Four special street plaques telling stories of Ashburton’s central business area past are to be erected on East Street soon, as part of a collaborative history project.

The four large plaques will be erected on East Street across from the clock tower, and at the Burnett, Tancred and Moore Street intersections. They will contain historical notes about the buildings and business that once occurred on those streets.

The project has involved Ashburton District Council, Historic Places Mid Canterbury, public representation and the Ashburton Museum and Historical Society, and will be the final flourish to the newly-revamped Ashburton CBD.

Council Community Services Group Manager Steve Fabish said the plaques were being printed onto aluminium with an anti-graffiti coating and would be erected on galvanised steel frames with a powder-coated painted finish. The signs were being made by Juice Signs and the frames by Murray Page (Page Engineering/MeNZShed).

“They are in the final stages of production and we will have them on East Street soon,” Mr Fabish said.

“Hopefully people will gain an appreciation for Ashburton’s history or gain some curiosity in exploring it further. There is a lot that has gone on in the CBD over the past 100 years or so.”

The plaques are the result of several months of work by the Heritage Mid Canterbury working group.

Members include Councillors Diane Rawlinson and Carolyn Cameron, historical society president Glenn Vallender, David Stewart, Julie Luxton of Historic Places Mid Canterbury and Council staff, including Mr Fabish, and Connor Lysaght and Danielle Campbell of the Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum.

“The purpose from the start was to explore options and develop a history panels project. We looked at what other districts had done and how that might work in the Ashburton CBD,” Mr Fabish said.

Locations and streets or talking points were decided on by the group, and then concept panels were developed and researched, before the final text and photographs chosen.

“The idea for each of the plaques was to pick an interesting narrative for each street or area, some little-known fact and raise awareness of it as well as promoting the historical significance of our CBD.

“It is surprising how many of the buildings and things talked about on the panels no longer exist.”

To keep the interest alive in our historical past, the working group plans to develop four more signs that will be installed on the frames and exchanged every six months.