Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Wailuku School · Photo: Joel Bradshaw · Public domainMore historic than 36% of U.S. towns · #18 of 93 in Hawaii. What drives it
Most of Wailuku was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. 10 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 4 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1833 on and the census since 2000.
The Wailuku post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 36% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wailuku is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #18 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 Wailuku’s 7.7 sits above most of its state (85% of Hawaii towns have fewer) while its 13 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% 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 country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Wailuku’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).
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Wailuku.
Home to some of Maui's Hawaiian rulers, site of Kamehameha's 1790 victory at the Battle of Kepaniwai in the ʻĪao Valley, location of the 19th century Mission Station and birthplace of the sugar industry, Wailuku illustrates the influences that shaped the town, island, and state.
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.
Born hereKeōpūolani is born here
In the archiveFemale Seminary, Wailuku, engraved by Kalama
In the archiveFemale Seminary, Wailuku, ca. 1840. Drawn by Edward Bailey, engraved by Kapeau
In the archiveValley and Mountains of Wailuku, engraving by W. RobertsBuiltBaldwin, Henry Perrine, High School is builtBorn hereShan Tsutsui is born hereBorn hereShane Victorino is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1830s to the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1833Female Seminary, Wailuku, engraved by KalamaDocument
1833Wailuku, Maui, engraving from LahainalunaDocumentc. 1840Female Seminary, Wailuku, ca. 1840. Drawn by Edward B…1851Valley and Mountains of Wailuku, engraving by W. Robe…
1854Wailuku, Maui by Lossing-Barritt
c. 1855Wailuku Mission, East Maui, Sandwich Islands, 1855, w…No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Wailuku’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 12,296 and 17,697 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wailuku’s Wikipedia page.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Wailuku post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Wailuku is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #18 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.
10 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Old Bailey House (listed 1973, the first), 1 historic district, the Wailuku Civic Center Historic District, with 4 contributing buildings, and 2 structures. 13 historic buildings in all.
5% of Wailuku’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 1.7% for a Hawaii town; the median home was built in 1987.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (10), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
