History

Haleakala National Park was originally part of Hawaii National Park, which was created in 1916 and included Mauna Loa and Kilauea on the Big Island. The park split into the separate Haleakal National Park and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in 1961. "Haleakala" means "house of the sun" and, according to Hawaiian legend, the demigod Maui imprisoned the sun at Haleakala in order to make the day longer. Although the summit was never permanently inhabited, native Hawaiians did visit for a variety of reasons, from honoring the gods to hunting for various types of birds or animals. The fine-grained basalt rock was also used to create adzes and other types of tools. The first recorded journey to the summit by non-Hawaiians was in 1828. In early 1900s, Big Islander Lorrin Thurston and Thomas Jaggar, a volcanologist who founded Hawaii Volcano Observatory, proposed the creation of the national park. The road to the summit was built between 1933 and 1935. The CCC worked in the park from 1934 to 1941, removing invasive plants and feral animals such as pigs and goats, and building the White Hill, Sliding Sands, and Halemau'u trails. The park was closed for several years during World War 2, when it was under the control of the U.S. Army. The Kipahulu Valley was added in 1951, and in 1969, the coastal area of 'Ohe'o was also included, further extending the park's boundaries.