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Story: City history and people

Invercargill’s grid plan

Most colonial towns were laid out on grid plans. These imposed instant order on the landscape and made it easier to subdivide land. This map of Invercargill in 1887 highlights the evolution of the town, with new suburban blocks of land being developed in a piecemeal fashion around the original settlement.

Using this item

Auckland Council Libraries − Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero o Tāmaki Makaurau, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Reference: NZ Map 6622a

Permission of Auckland City Libraries Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

David Thorns and Ben Schrader, City history and people – The shape of cities, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/23513/invercargills-grid-plan (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by David Thorns and Ben Schrader, published 15 April 2010.