Kihei’s post office opened in 1900, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #51 of 93 in Hawaii. What drives it
Most of Kihei was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Its Register listing is the Kalepolepo Fishpond. Below: maps from 1954 on.
Founding year: the first Kihei post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Kihei’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kihei is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #51 of 93 in Hawaii. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Kihei’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 Kihei’s 0.5 sits near the middle of its state (59% 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 (±0.4 points) is firm at this size. 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 Kihei’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Kihei yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Kīhei (Hawaiian pronunciation: [tiːˈhɛj] , lit. 'cape, cloak') is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 21,423 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1900. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 20,881 to 21,423 (+3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Kihei, 1900 to 2001
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Kihei post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Kihei rank for history?
Kihei is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #51 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 Kihei?
One place: the Kalepolepo Fishpond (listed 1996).
How old are the homes in Kihei?
0.4% of Kihei’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.7% for a Hawaii town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
