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Bond Historic District

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Bond Historic District

The Bond Historic District originated with Reverend Elias Bond (1813-1896) and his wife, Ellen Mariner Howell, who came to be known as Father and Mother Bond, respectively. The Bonds had 9 children, all of them born and raised in Hawai'i.

The 62 acre district, surrounded by organic macadamia nut trees, includes the former Bond Homestead, the former Kohala Girls School and Kalahikiola Congregational Church. The properties are listed on both the State of Hawai'i and the National Registers of Historic Places.

The Bond Homestead, while fully furnished, has been uninhabited for over 60 years. The homestead was damaged by the October 2006 earthquake and efforts are underway to open the two residences as a historic museum by 2012.

The privately owned Kalahikiola Church is a vital part of the Kohala community and has been operational since its construction by Father Elias Bond. That building was also damaged extensively in the 2006 earthquake and repairs are underway. Services are still offered in the Church Hall.

Father Bond was a seminal figure in the community. As one of the first missionaries in Kohala, he traveled by horse to serve residents as distant as Kawaihae to the west and Waipio Valley to the east. Bond served as supervisor of roads, district postmaster, school district administrator, and land agent for Kohala.

The Bonds were also strong proponents of education, helping to reorganize many Kohala schools and establishing the Select School for Boys, built near the homestead, and the Kohala Select School for Girls, built mauka of the Church, where it stands today.

In the 1850s, Bond became instrumental in the development of the Kohala Sugar Company, creating community employment opportunities and attracting labor from as far as Asia and Europe. Father Bond built the house (shown at left) for his son, Dr. Benjamin Bond and Emma Renton in 1889. The building represents a change from the New England style of architecture to a late 19th century, Gothic Revival influenced house form with a steep-pitched center gable, slightly pointed window moldings and flat arch, porch detailing. Also of note, the second home has no kitchen, as the family chose to share meals in the original homestead building. Dr. Bond, the Homestead's last full-time occupant, served as Kohala's first medical practitioner; Dr. Bond's office stands between the two homes.