Hawaiian Moment – Baldwin House

Dwight Baldwin was born on Sept. 29, 1798, lived in New York, and graduated from Yale College in 1821. He was a teacher, principal, and medical student.

In March, 1826, he found relief in believing in an Almighty Redeemer, and religion became the all-absorbing subject of his thought by day and by night. He joined a Christian mission, the Congregational Church in Durham, NY, and soon after he entered the Theological Seminary at Auburn, where he spent three years, offering his services into the American Board of Boston for a Foreign Mission and was accepted. He did not have time to await official recognition of his medical degree so at the direction of the Prudential Committee he took his diploma as Master of Science. He was ordained at Utica, NY on Oct. 6, 1830.

He was introduced to and quickly married Charlotte Fowler, daughter of Deacon Solomon Fowler of North Branford, Connecticut on Dec/ 3, 1830. Twenty-five days later they set sail with the Fourth Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi on the ship ‘New England;’ he arrived at Honolulu, June 7, 1831. 

They moved to Lahaina, Maui and construction on the Baldwin House began in 1834 and was completed in 1835; it’s the oldest house in Lahaina. The thick walls were made of coral and stone. The structure was sturdy consisting of hand-hewn timbers. In 1840, a bedroom and study was added, and in 1849, an entire second story was completed.

His educational background coupled with many natural abilities guided him to be helpful in the establishment of a system of just and democratic laws and most importantly the education of the Hawaiian people who learned much besides religion. They were taught reading and writing in Hawaiian and English trained in agriculture and mechanics, studied the practical arts in the high school above Lahaina; and finally learned to understand constitutional government, diplomacy and finance.

As a practicing physician, Rev. Baldwin treated and helped save the people of Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi. A series of epidemics swept through the Hawaiian Islands, whooping cough and measles, soon after followed by waves of dysentery and influenza; then, in 1853, a terrible smallpox epidemic. There were thousands of smallpox deaths on O‘ahu; Baldwin is credited with keeping the toll to only a few hundred on Maui.

Dwight Baldwin was patriarch of a family that founded some of the largest businesses in the islands. His son, Henry Perrine Baldwin went on to develop a sugar-growing partnership known as Alexander & Baldwin. In addition, sons Henry Perrine Baldwin and David Dwight Baldwin laid the foundation for what is now known as Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc.

In 1870 Dwight and Charlotte moved to Honolulu as their health deteriorated and lived with their daughter. Charlotte died in 1873, and Dwight died in 1886; they are buried at the Kawaiahaʻo Church cemetery.

Restoration of the Baldwin Home by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation is based on careful documentary and archeological research. It was deeded to the Lahaina Restoration Foundation by the HP Baldwin Estate in 1967. It can never be sold and will remain in the Public Domain in perpetuity.

The Lahaina Restoration Foundation reports that a portion of one of the stone walls at the historic Baldwin Home collapsed following the March 2026 kona low storms that impacted Maui, just days after stabilization work had begun on the structure. Both the north and south stone walls had already been identified as structurally weak and bending inward as a result of the August 2023 Lahaina fire. As a result of the recent storms, the building will need to be carefully deconstructed, with plans to rebuild and restore the Baldwin Home using as much of the original material as possible.

Lahaina Restoration Foundation is a 501(c)3 Hawai‘i nonprofit organization chartered in 1962. Its mission is to be stewards and storytellers of Lahaina’s historic and cultural heritage.