Emmarentia

Emmarentia lies on land that once made up the Braamfontein Farm, one of many large farms that make what is Johannesburg and its suburbs.[2] The land was bought in 1886 by Lourens Geldenhuys for its mining rights as it was hoped that the Confidence Reef would extend into his farm but it did not.[2] Land remained as a farm and by 1891 it was divided, along what is now Orange Road, between his son's Frans and Louw where the brothers had already built two farm houses.[2] Frans' farmhouse still exists as the clubhouse at the Marks Park Sports Club and Louw's which exists close by at 14 Greenhill Road.[3]

After the Second Boer War, in which Louw Geldenhuys and his brother had taken part of as members of the Krugersdorp Commando, he decided to help some landless and unemployed Boers war veterans.[2] He used them to construct a stone and earth dam from blocks of stone from the Melville Koppies behind the farm and cost £12,000.[2][3] The dam was built over the Westdene spruit which is a tributary of the larger Braamfontein Spruit.[4] The dam was then named after his wife Emmarentia Margaretha Botha.[2] A hundred of these workers were then settled in 14 irrigated smallholdings on 145 morgens of the farm in what are now the suburbs of Emmarentia, Linden and Greenside where they grew fruits and vegetables with rent based on a third of the profits of the sale of the produce.[2][3]

Louw died in 1929 and his wife Emmarentia would begin to sell parts of the farm that became the suburbs Greenside in 1931, and Emmarentia on 28 April 1937, named after her and in 1941, Emmarentia Extension.[2][5] In 1933, 13 hectares of the farm were donated to the City of Johannesburg for parks and recreation, and after further pieces of land were acquired, became the Jan van Riebeeck Park (1952) and the Johannesburg Botanical Garden (1964), Emmarentia Dam (1939), the Marks Park Sports Club (1951) and West Park Cemetery (1942).[3][6]

In 1938, Emmarentia Geldenhuys died and was buried at the family cemetery in Hill Road. The small cemetery still exists with 77 graves in the small cemetery with other names such as Swanepoel, Steyn, Ayres, Hopley and McGrath possibly the smallholding farmers Louw Geldenhuys had helped out.[2] The suburbs captures the names of the original owners of the farm as street names, Judith Road is named after Frans Geldenhuys' wife, Judith Grobbelaar.[2] While Louw Geldenhuys Road runs past the dam he built.

Within its boundaries, one can find:

• Emmarentia Dam;
• Johannesburg Botanical Garden;
• Part of the Melville Koppies;
• Marks Park Sports Club
  Formed on 19 December 1938 by Mr. I Marks, Town Clerk of Johannesburg at Paterson Park. In 1951 the club moved to its current location gathering together the different sports groups in one place.[7] The clubhouse is the old farmhouse of Frans and Judith Geldenhuys;[7]
• Masjid - ur - Rahmah – Emmarentia's first mosque.
  Located on the corner of Ingalele Road and Barry Hertzog Road.

Emmarentia shares its borders with the suburbs of Melville, Greenside, Greenside East, Victory Park, Linden, Montgomery Park, and Roosevelt Park.

Emmarentia is also home to a range of culturally diverse restaurants ranging from Italian (Trattoria Renato[8]) to Cape-Malay (District 6 [9]). In the same center of Emmarentia (A block of buildings ranging from 1-4 stories high, alongside Barry Herztorg, with restaurants and business's on street level and residential flats above. Known to locals as the "shops") J'oburgs first artisanal bakery and gourmet burger-milkshake restaurant (Industry[10]) and an organic vegetarian restaurant ( Fresh Earth) [9] make up the also make up the craft restaurants

Emmarentia Primary School is located in the suburb of Emmarentia on the corner of Hill Road and Umgeni, and was established over 60 years ago.

Emmarentia is the location of the Japanese School of Johannesburg located in Caledon Road close to the dam.[12]

Littlehill Montessorri School is also located in Emmarentia, on Hofmeyer Drive. The school is renowned for its unique curriculum, which includes Cultural Studies.

• Emmarentia Primary School website
• Emmarentia Residents Association