Squire Street in the suburb of Mairehau, Christchurch

Squire Street in Mairehau- formerly Spence Street. Spence Street first appears in street directories in 1905. Re-named Squire Street on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named. A small amount of information from the library website. Not a lot of information on Papers Past. The earliest mention I could find was a death notice for a baby in 1903. In 1919 land was offered to the council so that the road could be widened. Drainage issues mentioned in 1925. In 1926 it was suggested that the street be renamed to Isitt Street as Spence Street was too close to Spencer Street in Sydenham. This obviously didn’t happen. Several mentions of a missing man in December 1932. There was an extensive search for him and on 12th December 1932 there was a sighting of him near the Sign of the Kiwi. Next mention is the inquest in May 1933 where they came to a verdict of suicide. Four young girls found his decomposed body at the bottom of a cliff in the Cashmere Hills in an area called Redstone Gully. F J Matthews lived on Spence St and was a Post and Telegraph employee. The street runs from Aylesford St to Flockton Stand there is only 13 houses on the street. Most were built in 1920 with one from 1975 and another from 2016. The houses from 1920 were of a square box shape. I walked this street this morning after visiting the library at the Palms.