James Drummond Dole's transformation from pastor's son in Jamaica Plain, Mass., to "Pineapple King" in the dusty plains of Wahiawa may be remarkable in the eyes of history, but it was not entirely unpredictable.
Dole arrived in Honolulu on Nov. 27, 1899, intent on starting the agricultural business for which he had long prepared.
The conditions for his success were in place. He had earned bachelor's degrees in agriculture and business from Harvard and had grown a $50 gift from his high school graduation to more than $16,000 through meticulous saving. It did not hurt that his cousin was Sanford Dole, the businessman who had been part of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and assumed the role of president of the Republic of Hawai'i.
James D. Dole said he realized early on that the 60 acres of land he had purchased in Wahiawa was "better adapted to pineapples than to peas, pigs or potatoes."
Hawaiian Pineapple Co. was an immediate success, and within a few years he had to build a new cannery and packing plant to keep up with demand.
A visionary businessman, Dole made the most of his growing success by developing what is believed to be the first nationwide consumer advertising campaign. The goal, he would later write, was to "expand the market for Hawaiian pineapple to every grocery store" in the U.S.
With the introduction of the Ginaca processing machine in 1911, Dole watched his operation take off. In 1922, he bought the island of Lana'i and turned it into the largest pineapple plantation in the world, producing 75 percent of the world's supply. By the 1930s, pineapple was Hawai'i's second-largest industry.
Dole eventually was forced out of his own company, renamed the Dole Food Co., in 1948. He died 10 years later at age 80.
