Comments on: 1930s Hawaii address, where is it?

Question: 1930s Hawaii address, where is it?

zippy — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:08:25 -0800

How do I find the modern geographical location of an old Hawaii address that no longer exists?

I'm looking for the present day location of a Hawaiian address that appears in the 1930 census.

The address is 2483 East Manor Road, Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii Territory.

How do I find the geographical location of this address, and possibly the address of the building today, if it exists?

By: knile

knile — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:51:22 -0800

IANAHawaiian/Geographer/Librarian, but I'd try to find a friendly librarian who is either local to Honolulu or has access to state history data, perhaps at the University level. The best thing I've found on the web is a link to fire insurance maps, which I can't access without a UHawaii library account. To get in touch with them, call 808-956-6199 or email mapcoll@hawaii.edu

The Hawaii State Library (state government-run) may be a good resource, but I can't quite tell from their web site whom to get in touch with there?

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:32:43 -0800

That link that knile included to the fire insurance maps will be grat if you know loosely where the road is, otehrwise it might not be good. However if you click the "ask us" link on that page you'll be able to chat/email/call a librarian who will have a more definitive answer. You might also be able to fudge it by looking at the census records to see what other streets are nearby to get a better loose idea of where the street is and then heading for the maps. I know a few Hawaiian librarians, if you hit a dead end, MeMail me and I'll try to introduce you to one.

By: melorama

melorama — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:50:56 -0800

Just grasping at straws here, but as a 36 year resident of Hawaii, I'm wondering if your address is simply a misspelling of "East Manoa Road", which is a very well known road in an old part of Honolulu.

By: zippy

zippy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:03:54 -0800

I'm wondering if your address is simply a misspelling of "East Manoa Road"

That's a very good catch, melorama. I'm working with transcribed Census records, so this is a possibility. I can see how someone transcribing a handwritten a could type it as an r.

By: kuppajava

kuppajava — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:50:38 -0800

Seconding melorama. I've worked with Census records off and on for over 25 years and they are riddled with unintentional errors. My grandmother, in the 1900 Census, magically became my grandfather ;) Census takers were not paid for accuracy with data, and no proofing was likely ever done except on the raw numbers.

I know my public library card give me access to the HeritageQuest online database which will allow you to view an actual image of the original 1930 Census page. Probably best to consult the original.

Feel free to message me privately if you don't have this kind of access and would like me to look it up for you.

Good luck!

By: zippy

zippy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:34:41 -0800

Kupppa, excellent suggestion about HeritageQuest. I didn't know that there was a library-accessible version of the 1930s census. I'll see if my library has it.