[3] The first recorded settlers of the area are descendants of the Tainui waka, led by Māhanga, who established Purakau Pā at the junction of the Kaniwhaniwha stream and the Waipā River and settled the lower valley in the late sixteenth century.

The tribe suffered a major defeat to Europeans during the Invasion of the Waikato; their land was confiscated and they were forced to relocate to the north.

A Waitangi Tribunal report says, "This was, it seems, the first official public admission that not all Crown lands were to be made available to return to the Kīngitanga.

In particular, the Grey Government planned to exclude the blocks that McLean had repurchased specifically to include them in the package of lands ringfenced for return, which were mostly in the Harapepe district around Pirongia.

"[6] The first European settler in the area was John Vittoria Cowell, a Kawhia trader,[7] who was given about 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) by Ngāti Apakura in October 1839.

[10] His Homewood house, on Rosborough Road,[11] to the south of Te Pahu, may date from 1841 and be the oldest surviving building in Waikato.

Many lots were abandoned; settlers who continued living there constantly feared attack from local Māori and often sought shelter in a blockhouse.

[5]Te Pahu remained extremely isolated for many years, with settlers relying on supplies delivered by the Waipā River.

[5] The area was struck by major flooding in 1907 and February 1958, leaving the community again cut off from Te Awamutu and Hamilton.

[13] The name Harapepe remains on the modern map,[14] 1.2 km (0.75 mi) south of Te Pahu Road corner, though it has lost all but a few houses.

[25] In the 1920s and 1930s Robertson,[26] then Hodgson's, Motors ran a daily bus from Pirongia to Hamilton via Te Pahu.

[29] Te Pahu settlement is in three SA1 statistical areas which also include Harapepe and cover 33.20 km2 (12.82 sq mi).