Grafton Street in the suburb of Waltham, Christchurch

Grafton St in Waltham – Formerly William Street. Named after William Barbour Wilson (1819-1897). Re-named Grafton Street. Wilson was a nurseryman, businessman and local politician. In a subdivision of Rural Section 48, land owned by William Wilson (1819-1897). William Street appears on an 1874/75 Deposit Plan. First appears in the Star in an advertisement in 1880. It does not appear in street directories but appears on an 1890 map. Re-named Grafton Street in 1888. Plan of suburban property (Rural Section 48) situated on the Ferry Road near the East Town Belt belonging to William Wilson Esq., Deposit Plan 27 1874/75. Map held by Bob

Pritchard, subdivisions officer, Christchurch City Council. [The land, 200 acres in Ferry Road, had originally been purchased by G. Draper and his son in law, James Edward FitzGerald (1818?-1896).]

A reasonable amount of information from the library website and I am not sure that it being previously named William St is correct. The ad in 1880 actually refers to a street that is where Te Ara is now situated. Other ads say that it is off Lower High Street which again refers to where the William St at Te Ara is situated. I have checked older maps and I can only find the William St at Te Ara. I would have to visit the Archives Office in Wigram to confirm this.

Looking at Papers Past I eventually decided to ignore William St information as it was obvious that none of it related to this street. If anyone has any information showing that this street was originally called William St please let me know. I couldn’t find out how the street got it’s name. In the 1890s there was mostly ads for sections plus one house fire. Between 1900s and 1950s it was mostly birth and death notices. In the early 1900s a Children’s Home was mentioned a few times. They seemed to be an accident prone lot on this street. I was amused by a letter to the editor in 1949 where someone was complaining about there being two streets with the name Grafton. Whoever replied on behalf of the council had a touch of sarcasm in their reply. It was pointed out to the letter writer that Grafton St in Sumner was now Marriner St and had been Marriner St for some time. In 1965 there was a house and land for sale and this property was now zoned industrial.

At the dead end of the street it is mostly businesses and the railway line runs behind this end. A huge number of older houses at this end of the street dating from 1905 through to 1920s but sadly many are looking very run down. At least 25% of the houses on this street are dated between 1905 and 1920. The next big lot are from the 1990s and many of these are built from brick. Brick seems to have been the most popular building material in the 1990s and yes I live in a 1990s brick townhouse. There is a house that dates from 1880 and it is now a New Age Christian Centre. There was a block of flats that looked like social housing but couldn’t find out if this was correct. Some of the houses here looked quite nice and well maintained but mostly the street looked very rundown. One of the businesses on the street was a salvage company and another specialised in asbestos. Yes it amused me but then I do have a warped sense of humour. Half way along the street there was a nice playground and I was possibly geocaching here.