Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chinese laborers from Guangdong Province first came to work on Hawaii's sugar and pine-
apple plantations in the 1850s. They quickly figured out that they would never get rich work-
ing in the fields; once their contracts were up, a few of the ambitious started small shops and
restaurants in the area around River Street.
Chinatown was twice devastated by fire, once in 1886 and again in 1900. The second fire
still intrigues historians. In December 1899, bubonic plague broke out in the area, and the
Board of Health immediately quarantined its 7,000 Chinese and Japanese residents. But the
plague continued to spread. On January 20, 1900, the board decided to burn down plague-
infected homes, starting at the corner of Beretania Street and Nuuanu Avenue. But the fire
department wasn't quite ready; a sudden wind quickly spread the flames from one wooden
building to another in the densely built area, and soon Chinatown's entire 40 acres were
leveled. Many historians believe that the “out-of-control” fire may have been purposely set
to drive the Chinese merchants—who were becoming economically powerful and controlled
prime real estate—out of Honolulu. If this was indeed the case, it didn't work: The determ-
ined merchants built a new Chinatown on the same spot.
