First, as we prepare for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the LDS Church in Laie, we continue a series of stories about the rich history of our beloved town.
We express our appreciation to the Mormon Pacific Historical Society which has graciously authored these vignettes to help us remember and honor our wonderful heritage.
Laie: A New Gathering Place
Since the earliest days of the LDS Church's existence, one of its main themes has been to gather people from the four corners of the earth and bring them to Zion. While that has come to mean less of a physical gathering in recent decades, the theme resulted in many of the early converts throughout much of the United States, Canada, and Europe travelling thousands of miles, ultimately to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah.
Beginning in 1850, LDS missionaries soon found great success here in Hawaii, converting several thousand people in the first few years. However, the prospect of these converts "gathering" to Utah faced two significant challenges.
First, the cultural and climatic adjustments were far more difficult than for European converts. And secondly, because the Hawaiian population was already on the decline (due to the introduction of foreign diseases against which the Hawaiians had little resistance), the royal government was not supportive of emigration and had passed laws making it difficult.
In the face of increasing persecution of new converts from relatives and opposing ministers, the Church decided in 1854 to rent a large tract of land on the island of Lanai.
When all missionaries were recalled to Utah by Brigham Young in 1857, the fledgling LDS community of "Iosepa" on Lanai was left in the hands of a young and newly converted flock. Into this void a man named Walter Murray Gibson came (1861), and convinced the local saints that he was their new leader and mission president.
Gibson convinced the Hawaiian saints to sell their homes and lands and give the money to him to purchase the land on Lanai.
Unfortunately, the land was all purchased in his name, and within several years, the community of Iosepa was in disarray leaving the local saints discouraged and many of them without a place to live. In 1864, Brigham Young called Francis Hammond and George Nebeker to search for a new gathering place in Hawaii.
Because the end of the American Civil War had left many speculators in Hawaii in a desperate situation, Brothers Hammond and Nebeker found many parcels on the market. After inspecting lands on Oahu and Kauai, and a remarkable spiritual prompting, they finally settled on an intact 6000 acre ahupua'a on the northern windward side of Oahu called Laie.
On January 26, 1865, Bro. Hammond negotiated an agreement with the owner, Mr. Thomas Dougherty, to purchase the 6000 acres (along with the ranch house and 1000 head of livestock) for $14,000. To us, this might seem like a bargain, but to Brigham Young and the struggling Church in the desert valleys of Utah, this was a significant amount of money. Thankfully, Brigham Young sent the money and gave the missionaries clear directions.
The community of Laie was first of all to be a place of refuge and a gathering place where the Hawaiian saints could be taught the principles of the gospel. And secondly, a place where they could learn skills and trades that would allow Laie to become a self-sustaining and profitable entity in support of the Church's work throughout the islands.
While Laie ceased to be a designated gathering place many decades ago, over the past 150 years it has been a place of refuge for those who have chosen to live here. It has also become an unofficial place to gather for the tens of thousands who have sojourned from all over the globe to learn and worship in the Laie Hawaii Temple, or study at BYU–Hawaii.
And for the millions who have visited only for a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, Laie has become a source of inspiration and cherished memories.
Those interested in learning more about the LDS Church's gathering on Lanai are encouraged to read further in Moramona: The Mormons in Hawaii (by L. Lanier Britsch), or Gathering to Laie (by Riley Moffat, Fred Woods, & Jeffrey Walker).