Tanner Street in the suburb of Woolston, Christchurch

Tanner Street in Woolston – formerly Scott Street and Station Street. Named because of the street’s proximity to the Woolston Tanneries. OR Named after William Wilcox Tanner (1851-1938). Scott Street, or alternatively Station Street, first appears in street directories in 1896. The only resident is William P. McNeil, the railway station master. By 1900 it leads to the Woolston Railway Station and is named Scott Street only. Re-named Tanner Street in 1922. Tanner, a boot maker, was on the Woolston Borough Council 1893-1900 and also the member of parliament for Heathcote and Avon 1890-1908.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. There were so many Station Streets and Scott Streets on Papers Past that it was impossible to get information on this one. Changing the name from Scott St to Tanner St was mentioned in 1922 and 1924. It was changed because of duplicate street names. One of the articles included a very long winded and confusing sentence about streets names in Woolston. This sentence convinced me that the street was named after William Wilcox Tanner. I thought briefly that the street might have been named after Rev William Tanner who was a minister at a church on Ferry Rd. Both of them died in 1938.

In 1930s it was mostly birth and death notices. In 1940 the town planning said that this area was to be a heavy industrial area. Most entries after this date relate to businesses.

This tiny street runs from Garlands Rd to Curries Rd. The valuation website said that there were only 7 properties here with one built in 1900 and rest in 1940s. The house from 1900 is in reasonable condition. I double checked google maps as I remembered seeing a block of apartments. The block of 12 apartments are on Tanner St but not included in the valuation website which is unusual. There are also several businesses on this street plus it runs along the back of The Tannery. I had been geocaching in the area yesterday and it was much warmer than I expected.