This timeline of Mt Albert’s history is reproduced with the help of the Auckland City Council website, and acknowledging the research of Dick Scott in Old Mt Albert and Deborah Dunsford’s Mt Albert Then and Now
A watercolour of Alberton viewed from the east. Painted around 1880s-90s. Picture courtesy of Alberton Collection, Heritage NZ
PRE-1841
c12-13th century: Wairaka establishes her pa on the slopes of the mountain now bearing her name.
1820: Samuel Marsden climbs Owairaka, escorted by Apihai Kawau
1835: Thomas Mitchell buys most of Auckland, including Mt Albert from Apihau Kawau
1841-1899
1841: George Clarke bought 13,000 acres from the Ngatiwhatua which included Owairaka on behalf of the crown for 200 pounds, 4 horses, 30 blankets, 10 cloaks, 1 tent and a sealing box
1842: 13 small farms offering in Mt Eden/Mt Albert – only one sold
1844: Speculator Thomas Henry buys land on the north-eastern slopes
1845: Robert Hunt buys 24ha at Ferndale
1846: Glenmore Lodge built 289 New North Road Kingsland. Thomas Cassidy bought 55 acres in 1844
1849: Newly arrived Allan Kerr Taylor buys Hunt’s lots
1852: Glenmore Lodge bought by Auckland Chief jailer George McElwain
1853: First Electoral Roll prepared for the Auckland. Provincial Council – Mt Albert population 200.
1853: First Church built. Wesleyan
1853: St Lukes Anglican Church consecrated by Bishop Cowie
1853: Cabbage Tree Swamp School opened by Presbytarian Church
1855: James Gribble purchased land both sides of Sandringham Road for his 100 acre farm
1860: Name of Sandringham changed from Cabbage Tree Swamp to Edendale (and later, in 1887) to Kingsland
1861: Edward Allen buys 99 acres of land to build Allendale
1862: Edward Allen begins to build Allendale
1864: Martha Kerr Taylor (Allan Kerr Taylor’s first wife) dies 20th February
1865: Portion of Kerr Taylor estate known as Morningside sold
1866: Local settlers meet in Edward Allen’s home to set up local Highway Board
1866: First services held at the new Mt Albert Methodist Church
1867: Local Government began at 5pm Tuesday January 8th. Thirteen settlers met in the Whau Road school room to strike the first rate and elect the first board of trustees.
1870: Mt Albert Primary opened
1871: First anniversary of Mt Albert Mutual Improvement Society
1872: St Lukes Anglican Church built
1874: St Lukes Vicarage built
1878: Charles Stone’s house built between 1860 -1878. Charles Stone reported to be the first Pakeha male born in Auckland
1880: First passenger train through Mt Albert
1883: Work begun on what became Whau Road – now New North Road
1886: James Gribble dies in his Aroha Street home
1887: Gladstone Road Primary opened (known initially as Pt Chevalier School)
1888: Toll gate on New North Road and what is now Sandringham Road, removed
1890: Sudden death of Allan Kerr Taylor
1892: Edward Allen dies
1897: Kingsland Methodist Church officially opened
1897: Bridgens & Company shoe manufacturers in Kingsland begin operating (one of Auckland’s oldest shoe manufacturers)
1900-1930
1901: Mary Ann Gribble dies
1903: Eden District Cricket Club formed
1903: Auckland Savings Bank gives Ratepayers Board sixteen thousand pounds at 4 and half percent for its water scheme
1903: On 24 December 1903 three are killed and several injured in a tram accident at Kingsland
1905: Mt Albert Domain created.
1906: Volunteer fire brigade established
1909: Edendale School opened
1910: Eden Park begins as a sports ground
1910: Connons Bakery opened
1911: Mt Albert Road Board became Mt Albert Borough Council
1911: Constitution of Mt Albert Borough formed
1911: M.J.Coyle elected mayor
1912-1913: Mr Richard Collins opened a shop that closed about 1968
1914: Murdoch McLean elected mayor
1914: Eden Park becomes official home of Auckland cricket
1914: Eden Park is divided into two ovals
1914: Rugby Union leases Eden Park
1915: Tramline from Auckland reaches Mt Albert shops.
1917: T.Clay elected mayor
1921: Population of Mt Albert 11,000
1921: The Theatre Royal, Kingsland, built in 1921
1921: A.F.Bennett elected mayor
1921: First international rugby game between NZ and South Africa
1922: Typhoid Epidemic strikes the district
1922: Kowhai Intermediate opens
1922: Mt Albert Grammar School opens
1923: L.E.Rhodes elected mayor
1923: Everetts Pharmacy established
1925: L.E.Rhodes elected Mayor for second term
1925: Rugby Union officially makes Eden Park its home
1926: Brixton Road school opened
1926: Population of Mt Albert 17,000
1927: Marist Sisters Primary School opens
1927: Mt Albert Borough Council chambers open
1928: Marist Sisters High School opens.
1929: Owairaka Primary opened
1929: Sandringham was given its name. Previously it was called Edendale and Cabbage Tree Swamp
1929: Mayfair Theatre opened
1930: Population reaches 20,000
1930: Richardson Road School opened
1930: Gribble and Hirst families donate land to Mt Albert Borough Council for a recreational park – Gribblehirst Park
1930: 400 Mt Albert ratepayers summonsed for failure to pay their rates.
1930: Government refuses Mt Albert a loan of 5000 pounds to provide relief for the district’s unemployed.
1931-1970
1931: W.F.Stilwell elected mayor
1932: Kingsland Gully was renamed Glen Osborne. A proposal to change Kingsland to Beverley Hills was rejected in 1932
1933: R.Ferner elected mayor
1936: H.A.Anderson elected mayor
1936: Tramline reaches Owairaka
1938: Street re-naming programme begins
1938: Eleven state houses finished in Mt Albert
1939: Government’s Plant Diseases Division opens next to Alberton
1946: Arthur Richards becomes the first MP for the new seat of Mt Albert
1947: Council buys Ferndale
1947: Warren Freer becomes MP for Mt Albert in a byelection
1951: Wesley Primary School opened
1953: 11 September – last Auckland tram runs through Mt Albert
1953: Eden Park Trust Board formed
1958: Mildred Amy Kerr Taylor dies
1958: The Catholic Church’s St Mary’s Church built.
1959: Edendale School celebrates Golden Jubilee
1959: Frank Turner elected mayor
1960: Mt Albert Borough Golden Jubilee
1963: Mt Albert War Memorial Hall opens
1965: Mt Albert Baptist Church opens
1968: Frank Ryan elected mayor
1970: Miss Muriel Kerr-Taylor donates money to St. Luke’s Anglican Church towards a housing settlement for senior citizens, to be named after her parents
1970: 108-year old Alberton House willed to the New Zealand Historic Places Trust by Miss Muriel Kerr-Taylor
1970-2017
1971: St Lukes mall opened by Prime Minister Sir Keith Holyoake
1973: A seven-storey concrete slab building erected next to Alberton for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
1975: Mt Albert library opens
1978: Mt Albert Borough is granted city status
1979: Edendale School officially opened after nearly 2 years of re-building
1981: Mt Albert streets at the centre of Springbok tour protests
1981: Helen Clark elected MP for Mt Albert
1989: Mt Albert amalgamates with Auckland City
1997: Bridgens Shoe factory closes
1997: Tip Top Bakery burns down
1997: Kowhai Intermediate celebrates 75th anniversary
1997: Part of Allan Kerr-Taylor’s 4,000 hectare estate from 1867 is now for sale.
1998: Shell of Stormonts Bakery sold for more than 2 million dollars to Dough Investments Ltd
1998: Kura Kaupapa School opens in Haverstock Road
1998: Wesley Community Centre destroyed by fire
1998: Warnock Watson, headmaster of Edendale School for 20 years dies aged 97
2000: Mt Albert Grammar School opens its classes to girls
2001: Athletics legend Peter Snell honoured as Old Boy of the Year and inducted into the Hall of Distinction by Mount Albert Grammar
2009: Helen Clark resigns as MP for Mt Albert after the Labour Government she led for nine years lost power in the 2008 general election
2009: David Shearer elected MP for Mt Albert
2017: Jacinda Ardern elected MP for Mt Albert after David Shearer resigns to take up a senior post with the United Nations
2017: Work starts on the $5m upgrade to Mt Albert Town Centre
CAPTIONS: Kingsland Cricket ground, now Eden Park, flooded in 1907. Picture courtesy Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries; Mt Albert Grammar soon after opening in 1922. Picture courtesy Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries; The young Allan Kerr Taylor before leaving Scotland for NZ. Courtesy Alberton Collection, Heritage NZ; St Lukes Church. Picture courtesy Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries; Helen Clark on the campaign trail; Firemen on display, early 1900s. Picture courtesy Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries; Barney Coyle, first Mayor of Mt Albert borough, at his coach-building premises in New North Rd. Picture courtesy Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries; Peter Snell, champion MAGS athlete