
Spreckelsville is an
unincorporated community on the northern coast of the island 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 ...
in the U.S. state of
Hawaii.
Geography
It lies to the west of
Paia and to the east of
Kahului Airport. It is the home of the Maui Country Club. , the population was 461.
Climate
Spreckelsville has a tropical rainforest climate, also known as an equatorial climate, is a tropical climate usually (but not always) found along the equator. Tropical rainforest climate is a type of tropical climate in which there is no dry season - all months have mean precipitation values of at least 60 mm (2.36 in). Tropical rainforest climates have no pronounced summer or winter; it is typically hot and wet throughout the year and rainfall is both heavy and frequent. One day in an equatorial climate can be very similar to the next, while the change in temperature between day and night may be larger than the average change in temperature between "summer" and "winter".
The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Af". (Tropical Rainforest Climate).
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Spreckelsville is 22.6" (574 mm). The month with the most precipitation on average is January with 4.0" (101.6 mm) of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is June with an average of 0.4" (10.2 mm). There are an average of 112.0 days of precipitation, with the most precipitation occurring in March with 13.0 days and the least precipitation occurring in June with 6.0 days.
http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=886815&cityname=Spreckelsville%2C+Hawaii%2C+United+States+of+America&units=
History
Spreckelsville was founded in 1878 as a
company town
A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...
by German-American businessman
Claus Spreckels, who later founded the
Spreckels Sugar Company. Spreckels already ran the most successful sugar refinery in California.
He arrived in Maui in 1876 after the passage of the
Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, which gave freer access to market for sugar exported to the United States. Spreckels initially opposed the treaty, fearing that low tariffs on sugar would be detrimental to his business. After its passage, he resolved to establish his own plantations instead.
At the time, his rivals
Henry Perrine Baldwin and
Samuel Thomas Alexander were building the Hamakua ditch to irrigate their plantation in nearby
Haliimaile
Haliimaile ( haw, Hāliimaile) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 1,074 at the 2020 census.
Geography
Haliimaile is located at (20.875211, -156.342340).
According to the United States ...
.
Spreckels intended to compete with them, but had neither any land nor any water rights.
Spreckels was able to purchase and lease of land and became friends with
Walter M. Gibson
Walter Murray Gibson (March 6, 1822 – January 21, 1888) was an American adventurer and a government minister in the Kingdom of Hawaii prior to the kingdom's 1887 constitution.
Early life
Gibson was generally thought to be born March 6, 1822 ...
, adviser to King
Kalākaua. Together, they made arrangements where Spreckels would loan the king money and in return, he and Gibson would increase the Spreckels' land holdings. Furthermore, the king had the
Hawaiian legislature grant use of royal lands
in fee
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...
.
The royal government initially denied Spreckels' request for water rights, but Kalākaua dismissed his ministers and replaced them with others who would obey his orders. Spreckels then made a financial gift and loan to the government in return for water rights for 30 years. These political machinations on his behalf earned Spreckels the nicknames "the sugar king of Hawaii"
and "His Royal Saccharinity".
He was also granted the rights to the Hamakua ditch if Baldwin and Alexander could not complete it on schedule (they did).
Spreckels then
incorporated the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company (HC&S) with
Hermann Schussler, chief engineer of California's
Spring Valley Water Works, and others, which joined the "
Big Five" to become one of the most powerful entities in Hawaii.
The HC&S built the "Haiku ditch" to deliver gallons ( liters) of water over daily to his plantation lands, crossing ravines several hundred feet deep, surpassing the Hamakua ditch in volume and scope.
Other technological advancements included using
electric light
An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the soc ...
ing to allow the plant to operate deep into the night, construction of a sugar mill that was capable of processing of sugar per hour,
and being the first plantation to use
rail to transport sugarcane from the fields to the mill.
The Haiku ditch, the Hamakua ditch, and the Lowrie ditch (built in 1900 for the plantation) are part of the East Maui Irrigation System, which has been recognized as a
Historical Civil Engineering Landmark by the
American Society of Civil Engineers.
By 1892, Spreckelsville was the largest
sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
plantation in the world,
and employed thousands of immigrant farm laborers from Japan,
Korea,
China,
and other countries, who often lived in squalid conditions. These camps no longer exist and the land they were on has been reclaimed for sugar crops.
However, Spreckels began suffering setbacks after falling out of Kalākaua's favor in 1886. Besides
Alexander & Baldwin (A&B), the HC&S faced new competition from the
California and Hawaiian Sugar Company, which grew to become one of largest sugar refineries in the world. Other problems included deterioration of the Spreckelsville facilities and the
annexation of Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, 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 ...
by the United States, which brought an end to contract laborers. A&B then gained control of the HC&S in 1898, forcing Spreckels out.
Eventually, A&B sold off the desirable coastal lands to
real estate developers, and those houses and vacation rentals are the ones that now make up the community.
Beaches

Spreckelsville Beach is the historic name for approximately in length from Kanaha Beach Park on the west in
Kahului to Maui Country Club on the east. The beach is not one continuous stretch of sand, but is broken up into sections by lava, boulders, and
groins.
The different sections of the beach are now known by separate names. From west to east, they are:
* Camp One () is named after one of the sugarcane plantation camps and is located at the westernmost end of Spreckelsville Beach at the end of the Kahului Airport runway. As a result, the
Federal Aviation Administration has banned
kitesurfing in this location. It is also where a small number of Maui's
homeless
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are:
* living on the streets, also kn ...
population lives.
Beachgoers can reach Camp One via an access road off the western end of Stable Rd.
* Sprecks Beach () is popular among European
windsurfers, and as such is also known as Euro Beach. There is a small area where cars may be parked at the end of a dirt road leading from Stable Rd.
* Lobster Cove () is only publicly accessible by foot from Sprecks Beach or Sugar Cove.
* Sugar Cove () is fronted by private
condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
s, but there is a public access path with limited parking at the end of Paani Place.
* Baby Beach () was an ancient Hawaiian burial site. It is separated from the rest of Spreckelsville Beach by shoreline features and thus is generally now considered to be distinct from it. In fact, it is the western end of a one-mile (1.6 km) portion of beach that stretches to Baldwin Beach Park in Paia. An exposed reef creates a lagoon that makes the beach popular with families. It is served by a parking area at the end of Kealaka Place.
Footnotes
References
External links
*
Map of the East Maui Irrigation System(PDF), Hawaii State Department of Agriculture
{{Authority control
Populated places on Maui
Unincorporated communities in Maui County, Hawaii
Unincorporated communities in Hawaii
Populated places established in 1878
1878 establishments in Hawaii
Company towns in Hawaii