In 1898 he purchased the Pacific Commercial Advertiser newspaper (forerunner of the present-day Honolulu Advertiser).

As principal owner and publisher after 1900, he promoted the sugar and pineapple industries.
He headed the Hawaiian Promotion Committee (which evolved into the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau), but his conservative values objected to the hula which he called "suggestive" and "indecent".

His fortunes rose considerably as a result of the 1898 annexation by the United States, since it removed all duties from shipments to the largest market.
Thurston is credited with promoting the development of Hawaiʻi's sugarcane plantations and railroads and bringing the first electric street cars to Honolulu.

Following World War I he called for government restrictions on Japanese-language schools, legislation that was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Thurston put out a special edition to support the fight to ban billboards in Hawaiʻi.
He worked with Wallace Rider Farrington and Alexander Hume Ford to hold a world conference of newspaper editors.

He was also a volcano enthusiast, starting in his childhood exploring Haleakalā on Maui.
He would act as an informal tour guide for visitors to the summit, and used oral history to estimate the time of its last eruption.
In 1891, he bought and expanded the Volcano House hotel at the rim of the active Kīlauea volcano on the island of Hawaiʻi.
Thurston commissioned a cyclorama of Kīlauea which he displayed in his travels to the mainland, including the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894 in San Francisco.

Thurston eventually made peace with George Lycurgus, who had been an insurgent against Thurston's government, and sold him the Volcano House in 1902.

He also became friends with early volcanologist Dr. Thomas Jaggar in 1909 and raised money to fund the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in 1912.
He used his newspaper to promote the national park idea and convinced the territorial legislature to fund a group of congressmen to visit Haleakalā and Kīlauea in 1907.
The trip included a dinner cooked over active lava vents.
He hosted a visit by the Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield in 1908, and another congressional visit in 1909.
He convinced Governor Walter F. Frear to introduce a resolution supporting the idea, and formed a survey team to propose exact boundaries.
 His newspaper printed endorsements of the park by President Theodore Roosevelt (a classmate at Columbia), conservationist John Muir, and powerful senator Henry Cabot Lodge.

In 1913 he explored a lava tube in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park that is named after him.
The park was finally formed in 1916.

He added a preface and published a second edition of his grandmother's book on early missionary life in May 1921.

His memoirs were published in a limited edition (along with those of Sanford Dole) after his death in 1931 by his newspaper.

The newspaper business was run by his son Lorrin Potter Thurston, whose policy of using the term "Jap" during World War II pleased the military, but not local readers of Japanese descent.
After the war readership declined, until its hostile take-over in 1962 by Lorrin's grandson Thurston Twigg-Smith who changed to a more moderate editorial line.
In 1992 it was sold to Gannett Company as the next generation of the family had no interest in running the paper.
Twigg-Smith wrote a book about the overthrow and the role of his grandfather in 1998, and criticizing the modern Hawaiian Sovereignty movement.

In 1966, a chapel at Punahou School designed by Vladimir Ossipoff was named after Robert Shipman Thurston, Jr. of the class of 1941 who disappeared in World War II.
In 1898 he purchased the Pacific Commercial Advertiser newspaper (forerunner of the present-day Honolulu Advertiser).
As principal owner and publisher after 1900, he promoted the sugar and pineapple industries. He headed the Hawaiian Promotion Committee (which evolved into the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau), but his conservative values objected to the hula which he called "suggestive" and "indecent". 
His fortunes rose considerably as a result of the 1898 annexation by the United States, since it removed all duties from shipments to the largest market. Thurston is credited with promoting the development of Hawaiʻi's sugarcane plantations and railroads and bringing the first electric street cars to Honolulu. 
Following World War I he called for government restrictions on Japanese-language schools, legislation that was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Thurston put out a special edition to support the fight to ban billboards in Hawaiʻi. He worked with Wallace Rider Farrington and Alexander Hume Ford to hold a world conference of newspaper editors.
He was also a volcano enthusiast, starting in his childhood exploring Haleakalā on Maui. He would act as an informal tour guide for visitors to the summit, and used oral history to estimate the time of its last eruption. In 1891, he bought and expanded the Volcano House hotel at the rim of the active Kīlauea volcano on the island of Hawaiʻi. Thurston commissioned a cyclorama of Kīlauea which he displayed in his travels to the mainland, including the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894 in San Francisco.
Thurston eventually made peace with George Lycurgus, who had been an insurgent against Thurston's government, and sold him the Volcano House in 1902.
He also became friends with early volcanologist Dr. Thomas Jaggar in 1909 and raised money to fund the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in 1912. He used his newspaper to promote the national park idea and convinced the territorial legislature to fund a group of congressmen to visit Haleakalā and Kīlauea in 1907. The trip included a dinner cooked over active lava vents. He hosted a visit by the Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield in 1908, and another congressional visit in 1909. He convinced Governor Walter F. Frear to introduce a resolution supporting the idea, and formed a survey team to propose exact boundaries.  His newspaper printed endorsements of the park by President Theodore Roosevelt (a classmate at Columbia), conservationist John Muir, and powerful senator Henry Cabot Lodge.
In 1913 he explored a lava tube in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park that is named after him. The park was finally formed in 1916.
He added a preface and published a second edition of his grandmother's book on early missionary life in May 1921.
His memoirs were published in a limited edition (along with those of Sanford Dole) after his death in 1931 by his newspaper.
The newspaper business was run by his son Lorrin Potter Thurston, whose policy of using the term "Jap" during World War II pleased the military, but not local readers of Japanese descent. After the war readership declined, until its hostile take-over in 1962 by Lorrin's grandson Thurston Twigg-Smith who changed to a more moderate editorial line. In 1992 it was sold to Gannett Company as the next generation of the family had no interest in running the paper. Twigg-Smith wrote a book about the overthrow and the role of his grandfather in 1998, and criticizing the modern Hawaiian Sovereignty movement.
In 1966, a chapel at Punahou School designed by Vladimir Ossipoff was named after Robert Shipman Thurston, Jr. of the class of 1941 who disappeared in World War II.
Lorrin A. Thurston