Hori Street

Hori Street in New Plymouth’s Vogeltown was named after a prominent Pāhekā resident, James Cartwright George who owned a large portion of land in what was to become Lower Vogeltown.

Hori is Māori for George and it appears that this name was chosen simply because James George already had a street named after him - George Street, further down Carrington Road - not because he had any particular connection with local iwi.

James came to New Zealand with his family in 1857 where he established a cabinet making/building business. He got involved in the burgeoning dairy industry, forming the Crown Dairy Factory alongside such high-profile local businesspeople as Newton King and Richard Cock. He sat on many company boards and clubs and was a member of the Taranaki Rifle Volunteers and the Taranaki Bushrangers during the Taranaki Wars. He was married three times and had 12 children. He died aged 62 in 1907.

The road, which was known as both Hori St and Hori Road simultaneously until the 1930s, appears to have been formed by about 1904, but residential sections on the street were not being sold until the 1920s. At this point the road was still unpaved and known as a “grass road”. It was not metaled until 1933, despite many years of petitioning the local council by street residents. Up until mid-1930s the street did not join up with UpJohn Street, instead this section of land was part of a stock route for driving cattle from Coastal Taranaki to the Waiwhakaiho sale yards.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Websites

George Street, Word on the Street, Puke Ariki website

J C George funeral, Taranaki Herald 9 March 1907