Molokaʻi Ranch Timeline
1848-2019
1848
King Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III, retains the ahupuaʻa of Kaluakoʻi.
Kaluakoʻi 1 was returned by a person named Kupa, and Kaluakoʻi 2 was returned by a person named John Stevenson and retained by the Government as the King’s personal lands during the Māhele. The Māhele ʻĀina, 1848-1850, was enacted by King Kamehameha III and was the start of land division and privatization in Hawaiʻi.
1850
Aliʻiwahine Bernice Pauahi Pākī marries Charles Reed Bishop.
1848
Kaunakakai claimed by the parents of Aliʻiwahine Bernice Pauahi.
Abner Kaʻehu Pākī and Aliʻiwahine Laura Kanaholo Konia, granddaughter of Kamehameha I, held the title to Kaunakakai. Aliʻiwahine Bernice Pauahi inherited these lands.
1875
Royal Patent for Kaluakoʻi Ahupuaʻa was awarded to Charles Reed Bishop.
Royal Patent Grant #3146 signed by King Kalākaua was awarded to Charles Reed Bishop. Bishop’s property in Kaluakoʻi totaled 46,500 acres. Bernice Pauahi Bishop hired Rudolf Meyer (R.W. Meyer), who was married to Chiefess Kalama, to manage the leasing and grazing rights of Kaluakoʻi.
1884
Aliʻiwahine Bernice Pauahi Bishop dies.
On October 16, 1884, Aliʻiwahine Bernice Pauahi Bishop dies of breast cancer. In her will she wished that a portion of her estate (375,569 acres) be used "to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools...one for boys and one girls, to be known as, and called the Kamehameha Schools." After her death, her husband, Charles Reed Bishop managed her estate. In her will, Pauahi names Charles Reed Bishop, Samuel M. Damon, Charles M. Hyde. Charles M. Cooke, and William O. Smith as trustees of her estate for the Kamehameha Schools.
1884
Pauahi wills all of her lands on Molokaʻi to Charles Reed Bishop.
“Ninth. I give, devise and bequeath unto my husband, Charles R. Bishop, all of the various tracts and parcels of land situated upon the Island of Molokai, comprising the "Molokai Ranch", and all of the live-stock and personal property thereon; being the same premises now under the care of R. W. [Meyer] Esq.; and also all of the real property wherever situated, inherited by me from my parents, and also all of that devised to me by my aunt Akahi, except the two lands above devised to H. R. H. Liliuokalani for her life;... to have and to hold together with all tenements, hereditaments, rights, privileges, and appurtenances to the game appertaining, for and during the term of his natural life; and upon his decease to my trustees upon the trusts below expressed.”
1887
Kamehameha School for Boys is established.
Kamehameha Schools started as an all-boys school with the girl's school built later on. The school opens on October 3, 1887, and starts out with just 4 instructors and 37 pupils.
1887
The 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (The Bayonet Constitution).
1891
King David Kalākaua dies and Queen Liliʻuokalani ascends the throne.
1893
Illegal Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation.
On January 17, 1893, the oligarchy illegally overthrew the Hawaiian Nation. Queen Liliʻuokalani immediately protested the illegal behavior. Her letter addressed to Sanford Dole stated:
" I, Liliuokalani, by the grace of God and under the constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this kingdom.
That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America, whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu, and declared that he would support the said Provisional Government.
Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do, under this protest and impelled by said forces, yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon the facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representative, and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.
Done at Honolulu, this 17th day of January, A. D. 1893."
1893
Charles Reed Bishop gifts nearly 96,000 acres of his personal estate to Bishop Estate.
1893
“The Hon. C. R. Bishop has given the Kamehameha schools an esteemed donation, namely his entire land parcel of Kaluakoʻi in Molokaʻi.”
“This land parcel is nearly 96,000 acres.”
“The land title was given to the trustees of Kamehameha school and they will maintain the property for the benefit of the schools.”
1898
Trustees of the Bishop Estate sell the lands gifted by C.R. Bishop to Molokai Ranch Co.
1898
Molokai Ranch acquires 70,000 acres from Bishop Estate and begins Sugar endeavors on the land.