Waialua Sugar Mill facts for kids
The Waialua Sugar Mill was a large farm and factory that made sugar from sugarcane. It was also known as the Chamberlain Plantation. This important place was located in the town of Waialua on the North Shore of Oahu, one of Hawaii's islands. The mill operated for many years, from 1865 until it closed in 1996.
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The Start of the Sugar Mill
The story of the Waialua Sugar Mill began in 1865. Two brothers, Levi (Jr.) and Warren Chamberlain, tried to start a sugarcane farm there. However, their first attempt was not successful.
In 1875, a man named Robert Halstead bought the plantation for $25,000. He worked with a partner, but his partner passed away in 1888. After that, Robert and his two sons, Edgar and Frank, managed the farm together. They were known as the Halstead Brothers.
A New Company Takes Over
A big change happened in 1898. A powerful Hawaiian company called Castle & Cooke bought the plantation from the Halstead Brothers. Castle & Cooke was one of Hawaii's "Big Five" companies, which were very important in the sugar business. They created a new company called the Waialua Agricultural Company to run the sugar farm.
Castle & Cooke quickly built a brand new sugar mill. The first harvest from this new mill happened in 1899, producing 1,741 tons of sugar.
Growing and Modernizing
The new owners worked hard to make the plantation bigger and better. They added more land for growing sugarcane and built a special railway system to move the cane. They also created large systems to collect and store water for irrigation.
Between 1900 and 1906, four major water collection systems were built. This gave the Waialua sugar plantation the largest water storage in all of Hawaii! Because of these improvements, sugar production grew a lot. It went from less than 5,000 tons in 1900 to 20,000 tons by 1905.
In 1920, new machines started to help with harvesting the cane. These self-propelled machines made the work easier and replaced a lot of the manual labor. Later on, the Waialua plantation even started to make its own electricity. It sold some of this power to nearby towns, helping with Hawaii's energy needs.
The Mill's Final Years
By 1991, the Waialua Sugar Mill was a part of the Dole Food Company. It was producing about eight percent of all the sugar made in Hawaii. However, the plantation faced a challenge: it could not grow more sugar per acre of land.
Because of money worries and the difficulty in increasing its sugar output, the Waialua Sugar Mill finally closed its doors in October 1996. It was the very last sugarcane plantation to close on the island of Oahu.
What Happened Next
Even after the mill closed, the area around it remained important. In 1999, many former workers, especially those from the Philippines, still lived in the sugar workers' camp.
Today, the old mill site is an industrial park. It provides space for different businesses on the North Shore of Oahu. In 2020, the 25 acres of the former mill property were put up for sale.
