James Dole's Role in Lanai Island History

Information about James Dole's role in the history of Lanai island in Hawaii.

About James Dole

BORN: (September 27, 1877
BIRTH PLACE: Jamaica Plain, Massachuetts
MOVED TO HONOLULU: November 16, 1899
DIED: May 20, 1958 (age 80)

FAMILY
Dole married Belle Dickey (1880–1972)[7] in Jamaica Plain on November 23, 1906. His wife was the sister of architect Charles William Dickey, a member of another missionary family. [8] They had five children: Richard Alexander Dole was born on October 28, 1907, James Drummond Dole, Jr. was born on February 6, 1910, Elisabeth Dole was born on April 25, 1911, Charles Herbert Dole was born on October 30, 1914, and Barbara Dole was born on October 10, 1916.

RETIREMENT AND DEATH:
Sanford Dole had asked to avoid using the Dole name for products, but it had become well-known, at least within Hawaii.[9] The first product to actually bear his name was the canned Dole pineapple juice. Dole retired in 1948. He suffered from various ailments in retirement; the worst were a series of strokes. A heart attack finally took Dole's life on May 20, 1958. Dole was buried in Makawao Union Church cemetery near Makawao, Hawaii on the island of Maui. His grave overlooked the slopes of Haleakala and the vast pineapple fields of what was at the time his Maui pineapple plantation. [10] His wife Belle inscribed the words on his gravestone, "He was a Man, Take Him All in All. I Shall Not Look Upon His Like Again."

Graduated in 1899 from Roxbury Latin School in Roxbury, Massachusetts

Dole graduated with a bachelor's degree in agriculture from the Bussey Institute of Harvard University

After receiving USD $50 as a gift, Dole began saving money for a future business. After growing his savings to $16,240, Dole moved to Honolulu, Hawaii at the age of 22, arriving on November 16, 1899. At that time Hawaii was governed by his cousin Sanford B. Dole, after the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani.

He purchased a 64-acre government homestead in the central plains of the island of Oahu. After experimenting with a number of crops, he settled on planting pineapple.

Built a cannery and packing plant in Wahiawa.

To keep up with the inreasing demand for his pineapple he built a cannery and packing plant near the Honolulu Harbor in 1907.

In 1913 he invested in a new pineapple peeling machine invented by Henry G. Ginaca that coujld peel and core 35 pineapples a minuste.

Purchased the island of Lanai in 1922. It became the largest plantation in the world with over 20,000 acres (80 km²) devoted exclusively to growing pineapple. Utilizing large mechanized production and importing large numbers of foreign workers which were paid at indentured servitude levels, Dole managed to reduce the price of his pineapples to such a level that it drove every other producer out of the business throughout the 20th century, Lanaʻi produced over seventy-five percent of the world's pineapple crop, thereby dominating the market

Dole also purchased pineapple plantation lands on Maui Island.

However, this investments in land, mechanization, and finally air transportation combined with the resulting decrease in the price of pineapples, placed the company in a vulnerable price position. Because pineapples take two years to grow to maturity, the Great Depression of the 1930s and the resulting decrease in demand, caused the company to lose money. By December 1932 Dole was removed from management of the company and replaced by Atherton Richards.[6] At that time, Castle & Cooke took a stake in the company.

Legacy

About 8.5 acres (3.4 ha) of the original estate, including surrounding horticultural gardens, was kept in the Dole family until 1972. Although his original three-room house collapsed in 1971, a kitchen house from 1901, and a prefabricated building constructed in 1905 and expanded around 1909 for his growing family, remained but was deteriorating. In the late 1970s, the new owners developed the land into suburban residences. The remaining structures were removed from Wahiawa for the new subdivision.[1] The Waipahu Cultural Garden in Waipahu, Hawaii at recreated a Hawaiian plantation village.

The tourist attraction known as the Dole Plantation was established in 1950 as a small fruit stand in the middle of Dole's original pineapple fields. In 1989, the fruit stand was transformed into a plantation home mounted on what looks like a hill of red dirt, characteristic of Wahiawa. The plantation home became a living museum and historical archive of the life and work of the industrialist. It is located off of Kamehameha Highway (Route 99 The plantation features the world's largest maze, grown entirely out of Hawaiian plants. Originally built in 1998, it lost its place in the Guinness Book of World Records until it was expanded in July 2007. The maze covers 137,194 square feet (12,746 m2) and paths are 13,001 feet (3,963 m) long.[13] The "Pineapple Express" is a two-mile (3 km) train ride through the plantation that is fully animated, while explaining the history of the pineapple. The plantation garden tour gives information about North Shore, the Hibiscus, native species, the Lei, irrigation, Bromeliads, the Ti Leaf, and Life on the plantation.

In 1991, the Dole Cannery closed its operations and was transformed into a multi-purpose facility with media studios, conference rooms and ballrooms. The lower levels houses a modern shopping center and an 18-screen multiplex cinema owned by Regal Entertainment Group. The actual ginaca machines and cannery storage were preserved and turned into a museum of Hawaiian Pineapple Company history. The cannery is located in the area known as Iwilei, between Honolulu Harbor and Kapalama, at 650 Iwilei Road Honolulu, and ballrooms across the street.

History of Dole Foods

1851
Samuel Castle and Amos Cooke traveled from Boston to Hawaii to set up a trading company.

1863
Philipp Astheimer & Sohn is established in Hamburg, Germany. This company is now the basis for Dole’s European business.

1899
James Drummond Dole comes to Hawaii, fresh out of Harvard's School of Horticulture & Agriculture.

1901
James Dole begins growing pineapples in Wahiawa on the island of Oahu. He establishes the Hawaiian Pineapple Company. Hawaii becomes synonymous with pineapples. Dole makes his famous quality pledge: “We have built this company on quality, and quality, and quality”.

1907
Dole moves his pineapple cannery to Honolulu and places advertisements in U.S. magazines to promote pineapple – one of the first nationwide consumer advertising campaigns in America.

1911
A Dole engineer, Henry Ginaca, invents a machine that peels, cores and cuts pineapple at the speed of up to 100 pineapples per minute. The Ginaca is now an industry standard.

1915
The Hawaiian Pineapple Company becomes Hawaii’s second largest industry.

1932
Castle & Cooke acquires ownership of 21% of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company.

1933
Recognizing the popularity and quality associated with James Dole's name, the company first stamps "DOLE" on cans of pineapple and pineapple juice.

1961
Dole merges with Castle and Cooke and keeps the DOLE brand.

---

Lanai Island Travel Guide

Other Islands of Hawaii

Visitor Destinations in Hawaii

Hawaii for Visitors

---