Leeds Street in the suburb of Phillipstown, Christchurch

Leeds St in Phillipstown– formerly Creek Road and Creek Street. Named after Leeds, a city in West Yorkshire, England. Creek Street, Phillipstown, is first mentioned in The Press in 1876. Re-named Leeds Street on 7 March 1904. Among a number of streets re-named in 1904 and given the names of place-names in the United Kingdom.A small amount of information from the library website. Not a lot that I can add about about the name of Leeds as Leeds is a well known city in Yorkshire, UK. It is also a lovely city to visit. Creek name is more interesting and lots of entries on Papers Past concerning Jackson’s Creek which is the reason for the name. Jackson’s Creek must have been a long creek or there were several creeks with the same name. It is mentioned in connection with Opawa, Sydenham and Windmill St which is known as Antigua St these days. There were problems with stagnant water and many people blamed health issues on this. The drainage board had control of the creek and there were issues with keeping the creek from blocking up. I was slightly confused as in 1877 the drainage board declared that they had abandoned Jacksons Creek and others can fill it in and utilize however they want. Then in 1880 there was notice to the person who had filled in Jacksons Creek to reopen it. I didn’t find out who the Jackson was that the creek was named after. In 1875 Andrew Duncan complained about the creek being blocked as it affected his hot houses. I suspect that Creek Street was developed on land that belonged to Andrew Duncan as in 1880 he resigned from the council and to travel to Australia for the sake of his health.There were death notices for various people from 1894 and in 1898 there were stables available to rent. I wasn’t sure if there were two halls on Leeds Street or just one hall going under several names. In early 1900s the elite band hall was mentioned but sometimes it was just called band hall. There was mention of lodge meetings at the Leeds Street Hall and again not sure if they had their own hall or if it was the same hall that the band used. The hall was a busy place and usually just called Leeds St Hall.This street seemed to get more businesses from 1920s onwards and now it is totally businesses on the street. In 1924 there was a fire at Hannah’s new boot factory. The same year Harcourt’s furniture business had a small fire and in 1940 Harcourt’s furniture factory was totally destroyed by fire. I couldn’t find mention of families on the street after the 1920s or 1930s. Death notices are the best source of this type of information. In the 1900s there was mention of Mary Ann and Jonathan Barrett who are direct ancestors of mine and this was really cool. Not a lot I can say about the buildings here as they are all businesses and none stood out for me. There was street art and I love street art.