1959: Statehood approved for Hawaii
Final congressional approval to admit Hawaii as the 50th state in the U.S. was given today by the House of Representatives with a vote of 323-89. Approval in the House came less than 24 hours after the Senate voted 76-15 in favor of the statehood bill.
"As the House roll call reached the 218 affirmative votes needed for passage, Gov. William F. Quinn, who was waiting here, telephoned a signal for bonfire celebrations to be touched off in Hawaii," an article in the San Mateo Times explained on March 12, 1959. "It was a moment the 575,000 residents of the last incorporated territory under the American flag had awaited for more than 50 years."
On August 21, 1959, President Eisenhower officially proclaimed Hawaii a state and presented a new 50-star flag for the nation. It was the second time in the same year that Eisenhower had proclaimed a new state, as Alaska became part of the Union on January 3, 1959.
[Submitted by Frances Cooley]


Three hundred thousand acres of land on Hawaii, Sandwich Islands, being one twelfth of the whole area of the kingdom, was sold recently for $3,100. It contains a half a dozen good sized volcanoes, four or five sheep farms, and an immense quantity of pulu in the rough. The purchaser was C. C. Harris, who has been dub- bed, since the auction sale, the Duke of Kahuku, which is the name of the land in question. [Illinois State Democrat, Aug. 29, 1860 - submitted by Candi Horton]

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