Greylingstad

Greylingstad (Afrikaans for Greyling City) is a small farming town west of Standerton in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Greylingstad
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
CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceMpumalanga
DistrictGert Sibande
MunicipalityDipaleseng
Area
 • Total9.33 km2 (3.60 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Total839
 • Density90/km2 (230/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
 • Black African45.0%
 • Coloured0.6%
 • Indian/Asian0.8%
 • White53.2%
 • Other0.4%
First languages (2011)
 • Afrikaans51.7%
 • Zulu27.9%
 • Sotho6.6%
 • English4.5%
 • Other9.3%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)
2415
PO box
2415
Area code017

History

Early 20th century

The town was founded in 1909 by the Dutch Reformed Church and named after PJ Greyling, stepson of Piet Retief.[2][3] A new town was laid out 5km away in 1913 on the farm Willemsdal owned by Willem Bezuidenhout. In 1914 its name became Greylingstad and everyone moved to the new location.[3]

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

In 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.

Present

The farming community is still big and growing and the town not booming, but constantly doing business.

References
  1. "Main Place Greylingstad". Census 2011.
  2. "Greylingstad". Routes.co.za. Archived from the original on 2013-10-15. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
  3. 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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