Founding year: the first Waianae post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
History grade
What drives Waianae’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Waianae is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #74 of 93 in Hawaii. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Waianae’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 Waianae’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Hawaii towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±0.6 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 Waianae’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 Waianae yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Waiʻanae (Hawaiian pronunciation: [vɐjʔəˈnɐe̯] ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. As of the 2020 census, the CDP population was 13,614. Its name means "waters of the mullet". Its etymology is shared with the far northern Wellington suburb of Waikanae, located in New Zealand.
Its first post office opened in 1900. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 13,177 to 13,614 (+3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Waianae, 1900 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Waianae post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Waianae rank for history?
Waianae is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #74 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.
How old are the homes in Waianae?
0.6% of Waianae’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.7% for a Hawaii town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
