Hawaii history at a glance
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Following are significant dates and events relating to the Church in Hawaii and the history of what was once called the Sandwich Islands:
- Jan. 18, 1778: Captain James Cook finds Hawaii.
- May 11, 1843: Joseph Smith calls first LDS missionaries to the Sandwich
Islands. These missionaries arrive in Tubua'i (now part French Polynesia)
in 1844 and decide to remain.
- June 20, 1846: Sam Brannan and members traveling by sea to California
make landfall in Hawaii. Sam Brannan preaches first known LDS sermon on the
islands.
- Dec. 12, 1850: Ten LDS missionaries — called from the gold fields
of California — arrive in Honolulu. The next day, Elder Hiram Clark
leads the missionaries to a point above the city, later known as Pacific
Heights, where he dedicates Hawaii for the preaching of the gospel. Two
days later, they disperse throughout the islands.
- Feb. 10, 1851: President Hiram Clark baptizes first Hawaiian member of
the Church.
- Aug. 6, 1851: Elders George Q. Cannon and James Keeler organize the
first branch in the islands at Kealakou near Pulehu, Maui. Hawaiian leaders
are ordained.
- Jan. 27, 1852: Elder Cannon, assisted by a local member, begins
translation of Book of Mormon into Hawaiian.
- June 14, 1900: The U.S. annexes Hawaii.
- Nov. 27, 1919: President Heber J. Grant dedicates new Hawaii Temple on
Thanksgiving Day. (President Joseph F. Smith had dedicated the site in
1915. He died in 1918. The temple was rededicated in 1978 by President
Spencer W. Kimball after renovations.)
- June 30, 1935: President Grant forms the Oahu Stake, the first outside
the continental U.S.
- Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, bringing the U.S. into
World War II.
- July 21, 1954: The First Presidency announces the establishment of the
Church College of Hawaii (now BYU-Hawaii).
- Aug. 21, 1959: Hawaii becomes 50th U.S. state.
- Oct. 12, 1963: President Hugh B. Brown dedicates the Polynesian
Cultural Center.
- Jan. 23, 2000: President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicates the Kona Hawaii
Temple, the second in Hawaii.
- Dec. 12, 2000: Church in Hawaii celebrates concluding sesquicentennial
in activities.
