Puerto Ricans Arrive

A hurricane on their home island blew Puerto Ricans to Hawaii's shores. Because of devastation caused by the storm, the economy had collapsed and island citizens needed to look elsewhere for employment in order to survive. The sugar industry regarded Puerto Ricans as likely prospects for field work because they were agricultural workers living on a tropical island. Fifty-six Puerto Rican immigrants, the first in the kingdom, landed at Lahaina in 1900, destined for work at Pioneer Mill.

Olowalu Sugar Company, also eager for laborers, employed 22 Puerto Ricans in 1904. In 1910 Puerto Ricans increased the population of the community by 75. The Puerto Ricans made Olowalu more multigenerational as they brought their wives and children. In fact the number of Puerto Rican children taxed the one-room Olowalu School necessitating the addition of another room and another teacher in 1912. After this period, the number of Puerto Ricans declined and, by 1939, there were none left in the community.