March 2, 1820 – no entry. (Thaddeus Journal)
March 2d. All hands, with our passengers, enjoy good health and excellent spirits. The thermometer for several days past has stood at 78° and 79°, with very steady weather. (James Hunnewell)
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The Queen’s Hospital (now called The Queen’s Medical Center) was founded in 1859 by Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV.
In King Kamehameha IV’s initial speech to the legislature in 1854, the King voiced his desire to create a hospital for the people of Hawaiʻi.
At that time, the continued existence of the Hawaiian race was seriously threatened by the influx of disease brought to the islands by foreign visitors.
Queen Emma enthusiastically supported the dream of a hospital, and the two campaigned tirelessly to make it a reality. They personally went door-to-door soliciting the necessary funding.
Through six generations, The Queen’s Medical Center has become a major provider of health care to the people of our State and a part of the cultural fabric of Hawaiʻi.
The Queen’s Medical Center, located in downtown Honolulu, is largest private hospital in Hawaiʻi, licensed to operate with 505 acute care beds and 28 sub-acute beds. The medical center has more than 3,000 employees and over 1,200 physicians on staff.
Its Mission Statement is, “To fulfill the intent of Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV to provide in perpetuity quality health care services to improve the well-being of Native Hawaiians and all the people of Hawaiʻi.”
The first official building of Queen’s Hospital was erected on the same site where Hawaiʻi’s leading medical center stands today. It was a two-story structure made of coral blocks and California redwood that held 124 beds.
This original building stood for more than 60 years and was called “Hale Mai O Ka Wahine Ali‘i,” or “Hospital of the Lady Chief.”
Most of the buildings on the Queen’s campus have been given Hawaiian names to honor Hawaiian Royalty or other prominent citizens in the hospital’s development.
Nalani Wing (a shortened version of Queen Emma’s name, Kaleleonalani) is all that remains of a structure built in 1922, over the spot where the original hospital stood.
The Nalani facade remains today, with its ornate crest emblazoned over the entrance to the main lobby. Still visible are the now-sealed arched windows which originally lined open walkways, welcoming the trade winds and cooling the occupants within.
The Bishop Wing was an 1893 building that was razed in 1989, making way for a new addition to the Queen Emma Tower, which now houses Hawaiʻi’s largest Magnetic Resonance Imager (MRI).
The first Pauahi Wing stood in the same location as the present-day building, which was constructed in 1971. Its name honors Bernice Pauahi Bishop, whose husband, Charles Bishop, donated the wing in memory of his wife.
Maluhia was the location of the first Emergency Department and means “Peace” or “Rest” in Hawaiian. Maluhia was razed in 1998 to make way for the new Emergency Room and Same Day Surgery Center.
Edward Harkness of New York donated more than half the cost of the Harkness building in 1932 for the original School of Nursing, and as a residence for nurses. It remains virtually unchanged in its appearance and is now home to many administrative offices.
Kīna‘u was the name of King Kamehameha IV’s mother. Built in 1945, it has housed a wide variety of patient services and units.
The first open heart surgery in Hawaii was performed in the Kamehameha Wing (constructed in 1954 and named for the co-founder of Queen’s, King Kamehameha IV,) which was considered the most advanced surgical center in the state for over 30 years.
Iolani means “royal hawk” in Hawaiian, and was one of King Kamehameha’s names. The Iolani Wing was completed in 1960. It houses the Pathology department, patient rooms, Emergency department and administrative offices.
The Hawaiʻi Medical Library was established in 1913 and moved to the Queen’s campus in 1916. It has served the medical community for over 83 years.
Kekela was the name of Queen Emma’s mother, and this building, built in 1973, honors her memory. The University of Hawai‘i School of Medicine occupies the upper floors and Queen’s Mental/Behavioral Health Services is on the lower floors.
Naea was the name of Queen Emma’s High Chief father. The building bearing his name is the home of the Radiation Therapy department and its three linear accelerators.
Paahana means “hard working,” and this building, built in 1981, is the site of the hospital’s utility services plant. It supplies the infrastructure services necessary to operate the facility.
Manamana was originally an apartment building; this structure now houses administrative offices and housing units for patients and their families who have traveled to Oahu for treatment.
Named in honor of Queen’s founder, the Queen Emma Tower was constructed in 1985. Its unique design features a triangular shape with an open central core.
Its ten stories are filled with patient care units and services. The top-most floor is occupied by the Maternity Department, where the charm of the birthing suite’s decor won a designation as “the most beautiful hospital room in Honolulu.”
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March 3, 1820 – no entry. (Thaddeus Journal)
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March 4, 1820 – no entry. (Thaddeus Journal)
March 4th. It is now five months since I bade you adieu, & cast a last look at your hospitable dwelling. The time which has since expired appears like a dream.
“Well if our days must fly,
We’ll keep their end in sight;
We’ll spend them all in wisdom’s way.
And let them speed their flight.”
But as swiftly as time flies I do not wish to retard its progress. It is my most ardent desire to spend & be spent in the service of my Maker; & of how little consequence is it whether our lives be long or short if God be glorified. I delight to put my trust in Him who is able to keep me – to protect & guide me in all my ways; – & when my work on earth is finished, to receive me to mansions of eternal rest. May I at length meet you there, with all my dear beloved friends and be so happy as to spend an eternity in singing praises to God our Redeemer. (Mercy Partridge Whitney Journal)
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Pūowaina (hill of placing [human sacrifices]) was formed some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago during the Honolulu period of secondary volcanic activity. A crater resulted from the ejection of hot lava through cracks in the old coral reefs which, at the time, extended to the foot of the Ko‘olau Mountain Range.
A 1916 article in Scientific Monthly described it: “The Hawaiian name for this venerable crater is Pu-o-Waina and it has a tragic significance. The original form, from which the modern spelling is abbreviated, was Puu O waiho ana, literally the hill of offering or sacrifice.”
The people “were dominated by the dreadful tabu system that once ruled all Polynesia. The penalty for any violation of its intricate regulations was death. Pu-o-waina was one of the places near Honolulu where the bodies of the offenders were ceremoniously burned” (the penalty for any violation of kapu.)
Later, during the reign of Kamehameha dynasty, a battery of two cannons was mounted at the rim of the crater. “There were only three men in the fort … The guns were mounted on a platform at the very edge of the precipice that overlooked the harbor and town.”
“They were thirty-two pound caliber. … The situation is very commanding, and notwithstanding the distance, the battery would be formidable to an enemy in the harbor.” (Lieutenant Hiram Paulding, USN, 1826)
Early in the 1880s, leasehold land on the slopes of the Punchbowl opened for settlement and in the 1930s the crater was used as a rifle range for the Hawaii National Guard (the military references to uses include Reservation, Punchbowl Battery or Fort Kekūanaō‘a.)
Punchbowl Battery under King Kalākaua consisted of six four-pounders, though the “fort” was no longer manned; an observer noted that upon this “novel promontory…a few rusty old cannon slumber in the ruins of what may have been once considered a fort.” (Hemenway 1887)
During the late 1890s, a committee recommended that the Punchbowl become the site for a new cemetery to accommodate the growing population of Honolulu.
The idea was rejected for fear of polluting the water supply and the emotional aversion to creating a city of the dead above a city of the living.
Toward the end of World War II, tunnels were dug through the rim of the crater for the placement of shore batteries to guard Honolulu Harbor and the south edge of Pearl Harbor.
In 1943, the governor of Hawaiʻi offered the Punchbowl for use as a national memorial cemetery; in February 1948 Congress approved funding and construction began. The first interment was made Jan. 4, 1949.
The cemetery opened to the public on July 19, 1949, with services for five war dead: an unknown serviceman, two Marines, an Army lieutenant and one civilian—noted war correspondent Ernie Pyle.
Initially, the graves at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific were marked with white wooden crosses and Stars of David; however, in 1951, these were replaced by permanent flat granite markers.
The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific was the first such cemetery to install Bicentennial Medal of Honor headstones, the medal insignia being defined in gold leaf. On May 11, 1976, a total of 23 of these were placed on the graves of medal recipients, all but one of whom were killed in action.
The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific contains a memorial pathway that is lined with a variety of memorials that honor America’s veterans from various organizations – most commemorating soldiers of 20th-century wars, including those killed at Pearl Harbor.
More than five million visitors come to the cemetery each year to pay their respects to the dead and to enjoy the panoramic view from the Punchbowl.
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