Frankton, Hamilton
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Frankton is a central suburb of the city of
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. It is the site of the city's passenger
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
, a major industrial-commercial stretch of State Highway 1C, 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 km2. Frankton had a population of 7,314 in the
2023 New Zealand census The 2023 New Zealand census, which took place on 7 March 2023, was the thirty-fifth national census in New Zealand. It implemented measures that aimed to increase the Census' effectiveness in response to the issues faced with the 2018 census, i ...
, an increase of 273 people (3.9%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 1,644 people (29.0%) since the 2013 census. There were 3,609 males, 3,669 females and 36 people of other genders in 2,739 dwellings. 3.9% of people identified as
LGBTIQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group is ...
. The median age was 30.9 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 1,566 people (21.4%) aged under 15 years, 1,935 (26.5%) aged 15 to 29, 3,138 (42.9%) aged 30 to 64, and 675 (9.2%) aged 65 or older. People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 51.5%
European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...
(
Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...
); 36.3%
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 Co ...
; 9.3% Pasifika; 22.4% Asian; 1.7% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 1.9% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 93.5%, Māori language by 9.8%, Samoan by 1.5%, and other languages by 16.8%. No language could be spoken by 3.4% (e.g. too young to talk).
New Zealand Sign Language New Zealand Sign Language or NZSL () is the main language of the deaf community in New Zealand. It became an official language of New Zealand in April 2006 under the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006. The purpose of the act was to create rights ...
was known by 0.7%. The percentage of people born overseas was 26.6, compared with 28.8% nationally. Religious affiliations were 30.3%
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
, 4.4%
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
, 2.9%
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
, 2.6%
Māori religious beliefs 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 Co ...
, 1.1%
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, 0.6%
New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...
, and 4.3% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 47.4%, and 6.8% of people did not answer the census question. Of those at least 15 years old, 1,272 (22.1%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 2,976 (51.8%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 1,497 (26.0%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $42,300, compared with $41,500 nationally. 261 people (4.5%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 3,171 (55.2%) people were employed full-time, 564 (9.8%) were part-time, and 309 (5.4%) were unemployed.


Railway

Frankton is the location of Hamilton's main 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 twice a day,
Te Huia Te Huia is a passenger train service connecting the major cities of Hamilton and Auckland in New Zealand. The service is a five-year trial with subsidies from the NZ Transport Agency and Waikato local authorities. The opening was delayed beca ...
and the six days a week,
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
and
Wellington Wellington 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
,
Northern Explorer The ''Northern Explorer'' is a long-distance passenger train operated by the Great Journeys New Zealand division of KiwiRail between Auckland and Wellington in the North Island of New Zealand, along the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT). Three se ...
passenger trains stop. 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 originall ...
, 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 an Australian manufacturer, marketer and distributor of bread, smallgoods, dairy products, margarine, oil, dressings and various food ingredients. Its main operations are in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, ...
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.


Parks

Swarbrick Park was formed when were acquired from Frankton School in 1936. It was formerly the Rifle Range Reserve and has 5 sports fields, used by Frankton Rugby Club, and 3
astroturf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for pitch (sports field), playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a pile (textile), short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Si ...
cricket pitches. Frankton Railway Combined Sports Club, in the railway model village, was built in 1923, with bowling, cricket, croquet and tennis grounds. It was formally opened in 1925.


V8 Supercars

The New Zealand leg of the Australian
V8 Supercars The Supercars Championship, also known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship and historically as V8 Supercars, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération I ...
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 tr ...
in and around Frankton, yearly from April 2008 to 2012.


Tornado

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 the surface of 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, although the ...
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 * Burbush * Callum Brae *Chartwell * Chedworth Park * Claudelands * Crawshaw * Deanwell * Dinsdale * Enderley * Fairfield * Fairview Downs * Fitzroy * Flagstaff * Forest Lake * Fr ...

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