Kroonstad (F 11)

Name: Kroonstad

The town of Kroonstad, the third-largest town in Free State province of South Africa, lies two hours drive from Gauteng.



It was established in 1855. In the 1991 census it had a population of 110,963. The main industry is agriculture. A caravan park and many more camp sites on the banks of the willow-lined Vals River are frequented by anglers and watersport enthusiasts.



Folklore has it that the town was named after a horse named Kroon (Crown), belonging to Voortrekker Sarel Cilliers, which drowned in a stream on the site of the present town. From 13 March-11 May 1900, it was the capital of the Orange Free State. The British built a concentration camp here during the Second Boer War to house Boer women and children.

http://www.kroonstad.co.za/


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Historic fact:
The Old Blockhouse was built for the protection of the old train bridge during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). It is about 5Km southwest from Kroonstad near the Barend Strydom dam.
Other interesting info:
Hoy successfully applied and soon after, arrived in Cape Town. After only two years in the country, he became chief clerk to the traffic manager in Kroonstad and a year later, when he was 27 he was the Transvaal agent for the Railways. During the Anglo- Boer war, Hoy was in charge of military railways, coordinating the movement of troops, supplies, horses, and etcetera. Hoy married Gertrude Price in 1901. They only had one daughter, Maudie. His farther- in- law, Sir Thomas Price, General Manager, appointed him as chief traffic manager, a post he had earned by hard work. Another milestone came when he bought the first type writer in the country and personally typed the first letter which possibly made him the first and only railway manager to have risen from ranks of shorthand typist. In 1910 he became the youngest railway General Manager ever and had control of the second largest Government- owned railway in the world. It was during this time that the Hoys wanted to get away from Cape Town and they discovered Hermanus, where he could enjoy his favourite hobby- fishing. He became the most enthusiastic patron of the village and was enchanted by its natural charm. Local businessmen and residents alike were hopeful that the general manager of the railway would soon help them by building a branch line from Bot River to Hermanus. Their hopes, however, came to nothing, as Hoy wanted Hermanus to remain unspoilt and not run over by masses that could turn up once there was a railway line. When deputation pressed him for the line to Hermanus , he took them to Sir Lowry’s pass station on a new years day and when the train arrived , hundreds of people , laden with picnic baskets , blankets and radios poured from the train , laughing and talking excitedly. Hoy introduced the first road service of South African railways from the railway station at Bot-River to Hermanus in 1912. Lorries to carry freight [particularly fish] and a bus to carry passengers were introduced. William Hoy was knighted in 1916 .He died in 1930 at the early age of 62. His fishermen friends carried his coffin up a newly made pathway for the burial on the Koppie. This is a mountain just behind the station building which was very close to his heart. From that day on it was named Hoy’s Koppie

Kroonstad Commando were from the Free State and comprised just over 200 men under the leadership of Veldt Cornet Louis Botha but subsequently commanded by Commandant C. Neland. They saw action at the battles of Rietfontein and Spionkop and during the Siege were on the western outskirts of Ladysmith on Telegraph Hill. At the battle of Platrand they recorded 3 killed and 2 wounded.

http://www.ladysmithhistory.com/a-to-z/commandos/

The first train steamed into Kroonstad on 20 February 1892. During 1955 the station received 70 trains every 24 hours, one train every 20 minutes.
Where to stay:

New Dictionary of South African Place Names by Peter E Raper (Jonathan Ball) R225

Have you ever wondered about the origins of the name Bela-Bela or why the Lebombo Mountains are so named? After whom is Johannesburg named, where did Gamkaskloof get its name and why the name Mpumalanga? The answer to these questions can be found in the New Dictionary of South African Place Names which has more than 6 000 entries and includes place names in Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique.

The author is president of the Names Society of Southern Africa and has been a member of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names since 1984.

The dictionary is very relevant at the moment with numerous name changes to cities and towns pending or already in effect. A case in point is Bela-Bela (formerly Warmbaths) which means, appropriately, boiling water.

The book makes an ideal travelling companion and is great to dip into if you have an interest in local history.

Each entry provides the place name, its geographical position, its status, various spellings of the name, the language from which it is derived and the meaning of the name.

http://www.itsallwrite.net/aspbite/categories/index.asp?intCatID=314