The Old Lahaina Courthouse In Hawaii Is a Marvelous Piece Of Living History
By Megan Shute|Published December 12, 2019
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Megan Shute
Author
With more than 10 years of experience as a professional writer, Megan holds a degree in Mass Media from her home state of Minnesota. After college, she chose to trade in her winter boots for slippahs and moved to the beautiful island of Oahu, where she has been living for more than five years. She lives on the west side but is constantly taking mini-road trips across the island and visits the neighboring islands whenever she can getaway. She loves hiking, snorkeling, locally-grown coffee, and finding the best acai bowl on Oahu.
Nestled between the West Maui mountains and the shimmering Pacific on the northwestern shore of Maui, Lahaina is one of Hawaii’s greatest seaside towns and the original seat of Hawaiian royalty. The town was often considered Kamehameha the Great’s historically famous “royalty playground,” and is now full of old-world architecture from the town’s plantation era. It is also home to several incredible historic landmarks, including the Old Lahaina Courthouse.
The Lahaina Courthouse, which was opened in 1860, originally served as a center for government offices and court functions during the Hawaiian monarchy as well as a customs house for whaling and trade ships.
Built with coral block and other materials from Kamehameha III’s unfinished western palace — also known as Hale Piula — the two-story wood-facade building was home to a post office and collector’s office in addition to a courtroom and offices for the Governor of Maui, Sheriff, and District Attorney.
Decades after the Kingdom of Hawaii became the Territory of Hawaii, the courthouse was rebuilt in 1925 in its current Greek Revival architectural style with a gabled roof and second-floor balcony.
The post office, police station, courtroom, judge, jail, and tax collector’s offices were in use until the 1970s when the Lahaina Civic Center was constructed.
A major restoration was started in 1998, and today, the Old Lahaina Courthouse is home to the Lahaina Visitors Center, Lahaina Arts Society galleries, Lahaina Town Action Committee offices, and the Lahaina Heritage Museum.
Today, visitors can tour the space and learn all about the history of Lahaina and the island of Maui as a whole as well as the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
The Old Lahaina Courthouse is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, head to the Lahaina Restoration Foundation website. You might also want to learn about the history of the courthouse’s neighbor, the Lahaina Banyan Tree Court.
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