Roodepoort, Gauteng

From Freepedia

Roodepoort is a city in Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is now part of the City of Johannesburg. Johannesburg's most famous botanical garden, Witwatersrand National Botanical Garden, is located in Roodepoort.

In 1884, brothers Fred and Harry Struben, having discovered gold on the farm Wilgespruit at the western end of the Witwatersrand, were granted concessions to mine the area. When George Harrison's find at Langlaagte came to light and gold fever took hold, the Strubens brothers were joined by a swarm of gold diggers. Though the Confidence Reef bore little gold and their mine was unprofitable, the ramshackle town that grew around it became the Roodepoort municipality in 1904. Incorporating the towns of Hamberg, Florida and Maraisburg, Roodepoort became a city in 1977.