Thomas Square

Last updated

Thomas Square
Honolulu-Thomas-sq-sign.JPG
USA Hawaii location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationBounded by King, Beretania, and Victoria Streets and Ward Avenue, Honolulu, Hawaii
Coordinates 21°18′9″N157°50′56″W / 21.30250°N 157.84889°W / 21.30250; -157.84889
Area6.5 acres (2.6 ha)
Built1843
NRHP reference No. 72000423 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 25, 1972

Thomas Square is a park in Honolulu, Hawaii, named for Admiral Richard Darton Thomas. The Privy Council voted to increase its boundaries on March 8, 1850, making Thomas Square Hawaii's oldest city park. [2] It is one of four sites in Hawaii where the Hawaiian flag is allowed to fly alone without the United States flag.

Contents

Background

In February 1843, Lord George Paulet on HMS Carysfort seized and occupied the Kingdom of Hawaii during the Paulet Affair.

On July 26, Admiral Richard Darton Thomas sailed into Honolulu harbor on his flagship HMS Dublin. He became Local Representative of the British Commission by outranking Paulet. His intention was to end the occupation. On July 31, he held the Hawaiian flag in his hands as he officially transferred the islands back to King Kamehameha III, who said the words Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono in a speech during a ceremony to mark his restoration. Roughly translated from the Hawaiian language, it means, "The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness" and has become Hawaii's state motto, incorporated into the Seal of Hawaii. [3] The British flag set was pulled down and the Hawaiian flag was raised, followed by a series of 21 gun salutes from the Fort, the British ships Carysfort, Dublin, Hazzard, the American ship Constellation, and lastly by guns at the park.

Kamehameha III later named the place where the ceremony was held in Downtown Honolulu "Thomas Square" in Admiral Thomas's honor and dedicated it as a public park.

History

After the Privy Council demarcated Thomas Square's enlargement on March 8, 1850, the park was still merely a dusty field. A "cheap fence" was installed around 1873. [4] Oats were sown and harvested and algaroba (kiawe) trees were planted soon after 1873, but there was still little shade. It was around this time that the merchant Archibald Scott Cleghorn (husband of Princess Miriam Likelike, father of Princess Kaʻiulani, and brother-in-law of Kalākaua and Liliʻuokalani) began stewarding Thomas Square and Emma Square (Honolulu's only two parks at that point). [5] By 1883, Cleghorn had approved Robert Stirling's park design, which laid out a series of circular and semicircular paths. Since Honolulu's treasury was in "dire condition" at the time, [5] Cleghorn brought banyan trees from ʻĀinahau, his Waikiki estate, to plant and create more shade. He also asked his friends for money to design and build a bandstand, seating, and add more planting. Within several years, the bandstand was designed and installed by F. Wilhelm while more shrubs and trees were planted. The improved park celebrated a successful grand opening on April 7, 1887 where the Royal Hawaiian Band performed to a huge crowd. [6]

In 1925 it was made into a park managed by the City and County of Honolulu. [3]

In the early 1930s, the Parks Boards commissioned and adopted a renovation landscape plan by Catherine J. Richards and Robert O. Thompson. The renovation included a mock orange hedge along the curbs, flower beds bisecting a central walkway, and a terraces and coral wall parallel to Beretania Street. [7] It was during this renovation period in 1932 that The Outdoor Circle donated the central memorial fountain, dedicating it to the late Beatrice Castle Newcomb, who had been the President of the Outdoor Circle from 1922 to 1929. [8]

In 1938, The Daughters of Hawaii unveiled a plaque to commemorate the historic flag-raising event. [9]

In 1942, the US Army built barracks at Thomas Square to quarter troops during World War II. [9] It received $50,000 in 1966 for a renovation that included an expanded comfort station, a new coral walkway from Beretania Street, and tree-pruning to thin out the canopies to allow for more light and air. [10]

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Oahu on April 25, 1972. It is state historic site 80-14-9990. [11]

In 2011, the sidewalk on the corner of South Beretania Street and Ward Avenue became an encampment site for (De)Occupy Honolulu, a Hawaiʻi affiliate of the Occupy movement. As such, regular protests and police conflicts became a feature of the area until the encampment was permanently cleared.

July 31 is celebrated as Lā Ho'iho'i Ea or Restoration Day holiday. [12] The park's pathways are in the form of the British flag. A fountain is in the center of the square, surrounded by trees. Across the street is the Honolulu Museum of Art. [3]

On July 31, 2018, a 12-foot high bronze sculpture of Kamehameha III by Oregon artist Thomas Jay Warren and a flagpole flying the Hawaiian flag were dedicated at Thomas Square in a ceremony honoring the 175th anniversary of the restoration of Hawaiian sovereignty. Warren was paid $250,000, allotted by the Mayor's Office of Culture and the Arts as part of Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s plans to revamp the park. [13]

Thomas Square is one of four sites in Hawaii where the Hawaiian flag is allowed to fly alone without the United States flag. The others are the Royal Mausoleum at Mauna ʻAla, ʻIolani Palace and Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau. [14] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ʻIolani Palace</span> Historic building in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

The ʻIolani Palace was the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi beginning with Kamehameha III under the Kamehameha Dynasty (1845) and ending with Queen Liliʻuokalani (1893) under the Kalākaua Dynasty, founded by her brother, King David Kalākaua. It is located in the capitol district of downtown Honolulu in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi. It is now a National Historic Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After the monarchy was overthrown in 1893, the building was used as the capitol building for the Provisional Government, Republic, Territory, and State of Hawaiʻi until 1969. The palace was restored and opened to the public as a museum in 1978. ʻIolani Palace is the only royal palace on US soil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Mausoleum (Mauna ʻAla)</span> United States historic place

Mauna ʻAla in the Hawaiian language, is the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii and the final resting place of Hawaii's two prominent royal families: the Kamehameha Dynasty and the Kalākaua Dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington Place</span> United States historic place

Washington Place is a Greek Revival palace in the Hawaii Capital Historic District in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was where Queen Liliʻuokalani was arrested during the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Later it became the official residence of the governor of Hawaii. In 2007, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark. The current governor's residence was built in 2008 behind the historic residence, and is located on the same grounds as Washington Place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamehameha III</span> King of the Hawaiian Islands from 1825 to 1854

Kamehameha III was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name was Keaweaweʻula Kīwalaʻō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweʻula Kīwalaʻō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa Kalani Waiakua Kalanikau Iokikilo Kīwalaʻō i ke kapu Kamehameha when he ascended the throne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew (Honolulu)</span> Historic church in Hawaii, United States

The Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, also commonly known as St. Andrew's Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church in the United States located in the State of Hawaii. Originally the seat of the Anglican Church of Hawaii, it is now the home of the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii. It is affiliated with St. Andrew's Schools, which consists of the main girls' K-12 school, the coeducational Queen Emma Preschool and a boys' preparatory school (elementary).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalama</span> Queen consort of Hawaiʻi (1817–1870)

Kalama Hakaleleponi Kapakuhaili was a Queen consort of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi alongside her husband, Kauikeaouli, who reigned as King Kamehameha III. She closed the baptismal name Hakaleleponi after the Biblical figure Hazzelelponi. Her name Kalama means "The Torch" in the Hawaiian language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Kamehameha I Day</span> Public holiday in Hawaii on June 11

King Kamehameha I Day on June 11 is a public holiday in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It honors Kamehameha the Great, the monarch who first established the unified Kingdom of Hawaiʻi—comprising the Hawaiian Islands of Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and Hawaiʻi. In 1883 a statue of King Kamehameha was dedicated in Honolulu by King David Kalākaua. There are duplicates of this statue in Emancipation Hall at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C., and in Hilo, island of Hawaiʻi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seal of Hawaii</span> Official government emblem of the U.S. state of Hawaii

The Great Seal of the State of Hawaii was designated officially by Act 272 of the 1959 Territorial Legislature and is based on the territorial seal. Modifications to the territorial seal included the use of the words "State of Hawaii" at the top and "1959" within the circle. Provisions for a seal for the state of Hawaii were enacted by the Territorial Legislature and approved by Governor William F. Quinn on June 8, 1959. The passage of the Admission Act in 1959, admitted Hawaii as the 50th State of the United States of America on August 21, 1959.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaniakapupu</span> Historic ruin in Hawaii, United States

Kaniakapūpū, known formerly as Luakaha, is the ruins of the former summer palace of King Kamehameha III and Queen Kalama on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. Built in the 1840s, and situated in the cool uplands of the Nuʻuanu Valley, it served as the king and queen's summer retreat after the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii moved from Lahaina to Honolulu in 1845. It was famous for being the site of a grand luau attended by an estimated ten thousand guests during the 1847 Hawaiian Sovereignty Restoration Day celebration. The palace had fallen into ruins by 1874; no records exist about its condition in the intervening years. Rediscovered in the 1950s, the site was cleared and efforts were made to stabilize the ruins from further damage by the elements and invasive plant growth. The site remains officially off-limits to the public and trespassers are subjected to citations, although the site is not regularly monitored.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boki (Hawaiian chief)</span> Hawaiian high chief and merchant (c. 1785–c. 1829)

Boki was a High Chief in the ancient Hawaiian tradition and served the Kingdom of Hawaii as royal governor of the island of Oahu. Boki ran a mercantile and shipping business and encouraged the Hawaiians to gather sandalwood for trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Charles Byde Rooke</span> English physician and spouse of Hawaiian royal

Thomas Charles Byde Rooke was an English physician who married into the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He built a mansion called the Rooke House in Honolulu that became popular with political and social leaders of the Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawaiian Kingdom</span> Sovereign state on the Hawaiian Islands from 1795 to 1893

The Hawaiian Kingdom, also known as Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands which existed from 1795 to 1893. It was established during the late 18th century when Hawaiian chief Kamehameha I, from the island of Hawaiʻi, conquered the islands of Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi, and unified them under one government. In 1810, the Hawaiian Islands were fully unified when the islands of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau voluntarily joined the Hawaiian Kingdom. Two major dynastic families ruled the kingdom, the House of Kamehameha and the House of Kalākaua.

Richard Charlton (1791–1852) was the first diplomatic Consul from Great Britain to the Kingdom of Hawaii (1825–1843). He was surrounded by controversies that caused a military occupation known as the Paulet Affair, and real estate claims that motivated the formalization of Hawaiian land titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord George Paulet</span> Officer of the Royal Navy (1803–1879)

Lord George Paulet CB was an officer of the Royal Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paulet affair</span> 1843 occupation of the Hawaiian Islands by the British Empire

The Paulet affair, also known as British Hawaii, was the unofficial five-month 1843 occupation of the Hawaiian Islands by British naval officer Captain Lord George Paulet, of HMS Carysfort. It was ended by the arrival of American warships sent to defend Hawaii's independence. The British government in London did not authorize the move and it had no official status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono</span> Motto of the state of Hawaii

Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono is a Hawaiian phrase, spoken by Kamehameha III, and adopted in 1959 as the state motto. It is most commonly translated as "the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." An alternative translation, which appears at Thomas Square next to a statue of Kamehameha III, is "The sovereignty of the kingdom continues because we are righteous."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Kūnuiākea</span> Hawaiian politician

Albert Kūkaʻilimoku Kūnuiākea was the illegitimate son of King Kamehameha III and his mistress Jane Lahilahi. He served as a politician in the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Republic of Hawaii. He later was baptized into the Anglican Church of Hawaii with the name Albert Fredrick Kunuiakea Oiwiaulani Koenaokalani.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sovereignty Restoration Day</span> Hawaiian national holiday

Sovereignty Restoration Day is a national holiday of the Hawaiian Kingdom celebrated on July 31 and still commemorated by Native Hawaiians in Hawaii. It honors the restoration of sovereignty to the kingdom, following the occupation of Hawaiʻi by Great Britain during the 1843 Paulet Affair, by British Rear-Admiral Richard Darton Thomas and when King Kamehameha III uttered the phrase: Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independence Day (Hawaii)</span> National holiday in Hawaii

Hawaiian Independence Day was a national holiday celebrated annually on November 28 to commemorate the signing of Anglo-Franco Proclamation of 1843, the official diplomatic recognition of the independence and sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom by Great Britain and France. It is still celebrated today by proponents of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ↑ Greer, Richard (1992). ""Kulaokahuʻa and Thomas Square: From Boom to Bust to Now."". The Hawaiian Journal of History. 26: 142.
  3. 1 2 3 Dorothy Riconda (March 23, 1972). "Thomas Square nomination form". National Register of Historic Places. U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
  4. ↑ Greer, Richard (1992). ""Kulaokahuʻa and Thomas Square: From Boom to Bust to Now"". The Hawaiian Journal of History. 26: 142.
  5. 1 2 Greer, Richard (1992). ""Kulaokahuʻa and Thomas Square: From Boom to Bust to Now"". The Hawaiian Journal of History. 26: 143.
  6. ↑ Greer, Richard (1992). ""Kulaokahuʻa and Thomas Square: From Boom to Bust to Now"". The Hawaiian Journal of History. 26: 144.
  7. ↑ Greer, Richard (1992). ""Kulaokahuʻa and Thomas Square: From Boom to Bust to Now"". The Hawaiian Journal of History. 26: 149.
  8. ↑ "Thomas Square". Star Bulletin & Advertiser. September 11, 1977.
  9. 1 2 Greer, Richard (1992). ""Kulaokahuʻa and Thomas Square: From Boom to Bust to Now"". The Hawaiian Journal of History. 26: 150.
  10. ↑ Greer, Richard (1992). ""Kulaokahuʻa and Thomas Square: From Boom to Bust to Now"". The Hawaiian Journal of History. 26: 152.
  11. ↑ "National and State Register of Historic Places on Oʻahu" (PDF). Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. June 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
  12. ↑ Blaine Fergerstrom (June 30, 2008). "Lā Ho'iho'i Ea / Restoration Day". Hawaii State Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
  13. ↑ Yang, Gordon Y. K. (July 28, 2018). "King Kamehameha III bronze statue to be unveiled at Thomas Square". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Honolulu: Oahu Publications, Inc. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  14. ↑ Clark, John (2019). "The Kamehameha III Statue in Thomas Square". The Hawaiian Journal of History. 53. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society: 147–149. doi:10.1353/hjh.2019.0008. ISSN   2169-7639. OCLC   60626541. S2CID   214511964.
  15. ↑ Fuller, Landry (August 2, 2016). "Flying high". West Hawaii Today. Kailua-Kona: Oahu Publications, Inc. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.