The simply designed functional construction, consisting of a large, open-air, covered space divided into stalls, remains in use today for selling fresh fish and produce.

Sailors and marines from HMS Heroine were credited with keeping the fire contained to Chinatown by blowing up buildings.

The situation had become so dire in Honolulu that Emerson, Day and Wood were afforded absolute dictatorial authority over Hawaii.

This was the result of an agreement between the President of the Provisional Hawaiian Government, Mr. Sanford Ballard Dole, and the Attorney General, Mr. Henry E. Cooper, who concurred that nothing should impede the battle of the "dread disease".

[22] According to the Annual Reports published by the Hawaii State Department of Health, the first case of the bubonic plague was Yon Chong, a 22-year-old Chinese man who worked as a bookkeeper in Chinatown.

[23] Chong fell sick on December 9, 1899, and formed buboes, leading his attending physician to suspect the plague.

Yon Chong died the following day, and Cooper made an announcement to the public about this first bubonic plague death.

Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes bubonic plague, is transmitted by the oriental rat flea and has been historically propagated along various trade routes to the west from China.

In 1899, the Nippon Maru anchored in Honolulu Harbor en route to San Francisco, and reported the death of a Chinese passenger.

According to one record, due diligence was executed on the part of the Board of Health with respect to the passengers and goods, though little attention was paid to the chance of rats escaping and going ashore.

[26] The bubonic plague was introduced into Honolulu on October 20, 1899, by an offloaded shipment of rice from the America Maru, which had also been carrying rats.

[citation needed] At that time, Chinese immigration to Hawaii had resulted in crowded residences in Chinatown with poor living conditions and sewage disposal.

[citation needed] The Board of Health responded by incinerating garbage, renovating the sewer system, putting Chinatown under quarantine, and most of all burning affected buildings.

White residents who had gathered to watch the fire escorted the victims to refugee camps by force, using baseball bats and pick handles to ensure compliance.

[32] About 36 acres (15 ha) of the district was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Oahu on January 17, 1973, as site 73000658.

[34] In November 2007 the park was renamed to honor Sun Yat-sen, who came to Chinatown in 1879; he was educated and planned the Chinese Revolution of 1911 during his Hawaiian stay.

[35] The Chinatown-Downtown Honolulu Neighborhood Board is an elected nine-member volunteer organization dedicated to improving the governance of this specially designated region.

Currently, the Board is chaired by Ernest Caravalho and meets on the first Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Keʻelikolani Middle School Cafeteria 1302 Queen Emma Street, Honolulu, Hawaii.

[37] The Skyline rail system is anticipated to extend service to Chinatown by 2031;[38] the future Hōlau station will be built in the median of Nimitz Highway between River and Kekaulike.