Street Names Through the Years

HCL_09608, Hamilton City Libraries

Street names change from time to time, none more-so than Hamilton streets since the first surveys were drawn onto plans and approved.

Looking at addresses of ancestors is particularly frustrating sometimes. For instance, if one of your great-grandparents lived in Jersey Street in 1872, you will not find it on a map today. Jersey Street is long gone as is the Great South Road within Hamilton boundaries.

Victoria Street is a good example of street name creep. Where Victoria Street now runs – from Anzac Parade to Te Rapa Road – there used to be: Tisdall Street (to Knox Street); Victoria Street (from Knox to Liverpool Street); Jersey Street (from Liverpool Street to Edgecumbe Street) then Great South Road (from Edgecumbe Street to Karangahape Road in Auckland). Some names still exist – Tisdall Street was simply shortened to run only as far as Anzac Parade.

Anzac Parade was formerly Bridge Street – obviously so named because of the bridge. Before that it was Richmond Street but, for a time, it was not the only Richmond. There was, according to maps of the day, Richmond Avenue, which is now Horne Street, Richmond Street in Frankton which is now Ellis Street and a small piece of street in Hamilton East noted as Richmond. 

The name Richmond went to a street off Gurnell Ave which was Cook Street and there was after all, a Cook Street already in Hamilton East. Gurnell Ave has gone and is now a part of Ulster Street after they were joined when the gully was filled in. Confused? We can help.

Maps are a useful source of old street name information, and we have a good stock of maps covering most decades since settlement. However, map publishers could only rely on information being supplied promptly to get into the new maps and that was not always the case.

We have a card index of street names on Level 3 at Central Library and we can assist you to learn what happened to the names which have disappeared off our street signs.