1900

• By this time fire hydrants have been installed around The Square and other town areas

• Public Library re-established and opened in the former Colonial Bank Building

• The first performance of the newly established Palmerston North Operatic Society – Pirates of Penzance

1901

• Population 6,534 (excludes Maori)
• George Matthew Snelson elected Mayor

• Queen Victoria dies after a record 64 year reign; She is commemorated in Palmerston North by Victoria Avenue and Victoria Esplanade

• Death of Palmerston North Mayor George Snelson during his 7th term

• William Thomas Wood elected Mayor

1902

• Population 7000
• William Thomas Wood elected as MP for Palmerston North
• Palmerston North Technical School opens
• Major flood of the Manawatu River
• Mr Alfred Andrews founds the cabinet making firm of Andrews & Sons on Rangitikei Street still in operation in 2008 in the same place as ‘Peter Andrews Furnishers’
• Carncot School founded by Miss Constance Stanford

• Palmerston North High School established (later split into Palmerston North Boys’ High School and Palmerston North Girls’ High School), the first public secondary school

• Boer War concludes

• Coronation celebrations for King Edward VII and 25th Jubilee Celebrations of the Borough of Palmerston  North
• King Edward VII Memorial Fountain unveiled in the middle of The Square – celebrates the coronation of King Edward VII and the incorporation of the Borough of Palmerston North

• First motor car arrives in Palmerston North

1903

• Charles Dunk elected Mayor
• A larger fire substation is built at Terrace End replacing the one built in 1890

• Evening Standard newspaper purchased by Nash & Coombe

• Opening of Awapuni Racecourse sees a crowd of around 10,000 people

1904

• Edward Orr Hurley elected Mayor
• A second larger dam is built at Turitea to increase the water supply
• Palmerston North Beautifying Society is formed by local citizens to beautify The Square
• Palmerston North Working Men’s Club opens their own building
• George Bernard Shaw visits Palmerston North on his tour of New Zealand
• St. Joseph’s Convent High School opens
• St. Patrick’s Parish School opens

• Beautifying Society plants first shrub in The Square

1905

• Population 9,795
• Maurice Cohen elected Mayor

• Opening of septic tanks & filters at Awapuni, previously sewerage was discharged untreated into the Manawatu River

• Borough Council occupies the Municipal Building on the corner of The Square and Church Street West
• The Public Library swaps with the Council and now occupies the Municipal Offices in Main Street (opposite the Post Office)

• Opening of the Palmerston North Opera House by Mayor Maurice Cohen

• The first show is held at the new Opera House – a charitable concert by the Palmerston North Orchestral Society

1906

• Population 10,239 (excludes Maori)
• Abattoir at Awapuni opens

• New Post Office building on the corner of Main Street and The Square is opened by Prime Minister and postmaster-general Sir Joseph Ward. The building still stands but is no longer used as a post office, however the original clock tower has been removed (1942) and the clock and chimes placed in the Clock Tower in the Square (1956)
• Construction of a new 7 metre dam just downstream of the original weir starts

1907

• Richard Essex elected Mayor
• Kairanga Co-Operative Dairy Company factory at Longburn opens
• Miranui Flaxmill at Makerua opens

• Statue of Te Peeti Te Awe Awe officially unveiled in The Square. The statue commemorates a chief of the Rangitane tribe and a significant figure in early Manawatu history

• Construction of the first (lower) dam on the Turitea Stream is completed & Mayor Cohen turns on the new water

1908

• James Alfred Nash elected Mayor
• David Buick elected as MP for Palmerston North
• First Palmerston North Plunket Society begins and appoints Nurse Henderson as the first Plunket Nurse
• Marist Brothers High School opens (Catholic)

• Governor General Lord Plunket takes up temporary residence (till 1910) in Palmerston North in Te Awe Awe Street in the property now known as Caccia Birch House

• Opening of Main Trunk Railway Line between Wellington and Auckland; this line resulted in Palmerston North becoming the major railway centre in the lower North Island

1909

• Stage one of the Lower Turitea Dam is officially opened by Mayor J A Nash, the dam has a capacity of 4,500 m3 of water

• Technical School building opens on corner of Princess and King Streets, formerly operating in Cuba Street; this two-storey brick building is preserved as part of the Central City UCOL campus

• Lakelet in The Square opened, sometimes known as the butterfly lake due to the shape