Doles’ Hawaiian Pineapple Company efforts led to the diversification of Lāna‘i’s community. The island population was no longer predominately Hawaiian, but largely made up of Japanese and Filipinos, with smaller populations of Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, and Puerto Rican immigrants, most of whom came to Hawai‘i as laborers. By 1925, the harbor at Kaumālapa‘u was all but complete. The city of Lāna‘i was laid out using a grid system, much as we see it today. A portion of the Dole administration building, a hospital, theater, hotel, park, stores, plantation homes and churches were all built by January 1926, with additions continuing throughout the years of the plantation. Between 1922 and 1992, when the last harvest took place, nearly 16,000 acres of pineapple were cultivated, and the face of Lāna‘i changed, becoming the place which, today, some 3,000 people call home.

Stories researched and prepared by Kepā  & Onaona Maly
Lāna`i Culture & Heritage Center