This week in Christchurch history (11 to 17 May)

by Attention: This post is over 3 years old and the information may be out of date.Attention: This post is over 3 years old and the information may be out of date.

11 May 1891
Sumner Borough formed.

Sumner [1895], CCL PhotoCD 7, IMG0090
Sumner [1895], CCL PhotoCD 7, IMG0090

11 May 1908
Colosseum becomes the city’s first picture theatre. The building was claimed to have the largest wooden span in New Zealand. It had previously been a skating rink, a boot factory and a cab stand. It was demolished in 1931 to make way for New Regent Street.  

 

13-15 May 1920
Visit of Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII).

One section of the unprecedented crowd in Latimer Square. The Weekly Press, 19 May 1920, p. 24
One section of the unprecedented crowd in Latimer Square. (Inset) The crowd in Cathedral Square before the Prince has passed on the way to the military review in Hagley Park. The Weekly Press, 19 May 1920, p. 24

14-15 May 1886
Flooding in city centre.

 

14 May 1868
“Lyttelton Times” publishes evening paper, The Star.

14 May 1907
Fire seriously damages the Antigua Street boatsheds.

14 May 1908
Municipal tepid baths in Manchester Street open. It was described as “the finest indoor swimming pool in Australasia”.

14 May 1947
Mabel Howard (Sydenham) becomes Minister of Health, the country’s first woman Cabinet Minister.

16 May 1975
Opening of Four Avenues, New Zealand’s first State alternative education school.

More May events in the Christchurch chronology: a timeline of Christchurch events in chronological order from pre-European times to 1989.

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