Kapiolani Park a History, a richly illustrated hardcover book, was published by KPPS in 2002 and is available in bookstores including Borders, Barnes & Noble, Native Books, several museum shops, the Aquarium, and the Zoo for $24.95.

The book can also be purchased directly from KPPS, and if you would like to add the book to your gift program or carry it in your store, please contact us for multiple item pricing. Members can buy the book at a 20% discount if buying directly from KPPS.

Authored by Dr. Robert Weyeneth, Professor of History at the University of South Carolina, who first researched and wrote about the Park in 1991 when he was a University of Hawaii Professor, the book contains never-before-published pictures of the Park over its 127 years.

His narrative starts with the Park's dedication in 1877 by King Kalakaua, who leased the land to the Kapiolani Park Association which developed it with house lots and a horse-racing track, planted trees, built walks and roads. In 1896, they established the Kapiolani Park Trust that governs the Park. By court order, today's Trustees are the Honolulu City Council members.

Dr. Weyeneth traces the proposed developments and controversies dealt with by various Park managers, from the controversies over the transfer of oceanfront lots to business leaders in the 1890s, to the proposed intrusion of a Burger King a century later, to the current problem of the proliferation of craft fairs.

Sidebars by historian MacKinnon Simpson make the book also an architectural and pictorial history. Simpson assembled vintage and current photographs and produced features on the Zoo, the Natatorium, the Kodak Hula Show, the early rowboat rides and horse-racing, the later polo, the fountains, the bandstands, the exceptional trees, houses around the Park, the reconstructed trolley stop shelter, the restored Kaneloa Wetland, and some of the individuals who have influenced the Parks evolution.

Sales of the book help the Society continue its successes in keeping the Park's 170 acres of green space and outstanding trees beautiful and accessible to all.