In 1862 John McLeod established a kauri timber mill on the eastern banks of the Kaipara River, opposite the Te Awaroa village. McLeod named his house "Helen's Villa", after his wife, which became the name for the township that developed around the timber mill. From the 1850s to the 1870s, Ngāti Whātua gifted and sold land to the Crown, hoping this would help stimulate the economy of the area by the creation of European settlements and schools (by 1900, after a process of land alienation, Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara only retained 10% of their traditional rohe). Helensville developed around these blocks of land, growing after the establishment of the North Auckland Line in the 1870s and 1880s. In 1882, the McLeods joined with other investors to create the Helensville Timber Company, who milled forestry around the catchments of the Kaipara River until 1892.