Related keywords
Town located on the road and rail junction between Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa and Manawatū. The timber-milling town of Woodville grew up in the 1870s, and was known as ‘The Junction’. Its location made it seem an ideal site for a new town and it profited from an influx of road workers during this period. Dairy farms in its hinterland supported the township. The rail line from Napier reached Woodville in the 1880s, and the line from Palmerston North came in the 1890s. However, by this time Dannevirke was the most important town in the district and Woodville failed to capitalise on its strategic location.
Meaning of place name
The name was chosen because the district was in the now vanished Seventy Mile Bush. Earlier known as The Junction, owing to its position at the junction of road and rail between Wairarapa, Manawatū, and Hawke's Bay.
