A Walking Tour of Historic Fagotogo, Tutuila, American Samoa

Enright, John

This walking tour features 15 sites of interest in historic Fagotogo: the Custom House, Commissary (now Jean P. Hayden Museum), Radio Station (now Territorial Registrar's Office), Malae o le Talu, Fita Fita Barracks (now Dept. of Public Safety), Samoan Jail (now INTERPOL/SPICIN headquarters), Magazine, Bake Shop (now Samoa Photo/Western Union), Maota Fono, Generator House (now American Samoa Telecommunications Authority), St Joseph the Worker Catholic Co-Cathedral, Congregational Christian Church O Le Ki O Le Malo O Le Lagi, Administration Building (now High Court of American Samoa), Fautasi long boat shed, and Sadie's Restaurant. From introduction: "The village of Fagatogo is the center of American Samoa. As the administrative headquarters of the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila from 1900 to I 951, it was for many decades the most westernized village in the Territory. It is still today the seat of government and the shipping, financial, and commercial center of American Samoa. The United States' interest in Tutuila began wit h the American-Samoan Treaty of 1878 that provided the non-exclusive right for the U.S. to establish a naval station on Pago Pago Bay. The U.S. recognized the need to establish a naval coaling station on the Hawaii-New Zealand shipping route and shortly after the treaty rented land in Fagatogo at $10 a month to be used for a coal depot. The coal lay in the open and during rainy weather discolored the waters of the bay. In 1889 Rear Admiral L.A. Kimberly USN visited the island and selected the site of the future naval station. Seven initial tracts of land, totaling roughly 17 acres, were purchased for a total price of $3,241.79. Construction of a wooden-floored steel dock, corrugated iron coal shed, storehouse, and manager's dwelling did not commence for another ten years. None of these structures remain today. A water reservoir in the hills behind the station was also built, and expansion of the site by filling in the bay to the edge of the fringing reef was begun. By 1907 more than 8 acres of shorefront facing the Naval Station would be thus "reclaimed." Official U.S. Naval occupation of the station started with the signing of the Deed of Cession by the High Chiefs of Tutuila and Aunu'u and the raising of the American Flag on April 17, 1900. By the end of the Navy's administration, in 1951, the station occupied 216 acres of land (including 24 acres of "reclaimed" reel), and there were approximately 105 structures on the station. Today only twelve structures remain. In 1988, most of the remaining Naval buildings both in Fagatogo and in the neighboring village of Utulei were entered onto the National Register of Historic Places as part of the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila Historic District. Our walking tour begins at the main dock. The first Navy buildings erected here were of slight frame construction. The commandant, officers, and ship's crew all lived on board the station ship. In 1902, a small concrete building was erected near the station dock to serve as the first custom house. This building was replaced in 1920 by the present large customhouse along the waterfront to the southwest of the station dock (Customhouse, Navy Bldg. No. 67)." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant administered by the American Samoa Historic Preservation Office and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.