Straddling the Hanapepe River, the east and west sides of Hanapepe town are connected by a single-lane bridge with an elevated pedestrian sidewalk (1911). Originally, a rather substantial Hawaiian settlement resided in this area thanks to the fertile, well-irrigated, flat valley floor, which supported extensive taro loi (fields). Disease, however, decimated the native Hawaiian people, and by the mid-nineteenth century, the area's population had dwindled to a few hundred. Chinese rice farmers were attracted to the already established wetland agriculture fields, and they intermingled with the Hawaiian population during the 1880s. The town expanded in the 1890s, most likely a result of the growth in sugar production at neighboring Makaweli and Eleele. It was also during this period that Japanese merchants, leaving the plantations, established enterprises in the town. During the 1930s, Hanapepe's prosperity began to decline. Not only did merchants have to contend with the worldwide economic depression but Nawiliwili Harbor in Lihue supplanted Port Allen as Kauai's primary port, and the belt highway traversing the west side of the island was rerouted to bypass the town. As a result, Hanapepe has maintained much of its early-twentieth-century appearance. Land planners in the late 1940s attempted to refocus community activity to the makai side of the belt highway, with a minimum of success.
Writing Credits
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.