The Making of a Modern Town: 1900-1945

^{The modest beginnings of local government in Upper Hutt. These are the original Upper Hutt Town Board offices on the corner of Russell and Main Street, around 1911. This building was replaced in 1912 by a more substantial Town Board Chambers on the corner opposite.} 

^{Upper Hutt Libraries Community Archives}

One of the first important steps made in the early 20th century towards Upper Hutt becoming a modern township was the establishment, in 1908, of the Upper Hutt Town Board. Comprised of seven elected Commissioners, one of whom served as Chairman, this was Upper Hutt’s first self-governing local authority. Previously the town had been managed as just one tiny part of the sprawling Hutt County. This original town district was much, much smaller than today’s city boundaries. Indeed, many areas, such as Silverstream, Heretaunga and Birchville, would remain governed by Hutt County until the late 20th century. 

It was the Upper Hutt Town Board that began the process of putting in place the basic amenities and infrastructure required for a modern town. One important example was Upper Hutt’s first water supply system, created through the construction of Birchville Weir (later Birchville Dam) and opened in 1914.

^{Onlookers amongst the remains of Benge & Pratt’s store, the morning after the explosion. The damaged Provincial Hotel is in the background.}

^{Joesph ‘Zak’ Zachariah, 1914, Upper Hutt Libraries Community Archives} 

One of the worst disasters in Upper Hutt’s history occurred on the night of 28 March 1914 when a fire broke out in Benge and Pratt’s, a general store on Main Street. Townsfolk quickly gathered and, under the direction of local constable ‘Dinny’ Mahoney, attempted to douse flames and retrieve stock from the burning building. They were soon joined by railway staff and passengers who rushed to assist after the last train for the evening arrived at the nearby station. 

However, a few minutes after midnight, just as Constable Mahoney was giving orders to evacuate the building, it suddenly blew up in an violent explosion visible for miles around. Eight locals were killed, including Mahoney and Upper Hutt’s Postmaster, James Comeskey. The tragedy was major news throughout the country. Large numbers from across the Wellington region attended the funerals for those who died. 

An inquest eventually found that the explosion had been caused by illegally stored dynamite. A few months later, the disaster finally led to the creation of a  long proposed Upper Hutt Volunteer Fire Brigade. 

^{Mayor Angus McCurdy (the short bearded gentleman in a bowler hat on the right) with Borough Council officials, a couple of trucks, and the Council’s first road grader.} 

^{Upper Hutt City Libraries Community Archives}

In 1926 Upper Hutt took another step up the ladder of civic status when the Town Board was dissolved and replaced by a Borough Council, with Angus McCurdy being elected as the Borough’s first Mayor. 

McCurdy had previously been Upper Hutt’s first Town Clerk and had also served on the Town Board as a Commissioner. Truculent, hugely energetic, and a man of many talents, McCurdy was Upper Hutt’s most dominant and controversial personality throughout the early 20th century. As well as his political activities, McCurdy edited Upper Hutt's first local newspaper (the Hutt Valley Independent), ran its first picture theatre, worked as a farmer and electrical engineer, and was a passionate advocate for modernising Upper Hutt.

^{The newly built barracks of Trentham Army Camp in 1915. This view is taken looking up the valley towards Upper Hutt township, with Trentham Racecourse in the middle ground.}

^{Upper Hutt Libraries Community Archives}

One event of obviously huge importance at this time was the outbreak of the First World War. This led to the establishment of Trentham Army Camp, inaugurating a relationship between the district and the military that endures to the present. 

As the site of the main training base for troops heading overseas, Upper Hutt was a hive of activity related to the war effort. Over 85,000 troops would pass through Trentham Camp during the course of the war, making the district well known throughout New Zealand. Other military facilities located in Upper Hutt during this time included a Remount Depot in Gibbons Street, which processed over 10,000 horses for military service abroad. 

^{A family picnic on the banks of Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt River looking towards the Moonshine Bridge, circa 1920s.} 

^{Photograph by F.G. Barker, Upper Hutt Libraries Community Archives}

Another distinctive aspect of Upper Hutt during the first half of the 20th century was the way it increasingly came to serve as Wellington’s recreational countryside. 

What had once been a bleak landscape of tree stumps and barren hillsides created by the wholesale destruction of Upper Hutt’s lowland forests in the mid-19th century, had by now matured into attractive pastureland, studded with pleasant orchards and regenerated bush. As improvements in transport made Upper Hutt more accessible to the capital, many Wellingtonians began to appreciate the pleasures that this rural area on their doorstep had to offer as a temporary respite from urban life.

^{Pumpkin Cottage, circa 1905, at centre, with the road to where the Silverstream road bridge now is at right.} 

^{Upper Hutt Libraries Community Archives} 

Such were its bucolic qualities, for instance, that around the turn of the twentieth century members of the Wellington Art Society used to regularly travel out by train to Upper Hutt to paint its picturesque scenery. These artists would become famous as the Pumpkin Cottage school, taking their name from the small Silverstream residence at which they stayed. 

Many wealthy Wellingtonians also built large country homes out here for use as occasional residences, some of which were designed by renowned architects like James Chapman Taylor. Other less well-off city dwellers constructed more modest summer retreats in the area, with neighbourhoods like Pinehaven and Birchville first coming into being in the 1920s as communities of weekend baches.

^{Girls in fancy dress with decorated bikes, part of the crowd at Maidstone Park celebrating King George V’s Jubilee in 1935.}

^{Upper Hutt Libraries Community Archives}

Maidstone Park was created in 1908 as a commercial picnic ground aimed at Wellingtonians who, for a small fee, could take the train to Upper Hutt Station and enjoy the nearby park’s attractive spaces and amenities. It became very popular as a destination for the capital’s workplace and Christmas functions. 

The advent of the motor car also led to an influx of day-trippers coming out to Upper Hutt for weekend picnics. Two of the most frequented sites were the picturesque Moonshine and Māoribank Bridges, both blessed with excellent swimming holes. 

Another popular attraction was the Brown Owl Cabaret and Tearooms (from which the suburb of Brown Owl takes its name). During the 1930s it became a go-to location for city dwellers wanting to enjoy dinner and an entertaining night out in the countryside. 

^{Crowds in the Trentham Racecourse Grandstand, 1929.}

^{Upper Hutt Libraries Community Archives}

Perhaps the most enduring legacy of Upper Hutt’s emergent role during this era as Wellington’s recreational hinterland was the fact that both the Wellington Racing Club and the Royal Wellington Golf Club chose to locate their headquarters here. The establishment of Trentham Racecourse in 1906 and the Royal Wellington course at Heretaunga in 1908 both attest to how Upper Hutt had come to be seen as offering an appealing and accessible setting for outdoor amenities serving the wider Wellington region.