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Timeline / Defining Rights and Responsibilities / 1899: Bubonic plague diagnosed in Honolulu’s Chinatown

1899: Bubonic plague diagnosed in Honolulu’s Chinatown

After a shopkeeper in Honolulu’s Chinatown is diagnosed with the bubonic plague, the Territory of Hawai‘i’s Board of Health declares a state of emergency as more cases are identified. The outbreak is likely due to flea-infested rats disembarking from ships, and the flea-borne bacterial disease spreads in the squalid conditions of Chinatown. Business leaders are unsympathetic and turn against Chinatown.

“Plague lives and breeds in filth and when it got to Chinatown, it found its natural habitat.” —Dr. C. B. Wood, Board of Health, Territory of Hawai‘i

Theme
Epidemics
Region
Hawai‘i

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Armed guards patrolled areas infested with plague in 1899, quarantine camps were set up Enlarge

Armed guards patrol areas of Honolulu’s Chinatown during an outbreak of bubonic plague, 1899

Courtesy Hawai‘i State Archives

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Image of quarantine Enlarge

Quarantine in Honolulu’s Chinatown, 1899

Courtesy Hawai‘i State Archives

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Image from Hawai‘i quarantine Enlarge

Quarantined area of Honolulu’s Chinatown, 1899

Courtesy Hawai‘i State Archives

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Image of Chinatown fire in Hawai‘i Enlarge

Chinatown fire, set by health authorities in an attempt to control bubonic plague outbreak, Honolulu, 1899

Courtesy Hawai‘i State Archives

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Residents watching Chinatown Fire Enlarge

Residents watching Chinatown fire, set by health authorities in attempt to control bubonic plague outbreak, Honolulu, 1899

Courtesy Hawai‘i State Archives