Claremont, Cape Town
Encyclopedia
Claremont is a suburb of Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

, South Africa. It is situated six miles south of the city, and is one of the so-called "Southern Suburbs". It is an important commercial and residential area, which is currently experiencing significant growth and development.

History

Until the arrival of Dutch colonists in 1652, the uncultivated veld
Veld
The term Veld refers primarily to the wide open rural spaces of South Africa or southern Africa and in particular to certain flatter areas or districts covered in grass or low scrub...

 of the Cape Peninsula
Cape Peninsula
The Cape Peninsula is a generally rocky peninsula that juts out for 75 km into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope...

 was used by the nomadic Khoisan
Khoisan
Khoisan is a unifying name for two ethnic groups of Southern Africa, who share physical and putative linguistic characteristics distinct from the Bantu majority of the region. Culturally, the Khoisan are divided into the foraging San and the pastoral Khoi...

 to grazed their cattle. The Dutch established an outpost on the shore of Table Bay
Table Bay
Table Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this...

, and in 1657 they established a number of farms south of the outpost. The most southerly of those original farms, named Louwvliet and Questenburg, are today covered by Claremont and the adjoining suburb of Newlands
Newlands, Cape Town
Newlands is an upmarket suburb of Cape Town, South Africa.It is located at the foot of Table Mountain in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, and is the wettest suburb in South Africa due to its high winter rainfall...

.

The area was agricultural for about 150 years. Other estates that were established included Veldhuyzen in 1676, Stellenberg in 1697, Weltevreden (originally part of Stellenberg) in 1730, Sans Souci (originally part of Questenburg) in 1786, and The Vineyard in 1798. They produced grain and grapes, and some farmers made wine.

After the colony had been taken over by the British in 1814, the area gradually changed its character. British settlers and officials bought the farms, re-named some of them, and turned them into country residences. Weltevreden was subdivided in 1822, and a portion of it was renamed Claremont, a name later applied to the whole area.

The distinguished British astronomer Sir John Herschel
John Herschel
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet KH, FRS ,was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, and experimental photographer/inventor, who in some years also did valuable botanical work...

 put Claremont on the map by living at Feldhausen (formerly Veldhuyzen) from 1834 to 1838. A village began to develop, and by 1840 it had been named Claremont.

Village (1840–1886)

The village grew during the 1840s and 1850s. Public transport consisted of horse-drawn omnibuses which plied along the Main Road from 1837 until the railway was opened in 1864 .

Politician Sir JC Molteno
John Charles Molteno
Sir John Charles Molteno KCMG was a soldier, businessman, champion of responsible government and the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony.-Early life:...

 owned Claremont House from 1863 to 1886. He was later the Cape Colony's first prime minister.

The opening of the railway from Cape Town to Wynberg
Wynberg, Cape Town
Wynberg is a southern suburb of the City of Cape Town in Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated between Plumstead and Kenilworth, and is a main transport hub for the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.- Geography :...

 in 1864 spurred subdivision and development. The Feldhausen estate (also known as "The Grove") was subdivided in 1869–1870).

A new Congregational Church was built on the Main Road in 1877. The Claremont Hall was opened in 1879.

The land along Lansdowne Road east of the railway line was subdivided and developed from 1882, creating a large residential area which is now known as "Harfield Village".

Municipality (1886–1913)

In 1882, a village management board was formed, and in 1886 it was replaced by the Municipality of Claremont, which managed neighbouring Newlands
Newlands, Cape Town
Newlands is an upmarket suburb of Cape Town, South Africa.It is located at the foot of Table Mountain in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, and is the wettest suburb in South Africa due to its high winter rainfall...

 too. The privately owned Claremont Hall was taken over as a town hall. The first telephone system was installed in the early 1880s.

There was further residential development, with the subdivision of the Claremont House, Lansdowne, Milburn House, and Paradise estates in the 1890s. An electricity power station was built, and an electric tramway service was introduced in 1897.

The housing boom which followed the Anglo-Boer War saw the subdivision of further estates in the 1900s. Most streets were named in 1903–1904, many of them thematically (e.g. after saints, explorers, British counties and towns, American presidents, and British politicians).

Suburb (1913– )

In 1913, Claremont and several other municipalities were incorporated into the city of Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

.

Considerable residential growth took place in the 1920s and 1930s, when estates such as Palmyra, Keurboom, Ravensworth, Sanatorium Estate, The Vineyard, Wyndover, and Edinburgh Estate were subdivided and developed. An additional railway station, named "Harfield Road", was built in 1931.

The government enforced its apartheid system on Claremont in the 1960s, forcing the Coloured residents to leave. As a result, large areas of the suburb stood derelict for several years.

Claremont remained predominantly residential until the early 1970s, when commercial development began. A major shopping mall, named Cavendish Square, was opened in 1973, and other shopping centres followed.

There was a further building boom in the 1990s, and the suburb is currently experiencing another, which includes the construction of three large apartment blocks, a hotel, two office blocks, the re-modeling of three other commercial buildings, and the construction of a transport interchange and a bypass road.

Places of worship

Claremont places of worship, past and present:
  • Claremont Congregational Church (1840- )
  • Claremont Mosque (1851- )
  • St Saviour's Church (Anglican) (1854- )
  • St Matthew's Church (Anglican) (1888- )
  • Claremont Methodist Church (1890s- )
  • Salvation Army Claremont Temple (1898–1972)
  • Claremont Baptist Church (1902- )
  • Claremont Hebrew Congregation (1904- )
  • New Apostolic Church (1905- )
  • Old Apostolic Church
  • Al-Jamiah Mosque (1911- )
  • Seventh Day Adventist Church
  • St Ignatius Church (Roman Catholic) (1934- )
  • Claremont East Congregational Church (1932- )
  • Harvey Road Mosque
  • Christ the King (Anglican) (1941- )
  • St Stephen's Church (Anglican) (1941- )
  • Dutch Reformed Church (1941–1991)
  • St Bernard's Church (Roman Catholic) (1955- )
  • Christian Science Church (1959- )
  • Assembly of God
  • Church of the Nazarene (1975- )

Schools

Some Claremont schools, past and present:
  • Mrs Harris's (later Mrs Midgley's) seminary (1840–1849)
  • St Saviour's Grammar School (1878–1885) – incorporated into Grove Primary School
  • Grove Primary School
    Grove Primary School (South Africa)
    The Grove Primary school is a school from pre-primary to grade 7 in Claremont, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.-History:The Grove is one of the oldest schools in South Africa and was founded in 1885 as the Feldhausen School, named after Feldhausen Estate, which was a farm prior to the...

      (1885- )
  • Claremont Primary school (1892- )
  • Union College (1893- ) – moved to Somerset West in 1919 and was renamed Helderberg College
  • Western Province Primary School (1913- )
  • Talfalah Institute (1917- ) – moved to Athlone in the 1971
  • Herschel Girls School
    Herschel Girls School
    Herschel Girls' School is a private, boarding and day school for girls, located in Claremont, a southern suburb of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.-History:...

     (1922- )
  • Lady Buxton Children's Home (1923- )
  • Livingstone High School (1926- )
  • Rosmead Central Primary School (1940- )
  • Barkly House (1945- )
  • Batavia School
  • Oasis Association (1952- )
  • Greenfields School (1957- )
  • Bel Porto School for Severely Mentally Handicapped
  • Abbott's College

Commerce and industry

Some Claremont businesses, past and present:
  • Orchard's Hotel (later Crown Hotel) (1836-c1969)
  • Lansdowne (later Claremont) Hotel (1880s-2001)
  • F.J. Pearce & Co (1882–1966)
  • Hall's Pharmacy (1892-1970s)
  • Vineyard Hotel (1893- )
  • Henshilwoods (1894–1998)
  • Brenner's Stores (1904- )
  • Pavilion Cinema (closed 1930s)
  • Star (later Orpheum) Cinema (closed 1960s)
  • Scala (later Protea) Cinema (1938–19..)
  • Cavendish Square shopping mall (1973- )
  • Werdmuller Centre shopping mall (1975- )
  • Kenilworth Centre shopping mall (1974- )
  • The Atrium (now Stadium-on-Main) shopping centre (1990- )
  • Heritage College
  • Cape Town School of English
  • Cape Town International School of Languages
  • Adèle Beauty Therapy School
  • Cape Town School of Eurythmy
  • School of Practical Philosophy


Many national banks and chains of shops have branches in Claremont.

Sport

Some Claremont sports clubs and facilities, past and present:
  • Claremont Cricket Club (1876- ) – no longer in Claremont
  • Kenilworth Racecourse (1882- ) – Kenilworth
    Kenilworth
    Kenilworth is a town in central Warwickshire, England. In 2001 the town had a population of 22,582 . It is situated south of Coventry, north of Warwick and northwest of London....

     later became a suburb in its own right
  • Violets Rugby Club (c1886- ) – moved to Crawford in the 1970s
  • Villagers' Rugby Football Club (1875 -) – moved to Claremont from Mowbray
    Mowbray
    Mowbray is an Anglo-Norman baronial house, derived from Montbrai in Normandy. From this village came Geoffrey de Montbrai who came to be Bishop of Coutances and accompanied Duke William of Normandy at the Conquest of England in 1066....

     in 1898.
  • Claremont Swimming Baths (1895-1960s)
  • Claremont Tennis Club (1908- )
  • Rosmead Sports Ground (1921- )
  • Cape Technical College Grounds (1927- )
  • Ackerman's Sports Grounds (now Impala Park) (1920s- )
  • Celtic Harriers Athletics Club (1970- )

Medical

Claremont's first medical facility may have been the temporary isolation hospital set up during the 1882 smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

 epidemic. Other medical facilities, past and present:
  • Claremont Medical & Surgical Sanatorium (1896–1901
  • Kingsbury Maternity Home (1945- )
  • Claremont Medical Centre (1970- ) – on the old Crown Hotel site
  • Kingsbury Hospital (1990s- )

Public amenities

  • Claremont Post Office (1846- )
  • Claremont Town Hall (1879–1946)
  • Claremont Library (1897- )
  • Arderne Gardens (1927- )
  • Clareinch Nurses' War Memorial Home (1934- ) – moved to Pinelands
    Pinelands, Cape Town
    The "garden city" suburb of Pinelands is located on the edge of the southern suburbs of Cape Town in South Africa and is known for its large thatched houses. The suburb is primarily residential and is often praised for its peacefulness and abundance of trees...

     in the 1960s
  • Janet Bourhill Institute (1944- ) – moved to Bonteheuwel in the 1970s
  • Clareinch Post Office (1936- )
  • Claremont Civic Centre (1960- )

See also

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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