It’s always interesting to me when a simple question leads to unexpected places. Such was the case in September when a question about Eames Street in Wahiawa turned up the fact that Alfred W. Eames Sr., who gave the street its name, narrowly missed being on the Titanic in 1912.
It happened again a week later when Lowell Angell asked about Hobron Lane, near the Ilikai in Waikiki, and whom it was named after.
Hobron Lane is not very long, but, as you will see, the people, stories and events that are tied to its namesake are extensive.
The Hobron story led me to Hawaii’s first railroad, the first royal palm trees in Hawaii, the Kamehameha statue on King Street, Lahaina’s historic banyan tree, Alexander & Baldwin, the Hamakua Ditch, author Jack London, Hawaii Baptist Academy and even Primo beer.
Two brothers
Hobron lane was named around 1906 for two brothers who came to Hawaii in 1852 from New London, Conn. Ebenezer Coit Hobron (1834-1921) founded the Hobron Drug Co. in 1894 and co-founded the Honolulu Brewing & Malting Co., which launched Primo Lager in 1901.
Hobron Drug Co. later became part of the Benson- Smith drugstore chain, founded in 1883 during King Kalakaua’s reign.
Thomas Henry Hobron (1823-1889) was involved in shipping between Hawaii and the West Coast. He settled on Maui and was a founder of the Waihee sugar plantation, when the industry was in its infancy.
Two managers at the plantation resigned in 1869 to establish the Haiku plantation. Their names were Samuel T. Alexander and Henry P. Baldwin. Three of Thomas Hobron’s children married Baldwins.
Alexander & Baldwin, founded in 1870, was one of the Big Five sugar growers and today has assets of around $2 billion.
Thomas Hobron was also postmaster of Kahului and owned a general store there. He was a co-founder of the 3,000-acre Grove Ranch sugar plantation in Makawao, Maui.
Thomas Hobron, Alexander, Baldwin and a few other cane growers built the Hamakua Ditch in 1877 to bring water from rainy areas of Maui to their drier fields. It revolutionized sugar growing.
Thomas Hobron wanted to be able to get his sugar to port quickly and cheaply, so he founded the Kahului railway, the first railroad in Hawaii, in 1879. His partners were his sons-in-law, William Owen Smith, who was Maui sheriff from 1872 to 1874, and William Bailey, who headed the Wailuku Sugar Co.
Lahaina banyan tree
Smith planted the historic banyan tree in Lahaina in 1873 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Christian missionaries on the island.
The banyan has grown from 8 feet tall in 1873 to over 60 feet high today. It measures almost a quarter- mile in circumference and covers two-thirds of an acre. The national historic landmark is one of the oldest banyan trees in Hawaii and is the largest in the United States.
Jack London
Thomas Hobron’s son, Thomas William Hobron, had a home at Pearl Lochs, and author Jack London stayed there in 1907. He moved his typewriter from his boat, the Snark, to the cottage for two months, the Hawaiian Gazette said in 1907.
London had penned “The Call of the Wild,” “White Fang” and several other books.
“Pearl Harbor is a dream,” London wrote. “Coming through the breakers into the placid water of the lagoon is a sight I shall never forget. We shall remain here and work as quietly as may be.”
The Snark spent a month in Hawaii, then headed for the South Seas.
Royal palms
While looking into Thomas H. Hobron, I found that the original royal palm trees in Hawaii were planted at his Nuuanu home.
The house, named Brookside, was built by Asher and Elizabeth Bates. The 10-acre estate is 800 feet mauka of Gerrit P. Judd’s home, on the corner of what is now Nuuanu Avenue and Bates Street.
A natural spring on the property provided water for the home and created a lily pond. Nuuanu Stream runs through the estate.
Asher Bates was a tutor to Prince Alexander and Prince Lot, and later attorney general of the kingdom. Bates Street was named for him.
Gerrit Judd was a missionary. He was a founder of Punahou School and was an adviser to King Kamehameha III. He accompanied the teenage princes, Alexander Liholiho and his brother, Lot Kapuaiwa, on a trip to France, Great Britain and the United States in 1849-50. They later became Kamehameha IV and V.
When their steamer stopped at Havana on the return voyage, Judd was so impressed by the graceful and noble sight of the royal palms, he had a young man pick some seeds for him to bring back to Hawaii.
On the long trip home, Judd forgot about the seeds. Weeks after returning, his wife discovered the seeds in a pocket. She planted them at the Nuuanu home of her sister, Elizabeth Bates.
Their cottage was later purchased and expanded by Thomas H. Hobron. Queen Lili‘uokalani attended meetings of the literary society that were held there.
The home passed to Samuel Baldwin and then was sold to the Catholic Church around 1930, which opened the Sacred Hearts Convent School there.
Hawaii Baptist Academy’s elementary campus is on the site today, and tall royal palms still line Bates Street and Nuuanu Avenue.
Royal palms soon spread around Nuuanu and then throughout the islands. They can be found on the Queen’s Hospital grounds, the Punahou campus, the Royal Mausoleum and Royal Palm Drive in Wahiawa.
Kamehameha statue
Wendy Tolleson asked me about the royal palms around the Kamehameha statue and whether they were cut down in the middle of night as a prank.
Yes, it happened on Feb. 3, 1967. A fake work order led to state employees cutting them down early one morning. The person, who was never caught, signed his name Albert Camus (the name of a French philosopher).
Islanders were shocked and saddened by the news.
The cutting happened at the same time the City Council was considering removing a large banyan tree at King and Keeaumoku streets so that they could be widened.
The grounds superintendent said he believed “Albert Camus” pulled his practical joke as a protest against cutting down the banyan. To this day we still don’t know.
While the Kamehameha statue was being cast in Paris, the site for it in front of Aliiolani Hale had been prepared by planting 12 royal palms in an oval around 1880.
The original statue was shipped to Hawaii but was lost at sea in the Falkland Islands. It was later recovered and sent to Hawaii with a broken arm and spear, arriving in March of 1882.
Fortunately, it was insured and a duplicate was cast. The sculptor also sent a new arm and spear to repair the original.
In January 1883 the original statue arrived in Honolulu. There wasn’t time to repair it, so the duplicate was erected on King Street on Feb. 14, 1883.
It was King Kalakaua who unveiled the statue in its royal palm setting. A small arms salute was fired, and Henry Berger led the Royal Hawaiian Band in “Hawaii Pono‘i,” the national anthem.
It was decided to put the repaired original statue near Kamehameha’s probable birthplace in Kohala on the Big Island three months later.
Aliiolani Hale
A month after the palms were cut in March 1967, many people said it looked better without them, and tourists were getting better photos. They were not replaced.
Twenty years passed. The state decided to spruce up the area as part of the restoration of Aliiolani Hale. A bus parking area was created Diamond Head of the statue, and they were no longer allowed to double- park on King Street.
Plantings were made on a raised, circular base around the statue, keeping visitors at a proper distance from it. Lighting and sprinklers were added.
Over 15 royal palms were planted in the surrounding area. Judge Samuel P. King Sr. pointed out that royal palms weren’t native to Hawaii and came to Hawaii three decades after Kamehameha I’s death.
Intersecting stories
Hobron Lane is a fairly short street, but the Hobron story is extensive. The brothers’ lives touch on Hawaii’s first royal palms, Hawaii’s first railroad, America’s largest banyan tree, the launching of Alexander & Baldwin, a revolution in the sugar industry and even Primo beer.
Maybe the Hobron name should be on a bigger street.
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Bob Sigall is the author of the five “Companies We Keep” books. Send your comments and suggestions to Sigall@Yahoo.com.
