thumb|300px|Oahu College, by J. Moynet, based on a photograph by H. Chase
Oahu College (originally and later, Punahou School; 1853-1934) was located in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was a school for the children of Protestant missionaries serving throughout the Pacific region. It was the first school west of the Rocky Mountains and east of Asia with classes in English only. Liliha and her husband, Oahu Governor Boki, gave Ka Punahou to Reverend Hiram Bingham, one of the first Protestant missionaries in Hawaii. Queen Kaahumanu was a strong supporter of the mission and built a house for herself near Bingham. A portion of the stone wall she had built to protect the compound from roaming cattle has been preserved. The first class was held on July 11, 1842, and had 15 students. Daniel Dole was Punahou's first principal.
History
thumb|The Oahu College at the Sandwich Islands (1856)
thumb|Catalogue of the teachers and pupils of Punahou school and Oahu College for twenty-five years, ending 1866, with an account of the quarter century celebration held at Punahou June 15th, 1866 (1866)
Early in the 1830s, the advantages of Punahou as a site for a boarding school were observed by the Mission, and long before Mr. Bingham's return to the United States in 1840, he had fully approved of its being set apart for that purpose. At that period, no missionary could hold an individual title to land. The project of founding such a school was brought up in 1837, but postponed for financial reasons.
In the meeting of May 1841, the school was definitely founded, the sum of appropriated for the buildings, supplemented by private subscriptions, and Rev. Daniel Dole and his wife, who had just arrived, together with Miss Marcia Smith, were appointed teachers. During that year, the site was prepared under the direction of Mr. Chamberlain and Dr. Judd, a cellar dug, and one-story adobe thatched buildings erected, enclosing two courts, open towards the sea. Four additional rooms were built in 1844. They lasted for 40 years. Rice Hall was built in 1846, and Dole Hall in 1848.