Celebrating a century: The historical journey of Pinelands

As a child, I can remember crossing the wooden bridge over Elsie's Kraal River, and there was even a fish truck blowing a horn to sell fish to residents, says longtime Pinelands resident Gill Ford.

Pinelands, which is called “The Garden City”, celebrated its centenary on Saturday, June 14.

Around 80 people from the Pinelands community and the City of Cape Town came to the Pinelands community hall to celebrate the community’s rich history.

According to parts of the City of Cape Town archives, over a hundred years ago, the Pinelands area resembled a desert, consisting of drift sands and shrubs. The idea of Pinelands as a "Garden City" was postulated by Ebenezer Howard in his book Garden Cities of Tomorrow, published in 1898.

Richard Stuttaford, a well-known merchant and city councilor of Cape Town, persuaded the South African government to grant the Trustees of the newly formed Garden Cities Trust to pursue its objective "of providing better housing and social conditions for the people."

The architectural firm that had planned the development of Welwyn was then appointed to develop the Uitvlugt housing project, and  A J Thompson, the first supervising architect of Pinelands, was sent out from England for this purpose under a two-year contract.

The layout plan for Pinelands followed Mr Howard's broad principles and allowed for plenty of open space. The name "Pinelands" was suggested by the first secretary of the Garden Cities Trust, Percy Stuart Horne, in preference to the name "Midwood."

As the township plan aimed to preserve the pines wherever possible, the name appeared and was adopted on 11 August 1921.

By the end of 1922, there were 24 houses, then around 1923, electricity was installed, and by 1924, 10 street lights were operational. On May 25, 1923, a few years after the project had been started, General J. C. Smuts laid the foundation stone in Central Square "to commemorate the founding of Pinelands", the first Garden City. 

Since then, the Pinelands community has grown and experienced many milestones and life-changing moments. There was a plane crash of a bomber plane in Pinelands in 1956.

There are various old schools like Pinelands North, which was founded in 1948,  Pinelands High was founded in 1952, and Pinehurst Primary was founded in 1967. The Old Mutual building was built in 1953, and the shopping center called Howard Centre opened in 1953, which is named after Sir Ebenezer Howard, the founder of the Garden City movement. 

Ms Ford, 80, originally lived in Cone Way, Pinelands, but later moved to Broad Walk Street, Pinelands, where she lived with her husband Colin Ford, who is deceased. She worked as a teller in a bank in Pinelands.

“It was wonderful to be part of the history, and coming here today, I keep on learning more about the forest in Pinelands,” she said.

These days Ms Ford still likes taking walks in Pinelands, she enjoys playing bowls, and is currently a member of the Cape Bird Club.

Ms Ford, along with the various residents who came to the celebration, was taken on a walking tour of Pinelands led by tour guide Richard Kilpert. 

They took a walk down Mead Way, which showed the first houses built in Pinelands with thatch roofs, then walked to the old Central Square Park, which has the foundation stone, and then visited old churches, such as Pinelands Gemeente, St Stephen’s Anglican Church, and Pinelands Methodist Church.

Ward 53 Councillor Riad Davids who helped organise the centenary event, said it is a momentous occasion.

“If we look at the stories shared by many, the people who came out, we can see why we celebrated this event,” he said.

Mr Davids said they are working with residents to upload pictures to the Pinelands website to promote the living history. Mr Davids said they would like walking tours in Pinelands to be a regular occurrence.

“We would like to get the schools involved and even people from outside communities like Langa and Gugulethu involved in the walking tours as they have history with Pinelands as well,” he said.

Chairperson of the Pinelands Ratepayers' and Residents' Association, Desray Britz has been living in Pinelands since 1988.

“I came to Pinelands with my family and fell in love with it, and up until today, none of that has changed,” she said.