Name/Title
C.H. Dickey and Mrs. Charles Dickey CoversDescription
Mrs. Charles Dickey Cover to Haiku, Maui & C.H. Dickey to Paia, Maui.
C. H. Dickey (1892)[storekeeper]. Haiku postmasters were connected with Haiku Sugar Co. and the mill office served as the post office. Haiku stamp sales in the years 1884 and 1885 were unrecorded, but the postmaster was paid an annual salary of $25. The latest recorded postmark from Haiku is dated in October, 1884.
Whether a post office existed at Haiku after 1884 is doubtful. Baldwin, the Haiku PM, kept his plantation office at Hamakuapoko. When he resigned as Haiku PM in 1887, he said it was unnecessary to appoint a replacement as the duties “are insignificant.” In 1889, the Paia PM named the four post offices in the area as: Paia, Hamakuapoko, Makawao and Huelo, omitting mention of Haiku. PMG Oat made no mention of Haiku in his 1893 trip report. C.H. Dickey’s role as Haiku PM in 1892 may have been a formality to close the office officially and merge it into the Hamakuapoko office. Assuming any postal work was done at Haiku after 1884, it certainly closed in 1887 and was not re-opened in 1892.
C.H. Dickey, famous for having strung the first “Bell” telephone in the Islands between his Haiku store and home (c. 1877), supervised postal affairs of Haiku, Hamakuapoko and Paia during most of the 1870s and 1880s. He arranged for overland carriers and nominated postmasters. Dickey did post office work from time to time and canceled some stamps by writing his initials, CHD, with a pen on 2¢ brown Kalakaua stamps (Hawaii Scott #35), circa 1879. The cancel is listed as peninitials(CHD).
Credit Post Office in Paradise websiteCreated By
hawaiiancovers@gmail.comCreate Date
May 2, 2023Update Date
June 17, 2023
