Dr. Alfred Herbert Waterhouse

In 1907, following his graduation from Princeton, medical training at Rush Medical College in Chicago, and post graduate work at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Dr. Alfred Herbert Waterhouse (1877-1948) began a long career as a medical doctor on Kauai, first as resident physician for Koloa Sugar Co. and government physician for the Koloa District, and later, in private practice.

Dr. Waterhouse’s grandparents, John Thomas and Eleanor Waterhouse, had emigrated to Hawaii from Tasmania in 1851. Their youngest son, William Waterhouse, was Dr. Waterhouse’s father.

His mother, the former Melicent Phelina Smith, was a daughter of Kauai missionaries Dr. James W. Smith and Melicent Knapp Smith.

For many years during the 1800s, Dr. Waterhouse’s grandfather, Dr. Smith, was Kauai’s only doctor, on call day and night, and it was a familiar and reassuring sight to see him dressed in his distinctive black frock coat, riding his horse over rough trails on the way to treat the sick and injured at villages scattered to the farthest ends of the island.

A number of medical milestones were established on Kauai by Dr. Waterhouse. Among them was his securing the first resident dentist, as well as the first eye, ear, nose and throat specialist at Koloa.

Dr. Waterhouse also established Kauai’s first medical laboratory and was one of the first physicians to set up prenatal care and baby clinics on Kauai.

In 1910, Waterhouse saw to it that the Koloa Plantation hospital was built and that physiotherapy equipment was installed there in 1926.

Furthermore, he served on the Board of Trustees of the Koloa Union Church, was appointed Commissioner of Public Instruction from Kauai in 1934, served as trustee of Mahelona Hospital, and was the first president of the TB Association on Kauai, among other community activities.

Dr. Waterhouse and his wife, Mabel, had three children: William, Florence, and Marjorie.