In 1841, a skull found in a Pakeha farmer's store at Mangawhare infuriated local Māori, who enacted “Muru” or attacked and plundered his store. A court exonerated the farmer and the perpetrators of the “Muru” ceded the land at Te Kōpuru as compensation. The perpetrators had no interests or rights in the land. A hui held at Te Kōpuru in 1860 to make peace between Ngāti Whātua and Ngā Puhi was attended by about 600 people. An attempt to set up a kaurisawmill at Te Kōpuru began in 1867, but the machinery was damaged because the ship was leaky, and the owners refused its delivery. The mill was completed in 1870, and began operating the following year. The mill was the largest in New Zealand, producing of timber per week in 1875. It was destroyed by fire in 1883, but rebuilt, and rebuilt again after another fire in 1906 The town had a stable population of about 215 by the end of the decade. By 1876, the town had stores which were "fitted up in first-rate style, and well-stocked" and a library, but no hotel. A Post Office opened in 1877. In 1878, the town was described as like the "port of some thriving inland city". A steamer service provided transport to Dargaville and Helensville twice a week from February 1878, and a road to Dargaville opened in 1879.
20th century
The population increased to 440 during the 1890s as the timber industry grew. A road was built south to Tikinui in 1897, and partially metalled the following year. A library was built in 1899. Gum-diggers were active in the area in the 1890s through at least 1910, and around the turn of the century W Brown and Sons established a boat building yard at Te Kōpuru. Dairy herds became established in the early 20th century, In 1903, the Customs Office was moved to Te Kōpuru from Pouto. A hospital was built to treat the accident victims from Te Kōpuru, Aratapu and Tatarariki, with Te Kōpuru as the hospital site rather than Dargaville because the mill towns had a larger population. The first sealed road in the Kaipara District was probably the one from Te Kōpuru to Mount Wesley, just south of Dargaville, in about 1918. The mill closed in 1920. Having a hospital sustained the town. The road north degraded to a metalled road by the 1930s. In 1956, the general wards of Te Kopuru Hospital moved to the new hospital in Dargaville. Maternity and services for the elderly continued, although the main hospital building burned down in 1959. In 1971, the hospital closed with maternity services moved to the Dargaville Hospital. A ferry service was established in 1934 running from Raupo to Tikinui. The service was initially established to transport milk from dairy farms on the Pouto Peninsula to the dairy factory located in Ruawai, but many travelers to the peninsula found using the ferry service preferable to driving through Dargaville. This was particularly true during the Toheroa season when families would come from all over the country to harvest the shellfish, found on the west coast beaches of Northland, that many thought of as a delicacy. Improved road conditions and the establishment of a railway line led to the service being discontinued around 1971.
Marae
Some Ngāti Whātua marae are located in or around Te Kōpuru. Ōtūrei Marae and Rangimārie Te Aroha meeting house are affiliated with Te Uri o Hau and Te Popoto. The Waikāretu or Pōuto Marae and Rīpia marae siteare also connected with Te Uri o Hau.
Demographics
Te Kōpuru had a population of 465 at the 2013 New Zealand census, an increase of 12 people since the 2006 census. There were 225 males and 240 females. 72.2% were European/Pākehā, 43.1% were Māori, 3.5% were Pacific peoples and 1.4% were Asian.
Te Kōpuru School is a coeducational full primary school with a roll of students as of The school was founded in 1872. In 1937, the primary schools in Tikinui, Tatarariki and Redhill consolidated into Te Kōpuru School. Aratapu District High School, a little to the north of Te Kōpuru, closed in 1965. The nearest secondary school is now in Dargaville.
