Klerksdorp

Municipality

Municipality: City Council of Klerksdorp
District Municipality: Southern District Municipality

Klerksdorp Tourism Bureau

Klerksdorp

Phone number: 018-464-9020
Fax number: 018-464-9059
Email: Email inquiry

Klerksdorp website.

Klerksdorp is named after either Barend le Clerq who settled in this area in the first half of the 1800s, or after Jacob le Clerq, the town's first magistrate.

Attractions

Also see the neighbouring towns

Mining shafts built in the 1880s can be visited. The Klerksdorp Museum was built in 1891 as a prison and served as such until 1973. The warden house hosts period exhibitions. The station was built in 1897. The Faan Meintjies Nature Reserve is 15Km from town and has 30 species of game and 150 species of birds. The Oudorp hiking trail is a 12Km long trail through the oldest parts of town.

Klerksdorp Airshow

See Airshows website.

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History

In 1838 CM du Plooy settled on a farm he called Schoonspruit. A dam was built and others also settled around it. In 1885 traces of gold were found on the farm Ysterspruit and in 1886 gold was found which led to a tremendous boom. In 1888 there were 4'000 diggers. By 1889 the gold rush collapsed as the finds at Johannesburg were better.

Economy

Mining: Gold, uranium Farming: grain. There are many silos and other such grain related activities, which make Klerksdorp the largest grain centre in South Africa.

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