Alexander Young was a Honolulu businessman whose downtown hotel that bore his name helped him become known as the father of the hotel industry in Hawai'i.
Born in Blackburn, Scotland, in 1832, Young arrived in Hawai'i with his wife, Ruth Pearce, in 1865. He was a partner in a foundry serving the sugar mills in Hilo, and was the general manager of Honolulu Iron Works for 30 years.
Young invested in sugar plantations, becoming president of the Waiakea Mill Co. and an officer of the Kahuku Sugar Co. He also formed the Von Hamm-Young Co. with his son-in-law, Conrad Carl von Hamm, and others.
It was Young's interests in the sugar plantations that enabled him to build the $2 million, 300-room Alexander Young Hotel, which opened in 1903 at Bishop and Hotel streets in downtown Honolulu. He later bought the Moana Hotel in Waikiki and the original Royal Hawaiian Hotel at Richards and Hotel streets. The landmark Alexander Young Building would later hold offices and was demolished in 1981.
Young also was involved in government. He served in the House of Nobles in 1889 during the monarchy, and after the revolution in 1893, he was minister of the interior in President Sanford B. Dole's Cabinet.
