Spring Grove, just south of Brightwater, was the birthplace of New Zealand’s best-known scientist, Ernest Rutherford. A memorial to Rutherford stands where Lord Rutherford Road meets State Highway 6. Spring Grove is also where brothers Tom and Harry Newman began their coach service.
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Meaning of place name
Named by a Mr Wagstaff some time before the Spring Grove school was founded in 1845. A series of springs in the middle of the settlement gave rise to the name.