Images of Coffee Farm Life
View this exhibit to learn more about coffee farms
and the people of Kona's coffee district on the Island of Hawaii. You will also see some
of the tools of the coffee industry.
Coffee was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands in
the1820's. In 1828, a missionary introduced the tree to the Kona District as a garden
ornamental. By the 1840's, American planters were growing coffee commercially on large
plantations with Native Hawaiians providing the labor force. Throughout the late 19th and
early 20th centuries the coffee industry weathered a series of booms and busts. Around
1900, Japanese immigrants began filtering into the Kona District where they established 5
to 10 acre coffee farms. Between 1900 and 1945, family farms, such as the D. Uchida Farm
dotted Kona's rural landscape.
