The Puunēnē School, also known as Puunene School, is a historic school building in the community of
Puunēnē in the central part of
Maui
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
, United States. Built in 1922 by the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company (a division of
Alexander & Baldwin), which
ran the community, it was erected on of land donated by the company in 1913. Upon completion, it replaced an earlier four-room school on the site that was built to hold 350 students. The
Classical Revival
Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...
1922 two-story concrete building became Maui's largest elementary school with about 1000 students. In the 1950s the area went into decline, and the building was used for special education classes. In 1979 it became an administrative annex for the
Department of Education. It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places listings in Hawaii
This is a list of properties and historic districts in Hawaii listed on the National Register of Historic Places. More than 340 listings appear on all but one of Hawaii's main islands (Niihau being the exception) and the Northwestern Islands, a ...
on August 22, 2000.
In 1937 Puunene School science teacher
Soichi Sakamoto
Soichi Sakamoto (August 6, 1906 – September 29, 1997) was an American swimming coach who pioneered training methods that have now become standard throughout the sport. Many of his students went on to have great success nationally and internation ...
began training boys in a Three Year Swim Club to compete in the
1940 Summer Olympics
The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, were originally scheduled to be held from September 21 to October 6, 1940, in Tokyo City, Empire of Japan. They were rescheduled for Helsinki, Finland, to be held from ...
, which were originally scheduled to be held in
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
.
Jose Balmores,
Keo Nakama,
"Bunny" Nakama,
"Halo" Hirose, and
Bill Smith swam 50-yd sprints against the 15 mph current (much clearer in those days) and went on to compete nationally but were never able to participate in the canceled 1940 and 1944 Olympics. However, Smith was finally able to win gold on the 400- and 800-meter relay team in the 1948 Olympics.
The coach and team were described in a 2015 book.
References
School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Hawaii
Schools in Maui
School buildings completed in 1922
National Register of Historic Places in Maui County, Hawaii
1922 establishments in Hawaii
Hawaii Register of Historic Places
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