Local Guide
Potchefstroom Timeline
YEAR
INFO
PHOTO
1838
• Potchefstroom was proclaimed on 22 December by the Voortrekker leader Andries Hendrik Potgieter. The town was originally at Oudedorp, approximately 10 km upstream from where the city is today.
 
1841
• The town is relocated from Oudedorp to its current location.
• Potchefstroom became the capital of the Transvaal.
• First town magistrate appointed.
 
1846
• First school.
The first school of Potchefstroom was housed in the first church building which stood on the north-east corner of Church Plain.
First School
1847
• Postal service inaugurated between Lydenburg and Potchefstroom. The post was carried by post runners.
• Market started in Potchefstroom
Market on the plain. Photograph taken between 1896 and 1908. Photo: Potchefstroom Museum
Market
1851
• First church building (Nederduits Hervormde Church).
 
1852
• First execution of a murderer.
 
1853
• First gunpowder magazine built (still exists).
• Gold discovered in Potchefstroom district.
The gunpowder magazine in Potchindustria was declared a heritage site in 1969. Photo: Potchefstroom Museum.
Market
1857
• First newspaper (De Staats Courant).
• First North Bridge built.
Photo: Potchefstroom Museum
Museum
1859
• First Postmaster appointed.
 
1861
• New water furrow.
• New cemetery (second) laid out.
 
1862
• Civil War between President Paul Kruger and usurper Stephanus Schoeman. Bombardment between them took place on the Bult.
 
1863
• Swedish immigrants settled at Skandinawiëdrif.
O.W.A. Forssman with his wife, Emelia. He was the leader of the Scandinavians who settled near Potchefstroom. Photo: Potchefstroom Museum
• First Cricket club in Transvaal founded in Potchefstroom.
O.W.A Forssman
1864
• Mail-coach service started between Pretoria and Potchefstroom.
 
1866
• First mill opened.
• Potchefstroom had 275 houses and 1 200 inhabitants and is the largest town in Transvaal, the second largest town being Pretoria with 180 inhabitants.
• The second and current building of the Nederduitsche Hervormde Church was inaugurated.
Photo: Lennie Gouws
Sec building
1867
• Gravel on streets.
• First agricultural show.
• First Reformed Church building and Dutch Reformed Church building inaugurated.
• First Anglican Church building inaugurated.
 
1868
• First municipal elections.
 
1869
• Theological School of the Reformed Church founded at Burgersdorp (later moved to Potchefstroom).
 
1872
• First Methodist Church building.
 
1877
• British troops annexed the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek.
• First commercial bank, Standard Bank, opened.
• Black location, later Willem Klopperville, laid out south of town.
The old Native Location of Potchefstroom, later also known as William Klopperville or Makweteng. Photo: Potchefstroom Museum
old native
1878
• First library service and museum movement.
 
1880
• The Fort at Potchefstroom besieged. The 322 people in the Fort included a few civilians and British troops under Col Winslow. For 95 days they were confined to an area 25 X 25 metres and subsequently six people died. This was the first hostilities of the First Anglo-Boer War.
This model shows the Fort at the time of the Siege.
old native
1881
• Potchefstroom fell to the Boers.
 
1884
• First Asians in Potchefstroom.
 
1887
• First private post-boxes made available.
 
1889
• Potchefstroom Stock Exchange founded.
• M L Fick Primary School, currently the oldest school, founded.
Photo: Potchefstroom Museum
old native
1890
• First Rugby club in Transvaal founded.
 
1891
• President Pretorius Primary School founded.
 
1892
• A park with sporting fields, Alexandra Park, next to cemetery is developed.
Alexandra Park
alexandra park
1893
• First tennis club in Transvaal founded in Potchefstroom.
 
1895
• Second Dutch Reformed Church inaugurated. This building is the oldest DR Church across the Vaal River and was restored after a devastating fire in 2007.
Photo: Lennie Gouws
Dutch Reformed Church
1896
• Landdrost-, Post-en Telegraafkantoor is office officially opened.
Photo: Potchefstroom Museum
Post
1897
• Railroad between Potchefstroom and Johannesburg opened
 
1897
• Anglo-Boer War declared
 
1900
• British troops under General Sir Ian Hunter occupied Potchefstroom.
• Military hospital built.
 
1902
• Health Committee formed to become first local authority after war.
• Church Street renamed King Edward Street and names of other streets changed.
• Experimental Farm founded.
 
1903
• British Garrison housed approximately 1 000 soldiers in cantonments.
• Potchefstroom acquired municipal status
• First electrical power station came into operation.
• The Lyric Theatre opened on the corner of King Edward Street and Lombard Street.
• New cemetery (current) laid out.
•Two orphanages are combined. Out of this developed the Hoër Tegniese Skool.
 
1904
• Potchefstroom town council held its first meeting.
• New Methodist Church opened in May.
Photo: Lennie Gouws
Methodist Church
1905
• Theological School and Literary Department of the Reformed Church relocated to Potchefstroom from Burgersdorp.
• Potchefstroom High School for Boys founded.
The Rector's House was the first building to be completed in the complex that housed the Theological School when it relocated from Burgersdorp to Potchefstroom. Today this is a museum, known as the Totius House. Photo: Lennie Gouws
Methodist Church
1906
• Railway line between Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp opened.
 
1908
• Potchefstroom Herald newspaper founded.
• Building of Potchefstroom Dam started.
• First 40 telephones installed.
• New golf links officially opened, soon to become one of the best in South Africa.
The opening of the Golf Links.
Methodist Church
1909
• City Hall officially opened.
• Experimental Farm became an Agricultural School.
The Potchefstroom Town Hall, at the time of its official opening in 1909. Photo: Potchefstroom Museum
City Hall
1910
• New post-office and magistrate's office opened.
• Oak trees planted in Potchefstroom, the longest oak lane in South Africa. Later declared a National Monument.
 
1911
• Municipality took over the supply of electricity.
 
1912
• New electrical power station opened in Kock Street.
• On 14 July marathon runner K.K. McArthur, a Irish-born policeman from Potchefstroom, won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Stockholm.
Official opening of the electrical power station on 26 June 1912.Photo: Potchefstroom Museum
power station
1914
• Hospital opened.
• Municipal Library, funded by Carnegie, opened.
• British troops withdrew, but Potchefstroom stayed a military training base.
 
1918
• Approximately 500 people died of Spanish Flu in Potchefstroom and district.
 
1919
• New railway station opened in Potchefstroom.
• Potchefstroom University College founded after Literary Department parted ways with the Theological School.
Potchefstroom railway station.Photo: Potchefstroom Museum
railway station
1920
• Synagogue opened.
 
1923
• New artillery school opened at Potchefstroom military base.
• Witrand Rehabilitation Centre founded, second oldest psychiatric hospital in South Africa.
 
1926
• Water purification service.
• Streets tarred.
Church Street (now Walter Sisulu Avenue) is tarred in 1926.
Church Street
1928
• Railway opened between Potchefstroom and Fochville.
 
1930
• Public swimming pool opened.
 
1939
• Potchefstroom Centenary celebrations.
• New airfield inaugurated near Sewerage Farm.
 
1940
• First Police station.
• Agriculture School became Agriculture College.
• Airfield moved to current location.
 
1949
• Various street names changed. King Edward Street again became Church Street.
 
1951
• Potchefstroom University College acquired full university status to become Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education.
 
1952
• The National Gunners' Memorial was unveiled. It is also known as the National Artilelry Memorial. It is dedicated to all the Gunners who had laid down their lives for South Africa.
 
1954
• Development of Ikageng started.
 
1955
• Road between Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom tarred.
 
1956
• Potchindustria laid out.
 
1958
• Boskopdam built.
 
1959
• Promosa laid out.
 
1961
• Twelve people died in hail storm.
• Museum opened.
The Potchefstroom Museum opened its doors in December 1961 in this building on the corner of Sol Plaatjies and Nelson Mandela Avenue.Photo: Lennie Gouws
Museum
1962
• Automated telephone services.
 
1963
• Third and current Northbridge built.
 
1966
• New post office opened in Potchefstroom (still in use).
• Military District upgraded to become Northwest Commando.
 
1971
• Mohadin suburb laid out.
• Fire station opened in Newmarket Street.
 
1973
• Twenty people died when an ammonia tank at the Triomf Fertiliser Plant exploded.
 
1975
• Asian Shopping Centre opened.
• Potgieter Street widened to a double road.
 
1976
• Self-governing body for Promosa.
 
1977
• New prison opened at Mooibank.
• The Totius House Museum, part of the Theological School Complex, is officially opened as one of the house museums in Potchefstroom.
 
1979
• The house of MW Pretorius former state president of the old ZAR was declared as a national monument and is now one of three house museums in Potchefstroom.
 
1982
• New Library and museum building inaugurated.
Library and Museum building.
Museum
1983
• Self-governing body for Ikageng.
 
1984
• Self-governing body for Mohadin.
 
1985
• The Goetz-Fleischack House on the corner of Nelson Mandela and Sol Plaatjes Avenue is declared a National Monument. It is the only example of an early town house still in existence and is fitted out as a house museum.
 
1986
• Pick 'n Pay Shopping Centre opened.
 
1988
• 150 Year Celebrations.
•AH Potgieter Banqueting Halls opened. Later renamed Madiba Banqueting Halls.
 
1989
• First private hospital opened (MediCity – later MediClinic).
 
1990
• Ikageng riots.
 
1991
• New Police Office.
 
1992
• Air Force base closed.
 
1988
• First national democratic elections – ANC won Potchefstroom with a 59.08% vote
• Potchefstroom acquired city status.
 
1995
• New fire station opened in Potchindustria.
 
1996
• Cachet Park Shopping Centre developed.
 
1997
• Checkers Centre enlarged and renamed Riverwalk Centre.
 
1998
• First Aardklop National Art Festival.
aardklop
1999
• Centenary celebrations of the Anglo Boer War.
 
2003
• PU for CHO became the North West University, Potchefstroom Campus after merger with University of Bophuthatswana.
• 3 Students died of Meningitis.
 
2004
• Wide ranging street name changes.
 
2005
• The Vredefort Dome, the biggest and oldest meteorite impact site in the world was declared a World Heritage Site.
 
2006
• Potchefstroom Municipality became Tlokwe Municipality.
 
2006
• Kynoch Fertiliser Plant, previously known as Triomf, closed.
• The Dutch Reformed Church in Nelson Mandela Drive is destroyed by a fire due to an electrical fault. By 2011 the church is fully restored and inaugurated.
 
2008
• Mooiriver Mall opens.
• Herald newspaper celebrates centenary.
Photo: Lennie Gouws
aardklop
2010
• Potchefstroom hosts the Spanish soccer team during the World Soccer Cup.
• Sports Village opened.
 
2011
• It is announced that a velodrome will be built in Potchefstroom. In 2012 it is announced that it will be built near the Potchefstroom Dam. It will have a track of 250 meter and seating for 3 000 to 4 000.
 
Bibliography.
HAASBROEK, D.J.P., Die geskiedenis van Potchefstroom 1838 – 1881.
HERITAGE, Autumn, 2006.
JENKINS, G. 1939. A century of History - the story of Potchefstroom.
POTCHEFSTROOM HERALD , 17 Januarie, 1997.
POTCHEFSTROOM HERALD, 31 Oktober 2008.
PRINSLOO, W du P., 1988, Potchefstroom 150 – grepe uit die geskiedenis van Potchefstroom by geleentheid van die viering van die 150e bestaansjaar van die dorp in 1988.
VAN DEN BERGH, G.N., Potchefstroom en die Eerste Vryheidsoorlog 16 Desember 1880 tot Maart 1881 in Krygshistoriese Tydskrif deel 3,Nr. 3, Junie 1975.
VOORTREKKERARGIEFSTUKKE, 1829 - 1849, p.30-31.