Hendersons Road in Hoon Hay – Named after William Henderson (1830?-1902). Henderson was one “of those engaged in farming or allied enterprises” who had roads named after them. He farmed at Creekside, Hendersons Road and was a member of the Halswell Road Board. Henderson’s Road is first mentioned in The Press in 1878 when tenders were invited for its formation. First appears in street directories in 1930.
A small amount of information from the library website and they seem to have muddled up the father and son. William Henderson senior died in 1902 aged 72. He was born in Scotland and was a builder. He came to New Zealand in 1863 on the ship Tiptree with his wife and five children. He helped build several early buildings in Christchurch including the railway station. He went to the West Coast for a while to look for gold. William returned to Christchurch in 1868 and farmed land at the back of the railway station. He then purchased Spreydon Farm on Lincoln Rd. Note Lincoln Rd went all the way to Halswell those days. He also had a butchery business in Sydenham. His son who was also called William owned Creekside and this would have been closer to Sparks Rd.
Papers Past had a couple of entries about the request by Mr Henderson to have the road formed. The Cashmere kennels on Hendersons Rd would have been at the Cashmere Rd end of the street. Several entries in the 1960s about the subdivision of Crown land known as Free Block. The subdivision was complicated by one half of the road being under city council and the other half under Halswell County. In 1960 a farm was purchased for State Housing and in 1971 the request to change the zoning of the farm land to residential lane was opposed. There seemed to be a lot of accidents on the corner of Sparks Rd and Hendersons Rd. They eventually built a roundabout but it now has lights. There were still at least one farm here in 1970s as a farmer complained about dogs killing his sheep.
There is one house here from 1920s but most houses were built in 1960s and 1970s. There are still Housing Corp houses here but the they go under a different name these days. I parked up at the car park at the Sparks Rd Wetlands and walked through the Wetlands to the Hendersons Rd entrance. There isn’t a footpath on this part of the road but the verge was wide enough to walk on. I had to walk fairly carefully as it was slippery and I didn’t want to fall into the ditch. On the corner of Hendersons Rd and Cashmere Rd there is an older house but technically this house is on Cashmere Rd. Between Cashmere Rd and Sparks Rd there isn’t any houses apart from this older house. The wetlands is on one side of the road next to farmland. There is also farmland on the other side of the road but a large part of it was under water. Between Sparks Rd and Halswell Rd is where the houses are. One side of the road has houses on only half the road and the other half is still possibly farmland. Near the Sparks Rd end there was a large house on a very large section of land. There are now houses being build on this land and it isn’t possible to see the large house any longer when you are driving past. Some of the houses had interesting and lovely garden decorations. Wish I could have taken photos. St Johns have a hub here. I couldn’t remember which house was the one that used to be decorated for Christmas and have open days for charities. This was over 20 years ago and the owners eventually moved to Blenheim. Near the Halswell Rd end there is a large house called Henderson Home where disabled people live. It used to be a private house and it became a home for the disabled when the owners sold up and moved to Australia. After a few years Henderson Home purchased the house next door and expanded. When I lived in the area I knew several people who lived in on this street but this was over 20 years ago. In recent years at least three roads have been developed off the west side of the street.
Lytteltonwitch's Walking the streets of Christchurch Project 