Originally a small military post established during the Eighth Frontier War, Cathcart was established as a village in 1858 when German colonists arrived in the region. The village was formally laid out in 1858 and it only consisted of one inhabited dwelling. It only gained more settlers in the year 1876. It was named after the governor of the Colony of the Good Hope in 1852-1853, Sir George Cathcart. Work on its railway connection to East London on the coast was begun by the Cape government of John Molteno in 1876, and the line was officially opened on 3 November 1879. The Cathcart Shrine was the first built shrine in Africa and it was blessed in 1949.[3]
Religion
St. Alban's Anglican Church,[a] built in 1886 is a well known landmark in Cathcart and has an unusual and distinctive Western façade.[4]