Frankton is a central suburb of the city of
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. It is the site of the city's passenger
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
, a major industrial-commercial stretch of State Highway 1, and a commercial shopping area. Frankton Borough Council was formed in 1913, but merged with Hamilton in 1917, after a poll in 1916.
Demographics
Frankton covers
and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km
2.
![Frankton_Hotel,_Commerce_Street](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Frankton_Hotel%2C_Commerce_Street.jpg)
Frankton had a population of 6,504 at the
2018 New Zealand census
Eighteen or 18 may refer to:
* 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19
* one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018
Film, television and entertainment
* ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...
, an increase of 1,335 people (25.8%) since the
2013 census, and an increase of 1,716 people (35.8%) since the
2006 census
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number.
In mathematics
Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...
. There were 2,319 households, comprising 3,207 males and 3,312 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.97 males per female, with 1,473 people (22.6%) aged under 15 years, 1,902 (29.2%) aged 15 to 29, 2,628 (40.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 507 (7.8%) aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 54.1% European/
Pākehā
Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...
, 35.7%
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
, 9.9%
Pacific peoples, 17.7%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, and 3.0% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
The percentage of people born overseas was 23.8, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 47.3% had no religion, 33.3% were
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, 2.0% had
Māori religious beliefs, 4.4% were
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, 1.8% were
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
, 1.2% were
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and 3.6% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 942 (18.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 951 (18.9%) people had no formal qualifications. 366 people (7.3%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 2,598 (51.6%) people were employed full-time, 549 (10.9%) were part-time, and 408 (8.1%) were unemployed.
Railway
Frankton is the location of Hamilton's only passenger railway station. The station is sited at the junction of the
North Island Main Trunk
The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...
line (NIMT) and the
East Coast Main Trunk
The East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) is a railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, originally running between Hamilton and Taneatua via Tauranga, connecting the Waikato with the Bay of Plenty. The ECMT now runs between Hamilton and Kawerau ...
line, but passenger services on the East Coast line were discontinued and only the
Northern Explorer
The ''Northern Explorer'' is a long-distance passenger train operated by The Great Journeys of New Zealand division of KiwiRail between Auckland and Wellington in the North Island of New Zealand, along the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT). Three ...
passenger train stops six days a week on its journey between
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
and
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
on the NIMT. The station was formerly called
Frankton Junction
Frankton Junction () is the name of the canal junction where the Montgomery Canal terminates and meets the Llangollen Canal at Lower Frankton, Shropshire, England.
History
The Llangollen Canal is the modern name for a canal which was original ...
, a very important railway station, and included the now-closed Frankton Tea Rooms, where passenger trains without dining cars would stop to allow passengers to purchase food and drinks. Many workshops and railway workers homes were in
the area west of the railway.
Commerce Street
The main street of Frankton, Commerce Street, and the streets surrounding it, form one of Hamilton City's largest suburban non-mall shopping areas. The area is dominated by the well-known, locally owned department store, Forlongs Furnishings of Frankton, established in 1946. In 2015 it closed, but reopened in 2016 in part of the store, as a furniture shop in Rawhiti Street and further expanded back into part of its Commerce Street store in 2018.
Hotels
Four hotels once stood near the railway station. Two were to the west in Colombo Street and two on the other side of the line on High St.
Frankton Hotel
Frankton Hotel remains on the corner of Commerce and High Streets. It was built in 1929 as a 35-room hotel to a design by Jack Chitty and is listed as a
category 2 historic place. An earlier hotel was moved about by horses to make way for the current building. During the move, the bar was in a temporary shed.
Empire Hotel
The New Empire Hotel was on the corner of Empire and High Streets. It was renovated in 1974, the original Empire Hotel having been built in February 1913. In 1995 it was burnt down by an arsonist, killing six residents. In 1946 the Grand Hotel on Colombo St had also burnt down.
Industry
Frankton has long been one of Hamilton's industrial centres.
In addition to the
Railway House Factory, another major employer was a factory on a site, beside the railway, on the corner of Massey and Lincoln streets,
specializing in
brawn, sausages and
polonies from 1901 to 2014. Pigs were slaughtered there from 1911 to 1999. It had a railway siding from 1912 until the 1990s. The factory had several owners, including Waikato Farmers' Bacon Co, W.Dimock & Co Ltd and J.C.Hutton Australia from 1926 to 1986. Hutton's then merged with Kiwi Bacon Co to become Hutton's Kiwi.
In 2007
Goodman Fielder
Goodman Fielder is a joint Hong Kong/Singapore-owned manufacturer, marketer and distributor of bread, small goods, dairy products, margarine, oil, dressings and various food ingredients. Its main operations are in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, ...
were warned for misleading labels, as some of its pork was imported. In 2014 they sold their meat brands to Hellers and 125 staff lost their jobs.
Frankton had dairy factories from 1894 and still has a cool store in the former dairy and bacon factories.
V8 Supercars
The New Zealand leg of the Australian
V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
centred on
Hamilton Street Circuit
The Hamilton Street Circuit was a temporary street circuit in Hamilton, New Zealand. From 2008 to 2012 it hosted the Hamilton 400 as part of the V8 Supercars championship.
From 2010 to 2012, ITM, New Zealand's largest group of independent trade ...
in and around Frankton, yearly from April 2008 to 2012.
Tornado
![Frankton_Tornado,_August_1948_(20737069362)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Frankton_Tornado%2C_August_1948_%2820737069362%29.jpg)
Three people were killed, seven victims were badly injured and damage to property was heavy after a
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
swept across Hamilton from the north-west shortly before midday on Wednesday 25 August 1948.
The tornado, which appears to have originated in the Frankton or Forest Lake area, went through the business area of Frankton then over the hill into Hamilton West where it passed between Hamilton Lake and Victoria Street (the main street). Then, it travelled across the Waikato River to Hamilton East where damage occurred in Wellington, Naylor and Grey streets.
Buildings were lifted off their piles, chimneys were snapped off, houses were unroofed, trees uprooted, and power and telephone lines were left hanging in the streets. The air was filled with flying corrugated iron, branches of trees, timber and other debris. Heavy rain accompanied the storm and overhead lightning flashed and thunder boomed. The storm passed quickly and was succeeded by a strange calm.
Education
Rhode Street School is a full primary school for years 1 to 8 with a roll of students. It was established in 1959.
Frankton School is a contributing primary school for years 1 to 6 with a roll of students. Frankton School opened in 1911
Both schools are coeducational. Rolls are as of
See also
*
List of streets in Hamilton
*
Suburbs of Hamilton, New Zealand
List of Hamilton suburbs.
*Aberdeen
*Ashmore
* Bader
* Beerescourt
* Callum Brae
*Chartwell
* Chedworth Park
*Claudelands
* Crawshaw
* Deanwell
* Dinsdale
*Enderley
* Fairfield
*Fairview Downs
*Fitzroy
* Flagstaff
* Forest Lake
* Frankton
* Glenv ...
Photo of Frankton Junction Station, early 1890sSt Columbas Catholic School, Hamilton, New Zealand
References
External links
View of interior of housing factory 1923
{{Hamilton, New Zealand Navbox
Populated places in Waikato
Suburbs of Hamilton, New Zealand