Name/Title
Volcano HouseDescription
Volcano House, on the Big Island of Hawaii, by Kilauea Volcano
Published by the Island Curio Co., Honolulu
In 1876 George W. C. Jones bought out the other partners in the business and hired William H. Lentz to construct a longer-lasting structure, and manage the hotel.[4] A wood-sided building about 104 by 110 feet (32 m × 34 m) was built in 1877. It included six guest rooms, two for the manager's family, and a dining room. Lumber for rafters and posts were harvested from local forests of naio (Myoporum sandwicense) and ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha).[7] Peter Lee built a hotel at the coast in Punaluʻu to the west, and a road across the Kaʻū Desert to bring visitors. He also built a competing hotel at the Kīlauea rim called the Crater House Hotel.[2] From 1883 to 1885 it was owned by the Oliver T. Shipman family.[5]
In 1891, a group led by Honolulu businessman and politician Lorrin A. Thurston (grandson of 1820s missionaries Asa and Lucy Goodale Thurston) acquired the Volcano House and Peter Lee's hotels. The business was so successful that a two-story addition became the main part of the hotel, adding 10 - 12 additional guest rooms, an observation tower, and a larger dining hall, using the 1877 structure as a wing.[4] Thurston commissioned a cyclorama of Kīlauea which he displayed in his travels to the mainland, including the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894 in San Francisco.[8] In 1894 a four-horse stagecoach reduced the travel time from Hilo from two days to six hours.
Wikipedia Reference nos.Created By
hawaiiancovers@gmail.comCreate Date
August 29, 2023Update Date
August 29, 2023
