Kalaupapa: The Last Leper Colony

Leprosy.

Just speaking the word once created panic in the streets. The dreaded disease was feared for its physical, spiritual, and sociological consequences. Few people ever suffered as great of a stigma as lepers. They were shunned from polite society and forced to live as far away from civilization as possible. Leper colonies were where the most undesirable of all were sent to live out the rest of their days.

Of course, those days are long in the past. Today, leprosy (officially known as Hansen’s Disease) is rare and completely curable. The likelihood of anyone catching the disease is low, since 95% of us are naturally immune to the disease. Those few who come down with it (225 per year in the United States) can be treated and cured with antibiotics. (For more information about Hansen’s Disease, see this article from the CDC.)

We tend to think of leprosy as something that only affected those in undeveloped parts of the world. For that reason, you might be surprised to learn about the Kalaupapa Leper Colony — the last such establishment in the United States.

In 1866, under the rule of Kamehameha V, the Hawaii legislature enacted a law that led to the establishment of a designated leper colony on Molokaʻi. This colony served as a quarantine for individuals severely affected by leprosy, aiming to prevent the spread of the disease to others. More than 150 years later, the colony is still occupied.

With a peak population of 1,200 residents, the village of Kalaupapa Peninsula served nominally as a settlement where residents could be treated for their condition. In practice, it was primarily to protect the rest of society. Thousands of families were forcibly split up as lepers were exiled to a life sentence at the remote location.

The colony was started at the village of Kalawao and remained there until relocated to the current village. Established in 1873, it was home to Father Damien, Mother Marianne Cope, and physician Arthur Albert St. Mouritz. These individuals provided essential care and support to the inhabitants. Over time, the colony expanded to encompass the entire Kalaupapa peninsula, due to efforts by the Board of Health to relocate the last fishing village inhabitants.

In the course of several decades, the Hawaiian government exiled over 8,500 individuals. Once diagnosed, they were declared legally deceased. For all practical purposes, they were. They lived the rest of their days in complete isolation from the rest of the world.

In 1946, a cure for the illness arrived in Hawaii. The residents of Kalaupapa finally experienced real hope. The treatment made patients non-contagious, eliminating the need for isolation. In 1969, after more than a century after their implementation, the last of the mandatory isolation laws were repealed, allowing the residents to depart and mingle with the rest of society.

Although the colony is no longer needed for new patients and all existing patients were free to leave, many chose to stay. It was, after all, the only life many of them had ever known. As of April 2024, eight people were still on the patient register at Kalaupapa, with about half living full-time on the peninsula. The oldest will turn 100 this year.

In 1980, Kalaupapa was designated as a National Historical Park. Current and former patients work to preserve the history of the country’s last leper colony and to preserve the stories of his residents.

If you are in the area, be sure to visit Kalaupapa. It isn’t easy to get there, since it was chosen because of its geographic isolation. Thanks to modern medicine, there’s no need to worry about getting infected. Of far greater value is the benefit of catching some historical and scientific insights into a little known chapter in American history.

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