Dillingham, a Cape Cod schooner captain, was stranded in the Sandwich Islands after losing his life's savings in a failed commercial venture to ship bananas to California. It was in this environment that Benjamin Franklin Dillingham unexpectedly found himself in 1865. From this group of haole (Caucasian) settlers emerged five dominant family-run mercantile companies known as 'The Big Five.' These five companies established commercial interests in every aspect of the Hawaiian economy. They established themselves in positions of economic and political power, and began a crusade to convert the Polynesian natives to Christianity. By the time the company reverted to private ownership in 1983, it had become one of the largest construction companies in the United States, with numerous projects completed worldwide.Īmong the first Americans to settle in the Sandwich Islands were a group of New England missionaries, who arrived in 1820.

As the Hawaiian economy grew, Dillingham expanded from sugar refining and railroad transportation into construction. The Dillingham company was established in the Hawaiian islands when they were still an independent kingdom known as the Sandwich Islands. The firm's customers include AT&T, International Paper Co., Las Vegas Hilton Corp., NASA, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Its construction projects have included shopping centers, theaters, office buildings, condominiums and subdivisions, power generating plants, water treatment plants, ports and harbors, airports, highways, bridges, dams, tunnels, and rapid transit projects. Through its subsidiaries, Dillingham provides general construction, design/build, construction management, maintenance, and emergency response services. Dillingham Construction Corporation operates as a worldwide construction firm involved in the commercial, industrial, heavy civil, and marine industries.

Hawaiian dredging president