THE SPECS
Brand: Cooke Street
Print: Merchant advertisement
Material: 55% Polyester, 45% Cotton
Style No. 2904 - Full-button down with grey buttons; single pocket
Made in the USA
THE MATERIAL
I wanted to start off with one of my all time favorite shirts, what I call Cooke Street’s “merchant advertisement” print. I have thrifted this shirt in both the grey and blue color, both of which were in the full-button down style.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Cooke Street had a period of Hawaiian historical prints on a 55% polyester-45% cotton blend shirt. The fabric is truly the best of both worlds; cool and light but does not require ironing, a technological feat for its time! It feels like chambray. My husband takes a large in this style and is comfortable in it, even in summer.
THE DESIGN
Beyond the material, this shirt grabbed my attention because of its use of old newspaper merchant advertisements. I searched in nineteenth-century and twentieth-century Hawaiʻi newspapers for the original advertisements and was able to find them! I want to provide more context about the three businesses featured on this shirt all of which were big names in transportation and sundries around the turn of the century. Many of these businesses have legacies that are still with us today.
WILDER STEAMSHIP CO.
The Wilder Steamship Company was founded in 1872 by Samuel Gardner Wilder, a Massachusetts-born shipping magnate who moved to Hawaiʻi in 1856. In 1857, Wilder married Elizabeth Kinaʻu Judd, the daughter of politician and Kualoa Ranch owner Dr. Gerrit P. Judd. Between 1860 and 1870, Wilder started a number of business ventures, including guano shipping and starting a sugar plantation. In 1871, he became the agent for the government-owned passenger steamship, “Kīlauea”. The year following, he started Wilder & Company and expanded to include inter-island shipping and transportation. Rather than competing with the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, Wilder & Company traveled on opposite routes from Inter-Island, serving Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Maui, and Hawaiʻi Island ports instead.
This photo of Wilderʻs Steamship Company Honolulu pier was taken around the same time the Wilder S.S. Company published its 1903 advertisement in “The Maui News”. Steamship was still the dominant form of inter-island transportation during this period, as seen in the busyness of the dock. We can imagine goods and foods loaded by stevedores on the Wilder and Co.ʻs steamers, “Claudine”, “Kinau”, and “Helene”. Samuel Wilder did not live long enough to see his business survive into twentieth-century, however. He died in the 1888 and was remembered as a public official under Kings Lunalio and Kalākaua. Wilder & Company merged into Inter-Island Steam Navigation in 1905. In 1929, the company began offering commercial airplane service under the name Inter-Island Airways, the predecessor of Hawaiian Airlines.
Original newspaper advertisement: “Kahului R.R. Co.” The Maui News. 8 Aug 1903: 2.
For more information:
“The Late Hon. S. G. Wilder.” The Hawaiian Gazette. 31 July 1888: 6.
“A Genealogy of the Wilder Family of Hawaii.” (1916). Paradise of the Pacific Press: Honolulu. http://imagesofoldhawaii.com/hana-landing/ https://npgallery.nps.gov/SAFR/AssetDetail/74a8d791-38c2-474c-a485-8c6b142e2b81
KAHULUI RAILROAD CO.
The Kahului Railroad earned the title of first railroad in the Kingdom and the oldest operating railroad company in the Hawaiʻi, surviving from 1879-1966. The initial route connected the Wailuku Sugar Mill with the port at Kahului and overtime proved to be an important mode of transportation for Central Maui. The route included five depot stops: Wailuku, at Mill Street and Lower Main Street, Kahului, Sprecklesville, Paia, and Hāmakuapoko. I thought about writing a lengthy post but instead found this great and well produced video on the Kahului Railroad Company as remembered through oral histories from former locomotive engineers, company employees, and riders. I really enjoyed these stories, especially because I really love trains. (7) If youʻre on Oʻahu and want to experience a plantation-era train experience, check out the Hawaiian Railway Society. The route runs from Ewa Beach until Nānākuli and back. I had so much fun on my ride and want to rent out the a train car for a party… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeIdLs645zw
AFONG & ACHUCK
Chun Afong and Qing Achuck were were Chinese merchants in Hawaiʻi and were active primarily between the years 1865 and 1889. Both businessmen were from Zhongshan and immigrated to Hawaiʻi pre-1850. The duo opened their Honolulu shop in 1865 and sold Chinese imports including clothing, textiles, and furniture. The advertisement featured on the Cooke Street shirt along with this advertisement published in the Hawaiian-language newspaper, Ka Nūpepa Kūʻokoa, shows the business savvy of Afong and Achuck. Although foreigners, they learned Hawaiian and English to advertise because the Kingdom was multilingual. @nupepa_blog provided a translation for this article: New Chinese Clothes—Afong [Afona] and Achuck [Akaka], Chinese merchants of this town, have taken out their new clothes imported by them from their land of birth, with the arrival of a double-masted ship from China. Those who want to go there to make purchases, the doors are open.“
Overtime Afong and Achuck expanded their business to include agriculture. They bought Pepeʻekeo Sugar Plantation in 1874 and organized labor migration from China to support their endeavors. Their work was in collaboration with Hawaiian royalty and aristocrats, who were both their friends and clientele. While still maintaining connections to their homeland, both men became naturalized Kingdom citizens and married and had children with chiefly Hawaiian-women. They were loyal to Kalākauaʻs government, even after the Bayonet Constitution which disenfranchised Chinese citizens living in Hawaiʻi. While Afong and Achuckʻs store is no longer standing, you can still visit a few places associated with the two businessmen. The first lychee tree planted in 1873 at the site of Afongʻs mansion still stands at the Nuʻuanu Shopping Plaza on the corners of Nuʻuanu and School Streets. The lychee tree was transported by Achuck from China and gifted to Afong. Afong also had a Kālia villa at the site of Fort DeRussy.
For more information:
“Merchant Prince of the Sandalwood Mountains: Afong and the Chinese in Hawaii.” (1997). University of Hawaiʻi Press: Honolulu.
“Na Lole Hou o Kina.” Ka Nupepa Kuokoa. 16 October 1869: 3.
“Sojourners and Settlers: Chinese Migrants in Hawaii.” (1908). University of Hawaii Press: Honolulu.
