Scattered homes area kept growing....

Press, 4 October 1977, Page 20

Scattered homes area kept growing....

HORNBY — It is a small district community of about two square miles of residential, commercial and industrial land, about six miles south-west of Christchurch, within the Paparua County. It has a population of more than 8600 but it is growing steadily. The town began as a rather scattered collection of country homes; with names like “Ablington,” “Stoneycroft” and “Woodcote.” The year 1866 saw the Southbridge railway put through to Rolleston and more than 10 years later a station was built, named Racecourse Junction, on the present site of Hornby. The following year the

name was changed to Southbridge Junction and the name, Hornby, was not adopted until 1879. Named after an English village, Hornby hardly seems appropriate for the site as it is supposed to mean “bend in the river.” Subdivision in land in the area began a few months later but interest was strictly limited in the first 54 sections. It was three months before the first was sold and nine months before a buyer was found fo,r the second. . Hornby certainly did not grow quickly — it remained as before, a farmi n g community of scattered cottages. It was another 20 years before any further development was made in the

area but it came in 1896 with the opening of the Nelson Brother freezing works. They were built next to the railway in Carmene Road and speculators, anticipating growth in the area around the works bought adjoining tiesAlthough the speculators were not particularly successful, their subdivision did remain to. form the beginning Of the township of Hornby. Seemingly convinced

that the area was going to grow, the speculators subdivided more land on the corner of the Main South Road and Shands Road and along Carmen Road. Hornby’s first commercial building — a general store — was built on one of the Shands RoadMain South Road sections. (In 1964 the 1.75 acre site was sold to Woolworths (N.Z.) Ltd. A blacksmith’s shop soon followed the general store and then the Druids

Lodge was built in w'hat is now Seymour Street. Along with the nearby Islington settlement the Hornby Township was growing and in 1895 a school was opened in Factorv Road. By 1897 it had become clear that the centre of the township was to be at the corner of Shands Road and the Main South Road, Several churches were built in the area in the next 10 years and Hornby soon became a recognisable township.