The name Braamfontein dates from at least as early as 1853, when this farm to the north-west of Randjeslaagte belonged to Gert Bezuidenhout. In that year he applied to the government to have his farm surveyed. Barely five years later, in 1858, Gert sold his farm to FJ Bezuidenhout.
Like so many farms on the Witwatersrand, Braamfontein was subdivided early on, indicating a fairly dense population in the area. Two other Bezuidenhouts, Gerhardus Petrus and Cornelis Willem, each purchased one third of the farm in 1862, and a third part went to Frans Johannes van Dijk. Between 1862 and 1886 different portions were further subdivided, at escalating prices.
Three other well-known owners were Johannes Jacobus Lindeque, who in 1884, bought a section where the Country Club was established in 1906, and Frans Eduard and Louwrens Geldenhuys, both personalities in Afrikaner circles in Johannesburg.
The first suburb established on the farm Braamfontein in 1888-1889 was unofficially named after the farm, in reality being an official extension of Johannesburg proper. Today this area is still called Braamfontein. There was, however, an earlier but unsuccessful effort to create a suburb prior to this.
Source: Early Johannesburg: Its Buildings and Its People
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