Gordon Road

Taranaki

27 Jan

Circa 1905 - Photographer Ben Murgatroyd

Dates: 1903-1928
Location: SH45 nr corner of Gordon Road, Taranaki (-39.321099, 174.425369)
Registration No: see Stratford
Brand name: THREE STAR; GOOD LUCK

Origins and Development of the Gordon Road Creamery (1902-1917)

Gordon Road, named after draftsman W.G. Gordon, was surveyed as part of Bayly’s land in 1889 and settled in the early 1890s. The creamery was built in 1903 by the Stratford Farmers’ Co‑operative Association on a site purchased from the Crown Dairy Company in August 1902. Early operations were typical of rural creameries of the era, with managers appointed through public advertisements offering wages of “£2 per week… a cottage, firewood, and free milk”. A Babcock tester was installed in 1910 to improve milk grading, and in August 1916 the creamery also became the district’s post office, with Mr Stewart Clark serving as Postmaster. The Post Office was called Mangatotara (totara stream). From June 1917, cream was transported to the main Stratford butter factory by motor lorry, marking a shift away from horse‑drawn transport and signalling the creamery’s integration into a wider, modernising dairy network.

Decline, Closure, and Sale (1925-1928)

By the mid‑1920s, the Gordon Road creamery faced mounting pressure as suppliers were “being forced into home separation”, prompting a petition from more than forty shareholders asking directors to review the ageing building and its future. Despite discussions, no action was taken, and by 1927 the Stratford Farmers’ Co‑operative Association formally invited tenders for the sale of the creamery site, dwelling, and coal shed. In 1928, the creamery closed, with reports noting that the property had been “satisfactorily sold” and that the sale price exceeded its book value. The closure reflected broader changes in dairy practice as home separation became more widespread and transportation links improved making small creameries uneconomic.

Creamery managers included Mr WM Sneddon in 1908-1909 and Mr A Smith in 1917.