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An Early View of Rangitikei Street

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Image

Description: The photographer appears to have been standing on a high building near the corner of Featherston Street and Rangitikei Street. THe street in the foreground is Rangitikei Street, with The Square in the far left distance. There appears to be a small side-street or right-of-way in the middle distance (between the two houses and alongside the group of trees) and this may be the site of the present Maire Street. This photograph could not have been taken earlier that 1882, because the tall spire of the old wood All Saints Church (erected 1882) can be seen in the far distance (towards the left), while the large two-storey wooden building in the left distance (on the south side of Rangitikei Street) is Barraud and Abraham's premises (erected 1882). The second house from the right, on Rangitikei Street, was Ganstad's (a jeweller?). Mr Ganstad had a large farm. The photograph indicates the settlement pattern of the 1880s. There is a thick concentration of buildings (commercial and residential) in the vicinity of The Square and Cuba Street and a line of houses along Taonui Street, but only scattered settlement along Rangitikei Street. In the distance, some buildings can be seen scattered along Church Street West. The town is bounded on the south-east by thick native bush, stretching from the vicinity of Ferguson Street to the river.