The United States and the chiefs of Tutuila signed a treaty of commerce and friendship in 1879. The Navy bought land in Pago Pago Harbor in 1892 for a permanent coaling station to re-fuel American ships cruising in Pacific waters. But construction of Government House was postponed until 1898--the same year that the Spanish-American War began

   On February 19, 1900, President William McKinley signed an executive order placing the eastern Samoa islands under control of the Navy Department. Commander Benjamin F. Tilly was appointed the first military governor of "U.S. Naval Station Tutuila." In 1903, a large wood-frame structure was built for the governor overlooking the magnificent harbor. In peacetime and through two world wars, Government House was America's only diplomatic outpost in the South Pacific.