It is seven kilometres north of the city centre, at the top of the Ngauranga Gorge, on the main route to Porirua (State Highway 1).

Johnsonville was settled in 1841 by, among others, Frank Johnson[3] who had purchased a certificate of selection and had drawn the 100 acre 'Section 11 Kinapora (Kenepuru) District'.

[4] He quickly denuded the entire Johnsonville area of virgin native forest, with timber sold to help build the nearby town of Wellington.

He soon sold his land at a substantial profit, and returned to England by 1858 leaving the environment massively changed, and on which site a farming industry to support nearby Wellington City grew.

Over the 20th century, farmland slowly gave way to suburbia, with the first tiny township of Johnsonville steadily growing to become populated principally by a "mid-level" socio-economic strata.

[7] Stock (cattle and sheep) railed from the Manawatu and elsewhere were driven through the streets and down Fraser Avenue to the Ngauranga abattoir.

[18] Johnsonville has a modestly large commercial infrastructure and is self-sufficient in many ways; it has a shopping mall, two supermarkets, library and a community hub.

Housing is spread around the shopping hub in the centre and extends out to the base of Mt Kaukau to the west, and out across the hill towards the suburb of Newlands to the south-east.

In 2019, Keith Spry Pool and Johnsonville Library was brought under the wings of Waitohi Hub.

The facilities include an artificial cricket surface, changing rooms and club house.

The Alex Moore Park Development Project is planning a $6 million sports centre on the site that will replace disparate and outdated sports clubrooms with a centralised gym, meeting rooms and function area.

The building is owned by the Wellington City Council and was opened in 1995[27] after significant investment and fund raising by local community groups.

[28] This plan recognises Johnsonville as Wellington's most economically important commercial and population hub outside the city centre.

[citation needed] While many of these centres have new supermarkets, the range of shops available in Johnsonville is a major attraction to the wider district.