Miss Helen Elwell at Malumalu School

Born in Kansas in 1874 and raised and educated in California, Miss Helen Elwell taught at the Kaua‘i Industrial School for Hawaiian boys at Malumalu from July 1896 until the fall of 1897, when she resigned to marry Rev. John Mortimer Lydgate, the pastor of Lihu‘e Union Church and the namesake of Kaua‘i’s Lydgate Park.

Founded in 1890 by Dr. Jared Smith and his sister, Juliette Smith, the Kaua‘i Industrial School — also known as Malumalu School — was housed in a large, three-story building situated on a 30-acre farm at Malumalu, a now deserted place on the south side of Hulemalu Road, about 400 yards east of the intersection of Puhi and Hulemalu roads, in an area known also as Grove Farm Field No. 10. In 1898, Malumalu School closed due to lack of funding.

When Helen arrived at Malumalu School about 40 to 45 boys boarded there during the school year, along with their teachers.  

The school’s acting principal was Miss Malone, pending the arrival of Miss Alexander from the Mainland in November.

Helen was initially assigned by Miss Juliette Smith to teach the older boys in class work, while Mrs. Clara Smith taught the little boys.  

Later, Helen transferred to teach juniors, about a dozen boys ages 6 to 10. She taught reading, writing, arithmetic and Hawaiian geography, a subject in which she was taught the proper pronunciation of Hawaiian words by her students. One of their textbooks was “Robinson’s Arithmetic.”

Emma Blake was the school’s matron for a while and the manual training shop was run by a blacksmith named Mr. Askew.

Askew also served as gardener and groundskeeper, providing the school with peas, corn, potatoes, tomatoes and other vegetables. The lawn and school grounds about the school were always neat and trim.

Helen Elwell Lydgate (1874-1950) and Rev. John Mortimer Lydgate were the parents of four sons.