Christchurch: A Chronology to 1989

A timeline of some Christchurch events in chronological order from 1700s to 1989.

Go to a year between 1700 & 1989

November 15, 1851: White Hart Hotel (possibly the city’s first) in operation.
November 15, 1928: First performance by Canterbury Repertory Theatre Society, a production of "Milestones".
November 15, 1959: City Council grants charter to the Canterbury Regiment.
November 16, 1901: Earthquake (most severe at Cheviot) damages Cathedral spire again! After this third incident, the top of the spire was re-built in timber and metal instead of stone.
November 16, 1902: Antarctic relief ship "Morning' arrives at Lyttelton.
November 17, 1895: Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) visits. He described Christchurch as a town where half the people rode bicycles and the other half were kept busy dodging them.
November 18, 1874: Addington saleyards open.
November 18, 1947: Disastrous fire in Ballantynes Department store. 41 lives lost in New Zealand’s worst fire tragedy. The fire led to drastic revisions of fire safety codes throughout the country.
November 21, 1865: Provincial Council buildings in Durham Street completed. The complex of buildings was architect B.W. Mountfort’s masterpiece. He had survived a professional disaster soon after arrival in New Zealand when his first building, a church in Lyttelton, had proved structurally unsound and had to be demolished.
November 21, 1957: 4 killed in SAFE Air Bristol freighter crash at Russley golf course.
November 21, 1988: Visit by Chinese Premier Li Peng.