Boston, Bellville

In 1900, a company of the United States of America bought a piece of land known as “the Willows” from a Mr Duminy. This land used to be part of Loevenstein. They decided to subdivide the land into stands and the lands’ development started.[1] The popular building style was Victorian. Bay windows, wooden floors, lead glass windows, pressed steel ceilings and wooden frame windows were also common.[2]

They called the suburb Boston as a remembrance of their home city in of Boston in Massachusetts in the United States of America. Most street names in South African's Boston are all USA related: Broadway, Washington, Gladstone, Lincoln, Salisbury and Cleveland.[3]

D.F. Malan High School,[4] Totius Primary,[5] Boston Primary,[6] (First English medium school in the Northern Suburbs[7] ) and Vredelust Primary [8] are schools located within the area.

“The Scissors Murderess”, Marlene Lehnberg and her accomplice Marthinus Charles Choegoe, murdered Susanna Magdalena van der Linde on 4 November 1974 with a pair of scissors in Gladstone Street Boston. Lehnberg had an affair with van der Linde’s husband, Christiaan. This drew South Africa and the world’s attention to the suburb. Judge Justice Diemont found both guilty on 12 March 1975 and after appealing the death sentence Lehnberg and Choegoe were sentenced to jail for 20 and 15 years respectively.[9]

Annette Cowley retired South African Swimmer [10]

Rashied Staggie former leader of the Hard Livings gang. In 2004 he was convicted of stealing weapons from the Faure police station. He was sentenced to 13 years in jail. He stayed in a highly secured property in Boston. Rival gangs tried to kill him there a number of times. Crime is below average in this suburb.[11]

Francois Van Coke, stage name for Francois Badenhorst is a rock singer. Associated acts include Fokofpolisiekar and Van Coke Kartel. He also acts as a solo artist. He and his wife are local residents.[12]

Crystal Donna Roberts, South African actress and Safta winner for her role in Krotoa. She was also the 1st South African actress to walk the red carpet at the Venice film festival in 2016. She and her husband is local residents in Boston.[13]

Donovan Wright, South African Marathon runner and Comrades marathon Gold medallist, came from an underprivileged past to end up in Boston.[14][15]

June van Merch, South African actress, currently resides in Boston.[16]

Albert Maritz, actor, grew up in Boston. [17]

The Jack Muller Danie Uys Park in the suburb is used to accommodate a Parkrun.[18]