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BLOEMFONTEIN

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 74 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BLOEMFONTEIN , See also:

capital of the See also:Orange See also:Free See also:State, in 29° 8' S., 26° 18' E. It is situated on the open veld, surrounded by a few See also:low kopjes, 4518 ft. above the See also:sea, 105 M. by See also:rail E. by S. of See also:Kimberley, 750 N.E. by E. of Cape See also:Town, 45o N. by E. of See also:Port See also:Elizabeth, and 257 S.W. of See also:Johannesburg. Bloemfontein is a very pleasant town, regularly laid out with streets See also:running at right angles and a large central See also:market square. Many of the houses are surrounded by large wooded gardens. Through the town runs the Bloemspruit. After a disastrous See also:flood in 1904 the course of this See also:spring was straightened and six See also:stone See also:bridges placed across it. There are several See also:fine public buildings, mostly built of red See also:brick and a fine-grained See also:white stone quarried in the neighbourhood. The Raadzaal, a See also:building in the See also:Renaissance See also:style, faces Market Square. Formerly the See also:meeting-See also:place of the Orange Free State Raad, it is now the seatof the provincial See also:council. In front of the old Raadzaal (used as See also:law courts) is a statue of See also:President See also:Brand. In See also:Douglas See also:Street is an unpretentious building used in turn as a See also:church, a raadzaal, a See also:court-See also:house and a museum. In it was signed (1854) the See also:convention which recognized the See also:independence of the Free State Boers (see ORANGE FREE STATE: See also:History).

Among the churches the most important, architecturally, are the Dutch Reformed, a building with two See also:

spires, and the See also:Anglican See also:cathedral, which has a fine interior. The See also:chief educational See also:establishment is See also:Grey University See also:College, built 1906—1908 at a cost of £12 5,000. It stands in grounds of 300 acres, a mile and a See also:half from the town. In the town is the See also:original Grey College, founded in 1856 by See also:Sir See also:George Grey, when See also:governor of Cape See also:Colony. The See also:post and See also:telegraph See also:office in Market Square is one of the finest buildings in the town. The public library i's housed in a handsome building in See also:Warden Street. Opposite it is the new See also:national museum. Bloemfontein possesses few manufactures, but is the trading centre of the See also:province. Having a dry healthy See also:climate, it is a favourite residential town and a resort for invalids, being recommended especially for pulmonary disease. The mean maximum temperature is 76.7° Fahr., the mean minimum 45.8°; the mean See also:annual rainfall about 24 in. There is an excellent See also:water-See also:supply, obtained partly from Bloemspruit, but principally from the Modder See also:river at Sanna's Post, 22M. to the See also:east, and from reservoirs at Moches See also:Dam and Magdepoort. The See also:population in 1904 was 33,883, of whom, including the See also:garrison of 3487, 15,501 were white, compared with a white population of 2077 in 1890.

The coloured inhabitants are mostly See also:

Bechuana and Basuto. Most of the whites are of See also:British origin, and See also:English is the See also:common See also:language of all, including the Dutch. The spruit or spring which gives its name to the town was called after one of the emigrant farmers, See also:Jan Bloem. The town See also:dates from 1846, in which See also:year See also:Major H. D. Warden, then British See also:resident See also:north of the Orange, selected the site as the seat of his See also:administration. When in 1854 independence was conferred on the See also:country the town was chosen by the Boers as the seat of See also:government. It became noted for the intelligence of its citizens, and for the educational advantages it offered at the See also:time when See also:education among the Boers was thought of very lightly. In 1892 the railway connecting it with Cape Town and Johannesburg was completed. During the Anglo-See also:Boer See also:War of 1899—1902 it was occupied by the British under See also:Lord See also:Roberts without resistance (13th of See also:March 1900), fourteen days after the surrender of See also:General See also:Cronje at Paardeberg. In Market Square on the 28th of the following May the See also:annexation of the Orange Free State to the British dominions was proclaimed.. In 1907 the first session of the first See also:parliament elected under the constitution granting the colony self-government was held in Bloemfontein.

In. 1910 when the colony became a province of the See also:

Union of See also:South See also:Africa under its old designation of Orange Free State, Bloemfontein was chosen as the seat of the Supreme Court of South Africa. Its growth as a business centre after the See also:close of the war in 1902 was very marked. The rateable value increased from £709,000 in 19o1 to £2,400,000 in 1905.

End of Article: BLOEMFONTEIN

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