The land on which the township later stood was part of an endowment of 215,000 acres (870 km2) acquired about 1881 by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR).

At first the company had intended to extend its railway from Levin to Foxton, but afterwards it proceeded to develop and open up the endowment area.

[4] On 2 July 1922 seven workers were poisoned by carbon monoxide while digging the tunnels for the Mangahao Power Station.

When the extractor fan broke down, Bernard Butler and foreman Alfred Maxwell were killed by suffocation from the fumes being emitted by their oil engines.

[5] Shannon is defined by Statistics New Zealand as a small urban area and covers 2.94 km2 (1.14 sq mi).

[6] Today Shannon sits as a passing through point between Palmerston North, the Horowhenua, Kapiti and Wellington with public toilet facilities, two cafes, a dairy, an RD1 rural supply store, a fish and chip shop, a primary school, a Four Square grocer, a petrol station and an art gallery.

The station is a stop for the Capital Connection long distance commuter train between Wellington and Palmerston North.

Helen's collection was shown to the public for brief period of time known as Flaxville at 16 Ballance Street.