City of Cape Town history

In 1840, when the town’s population had reached some 20,000, the municipality of Cape Town came into existence; it incorporated the suburbs of Green Point and Sea Point to the north and west of Signal Hill.

Nearly 200 years later in 1849, the farm was bought by the Anglican Church, and renamed it Bishopscourt where it housed Anglican bishops and archbishops of Cape Town.

Originally called the Heerengracht, for the canal in Amsterdam of that name, it was renamed Adderley Street in 1850.

Suburban development, largely inland to the east and down the Cape Peninsula to the south, followed the radial roads and the railway line, construction of which began in 1859.

In 1867 Cape Town obtained full municipal government, with three councillors from each of six districts; the chairman of the council became mayor.

The opening of the Alfred Dock in 1870 led to renewed development along the shore.

From 1881 onward a number of separate municipalities came into being, among them Woodstock, Rondebosch, Claremont, Newlands, Wynberg, and Kalk Bay.

The breakwater was lengthened and piers were built in 1890–95, and the newly sheltered area was named Victoria Basin.

Robben Island was in 1900 a penal settlement, lunatic asylum and confinement hospital for those with severely contagious diseases including leprosy.

In 1901, the first forced removals of Black South Africans to Native Locations took place and Langa was established.

Hospitals became segregated, while the School Board Act of 1905 was to introduce segregation into education.

It was not until 1913, however, three years after the formation of the Union of South Africa, that the town councils of Cape Town and several of the adjacent towns combined to form the City of Greater Cape Town.

In 1920, in company with Sir Pierre van Ryneveld, Brand made the first flight from London to Cape Town, via Cairo, in a Vickers Vimy aircraft.

District Six retained that flavour more than any other district and in the 1930's a large portion of the Jewish refugees from Europe began their new life in District Six.

In 1972 (when there were six nonwhite councillors) national legislation removed nonwhites from the electoral rolls over protests from the citizens.

The municipality continued to oppose apartheid legislation and in 1985 formally reiterated its belief that all people, regardless of race, colour, or creed, have the democratic right to participate fully in the affairs of the city and its council.

Additions to the building were opened in 1987.

A peaceful protest march of some 40,000 people in September 1989 helped to create the climate for similar demonstrations in other parts of South Africa, the subsequent release from prison of the African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela, and the end of the system of apartheid.

However, in 1990, just two blocks from District 6 and the CBD, Nelson Mandela made his first public speech since being released from prison on Robben Island, from the Balcony of Cape Town’s, City Hall.

In 1994, a freed Mandela delivered his first speech as the first president of the democratic South Africa in Parliament.

The new ANC-led government passed the Municipal Structures Act in 1998, which expanded the city’s municipal boundaries and restructured and integrated the city’s government and services in an attempt to better serve all city residents.

Address by President Jacob Zuma at the official opening of the National House of Traditional Leaders, 23 February 2010, Old Assembly, Parliament, Cape Town

2013/14: Land claims settled in Constantia for families who were forced to move off their land under apartheid’s Group Areas Act.

Stories of the South Peninsula Chapter 1-13 Full document Research Publication31/05/2014, Research publication - 11.2 MB