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Kauai Museum (Visit this link)
There are two buildings that house the museum artifacts and exhibits, Albert Spencer Wilcox building and William Hyde Rice building.
Albert Spencer Wilcox Memorial Building
On February 3, 1922, a letter from Mrs. Emma Mahelona Wilcox was delivered to the Board of Trustees of the Kauai Public Library Association, in which she offered to give $75,000 for the erection of a free County library in memory of her husband, Albert Spencer Wilcox. On October of 1922, Hart Wood, one of Hawaii's foremost architects, was selected to design the building, which was officially dedicated on May 24, 1924.
This beautiful old structure sits in the center of historic downtown Lihue, on Rice Street, and has a lava rock exterior, sloped roof, barrel vaulted ceilings, original antique light fixtures, and a mezzanine with a balcony overlooking the first floor. Because the Wilcox building was on the National Historic Register, no changes to the historic structure could take place. So, when the building could no longer house its library collection, a new library was built in Lihue in 1969. In 1970, the Albert Spencer Wilcox Memorial Building became a dedicated part of the Kauai Museum.
William Hyde Rice Building: In April 1954, a museum committee was formed with Juliet Rice Wichman as the chairperson and Dora Jane Isenberg Cole as a member. Mrs. Wichman and Mrs. Cole raised the necessary funds for a new building, adjacent to the Wilcox library, to house the Kaua`i Museum, and Kenneth Roehrig was selected as the architect. On December 3, 1960, the Kauai Museum was officially opened to the public with Mrs. Wichman as the Director and Mrs. Cole as Manager. This building is a two-story, lava rock structure that currently houses the history of Kaua`i and Ni`ihau from the geological & archeological standpoint. It also tells the story of pre-contact and post-contact Hawaii, Captain Cook's arrival, life in early Kauai villages, artifacts found on island, such as the poi pounders, fishhooks, receptacles, tapa implements, etc. The second floor houses an exhibit on early sugar plantation life and Missionary era furniture, pottery, photographs, books, artwork, quilts, saddles, and WWII memorabilia.
http://www.kauaimuseum.org
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