Maraisburg (F 9)

Name: Maraisburg

Roodepoort, meaning "red valley" in Afrikaans, is a sprawling residential area, in parts dominated by light industry and small businesses. It gets its name from the red soil in the area. It dates back to 1884, when Fred Struben discovered the first payable gold in the area at what he called the Confidence Reef, a large rocky outcrop in the centre of Roodepoort.

At the time the area was settled by scattered Boer farmers on nine farms. Four of the farms - Roodepoort, Vogelstruisfontein, Paardekraal and Wilgrespruit - were soon declared public diggings.

The city of Roodepoort originated when Jan Bantjies secured the prospecting rights on the farm Roodepoort. Gold was discovered the following year and the farm was declared open for public diggings. Other discoveries followed and as the diggers needed a place to pitch their tents, the farm Roodepoort opened up its land.

A shantytown sprang up. Between 1886 and 1888, four mining towns, Roodepoort, Florida, Hamberg and Maraisburg, were proclaimed. The Goldfields Diggers Committee was formed in 1886 to represent the farmers' interests. This was the first form of local government in the area, which became known as Roodepoort-Maraisburg.

The search for gold spread, and in 1886 the main reef at Langlaagte in Johannesburg was discovered. The gold at Confidence Reef, mostly surface gold in quartz rock, soon ran out, but by then a settled community was established in Roodepoort.

In 1903 the Roodepoort-Maraisburg Urban District Board was established, and the first election was held in January 1904. The status of the Board was soon raised to that of a municipality, and in 1963 the Roodepoort-Maraisburg municipality was changed to Roodepoort and city status was granted in 1977 (at which time Maraisburg was dropped from the name).




Train related:

Maraisburg Train Station is from where the club start many of their steam train journeys. To board our steam train, you need to drive around to the back of the Train Station, to 6th Street, as shown on the map on the site. The nearest highway exit is Maraisburg Road (R24) off the N1 Western Bypass.

As of end 2008, Reefsteamers will be using this station as a terminal point for day-trip trains to Magaliesburg instead of the original terminal point of Boksburg East. We now use the Maraisburg Train Station, an operating commuter station west of Johannesburg, for such departures.

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Other interesting info:

This small cemetery is found just off the Maraisburg turn off on the Concrete Highway. It does not have a lot of World War 1 and 2 burials in it, but curiously there is a small Boer War Plot which has recently had new headstones erected. Sadly once again the vandals have been busy, and I am surprised that the cemetery is as intact as it was when I was there in October 2007.


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