Since the construction of the Central Motorway Junction in 1965–75, Newton has been divided into two parts, and as a result, lost much of its size and coherence.

From the late Victorian period until 2011, there was a separate Post Office serving Newton and Eden Terrace, known as Upper Symonds Street.

As Newton Gully was viewed as the home of many criminals (Dennis Gunn[4] being just one example) its combination of substandard housing, crime, and Trade Union activity was probably a contributing factor in its eventual destruction by City Planners who used the Motorway as a convenient tool to rid the city of what they considered a problem area.

These companies were progressively relocated to New Lynn; many 19th-century bricks found in central Auckland bear the imprint "Newton".

From the 1890s onwards Newton was the location of many small scale industries: shirt, clothing and boot factories, upholstery, rattan furniture and basket manufacturing etc.

Situated between the busy retail areas of Karangahape Road and Symonds Street (which were, and still are major routes), Newton was a fairly densely populated suburb, mainly of a working class nature with many boarding houses.

The possibility of Well water being contaminated by decomposing matter and embalming chemicals (arsenic in particular) was quite a worry, leading to the eventual closure of the cemetery and the opening of a new facility at Waikumete in West Auckland.

It wasn't foreseen that the motorways would have a devastating effect on retail trade; the Symonds Street Shopping area was badly hit.

Previously the main centre for furniture shopping for the Auckland region (Tylers, Grace Brothers, The Maple, Smith & Brown, and Jon Jensen), the Symonds Street retail trade went into a serious decline and virtually disappeared as a retail hub; its Business Association collapsed in 1976 and has only recently (2012) been revived.

Much of the remaining housing stock in Newton was utilised for light industrial use and in many cases demolished and rebuilt as factories and warehouses.

Since the 1990s there has been a reverse trend of rebuilding or converting industrial buildings for residential use including some large apartment block complexes.

In the 20th century the Upper Symonds Street Shops were the location of several large Furniture stores; Grace Brothers, The Maple, Smith & Brown, and Jon Jensen.

This took with it several buildings of importance including the Lyric Theatre of 1911, Tylers, the El Matador, the Astor Hotel and the BNZ (an Art Deco structure with Maori motifs).

Initially the Skycity Casino and Sky Tower were intended to occupy the resulting vacant block of land but for various reasons (including sightline issues involving the profile of Mt Eden) that development was relocated away from this area.