In about 1870 a move was made by the Government of the day to induce immigration from Norway & Denmark, as these folk were considered to be good settlers.
The following ships brought immigrants for Dannevirke:-
The 'HOVDING' from Christiania brought 365 Norwegians and 11 Swedes. It made 2 trips - in May 1872 and in 1873.
The 'BALLARAT' departed in June 1872 from London with 71 Danes and arrived in Napier with the HOVDING in 1872.
The 'ENGLAND' departed London in December 1871.
The 'HALCIONE' departed in April 1872.
The 'FRIEDEBERG' from Hamburg in May 1872.
The HOVDING & BALLARAT formed the main nucleus.

S.S HOVDING
(Means Chieftain)

Hovding Sailing Ship

Hovding ( Barque)

This 355 ton rigged sailing ship arrived in Napier on 15th September 1872 with Scandinavian emigrants from
Christiana (Oslo).
Captain C.B Berg was in charge. He was killed on the return voyage.
The second emigrant sailing in the Hovding to Napier, was under the command of Captain C.A Nordby arriving 1st December 1873.
In 1882 the Hovding was cut down to a Barque and continued as a cargo trader, mainly timber, for some 27 years before being sent to the wreakers yard.

Dannevirke became a major sawmilling centre, at one time housing 30 sawmills within a 10 mile radius. Then as the forests disappeared many moved on further afield to new forestry blocks. Those that stayed settled into dairying and sheep farming.

In 1886 the Lutheran Church pastor was H.M. RIES.

The first school opened in 1873 with Mrs JOHNSON (or JORGENSEN), a Danish teacher. Initially called Dannevirke School, it was later renamed Dannevirke North School.

The first sawmill was opened in 1883.

The rural area reached its highest population density in the early 1920s, remained static for 30 years and has since declined. The urban population has been mostly constant for 60 years, but recently has been falling. Over one-third of the people in paid employment are employed in the agricultural industry which has been declining since 1984. Commercial forestry is a very new industry to the east of Dannevirke.

Dannevirke’s High Street looks smart with its modern street- scape and Town Clock at the corner of High and Ward Streets, officially opened in October 2009.

In 1917 there was a quite different need to improve the town’s appearance: the great Labour Day fire that destroyed 35 buildings on either side of High Street, from Hall Street north to Barraud Street south.

Many residents were at the annual motorcycle race at the racecourse south of town and the response and the fire caught them off-guard

Believed to start in the Andrews Hotel (now the site of KFC, although an original `Andrews’ tiled doorstep is sited near the Hall street entrance) the fire destroyed buildings at the southern end of town between Station and High Streets.

Heat from flames there melted the High Street tarseal, allowing a sudden gust of wind to push the fire across the road and ignite the original Masonic Hotel. It burned quickly and continued southwards. Eventually the wind dropped and firemen could access the hot spots. No service lanes ran behind the buildings parallel to High Street then, making their job more difficult and back-up brigades from Woodville and Waipukurau helped.

Temporary premises were quickly established and orders for replacement goods enabled the Christmas trade to continue.

Permanent replacement buildings were erected, the majority being more solid and expensive than those destroyed and most still remain although not in the same business.