In the early 19th century, when European ships first began visiting the area, the Ngāpuhi chief Te Pahi had a pā at Rangihoua.
Prior to the establishment of the mission Ruatara had been the first to grow wheat in New Zealand, at Rangihoua in 1812.
[2] The missionaries, John King, Thomas Kendall, and William Hall, together with free settler Thomas Hansen, arrived in Rangihoua Bay on board the brig Active on 22 December 1814.
[2][3][4][5] On 24 February 1815 Marsden purchased land at Rangihoua for the first New Zealand mission.
[8][1] On 21 December 2014 the Rangihoua Heritage Park was opened to commemorate the bicentennial of the establishment of the mission.