Puriri was originally a Ngatimaru settlement, which the Rev. Henry Williams and three fellow missionaries visited in October 1833. They subsequently established a mission station in the settlement, which the Rev. James Preece took over in 1834 with the assistance of the Rev. James Hamlin. In 1838 the station was transferred to Parawai (part of the present town of Thames).
In 1868 Puriri was the location for an official goldfield during the Thames-Coromandel gold rush.