Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #29 of 93 in Hawaii. What drives it
Most of Koloa was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1963 on.
The Koloa post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Koloa is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #29 of 93 in Hawaii. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Koloa’s 6.9 sits above most of its state (84% of Hawaii towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Koloa’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Koloa.
The Old Sugar Mill of Koloa was the first major sugarcane plantation in Hawaii in 1835. Missionary Daniel Dole and his family opened a boarding school for English-speaking children, sometimes called the Koloa Academy, in 1855.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltOld Sugar Mill of Koloa is built
Born hereWilliam Owen Smith is born here
Born hereJonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole is born here
Born hereYukio Okutsu is born here
Born hereRaymond Kāne is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Koloa. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Koloa.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Koloa’s post office has been open since 1900.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Koloa post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Koloa is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #29 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.
Two places: the Old Sugar Mill of Koloa (listed 1966) and the Sueoka Market (2019).
5% of Koloa’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 1.7% for a Hawaii town; the median home was built in 1983.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (2), 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.
