Before the New Civic Center: What I Remember About the Old Wahiawa Public Health and WIC Site

Before the new Wahiawa Civic Center started rising on California Avenue, this part of town looked very different.

For me, it is not just a construction site. I have memories tied to the old public-health buildings that used to be here.

What I remember

When I was in nursing school, I did part of my public-health rotation at the old Wahiawa public-health office. I remember it as an older, portable-style building—not glamorous, but busy and very real community health work.

Even before nursing school, I remember going somewhere in that same cluster of public-health offices for a TB test. And WIC was already part of our family story by then. As far back as I can remember, my auntie Veronica worked with WIC. She stayed with the program through its later move into the office next to Central Health and only retired within the past year or two.

Those are my personal recollections, and some of the exact details blur together after all these years. But the public record confirms that WIC was operating from 830 California Avenue before the site changed dramatically.

March 24, 2020: the WIC office burned

At approximately 2:32 a.m. on March 24, 2020, Honolulu firefighters responded to a fire at the Wahiawa Women, Infants, and Children office at 830 California Avenue.

CrimeStoppers reported that the building was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived, and police sought witnesses as part of an arson investigation.

A Hawaii Department of Health update a few days later described the Wahiawa WIC clinic as destroyed by the fire and told participants that staff were continuing services by phone.

Later environmental documents for the civic-center project describe the old WIC cottage buildings as severely damaged by fire and subsequently demolished.

Then WIC moved—and that became personal again

WIC eventually relocated to 935 California Avenue, Unit B12, in the Wahiawa Town Shopping Center.

My auntie Veronica was still with WIC after that move, so the program remained literally close to home for us. I remember that relocation for another reason too: Central Health had also looked at commercial space in that area when I was thinking about expansion. WIC got into the space first, and for a while I kept hearing that their lease was temporary and they would eventually move again.

That sounds like a small business detail, but it is exactly the kind of thing that shows how one public project can ripple through a town. Government offices move. Temporary spaces become long-term spaces. Other businesses make decisions around them.

The library story feels similar

The Wahiawa Public Library is another place I have personal memories of. I used to go there a lot.

The old library opened in 1965. While a new library is being built, the temporary Wahiawa Public Library is now operating from the Wahiawa Shopping Center at 823 California Avenue—in the exact storefront that used to be Jeans Warehouse and that Central Health later used as our temporary W6 storage space during our 2024 renovation.

So right now, two familiar community services—WIC and the library—are operating out of commercial centers along California Avenue while major new public buildings are being constructed nearby.

This is why I want to keep documenting Wahiawa

It is easy to look at a construction fence and think only about the building that will eventually stand behind it.

But there is another story underneath: what used to be there, where the old services moved, what families remember, and how the center of town slowly shifts.

Central Health happens to sit right in the middle of that change.

So this is going to become an occasional series: Wahiawa then and now. We will follow the new Civic Center, the library and workforce project, old buildings, new services, and the little pieces of local history that are easy to forget once the landscape changes.

And when I can, I will add my own memories too—because sometimes the best local history is simply remembering what used to be across the street.

— Nora Phillips, DNP, APRN Central Health | Wahiawa, Hawaii

Sources

CrimeStoppers Honolulu — Witnesses to Arson Wanted, March 25, 2020. https://www.honolulucrimestoppers.org/sitemenu.aspx?ID=606&P=unsolved&PageNum=15

Hawaii News Now — HFD investigating early-morning blaze that damaged state offices in Wahiawa, March 24, 2020. https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/video/2020/03/24/hfd-investigating-early-morning-blaze-that-damaged-state-offices-wahiawa/

Hawaii Department of Health — March 27, 2020 daily news digest noting destruction of the Wahiawa WIC clinic. https://health.hawaii.gov/news/files/2020/03/COVID-19-Daily-News-Digest-March-27-2020.pdf

Wahiawa Civic Center Environmental Impact Statement Preparation Notice — 830 California Avenue and former WIC site. https://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/erp/Doc_Library/2020-12-08-OA-EISPN-Wahiawa-Civic-Center-Court-Facility-State-Office-Complex.pdf

Hawaii WIC — Wahiawa clinic location, 935 California Avenue, Unit B12. https://health.hawaii.gov/wic/clinic-locations/

Hawaii State Public Library System — Wahiawa Public Library temporary location and history. https://www.librarieshawaii.org/branch/wahiawa-public-library/