The Otago Central Railway began construction from Wingatui, near Dunedin, travelling through the Taieri Gorge to reach Middlemarch by 1891. The impact of the railway was evident to the community with newspapers reporting “The whole block of buildings forms quite a little township, and alters the appearance of Middlemarch greatly, converting it from a one-horse or coster’s donkey township to a little inland metropolis”, Otago Witness, 18 December 1890.