Alberton, Gauteng
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alberton is a town on the East Rand of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is a typical bedroom community situated on the banks of the Natal Spruit close to the major urban centres of Johannesburg (15 kilometres) and Pretoria. It is unique from a town planning perspective in that is does not have a reason for its location apart from its proximity to the major population centre. Alberton, with its large industrial areas, has now become a part of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.
A Brief History of Alberton
At the age of 13 Johannes Petrus Meyer bought 11 hectare of his fathers farm, Elandsfontein (currently Alberton) from his stepfather. He builds a house next to the stream (Alberton stream) close to where the current civic centre is today. After Jan's marriage to his first wife, Christina Salomina he became a rapport cyclist and travelled quite a bit.
Jan's wife passed away in 1870 with the birth of their fourth daughter, where he decided to start a general store. He started this general store on the Klipriviersberg farm and got married again two years later to Stephina Petronella Botha (born Strydom). Jan built his mansion (still standing today) in 1890. This mansion was never destroyed and was miraciously left untouched during the war.
Jan's brother Johan Georg (Org) Meyer took over the farm after Jan's death. He married Elizabeth Jacoba (born du Preez). General Alberts purchased a part of the farm Elandsfontein from Org and his plan was to split it up into erven and sell it. Germiston also rised during this period on a piece of Elandsfontein. During the time when General Alberts wanted to give the new town a name, the Meyer mother had something to say against it. As the Meyer family originally came from Prins Albert in the Cape colony, General Alberts decided on the name Alberton.
The first family to settle was the Van der Merwe family in 1903. “Tannie Let” as she was known was the very first woman as well as the first midwife in the area. In 1905 at least five families had settled on the properties. Alberton's first town hall and factory was built in 1918. It wasn't necessary anymore for the people of Alberton to travel to Germiston by bicycle or donkey cart to go to the local bioscope as movies were shown in the local town hall. The first company in Alberton was CJ Fuchs (Pty) Limited and is still doing business in Alberton. Alberton's first street lights were also installed and a rat plague hit Alberton in 1924.
Believe it or not, Alberton's first doctor was a woman, Dr Hope Trant. Dr Trant and her mother came to live in town but left after 10 years and were never heard of again. Alberton's roads were tarred in 1926. Mail had to be fetched from Germiston by horse and as there was no post office during this time in Alberton, the mail was delivered to a general store. The first official post office was opened in 1926. Building work started in 1938 on the new town hall. Street names in the Alberton North suburb were named after the Voortrekker heroes. The "Groot Trek" was celebrated during this year with the "ossewa trek". English street names (names of towns in Cornwall, England) were chosen for the New Redruth suburb. The Newmarket suburb was established in January 1938 and the Newmarket Hotel (which has been demolished) was opened in 1940 in Voortrekker Street.
Alrode (Alberton's current industrial suburb) was established in 1943. A part of the farm Roodekop had to be purchased by the Town Council to make this possible. The well-known "Blou Meul" (that is still doing business) was established in 1954 and is still situated at Van Riebeeck Street, Alberton North. Things started to speed up and the municipal bus services, first maternity ward and library were established in the 50's. The sought after suburb, Alberante was established in the 60's. Another suburb, General Albertspark was established and named after the chairman of the syndicate that started Alberton.
Black people living on a piece of the farm, Elandsfontein had to be moved to another area. This area was later known as Thokoza and was established in 1959. The land they lived on previously was declared in 1971 as a whites only suburb and became known as Verwoerdpark. The number of people living in Alberton was written up in the 60' as about 9 000 and 24 000 in Thokoza. Edenpark (currently located on the outskirts of Alberton) was established in the 1970's and the first house was handed over in 1976. The streets were named after motorcars.
The Alberton Boulevard was another big development and was established in the late 80's / early 90's.
