Early
Military Presence
President Woodrow Wilson first designated land on Mokapu Peninsula for military in 1918, setting aside 322 acres by executive order, to be used for the U.S. Army’s
"Fort Kuwa’ahoe Military Reservation." Referred to as
"Camp Ulupa’u" in 1941, the reservation was renamed
"Fort Hase" the following year, and became a major unit within the Windward Coastal Military Command. It was expanded in 1945 by 474 acres.
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This map extract is from a topographic map of Oahu by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1938, held at the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, Washington, D.C. The scale of the map is 1/62,500. A U.S. Military Reservation is indicated on the map in the Kuwa’ahoe ili area. Sites of interest such as Pali Kilo, Pyramid Rock, Puu Hawaiiloa and Kahakili Leap are marked on the map.
Higher resolution
photo.
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The U.S. Navy bought land on the western side of the peninsula in 1939, and began construction of Naval Air Station (NAS), Kaneohe that September, to help strengthen U.S. military presence in the Pacific. The installation was originally planned to include five squadrons of seaplanes, plus the facilities to support them. Contractors Pacific Naval Air Bases (CPNAB) did the initial NAS, Kaneohe Bay construction. Their largest undertaking was the dredging of the bay, which continued until completion in 1943. The major construction for the initial infrastructure of the 498-acre air station was completed late in 1941. By that time, an airstrip, housing, gasoline storage facilities and maintenance buildings had been built. Also in 1941, Navy control of the air and water around the base was expanded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s orders establishing the Kaneohe Bay Naval Defense Sea Area and the Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Space Reservation. Camp Kuwaaohe was commissioned in 1941 as
"Camp Ulupa’u", still under the direction of the U.S. Army.
The stables building as it appeared
before it was demolished in the early 2000s.
Library of
Congress photo. Higher
resolution photo.
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