U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii traces its history to the District of Hawaii, a command formed in 1910 as a sub element of the Department of California. In 1911, the Hawaiian Department replaced the District, reporting directly to the War Department in Washington. Initially headquartered in the Alexander Young Hotel, the Department moved to its permanent home at Fort Shafter in 1921. That same year, the distinctive red octagon insignia bearing the letter yellow "H" was adopted by the Hawaiian Department. The colors symbolized ancient Hawaiian royalty and the eight sides represented the principal islands of the Hawaiian chain. It was the senior headquarters for the Army in Hawaii.
After the outbreak of World War II, the Hawaiian Department was charged with a variety of logistical support and installation functions and was also renamed the Hawaiian Department Service Force. In 1943, the organization was renamed again to become the Army Port and Service Command. Its commanding general was given responsibility as commander, U.S. Army Forces-Pacific Ocean Area in 1944 under the operational control of the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, or CINCPAC.
In the years after World War II, the old Hawaiian Department headquarters was formally abolished, and Headquarters, U.S. Army Pacific was established in 1947. Installation support functions under U.S. Army Pacific were accomplished by several short-lived organizations until 1957 when a new command, the U.S. Army Hawaii/25th Infantry Division, was created. These two commands were separated once again in 1960, with the U.S. Army Hawaii assuming the installation support role.
The U.S. Army Support Command Hawaii was established Jan. 1, 1973, to succeed U.S. Army Hawaii as the command responsible for installation services. It was temporarily headquartered at Schofield Barracks. When U.S. Army Pacific was eliminated as a major command in 1973, U.S. Army Support Command Hawaii returned to Fort Shafter and became the senior Army headquarters in Hawaii, once again responsible for installation and base support services and serving as the Army command element of CINCPAC, the Pacific joint command. When U.S. Army Western Command was created from USASCH in 1979 to become the major Army element of CINCPAC, U.S. Army Support Command Hawaii reverted to its traditional role as an installation and base support service command.
On March 1, 1992, U.S. Army Hawaii was re-established and was comprised of the 25th Infantry Division (Light), U.S. Army Support Command Hawaii, the 45th Corps Support Group (Forward), and the U.S. Army Law Enforcement Command (Prov). The 25th Infantry Division commander and U.S. Army Hawaii replaced U.S. Army Support Command Hawaii's commander as the installation commander. On Jan. 6, 1994, U.S. Army Support Command Hawaii was redesignated as U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii. With the establishment of the Installation Management Agency on Oct. 1, 2002, U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii was realigned to its Pacific region office. The Army activated Installation Management Command Oct. 24, 2007, to consolidate and strengthen installation support services to Soldiers and their families through the full authority of command.