On July 6, 1957, the Maui Historical Society (MHS) established its headquarters and a museum, Hale Hoikeike (House of Display), in this missionary home built in 1833.
The historic structure is popularly known as Bailey House Museum after Edward Bailey, who lived there with his wife, Caroline, from 1842 to 1888.
They were teachers at the Wailuku Female Seminary for Hawaiian girls, which had been founded on the site in 1837 to train them to be suitable wives for the young Hawaiian men graduating from Lahainaluna School. Bailey was the headmaster of the school from 1842 until it closed seven years later.
On both the State and National Registers of Historic Places, the museum exhibits ancient artifacts such as adzes, weapons, poi pounders, fishing tools and lei made of human hair and dog teeth.
Other items of note include a spinning wheel used at the seminary, 19 oil paintings of central Maui landscapes that Bailey created and the 600-pound, 33-foot canoe Honaunau, which was carved from a single koa log more than a century ago.