Mountain Road traverses Taranaki from near Bell Block, to Normanby. The road was important in the early development of the province.
New Plymouth was an isolated town for a long time after its founding in 1841. With inland Taranaki covered in dense bush, the new settlements nearby were mostly only in cleared areas along the coast. An inland track already existed, but better access was needed to the established townships of Hāwera and Pātea.
The existing route was called the Whakaahurangi track. Pre-dating European settlement, a Māori woman named Ruaputahanga had made a journey from Kawhia to her home at Pātea. She travelled inland, to the east of the mountain. In 1958 the track was marked by a Historic Places Trust plaque at the bridge over the Kahouri Stream, near Stratford.
In the early 1840s the New Zealand Company decided to clear a more direct path. Charles Nairn’s sons employed many men to do the work. However, as time passed the infrequently used path gradually became overgrown with bush again.
In 1866 General Chute marched five hundred men from South Taranaki to New Plymouth. Although the journey nearly ended in disaster when food ran out and they got lost, they had managed, along the way, to improve the track somewhat. Chute was celebrated by Pākehā settlers for this achievement and it became known as the Chute and Nairn track.
By the late 1870s, as the bush was slowly cleared the road we are familiar with today was formed. In about 1884, with much of the road laid in metal, it became known as Mountain Road and began to replace the coast road as the main route through Taranaki. Sealing the road commenced in the 1920s. In 1936 much of Mountain Road became part of State Highway Three.
When Stratford was founded, that length of Mountain Road within its town boundaries was re-named Broadway. Eltham re-named its section High Street.
Several road improvements have meant the southern end of Mountain Road ceases to be the main highway at Boylan Road.
This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.
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