Wesley Methodist Church (36-42 Wesley Street)

Methodism came to Pukekohe East in 1859 and became properly established after the New Zealand Wars. Services were conducted within Methodist Circuits spanning the Franklin area. In the early days, the Methodists used Pukekohe’s Presbyterian Church before erecting their own building on 16 June 1878 near modern-day Bledisloe Park in Queen Street.

When Pukekohe’s town centre moved from the Paddock Settlement around King Street, the church acquired a 5-acre site further north in Queen Street in 1883. The building itself was moved there in 1891 and physically enlarged. The old site was sold three years later and the money was used to build a porch. The vestry was built in 1918 and the classroom was enlarged in 1930. In 1941, with the development of state housing, part of the church land was sold to the government, with the request that the newly built road be named Wesley Street, after Methodism’s founder, John Wesley.

The present church was opened on 25 October 1959, the foundation having been laid by Rev. G.H.R. Peterson earlier that year. This modernist structure is radically different from its wooden predecessor, which served as the new building’s Sunday School room before it was eventually demolished.

Turn left and walk along Queen Street.