The church had opened the Maori Agricultural College in 1913. When the MAC was destroyed in the 1931 Napier earthquake, there were plans to build a new school and construction of CCNZ began in 1952. In 1955, the LDS Church announced that it would construct a
temple in Hamilton.
LDS Church president David O. McKay initially went to New Zealand to downsize the building programme. After visiting the project, McKay was so impressed with what he saw and felt he decided to add two more buildings to the school's construction. These buildings were later named the David O. McKay Auditorium and the
Matthew Cowley Administration Building. CCNZ and the
New Zealand Temple were built on the same 35
hectare site, in what later became known as Temple View, a suburb of Hamilton. Both facilities were built entirely by LDS Church volunteer labour
missionaries. CCNZ was dedicated and formally opened on 26 April 1958 by McKay. Clifton D. Boyack was the school's first principal.
Construction The first visit to a property in the area occurred in 1950. The
mission president, Gordon C.Young, drove out to the area, and when first seeing the site as he drove over a nearby hill where he pictured in his mind white buildings on the property and immediately felt this was the place the LDS Church was to build a school. He arranged to acquire the property the same day. He specifically stated many times that he did not ever see the temple on the property in vision because he had only been given the assignment to find property and also that only the LDS Church president could propose sites for a new temple. Church representatives from
Utah came and inspected the property, and members of the church from all over New Zealand slowly moved into the area to work as labor missionaries on the project. Before work commenced on the school, the surrounding property began to be developed, including accommodations for the people who came to work were built, and a social infrastructure was established. Initially, there were only a few people at the site. Much of the surrounding land was
peat, and it took some ingenuity to make the land agriculturally productive. Over 200 acres of land were bought for the college Many of the existing buildings were used as temporary quarters for those participating in construction and administration. Cottages were built to house the building missionaries when they arrived. Dormitory-type accommodations were provided for the single men. Food was sent in from the church members in other parts of the country, and some of it was grown locally. A stream ran across the property behind the men's accommodation and behind their eating house. In the winters it always flooded so the men's accommodation and some of the cottages were usually semi-submerged in water at the time. A young child drowned in the stream so for safety concrete piping was brought in for protection, and to seal the stream. The concrete bricks for the school buildings were manufactured locally by a special crew of building missionaries. There were specialist plumbing, electrical, painting, welding, mechanic and other crews for the construction of the many facilities. Supervisors for these crews were called from the U.S. They came with their families, and helped greatly with the overall communal life of the building missionaries. The building missionaries were exposed to the way the LDS Church did things in the U.S., and this helped facilitate the transition of the LDS Church in New Zealand from its
mission status to the
stake and
ward system. ==Notable alumni==