Some of our streets have interesting stories behind their names. The newspaper does regular features on the subject, and my friend Rich Budnick even wrote two books about it: "Hawaiian Street Names" and "Maui Street Names."

Several people have asked me about Beretania Street. They know that Beretania is a Hawaiianized version of Britain and was so named because the British Consulate was originally on the street. They asked me if I knew where it was.

For many years I didn’t, but then in the Hawaiiana Room of the Hawaii State Library, I came upon a map that dated to 1843, and on the map was the British Consulate.

The British Consulate was on the corner of Beretania and Miller streets, about where the Department of Health building is today.

Who was Miller, you ask? William Miller has an interesting story. He was the second British consul to Hawaii. Miller was born in Kent, England, in 1795. He fought in the Napoleonic Wars, then participated in several South American independence wars with Simon Bolivar.

The president of Peru promoted him to general. He was wounded in battle 22 times, and two bullets were discovered in his liver after his death at age 66. He had carried them for more than 40 years.

Miller was appointed consul to Hawaii in 1844, following the first consul, Richard Charlton, who started the consulate in 1824.

Charlton was immensely unpopular and found himself embroiled in several lawsuits. In one he lost the land next to the consulate that would become Washington Place, a year before the map was drawn.

The map shows Washington Place on Beretania Street mauka of Richards. It was built by Capt. John Dominis. His son, John Owen Dominis, would reside there with his wife, Queen Liliuokalani. After that, 12 governors and their families would call it home.

Just Ewa of that, the Cathedral Church of St. Andrew would be built in 1867.

Miller Street runs from Prospect Street and is then bifurcated by the freeway. Today it runs past the Queen’s Medical Center, built in 1859, the Queen Liliuokalani building, the Department of Health and down into the basement of the state Capitol. Before the Capitol was built, Miller Street ran all the way to Hotel Street, where it ended.

The naming of Beretania Street reflects the closeness our kings and queens felt to Great Britain. Queen Victoria was on the throne from 1837 until 1901, a period of time that coincided with the reigns of all our monarchs except for Kamehameha I and Kamehameha II, the latter of whom died in London.

Many of our royalty visited England, and Queen Emma in particular was quite close to Queen Victoria. Her only son, Albert, was named for the queen’s husband.

Some interesting things can be seen on the 1843 map. The fort that gave Fort Street its name can be clearly seen at the waterfront. Fort Street led directly to its entrance at Queen Street.

Queen Street was named for Queen Kalama, the wife of Kamehameha III. In 1843 it was the street that came closest to the shoreline. Previously it had been called Sea Street.

Richards Street was named for the Rev. William Richards (1793-1847), a missionary who became an adviser to Kamehameha III. He was the first minister of public instruction.

Bishop and Bethel Streets did not exist in 1843, and it would be 38 years before any Hawaii street was paved. That honor would go to Fort Street in 1881.

Iolani Palace is curiously missing from the 1843 map. The palace we know today was built in 1882 by King Kalakaua. It replaced an earlier, smaller palace that was erected in 1844, just after the map was drawn, called Hale Alii.

The chapel below King Street between Nuuanu and Fort is the Seaman’s Bethel church, now Central Union Church. Bethel means "house of God" in Hebrew.

Bishop Street was built by the Alexander Young Hotel around 1903 and was initially just one block long, fronting the hotel.

King Street ended at Richards in this 1843 map. Kawaiaha’o Church and the Mission Houses can be found in the middle right side of the map.

The first traffic light in Hawaii was erected at Beretania and Nuuanu in 1936.

Beretania Street has another distinction. In the 1840s it was the demarcation between "town" and "country." Makai of it was "town" and mauka of it was "country."

———
Bob Sigall, author of the “Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@yahoo.com.