The area is within the traditional
rohe of
Te Kawerau ā Maki, an
iwi that traces their ancestry to some of the earliest inhabitants of the
Auckland Region. West Auckland was known as Hikurangi, and the area of the upper catchments of
Te Wai-o-Pareira / Henderson Creek was known as Ōkaurirahi, a reference to the mature
kauri forests of the area. The northern Glen Eden and
Kelston area was called Onewherowhero, a reference to the red coloured clay found in the area. Te Kawerau ā Maki had a
kāinga near modern Holdens Road in
Oratia, close to Glen Eden. Waikūmete is a traditional Te Kawerau ā Maki name for
Little Muddy Creek in south
Titirangi on the
Manukau Harbour, By the 1880s, the spelling Waikomiti was regularly described as a misspelling of Waikumete, and in 1898 the post office was officially renamed. Early settlers such as John Bishop and Thomas Canty felled bush in the
Oratia and Glen Eden areas from the mid-1840s. Kauri logging of the Waitākere Ranges foothills was an early industry which drew people to the area. Glen Eden was a part of the Titirangi Block sold to the crown in 1848. Permanent European settlers first arrived in the Glen Eden area in 1853, clearing the land to be used as orchards. The orchards began to prosper in the early 1900s, when immigrants from
Dalmatia (modern-day
Croatia) settled in the area. The
Western Line opened in March 1880, connecting Waikumete to Auckland by rail and encouraging growth in the area. The train station acted as a hub for the community, with most businesses opening close to the station. In 1886, the
Waikumete Cemetery was established, due to the proximity of the area to the Western Line. Many people viewed the cemetery as having a negative effect on the area, making it a less desirable place to live. In 1901, the first town hall was built in the area, and in 1910 the first Methodist Church was constructed in Waikumete. Social life of the area revolved around the town hall, which showed movies, held dances and political meetings. During
World War I, the hall was used to train
territorials for the army. The Waikumete Cemetery became the burial place for many of the people who died during the
1918 influenza pandemic. One of the reasons why the name changed was that the name Waikumete had become closely associated with the cemetery. The new name referenced the central Auckland suburb of
Mount Eden, as well as the many valleys (
glens) in the suburb. After the area was formed into a town district, the area boomed as a working class neighbourhood. The
Great Depression greatly affected Glen Eden, leaving many new houses vacant as potential occupants could not afford to buy or rent them. In 1935, the Glen Eden town hall burnt down, and was rebuilt within the next two years. The building is currently known as the
Glen Eden Playhouse Theatre. The area developed from a rural community in the 1940s into a satellite suburb of Auckland in the 1950s. In 1953 the population of the area had increased enough that the town district became the Glen Eden Borough. Most housing is wooden, with a few old farmhouses, some 1930s art deco houses, and post-war bungalows and weatherboard houses. There is also more recent terrace housing. ==Demographics==