Tripler Army Medical Center
Tripler Army Medical Center is the headquarters of the Pacific Regional Medical Command of the armed forces administered by the United States Army in the state of Hawaii. It is the largest military hospital in the Asian and Pacific Rim region and serves a military sphere of jurisdiction that spans over 52% of the Earth's surface. Located on the slopes of Moanalua Ridge overlooking the Honolulu neighborhoods of Moanalua and Salt Lake, Tripler Army Medical Center's massive coral pink structure can be seen from any point in the Honolulu District.Establishment
Tripler Hospital was established in 1907, housed in several wooden structures within Fort Shafter on the island of Oahu. In 1920 it was named after a legendary American Civil War medic, Brigadier General Charles Stuart Tripler, who made significant contributions to the development of military medicine.
Tripler Army Medical Center was commissioned by Lt. General Robert C. Richardson Jr., who was Military Governor of the Territory of Hawaii during World War II. General Richardson hired the New York City based architectural firm of York & Sawyer to design the Modernist medical complex. The noted local landscape architect Robert O. Thompson designed the landscape to work in concert with the Modernist architecture to create a "place of solace" for US military soldiers to recuperate both emotionally and physically. At the outbreak of World War II, Tripler Army Medical Center had a 450-bed capacity which then expanded to 1,000 beds through the addition of barracks-type buildings. Plans for the new Tripler Army Medical Center on Moanalua Ridge were drawn in 1942 and construction was completed in 1948. It was officially dedicated on September 10, 1948.
