'[3] Until the 1860s Ōtorohanga was a Ngāti Maniapoto village, with several whare (houses), peach trees and a flour mill.

[4] Huipūtea is a 300-year-old kahikatea tree, just to the south east of Ōtorohanga,[5] which was the site of a skirmish in 1822 between Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāpuhi.

[6] The village was abandoned after the invasion of the Waikato, except for Lewis Hettit's (or Hetet)[4] farm.

[7] The area remained insecure, with Hettit's store being robbed by Te Kooti[8] in 1869,[9] but a meeting with Donald McLean later that year signalled moves towards peace.

[17] On 9 March 1887 the railway was extended 14 mi (23 km) from Te Awamutu[18] and a 14-room[19] hotel was built, primarily for those attending the Court.

This was a protest in support of a restaurateur, Henry Harrod of Palmerston North, who was being forced to change the name of his restaurant following the threat of lawsuits from Mohamed Al-Fayed, the then owner of Harrod's department store in London.

With the support of the District Council, Otorohanga temporarily changed the town's name to Harrodsville.

After being lampooned in the British tabloids, Al Fayed dropped the legal action and Harrodsville and its shops reverted to their former names.

[38] Six marae are located in and around Ōtorohanga: Ōtorohanga is internationally renowned for its Kiwi House,[41] which was the first place in the world where the general public could view kiwi in captivity,[42] and recorded an average of 5,000 visitors per month in 2008[update].

The Northern Explorer passenger train stops in Ōtorohanga on its service between Auckland and Wellington.

[45][50] Ōtorohanga College is a Year 9–13 co-educational state secondary school and community education centre.