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Aerial photo of Levin

Inscription on reverse reads: “Aerial view of Levin. Late 1920s.”

An aerial photo of Levin’s central business area in the late 1920s. Oxford Street is in the centre of the photograph which looks from north to south.

This is a companion photograph to 1977.050.0010.

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

Gas Lights up Levin Borough

In 1908 work proceeded on the Coal Gas Scheme.

John Duthie and Co was contracted for the supply of gas pipes at £1770 ($3540). The retort house cost £775 ($1550) when built by Mr Whitaker. The 20,000 cubic feet building was built by Coward and Co for £1195 ($2390). Mr Black’s man was the engineer of the scheme and Peter Arcus was clerk of works.

R.Baylis was contracted to dig the gas pipe trenches at 15s 6d ($1.55) for six inch (155mm) and 14s ($1.40) for four and three inch 100 and 80mm pipes. After starting he requested cancellation which was done.

A house costing £356 ($712) was built at the front of the site on Cambridge Street and also a showroom was built on the site. C.E. Shaw was appointed manager at £3 ($6) a week with £2.10s a year allowance for maintaining his bike. Mrs Shaw was paid 15s ($1.50) a week for attending to the showroom.

In April 1909 elections were held with Mayor Gardener being elected unopposed. The new council was Crs Palmer, Cameron, Hudson, France, Levy, Prouse, Lancaster, Hannan and MacKenzie.

The town clerk’s salary was raised to £5.15s ($11.50) a week with the overseer’s wage being raised to £3 ($6) a week with £3 ($6) a year granted for bike maintenance. The overseer was appointed inspector of vehicles and heavy traffic.

The Bartholomew Road pit was now being excavated for road metal and the overseer was instructed to only excavate it five feet (1.7m) deep so as to form a swimming pool for boys in the summer, but this was cancelled later.

The Mako Mako Road, now Liverpool Street, and Bath Street railway crossings were opened.

Cr Levy resigned in June 1909 and Peter Arcus was elected in his place.

The Levin Municipal Coal Gasworks was opened on 21/7/1909. One hundred houses or businesses were connected to the supply for lighting, heating and cooking, with 40 street lamps.

Work proceeded with the water system. Mr Climie was the engineer planning it. The water was taken from the Ohau River near the entrance to the present Ohau Track in the bush of the Ohau Valley. It flowed by gravity through 11 chains (72m) of tunnel to Tunnel Creek where it entered large mains flowing to the twin settling tanks holding 200,000 gallons (about 750,000L). Then the pipes led down to the Pipe Bridge and on down Gladstone Road to Queen Street east.

The tunnel was excavated by E.J. Williams costing £467 ($934). The cost of the settling tanks was £1229 ($2458) built by D. Roberts.

The Pipe Bridge was built by Swainson and Bevan costing £1000 ($2000). The Spiral Steel Pipe Co supplied the water pipes at a cost of £8090 ($16,180) for the 15 inch (380mm, 300mm and 250mm) pipes. Smaller pipes cost £4637 ($9274) from Stewart and Lloyd.

An extra loan of 10% of the original loan had to be obtained £2200 ($4400), bringing the cost of the scheme to £24,200 ($48,400). The water was turned into the mains on 16/4/1910 with over 100 consumers and 450 within a year, when more reticulation had been done. There were 600 rate-payers in Levin then.

Six hundred acres (240h) of bush above the intake were bought at £1.7s ($2.70) as a watershed. The Government paid £135 ($270) a year on the £18,000 loan ($36,000) for the period of the loan.

After much consideration, over a year, the council decided on the leases of the gravel reserve. This had originally been vested only in the local authority and apparently it had been inherited from the county council and now with Mrs Ostler surrendering her leases, the borough completely owned it.

The Oxford Street sections from the now Deka shop (inclusive) to Bath Street were set at upset prices of £1 ($2) a frontage foot and from £10 to £22 (20 to $44) for the rent of shops that were on the reserve. The buildings had been owned by Mrs Ostler.

The Chamberlain Street section were set at 15s ($1.50) a foot. These leases were to be auctioned later.

Through 1910 the council discussed the building of a library. A site on the corner of Bath Street and Oxford Street (where Warnocks and Brenmuhls are now) was finally chosen. The Weraroa Library had been taken over by the council with Miss Palmer being the librarian. The Carnegie Trust gave money for building libraries all over the world.

Dale Carnegie was a steel and railway magnate in the United States of America. The council applied for a grant of £1500 ($3000). Applicants for designs were called for, and 23 were received. James Bennie’s design was selected.

With the formation of the borough, the county council had control over the area surrounding the borough only. The Whirokino Road Board was dissolved about 1906 leaving the county council completely in charge of the county.

The first motor car, a De Dion Bouton, was brought to Levin by Dr MacKenzie in 1903 and the cinema had arrived.

In a photo of the Byko shop on the north east corner of the Queen and Oxford Streets intersection shows a sign Bouttells pictures every Friday night at the Century Hall. This was in 1910 or before. One programme advertised was Old Oxford, Rich Man Bought a Bucking Donkey and a French play. The late Hector McDonald related that in the film The Battle of Gettysburg, he and others stamped their feet imitating the sound of galloping horses and threw stones on the wooden floor for gunshots. Later in the year the Max Picture Co was showing films in the town hall (where Kent and Little’s building is now).

Field Marshal Kitchener was in Levin in 1910 advocating military preparedness.

In an editorial on 8/7/1910 The Chronicle deplored that the Chinese had descended on Levin. A laundry (probably just north of The Chronicle office) had opened and it was taking the bread out of the mouths of mothers and children. Widows took in washing for income in those days.

It also said respectable people had been seen going into a greengrocery shop. Ghing Lee had a greengrocery shop then where Levin Shoes is now.

The Levin Hotel had an extension of two storeys built in 1902 by the then owner Dan Hannan. The Britannia Restaurant is now on the site.

The shop at Byko Corner had a second storey added and it advertised that it was generating electricity with a water motor for lighting and charging accumulators.

Prouse’s sawmill closed down in 1907 having cut all the timber available near Levin. The West Coast Timber Association (Bartholomews) had built a sawmill in the Ohau Valley near the Pipe Bridge and was bringing the partly milled timber down by trolley line to the Weraroa mill.

A subdivision was made in Cambridge Street south by Mr Wilton who owned five acres (2h) there, creating the original short lengths of Wilton and Power Streets in 1910.

An extension of Princess Street was formed by the Setter Estate subdividing their block.

The Weraroa Post Office was opened on 21/4/1910 by the Premier, Sir Joseph Ward, costing the borough council £18.10s ($37), of which the county council paid £7 ($14). The new railway station was built in 1910, opening on 2/5/1910 without ceremony.

Halley’s Comet was visible in 1910 being a most spectacular sight in Levin.

King Edward V11 died in May and a very elaborate commemoration was held in the “Square” with cadets and Weraroa Boys Training Farm Band parading.

Clarry Keedwell took over Day’s Pharmacy (at the front of where the Britannia Restaurant is now). This was a link in the chain of pharmacies from Southgate, Day, Keedwell, and Nockels to the present Bennetts Pharmacy.

The News, December 20, 1989

Sharon Beauty Salon- Cinema Advertising Slide (2)

This is one of multiple cinema advertising slides made for the Sharon Beauty Salon.

This local Levin business appears to have a long history. There is a record of it existing as early as the 1940s, run by a Mrs. Weir. In 1981 the business was still there (but there is no record of who owned it by that stage).This cinema advertising slide would have been screened during intermission- but only for a few seconds to avoid the projector's heat cracking the glass! In the era before television, going to the cinema was a frequent past time and if you paid extra to be seated upstairs in the 'dress circle' you generally dressed in nice clothes. What better audience to advertise hair tinting and razor cutting! Imagine this ad stretching over a cinema screen- now that would be impact....

A.M. Fox - Cinema Advertising Slide

Advertising slides like this one would have screened in the cinema near the end of intermission- just as patrons were taking their seats for the second half of the movie (when intermissions were phased out they sometimes shown before the film commenced).

These ads were printed/painted on glass and were loaded into the projector for a few moments before the heat from the lamp cracked the glass. Some of these slides were detailed and used prints, photographs and visual humour. Others, like this one from A.M Fox, were basic. Given how briefly each slide was shown to the audience, oftentimes simple was best!

No information can be found online about this business- but based off the design of the slide it would have been made from the 1940s-early 1960s. New Zealanders bought 40 million cinema tickets a year by the late 1950s so this was a prime time to advertise.

Sharon Beauty Salon- Cinema Advertising Slide

This cinema advertising slide would have been screened during intermission- but only for a few seconds to avoid the projector's heat cracking the glass! In the era before television, going to the cinema was a frequent past time and if you paid extra to be seated upstairs in the 'dress circle' you generally dressed in nice clothes. What better audience to advertise cold waving, colour shampoos, hair tinting, razor cutting and facials!

Imagine this ad stretching over a cinema screen- now that would be impact....

Oxford Street, Levin, 1990

Penciled on back: “42 Oxford Street, Levin looking south from near Queen Street intersection. Made by B. Eykel, Horticultural Research Centre, Levin. Negative on file H.H.S.”

Stamped on back with black ink – Horowhenua Historical Society. Acc. No. Date 20/10/90

See also – Acc. #2000.269 (Traffic Survey, set of 25 colour photos)

The eastern side of Oxford Street, Levin, looking south towards the Bath Street lights, 1990. Taken at 4:45pm this photograph shows the large volume of traffic on Oxford Street which is also State Highway One. The two storied building which was the Arcadia Hotel is visible at the end of the business premises at the Bath Street intersection.

1 Colour photo print copy, mounted

See also 2000.269 Collectin (Traffic Survey, set of 25 colour photos)

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

Levin Public Library opening 29 November 1911

Public Library on the corner of Oxford and Bath Streets, Levin.

There is a crowd of people at the front of the building, possibly for the opening day of the library.

Photographed ca 1909 by an unidentified photographer.

From National Library Collection - 1 negative, ID: 1/2-139937-F

Man in Period Costume

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

Exterior Levin Public Library, main entrance, 1966

Printed on side of photo – FEB . 66

Stamped on back with black ink – F 861

Exterior Levin Public Library, main entrance, 1966 1 Colour photo print

Taken at night with interior & exterior lighted.

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

Children's section, Levin Public Library, 1965

Written on back with black ballpoint pen – 10 / 1965

Children’s section, Levin Public Library, 1965 1 B&W photo print

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

Bath St., looking east from Public Library, 1969

Penciled on back – 15/3/69 Bath St., East from Public Library veranda [? verandah]

Public Trust building, cnr. Oxford & Bath Sts. before replacement in 1977. Compare with #.0075 May 1977 (same view).

Bath St., looking east from Public Library, 1969 1 B&W photo print

Compare with #.0075 May 1977 (same view).

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

A.W. Allen Ltd., cnr. Oxford & Bath Sts., 1970

Penciled on back - A.W. Allen Ltd. Drapers & Furnishers.

Drapers & Furnishers. Levin’s largest Departmental Store.

Taken from upstairs in ‘Central Building’. When added to #.0112 forms mini panorama.

A.W. Allen Ltd., cnr. Oxford & Bath Sts., 1970 1 B&W photo print

Drapers & Furnishers. Levin’s largest Departmental Store.

Taken from upstairs in ‘Central Building’. When added to #.0112 forms mini panorama.

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”

South Service Lane, looking south from Bath St., 1970

Written on back with blue ballpoint pen - Looking along Service Lane from Bath St. Railway Crossing.

Sign above building (centre) – Dalgety Loan Ltd. Dalgety & NZ Loan Ltd, Oxford St. – Showroom, Office, Stock, Land, Produce, Hardware, Insurance & Travel Depts., also Data Processing Dept. (see 1967 Telephone Directory).

South Service Lane, looking south from Bath St., 1970 1 B&W photo print

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Horowhenua Historical Society Inc.”