1920s

1920

• Danish community celebrate the restoration of Slesvig province to Denmark

• Prince of Wales visits

• Arrival of the first aeroplane to visit Palmerston North, a de Haviland piloted by Captain R Russell DFC

• Palmerston North Girl's High School opens in Fitzherbert Avenue

1921

• Population 15,649 (excludes Maori)

• Campbell Street School's Infant Block is opened on the new Featherston Street site

• First bus service commenced by Borough Council, ending a long running debate on installing an electric tram system

• Manawatū-Oroua Electric Power Board established to distribute power to rural areas

1922

• Central School opens on Featherston Street (formerly Campbell Street School)

• Drainage programme for 22,000 acre Makerua Swamp between Linton and Shannon starts

1923

• Frederick Joseph Nathan elected Mayor

• Final night soil cart collections are made in the City

• Terrace End School Memorial Baths opened by the Mayor Mr Nash (MP) in memory of school old boys who died in WWI

• Gasworks at Terrace End opens on Napier Road

1924

• A report to the Council proposes a major upgrade to the town water supply including a large new dam at Turitea

• His Majesty's Theatre becomes The Paramount

• Hokowhitu School opens

• Terrace End School Memorial Gates unveiled, the gates and associated swimming pool are a memorial to the School's old boys who died in WWI

• First Royal Show in New Zealand opens at Showgrounds, overseen by the Manawatū Agricultural and Pastoral Association, Prime Minister William Massey and governor Lord & Lady Jellicoe

• Mangahao Hydro Electric Power Station opens at Shannon, this helps secure electricity supply furthering the development of the town of Palmerston North

• Electric Power Station at Terrace End opens, built by the Palmerston North Borough Council

1925

• Palmerston North Working Men's Club premises gutted by fire

• First Radio Station in Palmerston North 2GI owned by Manawatū Radio Club

1926

• Population 18,143

• New Fire Station is opened in Cuba Street between Andrew Young and Pitt Streets

• Work starts on the Longburn to Roslyn railway deviation (not completed until 1959)

• War Memorial (Cenotaph) in The Square unveiled by Prime Minister Gordon Coates after lengthy debate on its location

• The King Edward VII Memorial fountain is dismantled and moved to the middle of the Beautifying Society's pond in the SW corner of The Square (in front of the CM Ross building), as it was blocking the view of the new War Memorial

• St. Patrick's Catholic Church opens

1927

• Archibald James Graham elected Mayor

• Borough of Palmerston North celebrates it's Golden Jubilee (50th )

• Duke and Duchess of York visit (Albert & Elizabeth)

• Palmerston North Working Men's Club becomes the Cosmopolitan Club

1928

• Dairy Research Institute moves to Palmerston North

• Department of Agriculture's Plant Research Station moves to Palmerston North, later known as Grasslands Division of DSIR

• Council donates land to the Massey Agricultural College to ensure the institution is located close to the town

• Palmerston North Cosmopolitan Club opens a new building on Cuba Street

1929

• Awapuni Racecourse Memorial fountain and pond opened by Governor General Sir Charles Fergusson in memory of the members of the New Zealand Medical Corps who trained at the racecourse and were killed or injured in WWI

• Russell Street School opens

• Craven School closes

• New Library Building officially opened on the corner of The Square and Fitzherbert Avenue

• First 'talkie' movie screens at the Palace Theatre