We Have Deep roots in O'ahu
The history of O’ahu Cemetery is directly connected to Hawaii’s past. In 1844, the Kingdom of Hawaii was governed by a newly-instituted Constitutional Monarchy under King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli). At the time, Kamehameha III was a young and inexperienced leader who was struggling to maintain control of the islands, while also being pressured by a growing foreign population -- including explorers, traders, whalers, missionaries, and adventurers -- and their desires to assert political and economic dominance. Bowing to foreign pressure to bring more order to Honolulu, King Kamehameha III instituted sweeping political and social reforms.
With these institutional reforms, the need for a more suitable public burial ground for foreigners, particularly the merchant-class, also became apparent. Residents needed a neutral space in which to honor their loved ones along with the diverse individuals who died with no family nearby. So, in March of 1844, a deed for a land grant was signed by King Kamehameha III, conveying title of the land to O’ahu Cemetery (which was then called Nu’uanu Cemetery). Later that year, a “Proposed Plan for a Public Cemetery in the Vicinity of Honolulu” was drafted and adopted. That plan stated that it would give the community a “cemetery where our dead may rest in peace in a spot that shall be an ornament to the town, and an honor to the residents.” O’ahu Cemetery became the state’s first public cemetery and nondenominational burial ground in Hawaii.
Over the next ten years, the cemetery grew rapidly. In June of 1859, a charter was drafted and the cemetery was incorporated as one of the first non-profit corporations in the Islands. The charter specified that the corporation would be called the O’ahu Cemetery Association, and the charter has not changed since that time.
