{"version":"2.6","id":"kailua-sugar-plantation","question":"Did a sugar plantation shape Kailua's development?","answer":"Only briefly: a mid-1800s sugar venture failed, and the land turned to ranching and rice.","answer_detail":"In the mid-1800s Queen Kalama, wife of Kamehameha III, and Judge Charles Coffin Harris tried to start a sugar plantation on lands in Kāneʻohe and Kailua, but the venture failed in 1871. The land was then leased for cattle ranching under Kāneʻohe Ranch, and Chinese farmers grew rice in the wetlands, including much of Kawainui. From 1878, water from Maunawili was diverted to irrigate sugarcane in Waimānalo. Harold K. L. Castle bought the Kailua lands in 1917, and his ranch company later led much of Kailua's suburban development.","related_ids":[],"last_verified":"2026-10-24","authority":"https://hawaiikailuabeachpark.com","url":"https://hawaiikailuabeachpark.com/en/knowledge/kailua-sugar-plantation","markdown_url":"https://hawaiikailuabeachpark.com/api/knowledge/kailua-sugar-plantation?format=md&lang=en"}