National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Sogelau Hill Flag Pole

Klenck, Joel

A National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for the Sogelau Hill Flag Pole Narrative Description summary paragraph: "Sogelau Hill Flag Pole is a flat terrace on the side of a hill measuring approximately 10.2 m. in length, 6.7 m. in width, orientated along an axis of 248 degrees magnetic. The property is located on a hill in Fagatogo, in Mauputasi County, Tutuila Island, American Samoa. The area is filled with lush grass partially shaded by the hill and trees tended by an extended Samoan family that owns the area. In the center of the terrace is a flag pole where the first formal raising of the flag of the United States, occurred on April 17, 1900, symbolizing American Samoa's deed of cession to the United States." Statement of Significance summary paragraph: "Sogelau Hill Flag Pole meets criterion "A" of the National Register because Sogelau is a place associated with a ceremony and event important to the establishment of the government and community of American Samoa. For over 110 years, Sogelau Hill is renowned as the site for the first formal raising of the U.S. flag in American Samoa following its Deed of Cession to the United States. The family owning Sogelau Hill continues to maintain the property and encourages annual visitation of Samoans and visitors to the site, the locale of a significant event: the first Flag Day of American Samoa. Each year, the inhabitants of Tutuila and tourists ascend the concrete steps and pathway to Sogelau Hill and are treated to a spectacular view of the harbor at Pago Pago, from the well-maintained grassy area surrounding the flag pole. The site exhibits the iron pieces that anchored the first flag pole of American Samoa in 1900. The beauty of the views at and from Sogelau Hill causes feelings of civic pride and spectacle associated with the Sogelau locale. These outlooks combine with the largely intact conservation of the terrace that has been visited for more than a century and yet retains its continual association with the day that established American Samoa, its government, and its association with the United States." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the American Samoa Historic Preservation Office, Executive Offices of the Governor, administered by the Pacific West Regional Office, National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior.

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Sogelau Hill Flag Pole

See also

Collections