Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Baldwin, Henry Perrine August 29, 1842 - July 8, 1911
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J. Orr orr@hawaii.com August 26, 2009, 3:23 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd., Territory of Hawaii, 1925.
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

HENRY PERRINE BALDWIN, Builder of Plantations. Lifelong friend and business 
partner of the late Samuel Thomas Alexander, pioneer sugar planter and 
capitalist, the late Henry P. Baldwin shared fully with his associate in the 
development of the sugar industry of Hawaii and in the shaping of the 
commercial expansion which during the past half century has made the Territory 
what it is today.
  The name of Mr. Baldwin and that of his partner stand out pre-eminently in 
any consideration of the history of the industrial and commercial rise of 
these mid-Pacific islands. No other two individuals played more important 
roles in the creation of the modern Hawaii.
  Mr. Baldwin was particularly successful as an agriculturist, a developer of 
plantations. He left to his associates the office and administrative details 
of his widespread interests but almost to the day of his death continued to 
take a personal and active interest in the basic level of the sugar industry, 
the cultivation and production of sugar. It is largely due to his foresight 
and enterprise that the sugar industry of Hawaii has attained its present high 
position. On the island of Maui the name of Henry P. Baldwin is revered as 
that of its greatest builder. He left many enduring and permanent monuments to 
his success as an industrial builder, his faith as a Christian gentleman and 
his great spirit of charity, which knew neither race nor creed in its generous 
application.
  Like his partner, S. T. Alexander, Mr. Baldwin was a native of Hawaii. He 
was born on August 29, 1842, at Lahaina, Maui, a son of the Rev. and Mrs. 
Dwight Baldwin, who arrived at Honolulu, June 7, 1831, with the fourth company 
of missionaries from New England.
  After receiving his education at Punahou School, Mr. Baldwin undertook the 
management of a rice plantation, but the venture was not successful and in 
1863 he turned his attention to the cultivation of sugar cane, working first 
for his brother, Dwight Baldwin, Jr., who was engaged in planting at Lahaina.
  It was Mr. Baldwin’s intention—he was then but 21 years of age—to earn 
enough money to enable him to go to Williams College to take a medical course. 
His youthful ambition to be a doctor was never realized. Once launched in the 
sugar industry he continued in it, an increasingly important figure, for the 
remainder of his life.
  After working for a short time at Lahaina, Mr. Baldwin became head luna of 
Waihee plantation, under the management of S. T. Alexander, soon to become his 
brother-in-law and business partner.
  In 1869, Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Alexander joined forces for the establishment 
of Haiku plantation. Out of this association was to grow the present day firm 
of Alexander & Baldwin, Ltd., one of the most important commercial 
organizations in Hawaii and a principal factor in the sugar industry of the 
islands.
  The early years of the partnership of Alexander & Baldwin, as described 
heretofore in the biographical sketch of Samuel T. Alexander, represented a 
continual struggle against heavy odds. Haiku plantation had to have water. 
Straining their financial resources almost to the breaking point, the young 
partners succeeded in bringing to completion the Hamakua-Haiku ditch, the 
first important irrigation project in the islands. The eventual enormous 
success of this enterprise made possible the great future of Alexander and 
Baldwin. Paia plantation was started and other extensive acreages were added 
to the partners’ holdings.
  When Mr. Alexander removed to Oakland, Calif., in 1883, because of failing 
health, Mr. Baldwin assumed full direction of their affairs in Hawaii, and for 
almost thirty years thereafter he was a leading figure in the industrial 
expansion of the islands.
  In 1889, Mr. Baldwin obtained leases to lands at Makaweli, Kauai, and 
another successful plantation, the Hawaiian Sugar Co., was established. Mr. 
Baldwin gave his personal attention to this project for a number of years.
  The present firm of Alexander & Baldwin, Ltd., dates back to 1894, when it 
was organized in San Francisco as an agency for Haiku and Paia plantations. 
The Honolulu offices of the firm were opened in 1897. When the firm was 
incorporated in 1900 as Alexander & Baldwin, Ltd., its present designation, 
Mr. Baldwin became president, serving until his death in 1911.
  A heavy expansion of Alexander and Baldwin came with the acquisition of 
control of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. of Puunene, Maui, formerly 
operated by the late Claus Spreckels. Mr. Baldwin took personal charge of this 
plantation in 1902 and made it one of the most successful and productive 
estates in Hawaii. Today it ranks as one of the world’s finest and most modern 
sugar plantations.
  During the years that Mr. Baldwin was devoting himself so intensively to the 
development of the agricultural resources of Maui and Kauai, the firm of 
Alexander & Baldwin, Ltd., was advancing steadily. Today, a monument to its 
founders, it ranks high in both Honolulu and San Francisco, holding agencies 
for many plantations and doing a general commercial, commission and insurance 
business.
  During its early years the firm operated a fleet of sailing vessels between 
Hawaii and the mainland, carrying sugar to California and returning with 
merchandise. These ships later were replaced by the steamers of the American-
Hawaiian line and still later by the freighters of the Matson Navigation Co.
  Despite his heavy business responsibilities, Mr. Baldwin did not deny 
himself to public service, and from 1887 until 1903 he served continuously in 
the upper house of the Hawaiian Legislature.
  A large share of his income was devoted to charity. He was particularly 
interested in church, educational and welfare work and liberally supported 
such causes.
  Mr. Baldwin married Emily W. Alexander, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. William 
Patterson Alexander, early missionaries, and a sister of Mr. Baldwin’s 
partner, S. T. Alexander, at Wailuku, Maui, on April 5, 1870. Eight children 
were born to them, Harry A. Baldwin, Frank F. Baldwin, Mrs. Maud (Baldwin) 
Cooke, Arthur D. Baldwin, Dr. W. D. Baldwin, Mrs. Charlotte (Baldwin) Rice, 
Fred Baldwin and A. S. Baldwin.
  Henry Perrine Baldwin died at his home on Maui, July 8, 1911.


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