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History · Honomu

Honomu’s post office opened in 1900, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1914 on.

1900first post office
0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Honomu’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Honomu began

When was Honomu founded?

1900

The Honomu post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 452126 years
Founding year: the first Honomu post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Honomu’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19153 editions of the USGS map, 1915 to 1994. Watch Honomu change.Old housesHalf of Honomu’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Honomu’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewWedding at Honomu, photograph by Brothe…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Honomu on the map, 1915 to 1994

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

Honomu on the 1915 USGS mapHonomu on the 1966 USGS mapHonomu on the 1994 USGS map1915Honomu 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 Honomu.

The story so far

Honomu, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Honomu yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Its first post office opened in 1900. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 509 to 452 (-11%).

Timeline

Honomu, 1883 to 1915

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883In the archiveWedding at Honomu, photograph by Brother Bertram
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900Post officeThe Honomu post office opens
  5. 1915On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Honomu, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s1 item
Wedding at Honomu, photograph by Brother Bertram1883Wedding at Honomu, photograph by Brother Bertram
1890s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
Stopping in2023Stopping in2021-10-10 12 34 07 View northwest along Hawaii State Route 19 (Māmalahoa Highway) at Hawaii State Route 220 (Honomū Ro…20212021-10-10 12 34 07 View northwest along Hawaii State…2021-10-10 11 28 35 View southeast along Hawaii State Route 220 (Old Māmalahoa Highway) at ʻAkaka Falls Road in Honomū,…20212021-10-10 11 28 35 View southeast along Hawaii State…Honomu Hawaii 20082008Honomu Hawaii 2008HIMap-doton-Honomu2004HIMap-doton-Honomu
Every building

Honomu, building by building, 1914

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Honomu fire insurance map, 1914, sheet 11914Sheet 1 of 2
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Wedding at Honomu, photograph by Brother Bertram
Retake this viewWedding at Honomu, photograph by Brother Bertram, 1883

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Honomu’s page.

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Honomu’s history

What year was Honomu founded?

The Honomu post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

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