the area was slow until the 1910s. The first European settlers arrived in the area in the 1850s, primarily farmers and people involved with the kauri logging and gum digging industries. In 1865, New Lynn became a trade centre when the port of New Lynn opened on the Whau River. Boats could only operate in the port during narrow stretches of time at high tide, and otherwise rested in the mud of the river. New Lynn grew significantly due to the brick and ceramics industries. The first brickyard was established by Dr Daniel Pollen on the Whau River at Rosebank in 1852. He brought in brickmakers from Staffordshire in England, four of whom later established their own yards along the river. By 1870 there were 13 brick and clay yards on the local waterways, exploiting the high-quality clay in the area. In the 1870s, the largest yards produced between 10,000 and 15,000 bricks per week. Many of the ceramics companies failed due to the 1880s depression, competition, and changing preferences to use wood rather than bricks for construction. The first brick kiln opened in New Lynn in 1861, and of the 39 brick and clayworks of West Auckland, 23 were located on the Whau River, with most concentrated around New Lynn. In March 1880, the New Lynn railway station opened, connecting New Lynn to Auckland by rail and stimulating growth in the area. Two years later, Alfred Ramsden constructed the New Lynn Hotel on Great North Road, which closed in 1908 due to their liquor license lapsing during the temperance movement in New Zealand. The building was demolished in July 2008, due to deterioration. The first school in the area, New Lynn School, opened in 1888 at the modern site of Kelston Girls' College. The school was relocated to current site in 1914. A new area of New Lynn was subdivided in 1902, to the south of the railway station. Known as the Hetana Hamlet, this was named after Prime Minister Richard Seddon, who was known to Māori by the name Hetana. Suburban development In the early 1900s, a group of citizens led by Archibald Grandison lobbied the Waitemata County for New Lynn to become an independent town district. Grandison and his supporters felt that New Lynn would grow as an outer city suburb of Auckland in the future, and had very different needs to the majority of the rural