khandallah was largely farmland to the 1920s; james nairn built a farmhouse in 1869 on the old ngatoto native reserve, now nairnville park. the opening of the railway to wellington in 1886 (now the johnsonville branch) enabled people to commute into wellington, and the line was electrified with more frequent and faster trains in 1938. the population of khandallah increased from 766 in 1916 to 2,498 in 1938.