 | The original Levin Council Offices were located opposite The Chronicle where Young's Gift Shop is now. |
The Mall was built in 1971. Thirty foot piles were required for the sections of McKenzies' supermarket and the library built on the filled-in pit.
Alma McMillan was the first Mall manager, followed by Richard Haslam and currently Bob Woods.
The Central Car Park was originally designated an Education Reserve in 1889. It remained so until the 1950s. However the sections were leased and houses built on the Bath, Salisbury and Queen Street frontages from early days. State houses went up on the central frontage of Chamberlain Street - now the east side of the carpark. Some sections were freeholded in the 1950s.
The borough bought the block prior to 1970 and developed the first part of the carpark. Later most of the remaining houses were removed and the park extended to Salisbury Street. Five houses remain on the Salisbury - Queen Street Corner.
Parking fees were set at 5 cents an hour, until they doubled to 10 cents in 1980.
The Levin Swimming Baths were built as the Levin Coronation Baths probably in 1911 in honour of King George V's coronation. When the baths were opened Bernard Freyberg (later Governor General of New Zealand watched disappointedly as my cousin Joe Scott dived into the water to officially open the baths. Freyberg a keen swimmer, lost out in the ballot to open the baths.
The Levin Park Domain has been owned by the local authority since 1889 when it was designated on the original plan of the Horowhenua Block as a recreational reserve.
The grandstand in Bath Street was built in 1959, replacing the small stand in Queen Street. It was built by the borough council, financed partly by a low interest loan from the N.Z. Rugby Union and partly by rugby clubs who use part of the stand as their headquarters. The loan will be repaid in 1981.
We now return to Oxford Street.
In 1923 Mayor Don Matheson mooted an idea to build new municipal buildings, consisting of
borough offices, theatre, hall and shops. See 1956 Chronicle Supplement.
Construction started on March 20, 1924. The wonder, to the many spectators was the derrick which carried the concrete, mixer and all, around the site and even up to the high dome.
Some people, including a councillor, reckoned the municipal buildings would be a white elephant. And the 'sidewalk engineers' said it would soon fall down as not enough cement had been added to the mix. That was a common complaint then, with builders economising by eking out the cement. A donkey engine drove the derrick.
The foundations were actually laid in the bottom of the gravel pit. At least the buildings hid the town's biggest eyesore - the pit behind the western side of Oxford Street.
The shops from and including Bang's Theatre Shop to and including Diane Louise womenswear and the Cellar Coffee Lounge (on the bottom level) are in the Municipal Building.
The, borough was Fortunate to own the land on which the buildings stand. It is part of the original Gravel Reserve, designated in 1889 in the survey of the Horowhenua Block. The reserve extended from Bath Street to the north quarter of Woolworths (taken over by McKenzies in 1980) and back to the western edge of the Mall and Chamberlain Street.
The, foundation stone was laid on August 25, 1925, by the Premier, William Massey.
A public hall (named the De Luxe as was the theatre then) occupied the upstairs storey at the northern end. The stairway entrance (now walled up) was between the present Ryder's Hairdressing Salon and Smaling's Delicatessen. The name of both the hall and the theatre were changed to the Regent about 1931-1933.
The Municipal Buildings were officially opened on January 20, 1926. Both the power board and the county council had their offices in the building until they built their own; the power board in 1950 and the county council in 1958. With the increase in administration, the borough council was able to utilise the entire office block.
In 1909 the Levin Carnagie Free Library was built on the northwest corner of Bath and Oxford Streets. This was financed by the Carnegie Trust, which helped libraries with grants worldwide, at a cost of 1,600 pounds ($3200).
The library was demolished in 1965, and shops built on the site the following year. In 1981 Warnock's menswear and Caval Boutique baby and childrenswear (proprietor Carol Probert) occupied the two shops.
Further down Bath Street some of the borough office frontage was utilised to build two more shops in 1966. They are now occupied by the Curtain Boutique and Len Ward's Footwear. New council chambers and auxiliary rooms were built on the first floor over the old library site.
The theatre shop has been a sweets, milk bar, etc shop since the theatre opened in 1926. It was first operated by Mr and Mrs Archie Christensen until 1937. Maude Bell operated the shop, first on her own and then with her husband Henry until 1961. Then Jean and Percy Hudson occupied it until 1963, followed by George Anderson for one year.
The next proprietor Maurie Bang was one of the best known particularly for his donuts and his annual closing down notice for his vacation which read "Gone Fishin'." David Sue has traded as the Sheridan Milk Bar from 1978.
Ryder's Hairdressing Salon shifted to its present location in 1931, when Fred Ryder moved from Queen Street. Mrs Ryder and son Tony ran the salon alone from 1949. Tony now runs the business.
The earliest-known occupants of the next shop are the chemist, Mr lnkpen, and Yates cash grocery, managed by Colin Munro. Chemist Owen Langtry was in the shop for some years up to 1978. It is now Smaling's Continental Delicatessen.
Perhaps the best-known proprietors in the next shop were Mr and Mrs Wong She, greengrocers and fruiters. Later, businesses were Taylor's Drycleaning and, at present Don Stodart's Sports Centre.
WALLACES
John Wallace started a womenswear and drapery in 1931, in the last borough shop. His son Corby took over the business in 1946. It was sold ten years later to Mrs Hopkins, who traded as Diane Louise until 1976 when Mrs Betty Shields bought it. Now R and J Eales run the business.
The Cellar Coffee Lounge (on the old pit floor) has had several proprietors, the present being Ivan Lawson. An earlier proprietor was Mrs Hopkins of Diane Louise who ran the coffee bar under the same name.
The neighbouring building was erected in 1929 -1930 by the Wellington cake manufacturer Adams Bruce, filling the last gap in the pit.
The front shop operated as a restaurant and coffee lounge, the Betsy Lee, Miss Hooper and later Mrs Isaacs were well-known manageresses.
Adams Bruce sold out to Ray Martin about 1978. He ran it under the name of Charisma Coffee Lounge. From 1980 Paul and Veneta Hansen have run it as Paul's Cake and Coffee House Ltd.
The site of Barrow's Bookshop has a long history, Mrs Ostler, the first settler in the Horowhenua Block, built it as a temperance hall probably about 1900. Some time later, prior to 1907, the Salvation Army occupied the building.
Watchorn and Stiles occopied it from 1907, continuing at least until 1916 under the name Stiles and Matheson. In my memory, from about that date, only Mr Matheson was in the firm.
J. K. McLean and John Chapman opened a stationery and bookshop in 1924, with Mr Chapman continuing in the business until 1960.
Later owners of the business have been Jim Lynch and Percy Walton, trading as Lynch and Walton. Percy Walton ran the shop alone from 1970 until Tony Barrow took over in 1975 as Barrow's Bookshop.
Where the Regent Pharmacy is William Davey had his womenswear shop from 1926 to 1946, when his son Campbell took over. He continued until about 1960 and then McCready's operated the same business in the premises for some years.
At the entrance to The Mall two small shops existed from at least 1910. The south one was the London Studio of R. S. Horn presumably a photographic studio.
The next shop was that of Mr Thompson, a bookseller and printer. He had a small printing press for small job printing. Lena Carlson (Mrs Lena Pickering) says she worked his pedal-powered press about 1913. Mrs D. Smart later operated a bookshop here.
There was vacant land on either side of the building until at least 1910. Later the two shops merged and in modern times Corby Wallace had a footwear shop there in 1952, later selling out to Morris Parkin.
The borough bought the building in 1971 for the construction of The Mall entrance.
Next Was Mr Remington' s chemist shop, built in 1910. He bought E. F. Levy's pharmacy business in Garland's Building, where Ray Harrison's hairdressing salon is now, in 1907. Mr Levy was a member of the first borough council. Mr Remington shifted south to his new shop in 1910.
DONNELLY
William (Bill) Donnelly bought the pharmacy in 1919 after his return from World War I. He became a legend in Levin for the next 45 years.
Shelves were filled with bottles of ingredients in many colours and sizes, including immense carboys of two or three gallon capacity.
In 1962 Bill Donnelly built a new shop on the site of Ted Henderson's cycle shop (then occupied by K. A. Wilson). Mr Donnelly died the following year.
His former shop was then demolished and for some time the section was empty. Hannahs Footwear built their present shop in 1967.
Where Big Tex restaurant is now was Carter Bros (a Shannon family) butchery from about 1917 until 1972, when Big Tex opened.
The site now occupied by Barnao's music shop and McLeods bookshop was Bradley Bros stables. Jim and Bob Bradley came to Levin and leased land from Mrs Ostler, who leased the Gravel Reserve.
They started an education school for poorly-broken horses in 1894. They added to their stable and started a livery and bait (feed) stable about1897.
When Miss Bowen asked them to carry the mail to the station about 1898 (because it was too heavy for her on horseback), the brothers started a coach service.
Single fare to the station was 6d. Coaches and landaus were used.
At busy periods up to 200 horses were accommodated at Bradleys. Two hundred horses would make quite an impression on the Central Car Park!
Bob Bradley started the first taxi service and ran both coaches and taxis together toward the end of their business, which probably finished in the mid-1920s. Their first motorised taxi was a Ford.
The north section of Barnao's music shop was occupied by Phyl Gardener's Avenue Nurseries shop for some time until 1975. Joe and Mildred Barnao moved to the south side of their present shop in 1971; extending into the vacant shop to the north in 1975.
1925
Bill Stannard moved into the next shop, then still part of the stables, in 1925 after he bought Apps' stationery and book business next door.
This puts the date of the closing of Bradley's Stables and the construction of the three shops at about 1925. Ron McLeod operated the bookshop as McLeod's Book Centre from about 1958. Ron Coulter took over in 1965, continuing to trade as McLeod's Book Centre 1965 Ltd.
Where Cook's Kitchenware opened in 1980 was formerly Josephine Jenkin's Gemini Fashions. Prior to that it was one of the Cornish Group's shops, selling womenswear. It was sold by the liquidator of the group.
This site, north of the stables, was originally three small shops - some of which must have stood on part of the present site of Cornish Kelvinator House.
The first was W. Jamieson's cabinetmakers shop. Apparently Thompson's Bookshop shifted into the second one about 1912 - 14. Lena Carlson (now Mrs Pickering) worked the printing press there about the period. The name of the third shop is not known.
This block must have vanished as Leong Bros built a new shop on the northern half of the site in 1914. They moved from a shop known as On Tie, where the public counters of the post office now stand.
In 1916 the shop was known as Leong Bros, but later Leong On Tie was the, sole proprietor of the greengrocer and fruiterer's.
After the shop was gutted by fire in 1939, l helped demolish it. On the morning of July 27 the ground was covered by nearly one inch of snow at 8am. Guinne Morgan and myself soon lit a blazing fire of charred timber in a drum to warm us as we worked.
The shop was rebuilt the same year and the family carried on the business with George Leong as manager, until 1959, when the building was sold to Lamphouse. It was sold again in 1971 or 1972 to Cornish Kelvinator House.
Corry's Building site was a general store with Marco Fosella as proprietor at least as early 1897. H. Anstice's wheelwright business was on the south side of the site, in a shed.
Later the shop was divided into two shops, the first being Thomas James' bootmaker and the next Hock Key's grocery. These must have vanished early, as by 1912 there was a two - storey wooden building which Joe Harvey occupied as a cabinetmaker after shifting from where Nockel's Pharmacy is now. He ran a shop on the ground floor and a workshop upstairs. This building is still on the site.
Mr Harvey built a joinery factory on the back lane, where Smith and Brown and the Mall Hardware are now. In the 1930s he gave up the furniture side of the business and concentrated on joinery. He also operated a saw mill on the Chamberlain Street end for a few years from 1915. After many proprietors, one of whom was Nimmos music shop, John Corry bought the building in 1944. He operated it as Levin Drapery in the south shop. In 1976, he sold the business to Mr and Mrs Edgar Mackey.
From 1980 Paul Tucker has operated the business as Levin Drapery and Wool Centre. The next shop in the building has been occupied by John Wyllie's Oxford Pharmacy since 1970, when he moved from Oxford Street North. A grocery shop was conducted by different proprietors here previously.
SHAWS
K. Shaw Ltd has been in the same building since 1924, when the business moved from where the public counter of the post office is now. Ken Shaw was the proprietor then. Now his sons Alec and Ian, and grandson Alistair, are in the business.
In the south corner was a small shop - operated as a bakery shop for many years. One long - time proprietor, Joe Scott, baked his wares in F. O. Smith's bakehouse in Bath Street on the grounds of the corner house immediately west of the Maternity Home.
He built a new bakery in 1909, on the corner of Devon and Oxford Streets where Hudson and Burnham is now. This later became the Arcadia Bakery.
The bakery shop was sold to Harry Hughes in 1915. He and successive owners of the bakery use the shop for retail purposes.
In 1920 it was taken over by McLean and again by Harry Hughes from 1924 untill 1935. From then on the shop was occupied by jewellers until Shaws extended into the premises in 1963.
In early days Shaw's had a short stint as a grocery, from 1917 under Tom Broome and from 1919 and 1924 under Jimmy Rimmer.
The southern half of Woolworths' variety store was, in my earliest memory, Ken Aitken's stationery and music shop. In the same building was a small shop mostly utilised to sell jewellery and repair timepieces.
MacDUFFS
Frank McMinn followed Ken Aitken in about 1932 with the stationery business. In 1936 MacDuffs opened a supermarket. Woolworths took over MacDuffs New Zealand - wide in 1947, trading as Woolworths in the building for about a year.
Then Fred Carr of Wellington leased the building from Woolworths for the California Restaurant, managed by Sam Green. The proprietor from 1954 was Normal [Norman?] Lowe.
In 1963 Woolworths extended back into the premises, taking in the California and a small corner shop which had always been on the site. In 1963 this shop was occupied by Singer Sewing machines.
Woolworths opened a food market on the site. It was the first shop in Levin to install turnstiles on the exits. The supermarket lasted only a few years and Woolworths reverted to a variety shop only.
The northern half of Woolworths was A. L. Williams' bakery shop, milk bar and tea rooms for many years.
