According to an interview on Radio Woodville in 2009, the peak gained its name when migrating muttonbird nested on top of the ridges of the Ruahine mountain range.

Local Māori would construct temporary housing when the titi began to arrive and would harvest the birds from their burrows, preserving them inside pouches made from bull kelp which they carried up from the coast.

[7] Following the abolition of the provincial councils in 1876, it became part of Waipawa Country, and on 24 December 1884, the Woodville Town Board was formed within the county.

A thriving sheep and beef economy at one stage supported a number of local trucking firms and carriers, among them Gunn Transport and Hawkes Bay Farmers Transport, both of which were based at a site at the corner of State Highway 2/Vogel Street and Tay Street, which is the Wairarapa bypass.

These haulage businesses were only economic in the pre-deregulated transport industry that existed prior to the Rogernomics reforms of the Lange Labour Government elected in 1984.

In addition, the local community sustained a supermarket (closed for a period in the 1980s, since re-opened as a Four Square) a Feltex fabrication factory, built in the mid-1970s and closed by the mid-1980s - at least four or five service station or garage outlets of which only one remains on the west side of the township, and a significant railway presence.

Very little light industry has survived into the 21st century, and the local agricultural community is supported from Palmerston North, Pahiatua or Dannevirke.

There has been a boost to the local economy with the construction and maintenance of the Te Āpiti Wind Farm on the ridges above the town.

Manawatu's flat pastoral lands and in particular the funnel effect created by the Manawatū Gorge, mean the area is well known for being subject to regular high winds.

Following detailed assessment and testing in the early 1990s, the decision was made by newly privatised electricity generation companies to site two large farms on the ridge-lines.

The Te Āpiti Wind Farm is made up of 55 turbines, generating about 90 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 30,000 homes.

At Woodville Railway Station, the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line meets the Wairarapa Line and a balloon loop - a rare example of railway engineering where trains reverse direction on a loop track built specifically for the purpose - permits through running via the Wairarapa to Wellington.

Due to low freight levels, the northern portion of the Wairarapa line was reviewed in 2010 as part of KiwiRail's turnaround plan.

The use of the railway by Fonterra for bulk milk haulage from Oringi meant the Hawke's Bay line was sufficiently busy.

[17] One of New Zealand's first international hit songs, Blue Smoke was written by Ruru Karaitiana, who was born on a farm between Woodville and Dannevirke.

[18] Karaitiana served with the Māori Battalion in World War II and wrote and recorded the song on his return to New Zealand.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, he moved with his family to New Zealand in the 1860s and was only 19 at the time he set up Nelson Rugby Club.

Now widely regarded as New Zealand's premier motocross event, the Woodville Grand Prix is held in the height of summer in January each year.

Another notable early racer was Tim Gibbes of Palmerston North, who helped teach Hollywood actor Steve McQueen several stunts for The Great Escape.