STAR-BULLETIN / 1975
The Lahaina Restoration Foundation wants to acquire the Pioneer Mill smokestack and turn it into a museum.
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Save-the-smokestack sentiment builds
Supporters argue that the Lahaina landmark should be preserved for its historic value
LAHAINA, Maui » As a plan goes forward to start demolishing a portion of Pioneer Mill before the end of the year, Maui historic preservation supporters are hoping to keep its landmark 225-foot smokestack.
Lahaina Restoration Foundation Executive Director George "Keoki" Freeland said he has been talking with a representative of Kaanapali Development Corp. about acquiring the smokestack as well as a small office building near the mill.
Freeland said the building would be used as a museum mainly to display how Pioneer Mill once cleaned and processed sugar.
Residents say in addition to its historical significance, the smokestack is the most prominent landmark in Lahaina and is used by fishermen to establish their location at sea.
"We need that," said Sam Kadotani, a longtime Lahaina resident. "That's part of Lahaina."
Warren Nishimoto, director of the University of Hawaii-Manoa's Center of Oral History, said the smokestack was an "artifact" serving as a visual reminder of Maui's multiethnic history.
"It's a visual reminder of our past," said Nishimoto, whose center completed oral history interviews with Pioneer Mill workers in 2003. "It would be a shame if it was torn down."
Pioneer Mill, established in the 1860s, has played a role in the development of the agricultural industry in Hawaii and the importation of immigrant laborers, including the Portuguese, Japanese and Filipinos.
It also marked a shift in Hawaiian culture and ecology, with the channeling of streams for irrigation and use of large tracts of land for commercial agriculture.
Plantation camps developed to house workers were once scattered across cane fields for more than 15 miles from Honokohau to Olowalu.
Out of the camps emerged supporters of the Hawaii agricultural labor movement.
"A lot of changes in labor laws started with the sugar industry," said William Kennison, Maui division director for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
Kennison said saving the smokestack might be costly, but it is important as a reminder of the hard work and struggles of workers, including labor strikes that led to better wages and living conditions.
Stephen Lovelette, executive vice president of Kaanapali Development, said the firm is looking at what it can do to work with people who want to preserve the smokestack.
The smokestack is not included in the demolition plan, he said.
Lovelette said his firm has not decided what it wants to do with the nearby office building.
Lovelette said while people have expressed a desire to save the smokestack, no one has come forward with a financial proposal to save and maintain it.
He said restoration work on the smokestack is estimated at $300,000, and a plan would be needed to continue maintaining it.
"I don't think anybody is at risk, but we don't want to take any chances," he said.
Lovelette said his firm, the successor entity to Amfac/ JMB, plans to begin demolishing portions of the mill before the end of this year. The mill shut down about six years ago.
He said the demolition including the regrading of the land will take about a year.
Lovelette said the firm has not decided what it wants to do with the mill land.
Meanwhile, Kaanapali Development is moving forward with two major projects in West Maui, including a 200-acre residential project south of the mill that will be mainly directed toward providing housing in the affordable range, he said.
Lovelette said Kaanapali Development is also planning to submit an environmental impact statement in January for its 4,000-acre Kaanapali 2020 project.