What’s now the Waimea United Church of Christ was originally erected in 1847 by Reverend George Rowell. Protestant missionaries had lived in Waimea for over twenty years by then, but the previous church on this site had collapsed. Rowell built its replacement using limestone and ohia wood from Koke‘e, and clad it in crushed coral brought up by Native Hawaiian divers. Destroyed by Hurricane ‘Iniki, it was faithfully reconstructed in the 1990s.