Graham Street sign (2021). Mike Gooch. Word on the Street image collection.
Graham Street sign (2021). Mike Gooch. Word on the Street image collection.
The town of Eltham in central Taranaki expanded significantly in the years before the World War One. Increasing farm incomes and favourable government policies, including improved road access, encouraged many land owners to subdivide. One such person was Reuben White.
White had met his Scottish-born wife Elizabeth in New Zealand. After moving about, they eventually started a family and settled on a farm in Te Roti. Living there for many years, he became prominent in the dairy industry. Most notably, he was a director of the Eltham Dairy Company in its early years. Later, he and Elizabeth retired to Eltham.
They owned land on the northern side of Tayler Street. In March 1911 he built a house facing Bedford Street and subdivided the land behind. By November a street had been formed. White asked that it be named Graham Street because Elizabeth, originally from the small town of Gourock, was a descendent of the clan Graham.
Reuben White died in 1915 and Elizabeth died in 1935, aged 96.
This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.
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