Munsieville 3.79

Munsieville is a township situated in the Krugersdorp area in Gauteng Province, South Africa. It grew out of the informal settlements inhabited by mine laborers on the outskirts of the original mining town of Krugersdorp.The township was established by ordinance 58 of 1903 of the Krugersdorp municipality and called "the native location". From the early 1930s to the 1940s, Mr. James Munsie, the white chief sanitary inspector (medical officer) of Krugersdorp, moved the location from a low drainage area to its current location, improving conditions.HistoryThe story of Munsieville began on 15 December 1905, when it was gazetted that the piece of land to the north-west of Krugersdorp near District Township was to be used as a 'native location'. It was, however, only in 1911 that the New Donation (as it was then called) was officially established by the Municipal Council, and all blacks not living on their employers' premises had to be resident there.In 1913, a housing plan was formulated, based on one already in existence in Benoni. It made provision for two and three bed-roomed houses costing about 20 pounds a room to build, and an 18-room compound. By 1923, about 220 males, 262 females and 325 children were living in 119 houses on the location.In 1934, standpipes (taps at the corners of the street from which residents could draw their water) and central wash houses were in use in the area. One year later it was necessary to extend the New Location. The Old Location, which was near the present-day Burgershoop, was disestablished in 1937. After that, a new sub-economic housing scheme including: sewage, guttering, curbing and 3 and 4 roomed houses was begun to accommodate overcrowding.At a monthly council meeting in 1941, it was unanimously agreed to change the township's name to Munsieville, after the chief sanitary inspector at the time, James Munsie. He is remembered for the tremendous amount he did in the interest of the town's health.