New Zealand - Taihape - Post Office and Main Street, Note the gas light in the centre of the street. Photo was sent 1919 but no sign of cars would suggest photo is 1906 period - 1906 Period - F. G. R - Real Photo Postcard Format #332600 Taihape - The Taihape region was originally inhabited by Maori tribes who settled the area well before the arrival of Europeans; descendants of these tribes still live in the area. The first record of a European to the region is William Colenso's visit in 1845. In 1884, the surveyor's party for the Main Trunk railway line cut a rough track through the district. - The town was founded in 1894, when European settlers arrived from Canterbury in the South Island. The site of the town was a small natural clearing in dense native bush, which the first settlers set about clearing. Many of the original families have descendants still living in the area. The settlement was first called Hautapu after the local river, then Otaihape ("the place of Tai the Hunchback"), and finally Taihape. - Before the establishment of the railway, the bulk of farming produce (wool) had to be transported east by horse and bullock cart to Napier, from where it was exported. Until the establishment of roads and railways in the early 1900s, Taihape, like other rural towns, remained largely an isolated pioneer settlement. (source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taihape)