Hanapepe’s post office opened in 1900, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns · #35 of 93 in Hawaii. What drives it
Most of Hanapepe was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Its Register listing is the Hanapepe Town Lot No. 18. Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1963 on.
Founding year: the first Hanapepe post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Hanapepe’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hanapepe is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #35 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 Hanapepe’s overall grade.
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 Hanapepe’s 3.8 sits above most of its state (77% of Hawaii towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.9 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 Hanapepe’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Hanapēpē was one of the locations visited by the United States Exploring Expedition under Charles Wilkes; the expedition arrived in Hawaii in September 1840 and spent some time in the islands.
Hanapēpē is one of the few towns on Kauai that was not created by sugarcane plantations. In 1924, an armed labor dispute involving sugar workers occurred, ending in the Hanapepe massacre.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Hanapepe post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hanapepe rank for history?
Hanapepe is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #35 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 Hanapepe?
One place: the Hanapepe Town Lot No. 18 (listed 1993).
How old are the homes in Hanapepe?
3% of Hanapepe’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 1.7% for a Hawaii town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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