Today this row of Edwardian buildings show their backyards to Molen Street and the grandeur of the combined facades of the four stately buildings are hidden from view. This is the Theological School complex standing on the eastern side of Molen Street between Esselen...
1932 Leeudoringstad explosion of 320 tons of dynamite
This story is not about Potchefstroom history, but it is worth telling. It is about one of the largest explosions that occurred in South Africa and it was on 17 July 1932 at Leeudoringstad. The tenuous connection with Potchefstroom is that a report on the conclusions...
Gunpowder magazine – small but strong
Nowadays it is a very humble building, standing in a place where it does not make any sense. Hundreds of travellers pass it every day where it stands next to the on-ramp to the N12 from Potchindustria, presumably not knowing what it is. This is the gunpowder magazine...
Siege of the Potchefstroom Fort – a story of sorrow from long ago
The misfortune of more than 320 people who for almost three months were trapped in an area of 25 X 25 m (440m), is one of the great heart-breaking stories of Potchefstroom. It was during the First War of Independence (1880-1881). The event is known as the Siege of the...
New Year’s Eve murder
Potchefstroom experienced its post festive season slump in the first week of January 1913, 101 years ago, when a Special Edition of the Potchefstroom Herald shocked the residents from their stupor. I wrote an article about this for the Centenary Edition of the Herald,...
Wendri Eloff – vier dekades diens aan bejaardes
As daar een mens in Potchefstroom is wat gesorg het dat Potchefstroom anders lyk as voor sy op die toneel verskyn het, is dit Wendri Eloff. Sy het aan die einde van Oktober 2023 afgetree as direkteur van die Potchefstroomse Dienssentrum vir Bejaardes na ’n...
The auditorium that almost was not
After the magnificent concert on Sunday, 8 October, performed by a combined NWU Symphony Orchestra, the Rhapsody Orchestra from Bloemfontein and the North West Youth Orchestra, accompanied by the NWU Choir and the NWU Serenaders, I again realised what an absolute gem...
Naam Potchefstroom – waarvandaan?
Potchefstroom, Potscherfstroom, Potjiestroom, Potchefspruit, Potshepstroom, Mooiriviersdorp, Vryburg en Tlokwe. Dis meeste van die name wat in die 185-jarige bestaan aan die dorp, sowat 20 km stroomop van waar die Mooirivier in die Vaalrivier vloei, gegee is. Oor waar...
Stadsaal is meer as ’n eeu oud
Hier is die eerste in ’n reeks artikels oor die historiese plekke van Potchefstroom. Dit het oorspronklik op 27 Maart 2009 in die Potchefstroom Herald verskyn. Presies ’n honderd jaar gelede het alles in Potchefstroom pas weer tot ruste begin kom na ’n baie opwindende...
J Petro van der Walt se kunswerke verryk Potchefstroom
Met die afsterwe van die kunstenaar J Petro van der Walt op 7 Februarie 2023 het Potchefstroom 'n kunstenaar verloor wie se kunswerke die stad verryk het. Hier is die teks wat ek vir sy doodsberig geskryf het en wat op 23 Februarie 2023 in die Potchefstroom Herald...