Kekaha

For most of the 20th century, the Kekaha Sugar Factory was the center of agriculture in the western part of Kauai. Sugar production had a great influence on the development of Kekakh, including banking services, employment, transport, housing and communal services, such as water supply and electricity. Several generations of local families worked at the plant. In 2000, when the sugar industry in Hawaii collapsed, the plant was bought by investors from mainland America, who sold equipment to other plants in regions such as Africa .

In February 1920, Kekaha suffered the first (and only) train robbery in Hawaii when an armed masked robber slowly stopped a train carrying sugar slowly along the tracks and disappeared, grabbing $ 11,000 from the cash desk on board. Police found money in a swamp, not far from the house of a local fisherman, whose suspicious behavior soon led to his arrest and conviction. The fisherman was a big lover of Westerns , and it is believed that some of the films he watched inspired him to commit criminal acts.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the statistically isolated area of ​​Kekaha has a total area of ​​3.2 square kilometers, of which 2.6 km ² is land and 0.6 km ² or 18.03% is water.

According to the census for 2000 ^[4] , 3,175 people lived in Kekakha, there were 1,073 households, 799 families, and 1,162 houses. The average population density was about 1227.1 people per square kilometer.

The racial composition of Kekaha according to the census was as follows: 15.9% White , 0.2% Black or African American , 0.5% Native American , 43.6% Asian , 12.4% Pacific Native, 26.4% are representatives of mixed races, 1% are of other nationalities. Hispanics accounted for 8.7% of the population.

Of 1073 households, 30.4% raised children under the age of 18, 55.9% were cohabiting couples, in 13.1% of families women lived without husbands, 25.5% did not have a family. 21.4% of the total number of families at the time of the census lived independently, while 9.4% were single elderly people aged 65 years and older. On average, 2.96 people live in households, and the average family size is 3.44 people.

The population of Kekakh by age range (2000 census) was distributed as follows: 25.1% - residents under 18 years of age, 7.5% - between 18 and 24 years old, 24.4% - from 25 to 44 years old, 27.4 % - from 45 to 64 years old and 15.6% - at the age of 65 years and older. The average age of residents was 40 years. For every 100 females there are 98.1 males, while for every hundred females 18 years and older, 96.2 males are also older than 18 years.

Kekaha's median household income was $ 41,103 , and his median household income was $ 48,629. At the same time, men had an average income of $ 32,969 a year, compared to $ 26,739 of the average annual income for women. Per capita income was $ 17,117 a year. 10.9% of the total number of families in the locality and 11.2% of the total population were below the poverty line at the time of the census, with 11.8% of those under the age of 18 and 11.1% of those aged 65 and over .

Near Kekah is the US Naval Base " Pacific Missile Range Facility ". It also includes a shortwave station in the Pacific, which transmits accurate time signals according to the atomic clock , as well as weather alerts for the Pacific .