The northeastern coast of Maui has a small village named Haʻi kū which literally means "sharp break" in the Hawaiian language.

[3] The Haiku Sugar Company was chartered on November 20, 1858 by the Kingdom of Hawaii.

The investors, the Castle & Cooke partnership, contracted with Isaac Adams of Boston and D. M. Weston for a milling machine and boiling house with total cost of US$12,000.

He formed Alexander & Baldwin with his partner Henry Perrine Baldwin, and organized an irrigation system from 1876 to 1878 that allowed more steady crops to be grown in more leeward areas of the island.

[6] The mill was purchased and restored by Sylvia Hamilton-Kerr and as of 2016 was open for tourism.