Name/Title
Hollister & Co. Druggists and TobacconistsDescription
Advertising Cover Postmarked Honolulu May 20, 1890
Henry Reed Hollister
At the time, his father was in Honolulu and advised his son to come to Hawaii and manage one of his sugar plantations. Hollister arrived in 1856 on one of the old packets plying between the ports. He set up in Kauai and initially engaged in blacksmithing and cooperage for plantations, as all sugar was shipped in barrels. Some time afterward, Hollister settled in Oahu, taking a position as a sugar boiler at Heeia plantation, and remained for several years. Again, Hollister returned to Kauai, where he started a plantation for growing tapioca at Kaloa, where he and his father lived for several years. That business became unprofitable, so Hollister sold out and came to Honolulu, starting a tobacco and soda water business on Nuuanu Street.
Hollister remained in business until the spring of 1878 when his father died. In December of that year, Hollister’s son-in-law H. A. Parmalee and his family arrived in Honolulu from the States. They formed a copartnership to carry on the soda water and tobacco business shortly afterward, adding drugs to their other lines when they opened a drug store in 1880.
In 1893 Hollister & Co. was incorporated as The Hollister Drug Company separating it from the tobacco business, which was removed to the corner of Fort and Merchant Streets and conducted under the old name of Hollister & Co., which continued to prosper until April 1900. The primary emphasis changed over time, with the tobacconist element shifting to secondary status under the drug business.
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December 26, 2024Update Date
December 26, 2024
