Forest Lake

History

Until the 1863 invasion of the Waikato, the area lay between the pās of Mangaharakeke and Kirikiriroa on the lands of Ngāti Wairere. After confiscation, farms were established on from Lake Rotoroa to Forest Lake Rd, owned by Thomas Jolly, and , to the north, owned by John Carey, a doctor with the 4th Waikato Regiment. The first housing was the Laurenson Settlement, on Forest Lake Road, near Walsh Street, built for workers between 1914 and 1921, under the Workers Dwellings Act 1910. The 1927 Hamilton map showed that most of Forest Lake had by then been built on an area north of Waitawhiriwhiri Stream in what had been Pukete Parish when the 1913 map was drawn.