The Alexandra Borough Council was established in 1867 and continued as a Local Authority until 1 November 1989 when it was superseded by the Central Otago District Council.
The town owes its origins to the discovery of gold between Clyde and Cromwell in 1862, when thousands of miners travelled to the district along the Old Dunstan Road from the Taieri. Located in the heart of Central Otago, Alexandra is situated at the junction of State Highway 8 and provincial Highway 85. Alexandra was called Lower Dunstan, Junction and Manuherikia before 1863 when they finally adopted the name of the new Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark.
At first Alexandra was just an offshoot of Clyde but it made its own name in the dredging boom of the 1890s. At that time people also began to see the enormous fruit-growing potential of the area. Today the gold and the dredges have all but gone, but the fruit trees make sure Alexandra stays prosperous.
