Kahuku Marconi Wireless Station, O’ahu, Hawaii
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By Jonathan Haeber
The Marconi Wireless Station at Kahuku on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.
Long ago, before my grandfather was born, a young Italian named Guglielmo Marconi developed a process of communicating without the aid of land-line telegraph cables. The birth of wireless telegraphy was embraced by the British during their Second Boer War, but the promise of communication across vast oceans between families and friends, businesses and diplomatic bureaus was where wireless truly shined.
I recently traveled to Hawaii to visit a friend (ostensibly), but also to explore the island’s many historical locations (I have my ulterior motives). Earlier, I had spoken of the abandoned sugar refinery on the North Shore and its incredible ties with bird guano (believe me, there’s a connection). In the future, I will talk about Battery Harlow in Diamond Head, a World War I-era array of guns designed to defend the new U.S. territory.
Most important, though, is this station on the North Shore (The Kahuku Marconi Station). In the details of this station, one can parse out a history and trace the root & origins of the Military-Industrial Complex. Today, parts of the station are occupied by a krill farm. The old powerhouse, which supplied the 300 kW towers with their much-needed electricity, is now full of temporary above-ground pools of growing shrimp (and large bull frogs, as well). The old “Hotel” as it was known (which often housed unmarried Marconi workers or visiting dignitaries including Jack London himself) is a crumbling and empty bone.
Image courtesy Library of Congress
If there is any place in Hawaii that desperately needs National Register status, it is this place. When World War II broke out, the Marconi wireless towers were no longer needed (long-wave radio transmission was a thing of the past), but the original line of towers was replaced by an airstrip that sent out cargo planes to their destinations across the Pacific Rim.
I visited the Kahuku Station during the day. The krill farm, though active, was eerily vacant of people. A gentle breeze — like any Hawaiian breeze, warm and humid — came in from the North. The palms danced to the cadence of the wind, which wound its way through the broken window frames of the Hotel. Krill pumps hummed, and I imagined how similar they sounded to the original transformers for the wireless towers.
Photo courtesy Library of Congress
The humidity has a different sort of effect on the plaster and paint of abandoned buildings. Living in California, it was a rare sort of sight for me to see. Each layer of paint peeled away to reveal an older, more colorul version of the wall. And the arched doorways and stairwells gave me an idea of its once grand design — despite the hotel’s utilitarian purpose.
I think the Kahuku Station and its related history deserve so much attention that — in the coming days — I will post a three-part entry on Wireless Telelgraphy during World War I. I hope you enjoy the history as much as I did. This is meant only as an introduction to a fascinating story about government, communication, corporations, and war.
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Very interesting site. I was stationed and lived on the Kahuku Training Area (1976-1979) and visited the Marconi Wireless Station often.
the place is all empty now, we ride mopeds into there and good place off the main road for party. get some druggys and sex kine stuff over there but cops no can get to u so all g.
You have written: Second Boeur War: pse spell correctly: BOER This Dutch word means farmer.
Great info about the wireless station. I am finishing a book about Dutch radio pioneers. Cornelius De Groot designed and built the famous Malabar mountain gorge long wave antenna, in 1917, on Java, in order to make contact with Cavite – Honolulu – San Francisco.
He bought a 100 kilowatt Poulsen arc transmitter in the USA. Those good old days!
Thanks for a great site! Cheers, hans vles, Middelburg, Holland.
Thanks for the nudge, Hans. Looking forward to the book!
I too have always been fascinated by old LF apparatus. I am a native of Hawai’i and spent some time at Helemano Army radio in the ’50s. There is a counterpart to the Kahuku site which I only knew as an RCA xmtr site. Until I saw an Alex alternator listed for Kahuku, I was ignorant of its LF history. The Marconi site I’m familiar with is the one at Koko Head on Lunalilo Home Road. I participated in scrapping out the last vestiges of the Koko Head Marconi installation in about 1954. Two guyed masts stood there until we cut them down. They were riveted pipe sections with a wooden plug in the top. At the time we did the salvage job, the site housed the RCA rcvr complex. Lunalilo home itself was the dormtory for the Marconi operators. Have you done a piece on the Navy Haiku VLF? “Builders for Battle” by David O. Woodbury has a detailed account of the contruction by RCA of the antenna and feed system at Haiku. The Navy site at Lualualei rounds out the Island low freq xmtrs of yesteryear.
I would like to exchange additional info about these matters when you have time. W.F. Dick, L.A. CA
I owe my existence on this Earth to the Kahuku wireless station!!!
Why? Well, here’s the story: My grandfather, who grew up in NE Pennsylvania, and after graduating with a BSEE from Penn State U in 1915, went to work for GE & later, after serving in the US Army in France during WWI, after returning to civilian life transferred into the newly formed RCA corporation as a radio engineer. Meanwhile, my grandmother, Stella Brown, who was then a 25 year old school teacher from San Luis Obispo, CA, had taken a job at the Kahuku Elementary school.
The year was 1920, and RCA was in charge of the Kahuku wireless station. That year they decided to install a new Alexanderson Alternator at the station, and sent my then-unmarried, 28 year old grandfather to oversee the installation of the new alternator. That was a six month assignment, and after completion, by which time he had courted and proposed to my grandmother, he returned to the mainland with his new bride to become the manager in charge of the Tuckerton wireless station in Tuckerton, NJ, where he raised a family of four children, including my late father. My grandfather stayed with RCA for a 40 year career, and I have in my possession several mementoes, including his 1915 Penn State yearbook, and his 40 year service award from RCA, which is a silver plated engraved Gorham reproduction Paul Revere bowl.
Steve: What an incredible history and I’m thrilled you shared it here. IF you have time, I’d love to hear more about stories your grandfather may have told you.l
Jon,
Unfortunately, I did not get many of these stories told directly from my grandfather, but 2nd hand from my dad and his sisters, and some from things granddad had written down. He retired from RCA in 1957, and I was only 6 years old then. I and my sister lived with my parents in Barnegat, NJ, and for the last couple years of my grandfather’s carreer he had been transferred to Marion, MA, after they decommissioned the old Tuckerton wireless station (now Mystic Islands residential developement) in 1955. Once he retired, he moved back into my great grandparents’ home (which had been vacant in the years after their death in 1945 & 1946) in Pennsylvania. So the end result was I didn’t get to see them very often, as they also traveled a lot during the summers, mostly cross country trips out to San Luis Obispo to visit my grandmother’s family. Also, he as a very stern and somewhat remote man. He was also big on involvement with the Masons, which is something I’ve never shown interest in. My grandfather passed away 30 years ago this year, in 1978 at age 86. I did not get much chance to see him in those later years, because first of all, my parents divorced in 1960, and a few years later my mother remarried and we moved with her to my stepdad’s home area upstate NY, near Saratoga, so by the time I reached high school age, I was not in close contact my father’s extended family for several years. Then in 1977, I moved West to Phoenix, where I’ve been ever since. In those first few years in AZ, I didn’t have the means to travel much, so I wasn’t able to even attend his funeral.
On our flight to Oahu after Christmas, I read an artcle by Stu Dawrs in Hana Hou, the Hawaiian Airline magazine about the early history of the Kahuku Marconi wireless station. In the article he mentioned that some of the remains were still visable and how to get there. I drove about a mile out Marconi Rd. and at the end was a locked gate and visible in the distance I could see what was left of some of the buildings. A local person confirmed that it was the remains of the Marconi station. It made my day and brought me to this site. (Hana Hou December 2008/January 2009 pg 119)
Excellent! Thank you Tom, for relaying the info! I love to hear that others are writing about this station. I definitely think it should be preserved. it’s such a vital piece of American history.
Cheers,
J
Aloha Jon, interesting to read bout the RCA Marconi Station. AS a kid in the 50′s, I have been in that station alot with my dad, Allan Martin. He worked for the C.A.A. during that decade and was the station manager of the other radio station that was just off the shore located east of Marconi. There were 4-5 large radio towers for that transmitter station. About 5-6 generators were housed in the operations building and our dad taught us kids how to read and record the data from the gauges. We were the only kids that went to Kahuku School with silver pennies mixed with the mercury that was used in the radio tubes during that time. Reading these stories stirred up some old and some forgotten memories. Mahalo !!
Jon, I am out at the marconi station, the condition is quickly deteriorating, emailing a pic of sign on office, will get big camera for equipment pics, any other schematic or plans?
Phew! Wireless communication has changed much since I was a kid. From Graham Bell’s Photophone (no, I wasn’t a kid back then!
in 1880 (a way to communicate voice using light beams, and now 130 years later it’s used in fiber optics!) to wireless telegraphy (which got the inventors a nobel prize 100 years ago), then the ethernet and the mobile phones, then to the WiFi in 1997, the BlueTooth just one year later, and now the WiMax is about to kick in (the technology is there but when will it be widely available? I guess it’s up to the telecom towers manufacturers now)- sadly, I guess there’s no need for wireless stations anymore 
A new technology, called iFiber Redwire allows internet reception for over 120 miles, tripling the WiMax, and I wonder when it’s going to arrive already.
I can’t wait
Steve:
Wonder what your Grandfathers first name was. I am helping out with a chap who is documenting the Alternator at Haiku Hi.
Dick
can you please pass on this message to Richard Carson [March 25 2010 post]:
I am extremely interested in the Alexanderson alternator history at Haiku Valley please get in touch if possible
re:
“I am helping out with a chap who is documenting the Alternator at Haiku Hi.”
thanks
Elliot Porter
This may be a duplicate as something seemed to go wrong with my last submission.
Dick Carson has provided me with some very interesting photos from the Marion Mass. Alternator site. I have posted them in one of the galleries on my photo web site dedicated to the alternator and other aspects of Haiku Valley. Take a peek at www.haikuvalley.com. If there are any more questions feel free to use the Email form available on the photo site to contact Dick Carson or myself.
Dave
Mr Eshleman is G.J.Eshleman I still don’t know what his name was. He retired from RCA after the War and contracted with the Air Force to provide WSS Alternator operations at Marion for several years.
Dick
mr. eshleman was my grandfather also steve im bettys son
Aloha,
I was looking for the name of the point that the marconi station sits on? I’ve heard of Kalaeuila and Kalaeokamanu both capes to the left of Kahuku Point. Do you have a detailed map of the beaches and points/capes of this area?
Mahalo,
kellyinparadise@hotmail.com
Eric Borger et al.
I have been unsuccessful in discovering G.J.Eshelmans whole name. After leaving HI. he worked at Marion with the Air Force who had take over the operation of the remaining alternator (WQR). I even made an unsuccessful try with the Penn State Alumni. I remember my folks speaking of Mr. Eshelman with great respect.
Dick
Steve, Eric etal:
Gerald J. Eshleman?
I found this site while searching for information about the railroad stop near KHK. I knew a man (Geoff Lloyd) years ago who was a teenaged British Marconi shipboard operator aboard tankers in WWI and became a Matson radio operator after WWI and eventually settled in Hawaii. He was a relief operator at KHK in the 1970s. I think I met him in 1973 on my way between duty stations. He was a neighbor of my parents in Mokuleia, Oahu.
The manning level at KHK varied considerably. It was fairly high during the Korean and Vietnam wars, but by 1973 it was down to a single position. At one time, as Mr. Lloyd told my father (KH6PS) and me, there were so many operators that a hotel was built for them to live in. There was also a railroad stop on the OR&L near the hotel to accommodate the operators. That railroad stop was the thing I was trying to find, in particular, its name. The name, as I remember it, was something like “Honolulu.” I thought it was “Honouliuli,” but I find that’s far closer to Pearl Harbor. In the early 1950s the station names were still at the stops, though the train stopped operating in 1947.
As I remember, KHK had a nice house on the grounds which was there for the resident Globecom manager, who at that time was a Mr. Lee, who we also met during my only visit. Mr. Lee’s wife was an opera singer, Mr. Lloyd told us. (Lloyd was a huge opera fan whose recordings from over the air of the Metropolitan Opera are now owned by the University of Hawaii.) Mr Lee described a quick shutdown of the Alexanderson Alternator at Haiku, which was like a huge lightning strike.
On at least one occasion my older brother and I went to the races on the weekend at Kahuku airstrip. It cost nothing to go. This was about 1955 or 56. During one of the races a Corvette caught fire. The hood and other parts were of some plastic material that burned fairly well.
I am amazed by the stories of this airstrip being used by B17 bombers. It looks grossly inadequate.
de K4XC, ex KH6BNY
Update from earlier response back in ’08:
I had been doing some internet searches on my grandfather’s involvement with RCA and Kahuku. A reply to inquires came from the curator of the David Sarnof library, and he sent me this message:
>To: Eshleman, Steven E
>Subject: Re: Associates of David Sarnoff
>
>
>Dear Mr. Eshleman,
>
>Thank you for writing. In the 1920s RCA was a small company comprising
>the assets of the Wireless Telegraph Company of America with some
>expansion into marketing radios made by General Electric and
>Westinghouse, and of course the charter staff of NBC. As Sarnoff
>started his career as a “‘Coni Man” was chief inspector before the war,
>and commercial manager during the war, he was very familiar with the
>staff at stations at least on the east coast.
>
>The U. S. Navy seized the Tuckerton station from the Germans in 1917
>and transferred it to RCA after World War I. As to your grandfather,
>Mr.
>Sarnoff’s papers consist primarily of public
>papers: speeches, articles,
>and public material, with almost nothing on how he ran the company.
>The only information I have located is by browsing for an hour through
>our set of World Wide Wireless, the RCA in-house magazine, and here is
>what I found:
>
>April 1920: “Mr. J. G. Eshleman, formerly Engineer of the staff of the
>General Electric Company has been appointed Assistant Engineer in
>Charge at the New Brunswick station.” (Presumably he was working at
>Tuckerton on behalf of GE after the Navy transferred it)
>
>May 1920: At New Brunswick, now Somerset (the station was demolished in
>2000: infoage.org/salvage.html), he and the engineer in charge, S. R.
>Ford, had an eventful on March 6, five days after the Navy transferred
>the station to RCA. A blizzard with 90 mph winds blew through,
>flooding the facility and bringing down the antenna wires, whose sleet
>burners were overcome.
>
>Sept. 1920: G. J. Eshleman, engineer-in-charge of the NB station, is
>relieved of his duties and transferred to the Kahuku station in Hawaii
>”as representative of the Plant Engineer’s Office in connection with
>the installation of Alexanderson alternators there.”
>
>May 1921: “Mr. Eshleman, of the Engineering Department, is taking on
>more education through a post-graduate course at the Kahuku Primary
>School. His teacher states that she thinks he is somewhat backward,
>but is improving under her watchful eye. The happy pair will receive
>the best wishes and all that sort of thing, as soon as the final step
>is pau.”
>
>Nov. 1921: GJE returns from 6 months in Hawaii, “bringing a bride, and
>has taken up his duties as Engineer-in-Charge, at Tuckerton.”
>
>I expect that more could be tracked through the rest of the 1920s,
>after which the magazine folded with the Depression.
>There are no photos of
>him, with or without Mrs. Eshleman. Unfortunately I can’t afford to
>spend any more time on your behalf, as fascinating as this. It’s
>perfectly possible that he took Mr. Sarnoff fishing although I don’t
>know of any other instances where he engaged in the pasttime.
>
>In any case, I hope that this information brightens your family’s
>holiday a bit more for the holidays,
>
>With best wishes,
>
>Alex Magoun
To Eric Borger:
If you see this, email me to seshleman@cox.net ! Because you were born in ’65 several years after my parent’s divorce, you are one of the few cousins besides Aunt Gerry’s boys and Aunt Ann’s Ramona Kay that I’ve never met. I hear you worked for an electric utility in PA? Must run in the family, I just retired last year from a 25 year career with Arizona Public Service Co, the electric utility out here in Phoenix, doing land survey, map drafting, and computer modeling for load forecasts. Sorry I missed you on our last trip East to see Alan & Charlie, but we were on a tight schedule visiting my stepdad who now lives in Delaware. Saw Nena, Juan, and his family last year in December. Also, I remember your father Lloyd very well from before you were born.
To Mr. Carson:
That was Gerald J. C. Eshleman. J.C. stands for Jacob Charles, & yes he had two middle names. Old Pennsylvania Dutch name going back to pre-Revolutionary War era. Sometimes the spelling got switched back and forth between Eshleman & Eshelman. See the post above about info I got from the David Sarnof library.
I was ststioned at Bellows Field from 1952 to 1954, but did not know about the Marconi Station at Kahuku. Tolaly ignorant if it until I read James Jones book “The Pistol”( set in Dec, 1941) that included a story about a squad sent up to “Marconi Pass” to guard against the possibility of Japanese troops using the pass to breech the south of Oahu.From Bellows Field, one can see the two mountain peaks looking south (?) with a area of between them – I believe that may be the pass. Tour guides profess ignorance of “Marconi Pass” although one lady thought that is an ares of hang-gliding.
Aloha, Steve~~
I read your article here with great interest. I am living presently on a property right next door to the Marconi/ RCA Building. I noticed that the present owners of both this and the parcel on which the building is have heavy equipment there, ostensibly to demolish it in the near future. I will be in contact with them to rethink that possibility as it has great Historical importance and should be restored. Let me know how we can assist each other in saving and restoring the structure and its rich History. I have some wonderful Visions for these properties I would share with you in private through our e-mail addresses. Mahalo~~ Terry Lamb
Excuse me–I meant Jonathan….you should have my e-mail address (terrylambart@aol.com) and see my Artwork at my website, www.terrylambart.com. Mahalo~~
I just finished reading “Unbroken’, a historical book detailing one soldier’s life in WWII, including a stay at the Kahuku Airfield (B-17 crewmember, I believe). Anyway, it’s a great book.
Terry, I live near the Coburn’s place (second right along Marconi road. Are you past the gate (straight up Marconi) with the lock on it? Does Antonio, the groundskeeper live near you?
–Mark
Aloha, Mark~~I’m living in the loft at Ed Searfoss’ Surfboard Glassing warehouse which is just past Romy’s house and bordering the Bird Sanctuary. My phone # is (808) 693-5335. I’d love to hear from you, neighbor!
Hi Terry,
I just found your message today (1/12/12). somehow I thought I would be alearted through my email account, but apparently not. I’ve got your number. I’ll give you a call one of the days (soon). I’ve always wanted to walk about the strip and the major buildings still standing (take a few pics, etc), but worried about dogs, etc.
–Mark
You people are all wrong and you don’t know what you’re talking about. I have no intentions to demolish the buildings. I’ve spent a considerable amount of money cleaning up trash left behind from former tenants (which I charged no rent) and from people driving up and down Marconi Road. I been spending money hiring architects and historians to develop plans that would help restore the buildings and preserve their historic significance for future generations to see. So, please don’t talk about my plans for my property unless you are going to let me talk about your property and your plans.
Jeremy,
very glad to hear that you are maintaining the property. I grew up in the area and had always wanted to visit the airfield, since finding it on a street atlas. I hope some day it can be open to the public to some degree. I read websites with history about it when I come across them.
If I still lived there, I would volunteer to help clean up the trash for a chance to see the site. Perhaps you can find other volunteers who are similarly interested.
Thank you Robert. I appreciate your interest and offer to help.
My mother-in-law grew up next to the Marconi Wireless Station. Her father was employed there as a carpenter. She is 92 and would love to go back there to look around! Would that be possible?
Jeremy,
Glad to hear you are making such an effort to conserve the property at your own expense. Would love to visit the area if/when I ever get to visit Oahu again. My last and only trip to HI was a NCI interisland cruise in ’06 with very limited time in Honolulu. We did manage a bus tour to Pearl Harbor and the Punch Bowl cemetery.