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C+History
History · Captain Cook

Captain Cook’s post office opened in 1924, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 37% of U.S. towns · #17 of 93 in Hawaii. What drives it

Most of Captain Cook was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Its Register listings are the Daifukuji Soto Zen Mission and the Uchida Coffee Farm. Below: maps from 1928 on.

1924first post office
2on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Captain Cook began

When was Captain Cook founded?

1924

The Captain Cook post office opened in 1924, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 3,253102 years

How historic is Captain Cook?

C+

More historic than 37% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Captain Cook post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Captain Cook’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Captain Cook is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #17 of 93 in Hawaii. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Captain Cook’s overall grade.
Founding era1924, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 19407.8% of homes (±6.6) · typical HI town 1.7% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register2 listings, 3 historic buildings, 8.8 per 10,000 residents · typical HI town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 37%
NewerOlder
Hawaii towns of 2,500+ (93)Ahead of 83%

Few Hawaii towns list much on the Register (a typical Hawaii town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Captain Cook’s 8.8 sits above most of its state (88% of Hawaii towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Captain Cook’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Captain Cook are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Captain Cook’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Captain Cook’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Captain Cook came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Captain Cook.

Read it all →

The area surrounding present‑day Captain Cook has been inhabited for centuries and includes several sites significant to Native Hawaiian history. In 1779, British explorer Captain James Cook made landfall at nearby Kealakekua Bay during his third Pacific voyage. Cook was killed there on February 14, 1779, following a conflict between his crew and local residents.

The modern community developed much later. In the early 20th century, the Captain Cook Coffee Company established a post office in the upland agricultural zone above the bay. Under postal naming conventions of the period, the post office name became the name of the surrounding settlement, and the community has been known as Captain Cook since that time.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Captain Cook, 1921 to 1928

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1921BuiltDaifukuji Soto Zen Mission is built
  3. 1924Post officeThe Captain Cook post office opens
  4. 1928On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Captain Cook, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Book-hawaii-vtorov-0702013Book-hawaii-vtorov-070Kona Coast2012Kona CoastAmy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden2010Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden2010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map for20102010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map forBookKonawaenaHighSchool2009KonawaenaHighSchoolKohala Beach sleepers2006Kohala Beach sleepers
On the map

Captain Cook on the map, 1928 to 1996

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Captain Cook. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Captain Cook on the 1928 USGS mapCaptain Cook on the 1959 USGS mapCaptain Cook on the 1982 USGS mapCaptain Cook on the 1996 USGS map1928Honaunau sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Captain Cook.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Captain Cook

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1994
Daifukuji Soto Zen Mission
Daifukuji Soto Zen Mission, built 1921Uchida Coffee Farm
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular1
Daifukuji Soto Zen MissionBuilt 1921
Uchida Coffee FarmVernacular

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Honaunau-Napoopoo3 historic placesBKealakekua1 historic placeC+

Questions about Captain Cook’s history

What year was Captain Cook founded?

The Captain Cook post office opened in 1924, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Captain Cook rank for history?

Captain Cook is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #17 of 93 in Hawaii. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Captain Cook?

Two places: the Daifukuji Soto Zen Mission (listed 1994) and the Uchida Coffee Farm (1995).

How old are the homes in Captain Cook?

8% of Captain Cook’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 1.7% for a Hawaii town; the median home was built in 1986.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.