Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns · #33 of 93 in Hawaii. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Waimalu Shopping Center. Most of Waimalu was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1954 on.
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Waimalu is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #33 of 93 in Hawaii. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Waimalu’s 0.8 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Hawaii towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Waimalu’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Waimalu yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Waimalu (Hawaiian pronunciation: [vɐjˈmɐlu] , lit. 'sheltered water') is a census-designated place (CDP) in Honolulu County, Hawaiʻi, United States. The population was 13,817 at the 2020 census.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 13,730 in 2010, 13,817 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Weddings 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 Waimalu. 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 Waimalu.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Waimalu itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Waimalu is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #33 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.
One place: the Waimalu Shopping Center (listed 2021).
0.5% of Waimalu’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.7% for a Hawaii town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
