Celebrating 140 Years of Caring: In the Beginning ...

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		King Kamehameha IV, 1834-1863 Alexander Liholiho ascended the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii at the age of twenty within an hour of the death of his uncle and adopted father, Kamehameha III. In ideas and tastes, Liholiho was decidedly an Anglophile. In 1860 he requested support from Britain's Queen Victoria to establish an Anglican mission in Hawaii by offering land for a church and an annual stipend to cover the salary for a qualified clergyman. Nonetheless, he understood America's commercial primacy in Hawaii and accepted a proposed reciprocity treaty that would allow duty-free trade in sugar, textiles and other commodities. However, the efforts of this treaty failed during his reign. Fluent in both English and Hawaiian, Liholiho translated in the latter language the English Book of Common Prayer. Weakened by asthma and the grief over his four year old son's death in August 1862, Alexander Liholiho died on November 30, 1863 at the age of twenty-nine.
For more information on King Kamehameha IV, see the biography of the King at the Queen's Medical Center web site (http://www.queens.org).

		Queen Emma, 1836-1885 Emma Naea was the great-granddaughter of Keliimaikai, full brother to Kamehameha I. She was also a granddaughter of John Young, a British seaman who joined Kamehameha's court in the late 1790s as an advisor and married the chiefess Kaonahea. Emma was adopted by her maternal aunt, Grace Kamaikui Young Rooke, whose husband Dr. Thomas Rooke served as royal physician and cared for many of Honolulu's populace. Emma married Kamehameha IV on June 19, 1856 and shared in his efforts in founding the Queen's Hospital and introducing the Episcopal Church in Hawaii. Emma also sponsored the founding of St. Andrew's Priory School for Girls. When King Lunalilo died in 1874 without naming a successor, she ran against David Kalakaua. Her supporters mobbed the courthouse when only six out of thirty-nine votes cast were for Emma.
For more information on Queen Emma, see the biography of the Queen at the Queen's Medical Center web site (http://www.queens.org).

Charles Reed Bishop
Born in Glen Falls, New York, Charles Reed Bishop arrived in Honolulu in 1846 and became a naturalized subject three years later. Holding various government positions, including collector general of customs, he recognized the need for a bank and founded Bank of Bishop which today is known as First Hawaiian Bank. He married Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop in 1850. In 1883 Pauahi inherited from Princess Ruth the bulk of the Kamehameha landed property. Ten years later Bishop was made a noble of the kingdom and a life member of the upper house of the Legislature. Widely known for his philanthropy, Bishop provided financial support to the growing sugar industry and to the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, a memorial to his wife. Bishop was a charter member of the first board of Trustees of Queen's Hospital and contributed significant funds towards its development, which included the Bishop Wing built in 1893 and an endowed bed.

Theodore Heuck
Hawaii's first professional architect was born in Hamburg, Germany, where he trained as an architect, engineer, and carpenter. He arrived in Hawaii in 1850. His first important work was the construction of the Queen's Hospital in 1860. While serving in the legislature of the Kingdom from 1864 to 1867, Heuck designed the Royal Mausoleum, as well as additions to the prison, custom's house and Iolani Barracks. In addition to his position as trustee of Queen's, he was also secretary of the Board of Health. He left Honolulu in 1874 after being made a Knight of the Order of Kamehameha I, and died in his native Hamburg.

Dr. William Hillebrand
Dr. Hillebrand served as the Hospital's first physician from 1859 to 1871. His initial salary was $1,500 per annum. Physician to the royal family, he was one of the founding members of the Hawaiian Medical Society in 1856 and a member of the Board of Health in 1863. The Privy Council commissioned Hillebrand to seek workers in the Orient to replace native workers in 1865. In 1877 he arranged for the emigration of workers from Madeira and the Azores. As a member of the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society he brought numerous plants and animals including cinnamon, Mandarin orange, Chinese plum, Japanese finches, mynah birds, Chinese quail and pheasants to Hawaii. Many rare trees, planted by the doctor himself, are still to be seen on the grounds of Queen's and Foster Gardens, which was his home. He authored Flora of the Hawaiian Islands in which 250 species of rare plants, then unknown to the botanical world, are described.

Queen's Hospital, 1865
The Hospital's original coral building was completed in 1860. In 1922, it was razed to make way for a new building called Nalani.

Queen's Hospital, 1880's
Before trained nurses worked at Queen's, patients were allowed to bring their own "kokuas" to aid them. Some of the patients and their helpers are seen here on the lawn in front of the original building.

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First Posted: 1999