This week’s news reports about the current spike in the Covid pandemic echo down the ages to 120 years ago. Stories about the measles outbreak in the winter of 1901 in the Potchefstroom concentration camp sound eerily familiar with overcrowded hospitals, exhausted...
Almost all that is left of the thriving mill industry on the Bult during the latter part of the 19th century are mill streams, repurposed as storm water drainage and three street names, Molen Street, Meul Street and Hoffman Street. The first two are self-explanatory...
Die brand wat die biblioteek van die Universiteit van Kaapstad Sondag deels in puin gelê het, het boekliefhebbers én dié wat die geskiedenis van die Ferdinand Postma-biblioteek ken, laat sidder. In 1949 is die biblioteek van die destydse Potchefstroomse...
Many colourful characters are remembered in streets named after them. Under the G’s and H’s are a stable boy, one of the first owners of a car – nicknamed “Knight of the Road” and Potchefstroom’s first tree hugger. “Knight of the road” Gaisford Street (Potchindustria)...
Set like a fine diamond in the setting of its verdant gardens, the Old Grimbeekhuis in Herman Street in Grimbeek Park, is a treasure in our midst. This is how it is described by a reviewer on social media. The Old Grimbeekhuis is very near to my heart. In the early...
From a prominent citizen who died in a plane crash in Greece to the first principal of Potchefstroom Gimnasium, Potchefstroom street names starting with a “C” tells the story of the many-faceted history of our city. Street name and building remembers businessman...
Met die baie reën die afgelope tyd en foto’s en video’s van oorvol riviere wat die media oorspoel, is oorstromings op almal se lippe. Onlangs was daar verskeie berigte in die Herald van mense wat verdrink het. Boonop was dit onlangs die 40ste herdenking van die...
Potchefstroom lost its third heritage building in four months when the smithy at the President Pretorius Museum collapsed at 10:00 on Thursday 29 October. The building was approximately 175 years old. The building formed part of the President Pretorius Museum complex...
In the space of slightly more than a month Potchefstroom received a double shock when two of its heritage buildings were lost to fire. It paints a very bleak picture of a city going to ruin, which is not the case. Unfortunately bad news gets much more coverage than...
The Potchefstroom railway station was destroyed by fire during the night of 19 September. This is a mere month after the General’s House, a declared historical building, succumbed to the same fate. The current station building was opened in 1919. It was once regarded...