Palmerston North City Council

Palmerston North came into official existence in 1866 under the name of ‘Palmerston’ (North was added by the postal authorities in 1871) and administered by the Wellington Provincial Council. In 1877 it became an self-governing Borough and elected its first Borough Council. Palmerston North reached city status, with a resulting name change to the Palmerston North City Council, in 1930. In 1989 a major territorial change took place, whereby Palmerston North took over the territory of Kairanga County Council and part of the Oroua County Council (Ashhurst). The Palmerston North Council Archives are arranged and described under two plans of arrangment: The original arrangement plan, created in 1978-1979, reflected the organisational structure of the Council during the 1970s (Series 1 – 10 contain the records of the 10 departments of Council that were progressively created between 1877 – and 1973). A new plan of arrangement was created in 1996, where the record type took precedence over the creator.