Township 24 km north-west of Palmerston North on the Manawatū plain. Sanson is a long-established rural service centre, and thrives from its location at a junction of state highways 1 and 3. It dates from the Crown’s sale of the Sandon block in the late 1860s. The block was designated a township to put it out of reach of soldiers, who could exchange vouchers for rural but not urban land. The Sandon block was settled from the Hutt Valley, and given the slightly different name of Sanson (after Henry Sanson, the secretary of the Hutt Small Farm Association). This caused much confusion over the years. The township of Sanson was the terminus of a tramway which ran from a junction with the railway line at Hīmatangi from 1883 until 1945.
Meaning of place name
Named after Henry Sanson, the secretary of the Hutt Small Farm Association.
