Hansons Lane in the suburb of Upper Riccarton, Christchurch

Hansons Lane – Named after John Edward Hanson (1840-1920). Hanson opened the Riccarton Store in 1869 on the corner of Riccarton Road and the present Hansons Lane. First appears in street directories in 1903.A small amount of information from the library website. This is a long and wide street for a street that is called a lane. The street is first mentioned in Papers Past in 1901. In 1916 there is mention of a public library and in 1919 residents were requesting a footpath. There is a Ballantyne family mentioned in 1911 and 1940. There is mention of a hostel in the 1940s.The best information about John Edward Hanson was in his obituary dated 18th November 1920. He died aged 89 and he was born in Leeds. Came out to NZ in 1863 on the Brothers Pride. He set up a store and butchery and later on set up a bakery. He owned the Riccarton Flour Mill. He was on the Riccarton Road Board and school committee. It didn’t say what school. He was very involved with St Peters Church. His wife died in 1902.At the Riccarton Rd end there were shops including Countdown Supermarket. Then there is Hansons Lane Reserve and almost opposite is Rannerdale Veterans Village. This was established in 1921 for disabled soldiers from WWI. It looks like when it was set as Rannerdale Veterans Hospital that it was in Papanui Rd but I couldn’t find out when it moved to Hansons Lane. It has been there as long as I can remember. New buildings here and I don’t know if the original building is still standing. Most the houses along this street are either wooden or brick and built in the 1940s and 1950s. Most are in reasonable condition. There were also a couple of Art Deco houses. Towards Blenheim Rd end there is a complex called Canterbury Village and with a bit of googling I found out that it is student accommodation. Also this end in a fairly modest building there is the Consul – General for People’s Republic of China.