Rouxville is a small

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

and

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

farming town in the Free State province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and is situated on the N6 national route. The town is at the centre of the wool producing area of the

Transgariep The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the nort ...

. Rouxville is situated near a number of interesting locations -

Zastron Zastron is a small agricultural town in the Free State province of South Africa, some 30 km from the border of Lesotho. It is situated at the foot of Aasvoëlberg (Vulture Mountain), named for the rare Cape vultures attracted by a feeding p ...

(30 km),

Aliwal North Aliwal North (officially Maletswai) is a town in central South Africa on the banks of the Orange River, Eastern Cape Province. It is a medium-sized commercial centre in the northernmost part of the Eastern Cape. History Sir Harry Smith, then ...

(34 km), Smithfield (35 km),

Gariep Dam The Gariep Dam is located in South Africa, near the town of Norvalspont, bordering the Free State and Eastern Cape provinces. Its primary purpose is for irrigation, domestic and industrial use as well as for power generation. Name The Gariep D ...

(60 km) and

Bethulie Bethulie is a small sheep and cattle farming town in the Free State province of South Africa. The name meaning ''chosen by God'' was given by directors of a mission station in 1829 which the town formed around. The mission building is the oldest s ...

. Lady Grey, the Witteberg mountain range (with the 2,769 m Avoca peak) and the

Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within t ...

mountain range are also easily accessible from Rouxville, while the Lesotho border is ca. 70 km away.

History

The town started after mail irregularities at Aliwal North led authorities to re-direct mail between the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

and the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

to the farm ''Zuurbult'' (founded by Petrus Wepenaar) in 1863. The distance between Smithfield and Aliwal North (70 km) was allegedly too long to be travelled in one day by horse and wagon, and as such Rouxville was created as the halfway stopover. The town was established in 1864 and named after

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

Reverend Pieter Roux of the Smithfield parish. Roux traveled throughout the Eastern Free State for many years holding church services for local communities. During the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

, all of the town's citizens were called up for military service and the town was completely deserted for two years. A former State President of the Republic of South Africa, Jacobus Johannes (Jim) Fouché (1898-1980), grew up on the family farm in Rouxville, where he first attended school. He later returned to Rouxville after College and became one of the leading farmers of the region. As a leader of the community in the wider Southeast Free State area, he entered politics when he was elected a member of the South African Parliament on the ticket of the Reunited National Party, representing nearby Smithfield (1941-1950), was appointed Administrator of the Orange Free State (1951-1959), served also as Defence Minister (1959-1965) and Minister of Agricultural technical services and water affairs (1966-1968) in the Governments of Verwoerd and Vorster. He was again elected to Parliament, this time representing Bloemfontein West (1960-1968). He was the second choice as successor to Charles Swart as State President, but was defeated by Theophilus Ebenhaezer Donges, however when Donges failed to assume office because of poor health, he emerged as a compromise candidate and was nominated by the Parliamentary caucus of the National Party as State President and served his entire 7-year term (1968-1975).

Notes

{{Xhariep District Municipality Populated places in the Mohokare Local Municipality Populated places established in 1863 1863 establishments in the Orange Free State