The first settler in Karori cleared 20 acres of forest on his section with his younger brother Moses and advertised its sale in December 1841.

Amenities in Karori include, a community garden, a library, a swimming pool, and several church buildings.

It comes from the Māori phrase 'te kaha o ngā rore' meaning 'the place of many bird snares'.

Settlers bought land from the New Zealand Company, the area was included in their Port Nicholson Block deal.

[10][11] The first settler in Karori, John Yule of Glasgow,[12] cleared 20 acres of forest on his section with his younger brother Moses and advertised its sale in December 1841.

[13]: 11 In 1845 a group of armed police from Wellington constructed a small fortified post that became known as "The Stockade" in response to fears of attacks from nearby Māori insurgents.

[12][13]: 17  By 1871 it had 23 inmates and was run by untrained staff, which resulted in the first matron and her husband being dismissed in 1872 because of cruelty.

[12] In 1873 the asylum moved from Karori to the site of present-day Government House in central Wellington.

This activity eventually led to the building of the lower Karori Dam (now part of Zealandia) in 1873.

[13]: 29 In 1888 a syndicate purchased section 34, which was the closest to town (running from present day Ponsonby Road to Cooper Street).

The new owners prepared the land for sale by building roads and naming them after the members of the syndicate and their families, and by running a marketing campaign, including providing free buses from Manners Street and writing poems: In far-famed New Zealand, the evergreen free land Most favoured and beautiful Queen of the wave, Where the sun ever smiling, bad weather beguiling, Brightly shines on the face of the honest and brave.

Tho' for Europe's bold races there are plenty of places Adapted as homes for the great and the small, Yet, for onward progressing and bountiful blessing There is one whose position is far before all.

So haste where kind Nature's arrayed in her glory, To pleasant, romantic, suburban Karori.

[29][30][31] Zealandia (formerly called the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary) is an enclosed restoration project focusing on the flora and fauna that inhabited the valley before human settlement.

Wrights Hill Reserve in southern Karori features mountain bike and walking tracks and the historic Wrights Hill Fortress with a network of tunnels and gun emplacements overlooking the valley.

[17][46] Opened in 1891, it replaced the cemetery at Bolton Street as the main burial ground for the inhabitants of Wellington.

The Small Chapel contains excellent stained glass windows designed by Wilhelmina Geddes.

Futuna Chapel, built in 1961 by the Society of Mary, was awarded New Zealand Institute of Architects Gold medal for best building in 1968.

[56] Stage one of purpose built faculties to hold the Wellington Teachers' Training College were complete in 1969 on the site 26–40 Donald Street.