Ophirton

Ophirton
Ophirton Show map of Gauteng Ophirton Show map of South Africa
Coordinates: 26.225°S 28.026°E / -26.225; 28.026
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Municipality	City of Johannesburg
Main Place	Johannesburg
Area [1]
• Total	0.94 km^2 (0.36 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	506
• Density	540/km^2 (1,400/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [1]
• Black African	67.6%
• Coloured	3.4%
• Indian/Asian	25.7%
• White	1.8%
• Other	1.6%
First languages (2011) [1]
• English	30.4%
• Zulu	19.3%
• Xhosa	9.7%
• Northern Sotho	7.2%
• Other	33.5%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	2091

Ophirton is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. This industrial suburb lies three kilometers to south-west of the Johannesburg CBD. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, adjacent to Booysens.

History

Ophirton has it origin in 1888, not long after the creation of Johannesburg in 1886.^[2]: 154 The suburb is situated on part of an old Witwatersrand farm called Turffontein.^[3] It is named after the Paarl Ophir Gold Mining Company that owned the land.^[3] It has its origins as a dusty residential suburb, that was surrounded by mine dumps, and occupied by the poorer classes.^[2]: 154 Chandler's Brewery was one of the early industrial business' in the suburb.^[2]: 154 Nowadays the suburb is mostly industrial but a few old residential houses remain.

References

1. "Sub Place Ophirton". Census 2011.
2. Leyds, Gerald Anton (1964). A History of Johannesburg: The Early Years. Nasional Boekhandel. p. 318.
3. Raper, Peter E.; Moller, Lucie A.; du Plessis, Theodorus L. (2014). Dictionary of Southern African Place Names. Jonathan Ball Publishers. p. 1412. ISBN 9781868425501.