Graves Street butter factory (Eltham)
Ron Lambert 2012
Dates: 1909-1965
Location: End of Graves Street, Eltham, Taranaki (-39.439840, 174.287686)
Registration No: 31 (until 1926) and then 2 (from 1927)
Brand name: ELTHAM
Because of high butter prices, the Eltham Co-operative Dairy Company Limited decided to build a new butter factory on a site they originally purchased from Herbert Graves in 1904 for £1,283.
Tenders were sought to build the new factory by Palmerston North architect LG West closing 21 December 1908. The successful tenderer (and also the lowest) was A and W McLean of Wellington who bid £3,400.
The new factory was open by August 1909.
1927 location map
The last mention of the factory was in 1964 so presume the butter factory closed then or in 1965 when the Eltham Co-op amalgamated with the Cardiff, Stratford and Normanby companies to form the Taranaki Dairy Company in 1965.
Aerial view 23 April 1962
Aerial view 2025
