Now a community of a little over 4,500 people, Laie was a sparsely populated Hawaiian village in the early nineteenth century. In 1865, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) acquired six thousand acres in the area and developed a relatively unsuccessful sugar plantation here. The community's temple (OA168) was the first LDS temple constructed outside the United States. In addition to the temple, Brigham Young University–Hawaii (founded in 1955; 55-220 Kulanui Street) is located here, as is the Polynesian Cultural Center (1963; 55-379 Kamehameha Highway), which presents the various cultures of the Pacific Islands.
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