Smith Road (New Plymouth)

Smith Road is located directly opposite the entrance to Merrilands Domain. It is named after Alexander Randolph Smith, an early settler in the district.

Alexander was born in England in 1841, the only son of John and Prudence Smith, and arrived in New Plymouth with his family aboard the ship Timandra in 1842. His father purchased 250 acres close to town, later naming the estate “Merryland Farm”. Sadly, John died suddenly of pleurisy in 1853 requiring Alexander to take charge of the land.  He remained living at Merryland Farm until his death on 1 October 1889, leaving behind his wife Elizabeth, a son and four daughters. His obituary in the local newspaper described him as a man of honest character and “great integrity”.  

On a survey map drawn not long after his death, there is a long unformed roadway running from Mangorei Road to the far side of the Hēnui Stream which the surveyor has named “Smith’s”, presumably an acknowledgement of the respect in which Smith was held and his long association with the district.

In the mid-1950s New Plymouth builder and property developer Wilfred Wood purchased a block of land off Mangorei Road and set about turning the roadway into something more than a paper road. The north side of Smith Road (the possessive ‘s’ having been dropped) was first surveyed in October 1956, along with a short stretch of the adjacent Truby King Street.

It was not until 1963 that survey plans were submitted for the other side Smith Road, and in the mid-1970s the formation of John Guthrie Street allowed the extension of Smith Road toward the Hēnui Stream .

Up until the 1940s, New Plymouth had a Smith Street in Vogeltown, a short stretch of road alongside Vogeltown School. At the request of local residents, it was renamed Huatoki Street thereby avoiding any confusion with the soon-to-be Smith Road in Merrilands.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Related items:

Taranaki ML241 Sheet 1 (1890), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP7553 Sheet 1 (1954), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP7902 Sheet 1 (1955), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP8049 Sheet 1 (1956), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

Taranaki DP9230 Sheet 1 (1963), ICS Pre 300,000 Cadastral Plan Index (Imaged by LINZ)

New City Boundary Objections Heard (Taranaki Daily News 15 July 1959)