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Greylingstad (Afrikaans for Greyling City), officially Nthorwane,[2] is a small farming town west of Standerton in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Greylingstad | |
|---|---|
| Nthorwane | |
 Chapel of St Francis of Assisi, at the railway stop at Val just outside of Greylingstad. | |
  Greylingstad  Greylingstad | |
| Coordinates: 26°45′S 28°45′E / 26.750°S 28.750°E | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Mpumalanga |
| District | Gert Sibande |
| Municipality | Dipaleseng |
| Area | |
• Total | 9.33 km2 (3.60 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[1] | |
• Total | 839 |
| • Density | 90/km2 (230/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 45.0% |
| • Coloured | 0.6% |
| • Indian/Asian | 0.8% |
| • White | 53.2% |
| • Other | 0.4% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Afrikaans | 51.7% |
| • Zulu | 27.9% |
| • Sotho | 6.6% |
| • English | 4.5% |
| • Other | 9.3% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| Postal code (street) | 2415 |
| PO box | 2415 |
| Area code | 017 |
History
editEarly 20th century
editThe town was founded in 1909 by the Dutch Reformed Church and was named after PJ Greyling, stepson of Piet Retief.[3][4] A new town was laid out 5 km away in 1913 on the farm Willemsdal owned by Willem Bezuidenhout. In 1914 its name became Greylingstad and everyone moved to the new location.[4]
During the Boer War the Scottish Rifles built a number of small forts overlooking the town and the farms beyond the hills. The Scottish Rifles laid out the initials "SR" on the hill overlooking the town, and it was always clearly visible from the main street of Greylingstad.
Late 20th century
editIn the 1950s and 1960s the town had a flourishing farming community.
A major change came about in 1962 when ESCOM (now called ESKOM) erected a 88kV substation and the town, which had about 300 residents at the time, was connected to the main electricity grid.
When the main road between Johannesburg and Durban was upgraded in the 1960s, a bypass was built around Greylingstad which hurt the small businesses in town.[citation needed]
Present
editThe farming community is still big and growing and the town not booming, but constantly doing business.
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Main Place Greylingstad". Census 2011.
- ^ "85 towns hit with name changes in South Africa – and more are on the way". BusinessTech. 14 April 2024. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
- ^ "Greylingstad". Routes.co.za. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
- ^ a b Raper, Peter E; Moller, Lucie A; du Plessis, Theodorus L (2014). Dictionary of Southern African Place Names. Jonathan Ball Publishers. ISBN 9781868425501.
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