Although it probably began as an agricultural heiau (mapele) with springs feeding crops of taro, banana, sweet potato, and sugarcane along the fringes of the 400-acre (1.6 km2) Kawai Nui pond full of mullet and other fish.

However, the great warrior chief Kualiʻi may have converted it to a heiau luakini, with an altar, an oracle tower (anuʻu), thatched hale, and wooden images (kiʻi).

[2] Kailua, with its ample supplies of pond fish, irrigated fields, and canoe landings, was a center of political power for Koʻolaupoko, which often vied with Waialua for control of Oʻahu.

[2] In later years, Queen Kalama, consort of Kamehameha III, inherited most of the land in Kailua after the death of her husband in 1854, most of it acquired in 1917 by Harold Kainalu Long Castle for his Kaneohe Ranch.

Orr, Maria, et al. Ulupo Heiau Cultural Resources Management and Landscape Plan.