lands during his childhood. John Papa Ii named the land “Mililani,” which means “exalted” or “to look skyward.” After his death in 1870, the area was put into a trust and then leased or sold. Castle & Cooke obtained most of the land from the trust, first transforming it into flourishing pineapple and sugar plantations. Workers from around the world would settle into small plantation villages in the Mililani Town area. But as the economy changed, the plantations began to close a century after their commencement. Castle & Cooke would again transform the land, creating a comfortable residential community in the late 1960s. One of the oldest communities on Oahu, Wahiawa means “place of noise” or “rumbling” in Hawaiian. Many contend the name signifies the sounds from gigantic waves breaking off nearby North Shore beaches, while others attribute it to the thundering voices of ancestral gods as they welcomed Mililani Town & Wahiawa 258 And in 1410, when the chiefs of Maui and the Big Island attacked Oahu, a decisive battle was fought in Kipapa Gulch, which runs along the southeast side of Mililani. This bloody battle would result in an Oahu victory, with local legends still swirling about the spirits of the warriors in the gulch. In 1850, King Kamehameha III granted the Waipio Ahupuaa – which included Mililani – to John Papa Ii, son of a Kona chief who adored exploring the Mililani Kukaniloko Birthing Stones are located north of Wahiawa
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