Efforts to preserve historic structure progress with Maui officials, landowners working together
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Maui County officials are moving forward with efforts to save the historic Spring House from demolition after the building burned in the 2023 Lahaina wildfire that destroyed much of the town and its historic structures.
The county is working with the family that owns the property. Maui County Council Member Tamara Paltin said the agreement with the Lem family representatives, which is still in development, would call for the county, with possible assistance from FEMA, to shore up and brace the Spring House structure, rather than allow its demolition.
"We're trying to walk along with (the family)," said Paltin, chair of the Council's Disaster Recovery, International Affairs and Planning Committee.
The Historic Hawaii Foundation has recommended preserving and reconstructing the Spring House. Kiersten Faukner, the foundation's executive director, said the recommendation was made to FEMA in July.
"It's one of the few remaining structures from the early missionary and whaling period in Lahaina," Faulkner said. "It's really important."
The Spring House was built in 1823 by missionary William Richards, who helped to establish the Lahaina Seminary. Graduates from the seminary included renown native Hawaiian historians David Malo, Samuel Kamakau and John Papa I'i.
According to the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, the Spring House had a pump tapped into an artesian well, which served the Richards residence and was used to replenish a ship's freshwater supply in large wooden casks.
"The freshest water supply could be found in the artesian well near the missionary compound," the Foundation said.
The Army Corps of Engineers initially recommended demolition of the Spring House and other structures such as the Baldwin House, which served as the home of missionary physician Dwight Baldwin.
However, the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, a nonprofit group that oversees the preservation of historic sites in Lahaina, hired an engineer from Oahu who recommended preservation.
An intergovernmental agreement allowing debris removal of certain sites including the Spring House is scheduled for final reading at a special Maui County Council meeting at 9 a.m. Monday.
Paltin said the bill would establish a vault at the Lahaina Library for storing artifacts found at sites such as the Lahaina Library and other places around the Spring House. The lot that includes the Spring House once provided space for an ABC Store and Captain Jack's Island Grill.
No authorization is being given to the Army Corps of Engineers to demolish the Spring House, Paltin said. Instead, the county plans to shore up and brace the Spring House structure while seeking FEMA's assistance.
Paltin explained that, in light of the landowner's willingness to work toward preserving the site, she wanted to impress upon Maui County Council members the need for supporting the landowner in free debris removal of the other parts of the Spring House lot because the family is foregoing the free removal of the debris from the Army Corps of Engineers.
She said family members of the landowner have said they don't have the money for debris removal.
"I think it's important they're working with us and we're working with them side-by-side, and we're not causing additional undue hardship to them, " she said.
The Lahaina Restoration Foundation is struggling to restore several historic structures
including the U.S. Seamen's Hospital where sailors on whaling ships would seek medical help, the Captain's Reading Room where ship captains would share their knowledge of the Pacific Ocean, the Wo Hing Temple where Chinese laborers found fellowship and a place for traditional worship, the Lahaina Prison and the Old Lahaina Courthouse.
Other historic sites include Waiola Church, near the resting place for the Rev. Richards as well as Hawaiian alii, including Princess Nahienaena and Queen Keopuolani.