Ravenna Park Walking Tour

Our local neighborhood organization, Friends of Ravenna Cowen (FORC), dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the Ravenna-Cowen National Historic District, held its fourth walking tour on Saturday, October 7, 2023. This tour focused on the Ravenna Park, the beautiful park that is adjacent to and south of the District. This park was a private destination park reached by streetcar between 1895 and 1911, before it was acquired by the City. I authored the tour and led one of the two groups through the park describing how the park appeared in 1909, the year of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, and subsequent changes over the years. I was assisted by board member and wife, Lani Johnson, as well as volunteer Dante Moreno. Board member Francesca Renouard and her husband Steven Pool led the second group, assisted by Dr. Lewis Johnson. Research on the park's history took several months and revealed the location and fate of the once majestic three hundred feet tall fir trees that were found within the park. Master Birder and naturalist Wood Wheeler also gave a presentation on the park's natural history.

The tour guide, as well as previous tours, can be downloaded from FORC's website here.

.

Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, Fire

Lahaina's historic downtown core and many adjacent properties were destroyed by a fire started during a windstorm on August 8, 2023.

We mourn not only the over one hundred lives needlessly lost, but also the many historic properties that were destroyed, including the Episcopal Church of the Holy Innocents, where my wife Lani van der Linden Johnson, and I were married fifty years ago in 1973.

The church was original built in 1927 from the design prepared by Honolulu architect William D'Esmond. The side aisles were add in 1959.

As architectural historian Don J. Hibbard wrote in the SAH Archipedia entry of the church, "Although modest, the Gothic Revival building's open, scissors-trussed interior is handsomely appointed. Paintings by Delos Black-mar of New York, executed during a 1940 visit, adorn the rear wall, pulpit, and altar and depict Hawaiian birds and flora, as well as a Hawaiian Madonna and child. The front and rear stained glass windows came from the building's predecessor, a church of 1872 which once stood across the street. The pews are of kamani and the chancel is finished in koa."

It is unclear whether the congregation will decide to rebuild the church, I am trying to locate any original drawings that may remain. I have searched all the archives that I know of that may hold architectural drawings, but have not turned anything up yet. I am also trying to contact D'Esmond's descendants.