawaii.
Although a small number were released after a short imprisonment, the majority were detained for the duration of the war and later transferred to mainland camps. The camp also held Japanese, Italian, Korean, German and other prisoners of war (POWs) who were used as a supplemental labor force to complete construction projects at Schofield, Shafter, Ala Wai and windward Oahu.
The Koreans were in the unusual situation of being an official, but unwilling, part of the Japanese Empire; some 2,700 Korean POWs sent to Oahu were initially enlisted by the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS), only to be returned to the internment camp, reclassified as Japanese, and marked for resettlement after the end of the war.16
Although civilian detainees initially outnumbered POWs, Honouliuli increasingly took on the air of a POW camp as U.S. forces in the Pacific advanced towards Japan. A large number of civilians were released on parole in 1943, provided that they signed waivers absolving the U.S. government and individuals from any liability for their confinement. Many more were either transferred to mainland camps or shipped to the continent as "evacuees" for the purposes of continued confinement, twice in 1943 and again in November 1944. Nevertheless, twenty-one civilians remained confined in Honouliuli as late as September 1945–all Japanese male Issei or Kibei.
The reduction in civilian prisoners freed up camp space and resources for Honouliuli’s expanding POW population. Early POW arrivals consisted of Koreans conscripted into the Japanese Army, who were taken prisoner following the Americans’ November 1943 capture of the Gilbert Islands. Tensions between Korean and Japanese POWs prompted camp authorities to construct a partition separating the two national groups. A much larger influx of POWs—from both the European and Pacific fronts—occurred during the summer of 1944.
By war’s end, the camp held 3,980 POWs. Repatriation of these prisoners began in December 1945 and continued through the following year.17
Internees brought to the camp by vehicle from Honolulu following the closure of Sand Island Internment Camp would have likely traveled west on the Waipahu Cutoff (Farrington Highway) and over the Honouliuli Bridge before turning north off the highway about one mile west of the bridge (See Fig. #3).
Honouliuli Bridge
The Honouliuli Bridge is significant at the state level under National Register Criterion A as part of the Territorial Highway Department’s extension of Wai‘anae Road from 1938 to 1939 when the bridge was completed. Before this project, the only connecting road between ‘Ewa Junction in the east and Wai‘anae Road in the west was Waipahu Road (previously called “Government Road”) that linked Wai‘anae Road with Kamehameha Highway (the main belt road) at ‘Ewa Junction. Waipahu Road (now Waipahu Street) is a winding road through the former plantation village of the same name, generally running east-west. Its western end extended southwest to join Wai‘anae Road and Fort Weaver Road (now Old Fort Weaver Road) at a “Y” intersection.
The 1939 construction of the Honouliuli Bridge along Farrington Highway eliminated a looping portion of the former road that connected Honolulu with ‘Ewa and the leeward Wa‘ianae coast, significantly increasing transportation efficiency. (See Figure “Portion of 1928 topographic ramp” in Section 8 for a graphic representation of the importance of the Honouliuli Bridge to the transportation development of the area and of points west.)
During the Republic of Hawaii (1894-1898), and especially after annexation of Hawaii by the United States in 1898, political and business leaders recognized that the creation of improved belt roads with modern bridges around the perimeter of each island was of great importance to linking each island’s communities and sustaining economic growth.18
In 1924, Congress passed the Hawaii Bill of Rights, granting the Territory of Hawaii federal highway funding beginning in 1925 that made completing and improving the islands’ belt roads possible.
In 1924, Congress passed the Hawaii Bill of Rights, granting the Territory of Hawaii federal highway funding beginning in 1925 that made completing and improving the islands’ belt roads possible.
The Territory built the first concrete bridge over Honouliuli Stream in 1927 to the south of the eventual 1939 bridge.19 As automobile and truck traffic increased, there was demand for further highway improvements. Bridges were a special concern of the federal highway system, and Hawaii began a systematic replacement of narrow and hazardous bridges. With ample funds, Hawaii began to straighten out the belt roads and build long, high bridges across the mouths of the valleys. The federal government started funding secondary or feeder roads in the late 1930s. These were required to be outside of municipalities and be farm‐ to‐ market roads or other rural roads of community value, which connect with important highways or the Federal Aid primary system. Bridges constructed with Federal Aid dollars have longer spans and were more decorative than county financed bridges.
Reinforced‐ concrete tee beam bridges dominate this period, although a few rare examples of open‐ spandrel concrete arches remain. Rail design was standardized into a few patterns, such as the “Greek‐ cross void”, enabling easy recognition of Hawaiian bridges. (Note: the Department of Transportation completed the “State Historic Bridge Inventory & Evaluation” in 2013. The relevant pages from this report have been attached to this document as “Appendix A”)
There was a significant increase in road construction throughout Hawaii for military use in the build-up to World War II. In 1934, the Navy opened two branches of the ordinance storage facilities at West Loch and Lualualei resulting in increased traffic from Pearl Harbor to the western side of Oahu. Until 1939, this traffic had to use the indirect route of Waipahu Road through Waipahu. E. E. Black, Ltd., the contractor tor the 1939 Honouliuli Bridge and F.A.P. 4-C highway realignment, had been the contractor for the Lualualei NRTS.20 Construction of this bridge and the F.A.P. 4-C roadway of Farrington Highway provided a more efficient alternative route to the Waipahu Road.
In 1935, the City and County of Honolulu Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to name the section of belt road that traversed Waipahu, ‘Ewa, Wai‘anae, Mōkūle’ia, and Waialua to the Haleiwa-Waialua junction as “Farrington Highway”. The portion of the belt road around Ka‘ena Point, which would have connected the Wai‘anae and Mōkūle‘ia ends of Farrington Highway, was never built.
The name of the road, which included both new and existing segments, honored former Territorial Governor Wallace R. Farrington (in office 1921-1929), who was “instrumental” in developing plans to complete the belt road on Oahu 21 including the Kamehameha and Kalanianaole Highways. At the dedication of the Waipahu Cutoff on October 29, 1939, the local newspaper referred to it as Farrington Highway and recorded the traffic volume was 2,100 vehicles on its first day of operation.22
Several sources noted different costs for the highway work. Articles from the December 1937 Honolulu Star-Bulletin stated the Waipahu Cutoff project was expected to cost $250,000 and noted:
All curves in the road between [‘Ewa and Wai‘anae Junctions] will be eliminated with motorists miss[ing] Waipahu entirely when using the cutoff and traffic will be speeded up by elimination of travel through the narrow and winding streets of that community.23
In May 1938, before the bids were due from contractors, another Hawaiian-Star Bulletin article stated that the highway project (minus the amount for a flood control canal) was expected to cost $334,700 and begin in July 1938.24 While the Waipahu Cutoff project that built Honouliuli Bridge and most of Farrington Highway from ‘Ewa Junction to Wai‘anae Road was designated F.A.P. 4-C, the portions of Farrington Highway that included grade crossings were given a different project number: F.A.G.H. 4-C. The Superintendent of Public Works report noted, however, that the total cost of these two projects, plus the related Kunia Road project (F.A.P. 16-B), was $381,238.18. The amount for the Honouliuli Bridge was not broken out in any cost estimates or final figures for highway and bridge construction in this general area.
Before this project, the road sections near Honouliuli Stream were longer, less direct, and had more elevation changes that lowered traveling speeds and reduced safety, but reduced costs by crossing the gulch at a narrower point with a shorter, less expensive bridge. Wa‘ianae Road came from the east and curved southward then westward before it crossed the gulch and joined Wai’anae Road at the “Y” intersection that still exists about 1/8 mile south of the Farrington Highway Honouliuli Bridge.
Fort Weaver Road (now called Old Fort Weaver Road) extended south from this point through the village of Honouliuli. The 1938 Waipahu Cutoff project kept the southernmost segments of the old Wai‘anae and Waipahu Roads (now both segments of Old Fort Weaver Road), but allowed motorists heading east or west across Honouliuli Gulch to bypass the “Y” intersection via the new 1939 Honouliuli Bridge and straight section of road that was constructed between the former curved end segments of Wai‘anae and Waipahu Roads. After the project was completed, any traffic that was bound for Honouliuli Village or points south still had to take one of the road segments bowing south to the “Y” junction, but traffic going to or from the west side of the island had a quicker, more direct route over Honouliuli Bridge.
4 Lani Nedbalek, Waipahu, A Brief History. (Mililani, HI: Wonder View Press). 1984
5 Hoakalei Cultural Foundation/Kepa Maly. Historical Notes on Trails of Honouliuli, ‘Ewa District
6 Mooney, Kimberly M. and Paul L. Cleghorn, Pacific Legacy, Inc. p. 20-21.
7 Ibid., p. 29.
8 U.S. Geological Survey, map “Waipahu, Hawaii, 1:20,000”. 1927-1928.
Section
9 Hawaii State Archives, Aerial Photo Collection, photo #M-7.38.Ca.1939-41.
10 Michael, Muricio, Waipahu, Its People and Heritage (Waipahu, HI: Waipahu Community Foundation), 1997. p. 59.
11 Spencer Mason Architects, “Waipahu Street Widening Project and Potential Historic Properties”. Prepared Tsutsumi & Associates, Inc.) 1990. p. 1-3. for Austin,
12 Nedbalek, p. 27.
13 Penny Pagliarro, “Ewa Plantation, A Historical Survey, 1890-1940”, (Honolulu: Author). 1987. p. 23-26.
14 Ibid., p. 19.
15 Niiya, Brian. History of the Internment in Hawaii. June 2010. Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii.
16 Yong-ho Choe. Korean Prisoners of War in Hawaii During World War II and the Case of U.S. Navy Abduction of Three
Korean Fishermen. University of Hawaii (n.d.)
17 "U.S. Army Forces Middle Pacific and Predecessor Commands During World War II: Chapter IX: Prisoners of War," JCCH
18 Heritage Center, School of Architecture, University of Hawaii at Manoa, “State of Hawaii Historic Bridge Inventory and
Evaluation. (Honolulu, HI: Hawaii State Department of Transportation). 2006. p. 33-35.
19 Hawaii Highway Planning Survey. Bridge Inventory for the Island of Oahu. (Honolulu, HI: Territorial Highway Department).
1950. (Bridge No. 103).
20 Helber, Hastert & Fee, Planners. “Oahu Integrated Cultural Resources Management Plan”. (Prepared for Commander, Navy Region Hawaii). 2008. p. 5-353. Section 8 Page 9 16
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 Name of Property OMB No. 1024-0018 County and State Honouliuli Stream Bridge Honolulu, Hawai'i
21 “Farrington Highway to be New Belt Road Name”. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. October 30, 1939. p.16.
22 “Three Major Improvements are Dedicated at Waipahu”. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. October 30, 1939. p. 16.
23 “Waipahu Road Job Bids Are Due June 9th. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. May 25, 1938. p. 1.
24 Ibid, p. 1.
