SAGAMIHARA - A Look Back

A then-and-now look at Sagamihara Family Housing Area, located approximately 40 km southwest of Tokyo in the Minami Ward of Sagamihra City. HISTORY: SHA was first established in December 1937 as home to a Japanese Imperial Army telegraph regiment. At the end of World War II in 1945, the U.S. Army occupied the heavily forested installation as part of the U.S. Army garrison at nearby Camp Zama. In 1949, Sagamihara was formally designated as a dependent housing area and the Army Corps of Engineers began construction of 680 housing units to accommodate the influx of personnel and dependents. Sagamihara Elementary School opened in September 1951 with 300 students, ten teachers, and a principal. It was renamed John O. Arnn Elementary School in 1982. The original school building was destroyed in a fire in 1967 and was replaced by a new campus. A new school at SHA was officially dedicated on August 28, 2003. Construction of two-story concrete housing quarters began in 1994. Most of the old 1950s-era wood and stucco quarters and facilities remained in use until 2012 when the Army undertook major redevelopment of SHA, including new townhouse housing quarters, pool, recreation, dining and entertainment facilities. Few of the original structures, such as the original PX-snack bar building, steam plant and old housing, remain. They have been re-purposed.