History of Modderfontein Golf Club

With the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in the late 1800s, local manufacture of chemicals and explosives was needed to support mining operations. Because of its proximity to the gold fields and the availability of flowing water, Modderfontein, now a suburb northwest of Johannesburg, was chosen as the site for nitroglycerine production. As all of the skills needed to construct and operate the factory had to be imported, the make-up of the early Modderfontein community included Italians, Austrians, Norwegians, Dutch, English, and Scots, as well as South Africans. This amalgam of ethnic groups created the unique culture that persists at Modderfontein today. Following the official opening in 1896 by Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal Republic, the factory operated for three years until the initiation of the South African War, when gold production temporarily ceased. During the War, the South African Constabulary under the command of Major General Baden-Powell (later to become famous as the founder of the Boy Scout movement) occupied a house on the property. At the end of the war in 1901, mining and manufacturing operations resumed. Shortly afterwards a 9-hole golf course was constructed adjacent to the explosives factory. In 1938, a new 18-hole golf course (the current Modderfontein Golf Course) was constructed further away from the factory. The original golf course was abandoned when military barracks was constructed to provide protection for the factory during the Second World War.