Walter F. Dillingham

Walter Francis Dillingham (April 5, 1875 – October 22, 1963) called the "Baron of Hawaii Industry", was an American industrialist and businessman from Honolulu, Hawaii. He gained favors from Hawaii politicians to develop urban Honolulu and Waikiki.

Dillingham was born in Honolulu, in the Kingdom of Hawaii. His father was Benjamin Dillingham who founded the Oahu Railway and Land Company. His mother was Emma Louise Smith, daughter of missionaries Lowell and Abigail Smith.

In 1889 he moved to the United States to attend school in Auburndale, Massachusetts, and then Harvard University 1898–1900.

He first worked as a clerk for his father, and then managed the Dowsett Company and founded Hawaiian Dredging Company. In 1904 his father was hospitalized and he managed the OR&L. From 1907–1913, the Governor of the Territory of Hawaii was Walter F. Frear who was married to Dillingham's sister Mary Emma.

In 1909 he constructed a dry dock at Pearl Harbor which eventually became part of the US Navy base. He also enlarged the ports of Kahului and Hilo.

On May 2, 1910 he married Louise Olga Gaylord in Florence, Italy. After his father died in 1918, he and his brother Harold Garfield Dillingham inherited the family businesses. During World War I he worked for the US Army Motor Transport Corps in Washington, DC.

Dillingham served on several commissions for the Territory of Hawaii, including the tax appeal court 1908–1910.

In 1919, Dillingham built a large house at Papaʻenaʻena, an ancient Hawaiian altar to the surf and place of human sacrifice to the god Kūkaʻilimoku, on the slopes of Diamond Head. The home, called La Pietra, is now a private academy for girls. It was named after the estate of his wife's relatives where they were married, Villa La Pietra.