It is located close to the hydroelectric power station at Lake Maraetai, 85 kilometres (53 mi) southeast of Hamilton.

At that time the land where Mangakino lies today was described as native bush and pumice wastelands, barren, unoccupied and unfarmed.

The Crown, under the Public Works Act, reacquired a portion of the unoccupied Pouakani Block alongside the Waikato River to build a "hydroelectric station" and a temporary township, Mangakino, was established to house the hundreds of construction workers needed.

[3] The city planner Ernst Plischke who emigrated from Austria in 1939 developed a plan for the town centre of Mangakino, which was put into action in 1947–1948.

Mangakino and to a lesser extent Whakamaru and Ātiamuri, owe their existence to the hydro schemes and the roads constructed gave access which allowed development of the land for farming in the 1960s.

The decline for Mangakino occurred after the hydro dams were commissioned and over time communities such as Maraetai and Waipapa disappeared altogether.

Some locals chose to freehold their homes immediately, empty sections without current leases were sold on the open market.