Fort Shafter (Honolulu, Hawaii)

Honolulu · Hawaii · Attack on Pearl Harbor

Quick BriefFort Shafter was built in 1905 and finished by 1907, making it the oldest military base on Oahu. On 7 December 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor, one soldier, Corporal Arthur A. Favreau of the 64th Coast Artillery, was killed on post by an errant Navy shell. The post served as Army headquarters of the Asia-Pacific region, with the U.S. Army, Pacific (USARPAC) taking over in 1947.

Active base today

History & Significance

Construction began in 1905 on the ahupua'a of Kahauiki, former Hawaiian crown lands that were ceded to the United States government after annexation. When the post opened in 1907, it was named for Major General William Rufus Shafter, who led the United States expedition to Cuba in 1898.

Palm Circle was laid out as a cantonment with barracks and officers' quarters arranged around a parade field ringed by royal palms. The installation expanded through the interwar period: in 1914 a regimental-sized cantonment was constructed, the Hawaiian Ordnance Depot was built in 1917, and in 1921 the Hawaiian Department moved to Fort Shafter from downtown Honolulu.

During the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Corporal Arthur A. Favreau was killed on post by an errant Navy shell. In 1944, the Army Corps of Engineers built the "Pineapple Pentagon" in just 49 days with conversion of barracks into headquarters facilities. The Palm Circle Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a U.S. National Historic Landmark.