For the people of his generation, he was a larger than life character. He was known for his business acumen and outspokenness, but also as an unintentional instigator of the movement to preserve the heritage of Potchefstroom. He is Jurie Schoeman. During the 1970s the...
If Potchefstroom was a medieval town in Europe, the Tudor-style residence in Calderbank Lane near the Dam would be its manor house or castle. Built in 1942 by a well-known businessmen of Potchefstroom, Mr Hugh Calderbank, this Tudor-style house, right next to the...
In his series of articles in the 1970s Senex did not give an explanation for all the street names of Potchefstroom. Although the archives of the Potchefstroom Museum have more information, the origin of some street names are nowhere to be found. In the course of...
Changing street names has always been a contentious issue. After the Anglo-Boer War – and with a new political dispensation – the town council of Potchefstroom had long discussions on the changing of certain street names. The one that lasted was King Edward Street,...
Do the residents of Zeederberg Street know that their street was named after a now extinct form of travel? Or that the Weeks family, after whom that street was named, suffered a terrible tragedy? Or that Rev Wynne, after whom that street was named revolutionised...
A street not named after a rector and one named after another rector, one named after a musician, the town furrow and a battle are included in these street names. Van Alphen Street (Baillie Park) was named after one of the early teachers of Potchefstroom. JN van...
Not many street names in Potchefstroom begin with a “T”. One, however, represents one of the most widely-known residents of Potchefstroom, the poet Totius. Gardens and a fertilizer plant also gave their names to these streets. Theron Street (South) Mr CP (Charles)...
A flag designer, two pioneer merchant brothers, a writer of youth literature and a flamboyant minister are immortalised in these streets named after them. Scheepers Lane (Central) was named after Mr Fred Scheepers, mayor in 1944. He was a staff member at the...
A prominent businessman with assumed super powers, the man who was in charge of the town’s first power supply, the first English minister and first English teacher, amongst others, gave their names to these streets. Reitz Street (Bult) The street was named after...
Retief Street (Central) was named after, Magdalena Retief, the wife of the Voortrekker leader, Piet Retief. Retief. She resided on the north-eastern corner of Retief and Berg Streets (later Van Riebeeck, now Peter Mokaba). In 1994, shortly after a memorial in the...