Dr. W. L. (William Lineas) Maples Puunene Hospital

Object/Artifact

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Hawaii's History, A Personal Collection

Author's Personal Collection: He was assigned to the hospital in Puunene, Hawaii, and for the first few years lived in plantation housing provided to the medical staff. William and Sadie Maples had not planned on staying in Hawaii for more than two contracts, or six years, but he increasingly found the work professionally satisfying. The hospital had installed a new operating room comparable to any found in a small, modern hospital in Tennessee.
Author's Personal Collection

He was assigned to the hospital in Puunene, Hawaii, and for the first few years lived in plantation housing provided to the medical staff. William and Sadie Maples had not planned on staying in Hawaii for more than two contracts, or six years, but he increasingly found the work professionally satisfying. The hospital had installed a new operating room comparable to any found in a small, modern hospital in Tennessee.

Name/Title

Dr. W. L. (William Lineas) Maples Puunene Hospital

Description

William Lineas Maples, a physician and musician, was born in Sevierville, Tennessee, on March 31, 1869. In 1900 agents for the Hawaii Commercial and Sugar Company (HC&S Co.) on Maui traveled through Tennessee and Alabama looking for workers for Hawaii’s plantations. They also sought a physician to staff the hospital that would serve the contract workers. Maples was recruited as the anesthetist for the HC&S hospital. His older brother, Samuel, a lawyer, also accepted a position as a representative of the black contract laborers recruited for the HC&S plantations. Maples, the first African American university-trained physician to practice in Hawaii, remained on Maui working for the Hawaii Commercial and Sugar Company until his retirement in 1931. William Maples died in Wailuku, Maui, in 1943 at the age of seventy-three. William Maples was also known locally for his interest in music. In 1911 he became manager of the Navarro orchestra in Wailuku, which provided popular music of the day for the Maui public. He also wrote the Puunene school song in 1931. Blackpast.org Credit

Web Links and URLs

Black Past - Dr. William Lineas Maples

Created By

hawaiiancovers@gmail.com

Create Date

May 13, 2023

Update Date

July 3, 2023