Map of the Papaiōea Clearing shown in relation to the original streets of Palmerston North surveyed between 1866 - 1875. Based on Mitchell's map of 1866, Jackson's map of 1875 and Scott's map of 1881. The street names drawn on the map are present day names, not the original names. When the area was surveyed for a town the clearing was chosen as the site of what became Palmerston North due to it being a flat, open area, sufficiently elevated to avoid flooding from the Manawau River and adjacent streams. The 'clearing' disappeared during the 1870s and 1880s as settlers destroyed the surrounding forest.