Rowe Street (Hāwera)

Rowe Street connects Princes and Albion Streets in Hāwera and is named after the man who donated the land that enabled its formation. 

In 1918, Normanby-based nurseryman William Rowe gifted a small block of land to the Hāwera Borough Council to enable easier access to both the West Coast Refrigerating Company and, across the road, the Winter Show Buildings. At a council meeting in October 1918, the mayor expressed his gratitude to Mr Rowe and suggested his generosity be acknowledged by naming the street after him.

 A final decision was postponed after Councillor Edward Morrissey (1869-1933) moved that as it was not going to be a residential street, it would be better named Kitchener or Lloyd George, in memory of the First World War. However, on 15 November 1918 the Hawera & Normanby Star simply stated that the new street was to be named “Rowe street (sic)”. 

William Rowe was born in Cornwall in 1846 and immigrated to New Zealand in 1865, eventually settling in Normanby where he set up a plant nursery. Rowe was one of the founders of the Normanby Horticultural Society and principal organiser of their annual horticultural show.

Rowe also opened a seed and grain store on Princes Street in Hāwera – now the site of Cinema 2. The business thrived and he eventually sold it to the New Zealand Loan & Mercantile Agency Ltd. Poor health forced his retirement and a move to New Plymouth around 1920. William died in 1927, leaving behind his widow Catherine, two sons and three daughters.

The two large buildings that once dominated Rowe Street have since been demolished. The Winter Show Building was constructed in 1910 for the Great Dominion Dairy Show. This annual show became hugely popular with special trains transporting people to Hāwera. When the building featured in the 2003 Hāwera Town Centre Heritage Inventory it was home to Challenge Engineering.

The building opposite, erected in 1919 as a warehouse for the West Coast Refrigerating Company, also featured in that inventory. At the time it was occupied by Repco Auto Parts and had previously been a vehicle showroom for Mortlocks.

One side of Rowe Street is now a carpark for Pak n’ Save supermarket, while on the other new homes have been built, something that may well have pleased the late Councillor Morrissey.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Related items:

Taranaki DP3791 Sheet 1 (1918), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP4733 Sheet 1 (1926), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Mortlocks Building Heritage Inventory Entry, Chris Cochran, Hawera Town Centre Heritage Inventory (1997)

Challenge Engineering Heritage Inventory Entry, Chris Cochran, Hawera Town Centre Heritage Inventory (2002)