Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Postmaster General
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Description area
Dates of existence
1850-12-22 / 1905-04-30
History
The first mention of a postal system in Hawai‘i was an enactment of the Legislature (4th Article, Second Act) on April 27, 1846, relating to the handling of inter-island mails. It was entitled "An Act to Organize the Executive Departments of the Hawaiian Islands,"and stated: "The collector general of customs and the collectors of the respective ports of entry and departure...shall be, ex-officio post masters, and entitled to receive and open, at their respective ports, the mail bags hereinafter specified. The minister of the interior shall appoint some trustworthy and discreet person, residing conveniently, on each of the islands where no port of entry and departure is established ••• to be the post master thereof."
The act further provided for furnishing leather postal bags, setting up schedules for closing of mails, and posting of lists of mail received by the postmaster.
By 1850, it was clear that the 1846 statute governing internal correspondence was insufficient. The Privy Council passed a decree in December 20, 1850 and the 1851 Legislature enacted a law that established a Post Office in Honolulu. The Privy Council appointed a postmaster, Henry M. Whitney, setting up rates for renumeration to ships' captains for carrying
the mails.
In 1870, the Post Office building at Merchant and Bethel streets was built and the post office remained there until May 1, 1922, when it relocated to the King and Richard street site in the newly constructed Federal Building.
Postmaster Generals through Annexation.
Henry M. Whitney (December 22, 1850 - July 1, 1856)
J. Jackson (July 1, 1856 - August 14, 1859) (Jackson died August 14, 1859)
A.K. Clarke {August 27, 1859 - June 30, 1863)
David Kalakaua (June 30, 1863 - March 18, 1865)
A.P. Brickwood (March 18, 1865 - July 20, 1881)
John M. Kapena (July 20, 1881 - February 13, 1883)
Henry M. Whitney (February 16, 1883 - April 15, 1886)
J.L. Kaulukou (April 15, 1886 - July 31, 1886)
Luther Aholo (July 31, 1886 - October 15, 1886)
F. Wundenberg (October 15, 1886 - May 2, 1891)
Walter Hill (May 2, 1891 - April 1, 1893)
Joseph Morton Oat (April 1, 1893 - April 30, 1905)
The U.S. assumed charge of the mail system on June 14, 1900.
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Maintenance notes
2021-09-15, Carol Kellett: Entered into AtoM.