More Info →An Early View of Ferguson Street

This early photograph of Ferguson Street was taken between Albert Street and Victoria Street, looking towards Fitzherbert Avenue. Ferguson Street was named after Alexander Ferguson, Mayor of Palmerston North 1885-86, and a Borough Councillor 1878-1884 and 1888. A Scotsman by birth, he came to New Zealand on the 'Star of Germany and arrived in Palmerston North about 1878. He bought George Snelson's store which he ran as a grocery and hardware business in The Square. He left Palmerston North c 1888 and is thought to have 'farmed beyond Feilding', lived in Whanganui for 14 years and ended up in Tauranga, where he died in August 1931. In 1925 he presented a Mayoral Chain of office to the Borough Council.