Frank Street in the suburb of Papanui, Christchurch

Frank Street in Papanui – Named after Francis Edward Horner (1873- 1943). Francis Horner was a son of William and Mary Horner. At the time of his marriage in 1895 he was a storeman of Papanui. First mentioned in The Press in 1889. First appears in street directories in 1892.

A small amount of information from the library website. The earliest entry that I found on Papers Past was in 1889 when a new house was being built. In 1894 there was a house for sale. In 1900 at least two people were fined for allowing horses to wander at large. Between 1901 and 1905 there were sections for sale and in 1905 the residents requested that the Road Board take over the road. In 1924 the residents were complaining about the state of the street. From 1909 onwards the Masonic Hall was mentioned occasionally. I managed to find out more information about the Masonic Hall and in 1890 W Horner donated the land for the building of the Hall. In the 1920s there were lots of complaints about the lodge members parking in the street.

In 1923 the details of a new church were discussed and that the church would be built in brick. This church was demolished after the earthquakes. In the 1920s there was a firewood business on this street.

Lots of social notes over the years plus birth and death notices. The garden competitions occasionally mentioned. From the 1970s onwards many of the death notices related to funerals at the church.

In 1933 a fire at the Papanui Timber Company was quickly put out. This company was at the corner of Papanui Rd and Frank Street. In 1986 a new Motor Inn called The Elms Motor Inn was to be built where the Papanui Timber Company used to be.

Francis Edward Horner lived on Church Street which is now Bellvue Ave. In 1911 he was fined for allowing cattle to wander at large but nothing else on Papers Past for him.

I walked this street a couple of weeks ago before visiting Age Concern. I started at the Papanui Rd end where there is a Presbyterian Church and Community Centre called The Village. The buildings are very different to the original brick church as they look like they are made from corrugated iron. There is a Lilliput Library here and I had a chat with someone from the Community Centre here. They used to have a problem with someone taking the books and trying to sell them. Opposite the church is the Hotel Elms. Then there is a very interesting looking building called BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha and I worked out that it used to be the Masonic Hall. A tennis court belonging to a school and then it is houses. The houses date from 1915 to 2024 and were a mixture of styles. I ended up looking at maps for this street as it has a couple of kinks in it. Going by the maps it used to be a straight street but the council made it into a living street. I had to be careful when crossing the street where it kinks as it didn’t feel overly safe. Thankfully not much traffic.