It is the largest town in the Wairarapa , a region separated from Wellington by the Remutaka ranges. Masterton has an urban population of 22,, and a district population of 29, June Masterton businesses includes services for surrounding farmers. Three new industrial parks are being developed [ when? The town functions as the headquarters of the annual Golden Shears sheep-shearing competition.
Masterton was founded in by the Small Farms Association. The association was led by Joseph Masters — after whom the town was named — and aimed to settle working people in villages and on the land. At first Masterton grew slowly, but as its farming hinterland became more productive it began to prosper.
In the s, it overtook Greytown as Wairarapa's major town. It became a borough in and was reached by the railway line from Wellington in The railway became for a time the main line from Wellington to the north of New Zealand, and its arrival cemented the town's position as the Wairarapa region's main market and distribution centre.
Waipoua timber mill was producing butter boxes as early as In April , one of the country's worst industrial accidents occurred at the General Plastics Factory on Dixon Street. In essence, providing support services for rural industry — living off the sheep's back — Masterton's real growth ended with that sector's retrenchment after the British entry to the trade and political grouping now the European Union.
Efforts to decentralise industry to New Zealand's provinces gave Masterton a print works and some other industries, but the lost economic activity was not restored. From the s, people and businesses left for opportunities elsewhere. In the s, with government deregulation and protective tariffs lifted, more businesses closed, and the town declined further. It did not quite qualify to be a city by when the minimum population requirement for that status was lifted from 20, to 50, The projects were expected to create Masterton District covers 2, The Masterton urban area covers Masterton District had a population of 27, in the New Zealand census , an increase of 2, people 8.
