page_title: Utulei, American Samoa
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Utulei, American Samoa / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Run-down WWII encampments on the World War II Heritage Trail managed by the National Park of American Samoa
context_page_description: Utulei is a village in Maoputasi County in the Eastern District of Tutuila, the main island of American Samoa. Utulei is traditionally a section of Fagatogo village, the legislative capital of American Samoa, and is located on the southwest part of Pago Pago Harbor. The A. P. Lutali Executive Office Building is located here, just next to Feleti Barstow Library and paved roads that wind up to the former cablecar terminal on Solo Hill. The Governor's Mansion sits on Mauga o Alii, overlooking the entrance to Goat's Island as well as the Lt. Governor's residence directly below it. The Lee Auditorium, built in 1962, is also located in Utulei. American Samoa's television studios, known as the Michael J. Kirwan Educational Television Center, and the Rainmaker Hotel, are also found in Utulei. Utulei Terminal offers views of Rainmaker Mountain.
  Some Pago Pago-based hotels are located in Utulei, including Sadies by the Sea. Feleti Barstow Library is the central public library for American Samoa, and is located across Samoana High School. It has the largest selection of literature in American Samoa.
context_section_description: Utulei is delineated from Fagatogo by traditional distinction as this is where the High Chief Afoafouvale, or the Le Aloalii, resides.  Afoa Moega Lutu is the current title holder since 1990 and lives there at Maota o Tanumaleu.
  On November 3, 1920, Governor Warren Terhune committed suicide in Utulei.
  The village of Utulei was almost entirely displaced during World War II in favor of military installations. Its population at the time of around 700 was described by a Naval officer as just "a few native houses", and the Utulei residents were told to move away into the hills. Bachelor officer quarters and other military support facilities were built where Utulei village once was located.
  In 1946, the vacated two-story marine barracks at Utulei were renovated into the new Samoan Hospital with 224 beds. 2,771 patients were admitted in 1950. Around forty percent of babies born in American Samoa that year were delivered at the Utulei hospital. Nursing needs were filled by graduates from the local nursing school. Students were selected for the Central Medical School to fill physician needs for the islands. Besides 224 beds, the hospital had 27 bassinets, a pharmacy, and a dentistry. There was a severe shortage of physicians and other health care professionals after the Navy's departure in 1951. As of 1954, there was only one stateside doctor and one dentist, as well as three European doctors. The hospital care, therefore, depended heavily on nurses.
  The Michael J. Kirwan Educational Television Center was completed in 1964. It is named after Representative Michael J. Kirwan, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
  During the Flag Day military demonstrations in 1980, a U.S. Navy airplane hit the cables of the Mount ‘Alava Cable Car and crashed into the Rainmaker Hotel. All six naval personnel on board the aircraft died as well as two hotel guests.
caption: Remains of a World War II encampment above Utulei.
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