New Zealand - Railway - Masterton, North Island - Masterton Railway Station, and surrounding Buildings, note 3 main lines, train at station - 1910 -1915 - Wilson Photographer - Real Photo Post Card Format #500683 Masterton - Masterton was founded in 1854 by the Small Farms Association. The association was led by Joseph Masters – after whom the town was named – and aimed to settle working people in villages and on the land. At first Masterton grew slowly, but as its farming hinterland became more productive it began to prosper. - In the 1870s it overtook Greytown as Wairarapa’s major town. It became a borough in 1877 and was reached by the railway line from Wellington in 1880. The railway became for a time the main line from Wellington to the north of New Zealand and its arrival cemented the town’s position as the Wairarapa region’s main market and distribution centre. - In essence providing support services for rural industry - living off the sheep's back - Masterton's real growth ended with that sector's retrenchment after the 1974 British entry to the trade and political grouping now the European Union. Efforts to decentralise industry to New Zealand's provinces gave Masterton a print works and some other industries but the lost economic activity was not restored. - From the 1970s, people and businesses left for opportunities elsewhere. In the 1980s, with government deregulation and protective tariffs lifted, more businesses closed and the town declined further. - In April 1965 one of the country's worst industrial accidents occurred at the General Plastics Factory on 170 Dixon Street. - It did not quite qualify to be a city by 1989 when the minimum population requirement for that status was lifted from 20,000 to 50,000. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterton)