Early history The west bank of the
Ohinemuri River, north-west of Paeroa, was the site of Opukeko Pa, Te Raupa pā, Opita pā and Waiwhau pā, settled around the junction of the
Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers (originally due west of Paeroa). Te Raupa in particular was a heavily settled pā,
Samuel Marsden visited Raupa settlement in June 1820 for missionary work, and was impressed by the scale of wooden buildings he saw, and the number of people who settled in the area. This included Primrose Hill and most of what is now the town centre. When James Mackay (surveyor) and Sir David McLean (Minister of Mines) completed negotiations six years later with the Māori Chiefs, Tukukino and Taraia, the fields were declared open. Six hundred miners rushed to Karangahake, considered to be the
El Dorado, on 3 March 1875. A canvas town of 1,600 people with about 20 stores and grog shops set the area going. The big gold reefs like Talisman and Crown were discovered but proved hard to work. Heavy machinery required for hard quartz mining had to be brought via the Waihou River and up to Paeroa. The river was the only highway and with two shipping companies in operation, Paeroa became a thriving transport and distribution centre. When the
Northern Steamship Company combined with its opposition, the wharves from near the
Bank of New Zealand (Wharf Street) had to be shifted downstream in 1892, and eventually to just below Puke Bridge due to the silting from mining operations. A busy freight business developed with four ships regularly running from
Auckland to Thames to Paeroa. The
Thames Branch railway line reached the town in 1881 at the
Paeroa Railway Station, and gradually ships gave way to steam, which in turn gave way to road transport. Work on the
Paeroa–Pokeno Line commenced in the 1930s, but little was done and the proposal was abandoned. A historic Paeroa building, in the town centre, is the former National Bank of New Zealand's gold refinery, built in 1914 in Willoughby Street. The building is now a private home and business, hidden from street level view by a
ponga fence. In 1911 the National Bank formed joint venture with the New Zealand Mining Trust and the bank purchased a section with a frontage by deep in Arthur Street (now Willoughby Street) for 200 pounds. In the early 1900s, the Waihou River near Paeroa was straightened by making a canal, in order to protect farmland from flooding. When Brenan and Company, the largest horse and wagon operator, moved to trucking, they bought out the steamship company and named their trucks after the ships that plied the
Ohinemuri River. Waimarie and Taniwha were always painted on the new International or Ford trucks that came into their fleet. When transport operator Sarjant's amalgamated with Brenan, a large truck centre evolved in Paeroa. As the passenger rail service dwindled, Paeroa eventually lost its railway, so much of the town had its beginnings in supply and transport to the Hauraki and District. The swings of time have enabled the town to boom and revert a number of times. In 1981 there was a large flood in the Waikato due to heavy rain. Over 2,250 people were evacuated in Thames, Paeroa, and Waihi. ==Culture==