More Info →Page 19: 50th jubilee commemoration supplement

Object type:Multi-Page Document

Description: 1) Crate of fowls, canary and cats came too: pioneer's daughter recalls trek.
Mrs. Goldsmith, daughter of the late Mr. Richard Prouse, who turned 70 last November, came to Levin as a child. She cannot claim to be a resident of long standing as she returned only a few years ago when her mother died, aged 91 years. She lives in the old Prouse homestead, opposite the railway station.

2) Woman with kindly heart who likes to aid others.
Proud that 62 years ago she chose Levin as the place in which she would like to live, is Mrs. W. Lett, of Salisbury Street. In the years that have followed she has not changed her mind. She is proud to have watched Levin grow from a small community of 1893, when she came first here. She should be proud too that she contributed in no small measure to a wide variety of community interests and is still continuing a life of great activity.

3) As little girls they saw farms emerging.
The two Misses Parsons were born in the house round which their present attractive home has been built. Their father came to Levin first to survey the bush of Prouse's Mill. He came as far as Hokio by coach and the following day set out to walk from the lakeside to the eastern foothills. Owing to depth of the bush and tall timber he was overtaken by nightfall and bedded down for the night.

4) She set the type in early newspaper.
Mrs. Plimmer, residing at the corner of Churchill and Cambridge Streets, came to Levin as a young girl when her father. Mr. W. C. Nation, moved his newspaper from Shannon to Levin. Mr. Nation had previously run the Wairarapa Standard in Greytown and the Manawatu Farmer in Shannon. With the drift of population to Levin, he brought his printing press here.

5) Miss H. E. Bowen epitomises philosophy of the pioneer women - deeds not words.
In Karaka Lodge, the home of Miss H.E. Bowen, Queen Street, it is not difficult to recapture the atmosphere of 50 years ago.

6) Big rumpus when woman put in charge of new P.O.
When Miss H. E. Bowen's appointment as postmistress of the newly-erected Levin Post Office was confirmed in 1903, it "stirred up a hornets' nest in the Local Press".

7) Will complete her 70th year of residence soon.
Youngest member of the Retter family, who came to this district before the railway was actually functioning and who, besides the McDonald family, had only Maoris as neighbours, was Mrs. J. H. Gill, who lives now in Oxford Street. She was only three-and-half years old when she came here and in June of this jubilee year will have completed 70 years of residence.