Among the city's major industrial companies was Ivon Watkins-Dow, an agrochemical company founded in 1944 by the Ivon brothers Harry and Dan Watkins and became a partner 20 years later by Dow Chemicals of Michigan. Electricity was first supplied in January 1906 from the Mangorei Power Station along the Waiwhakaiho River near Burgess Park. ft) artwork known as the Wind Wand, Paritutu Rocks, and views of Mount Taranaki. It is named for the English town of Plymouth, Devon, where the first English settlers in New Plymouth emigrated. The city itself is a service center for the main economic activities of the region, including intensive pastoral activities (mainly dairy farming) as well as oil and gas exploration and production. There are schools in Fitzroy, Frankleigh Park, Hurdon, Lynmouth, Mangorei, Marfell, Merrilands, Moturoa, Spotswood, Strandon, Vogeltown, Welbourn, Westown and Brooklands. The company operates a plant in Paritutu that produces the herbicide 2,4,5-T.
It is also known as a seaside town with a mountain within a 30-minute drive, where New Plymouth residents and visitors can ski, snowboard, water ski and surf in the same day. In some groups, levels were up to seven times higher.
New Plymouth has been awarded the most livable city (for a population between 75,000 and 150,000) by the International Awards for Liveable Communities in 2021.
