Henry Williams visited in October 1833, when the Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionaries, William Thomas Fairburn, John Alexander Wilson, John Morgan and James Preece established a mission station in the settlement,[4] In 1835 James Stack was appointed to Puriri.

However, the missionaries withdrew from the mission that same year as the result of fighting in the Waikato.

[5] In 1838 the station was transferred to Parawai (part of the present town of Thames).

In 1868 Puriri was the location for an official goldfield during the Thames-Coromandel gold rush.

[6] Puriri railway station was to the west of the village[7] 59.54 km (37.00 mi) from Morrinsville and was open from 1898 to 1951.