Wailuku School - Wailuku, HI - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

“In 1904, a prominent Honolulu architect described the new building as the “Handsomest school building on the island or perhaps the country.” The stones, gathered from Iao valley and Wailuku Sugar Company lands, were of equal grade to the Kamehameha Chapel and even better quality than the stone used on Central union Church on Oahu.

All that praise and attention was directed toward he new Wailuku Public School, built on what used to be a cow pasture just down the road from a deteriorating wooden school house.

The old school was operating on the premises of the old Wailuku union Church on the corner of High Street and Kaohu Street. It was considered an eyesore and a health hazard. Editorials in the Maui News deplored the conditions of the building calling it “Immoral and unsanitary,” and advocated its removal. At the same time, editorials encouraged the construction of a brick building which would be a lasting monument and pride for the community.

On May 23, 1904 the building was dedicated with school children coming by train from as far as Haiku and Makawao to attend the ceremony. The Wailuku Brass Band played Hawaii Ponoi, and Charles King the Laureate musician of the territory performed. The superintendent of Public Instruction, A.T. Atkinson, spoke the history of the chief’s schools, the mission and private schools, and the evolution of public schools. He spoke of how Hawaiians could not marry until they could read and write. He spoke of how adults went along to school with children because they too needed an education. And at one time there were 25 common schools, and 7 catholic schools in Wailuku alone. And of the 900 schools in the territory at the beginning of the century, the new Wailuku Public School was the crown jewel of them all."