Rediscovering Woodstock

Abstract

Originally known as Papendorp, the Caperonian suburb of Woodstock has a rather neglected and run-down appearance. This article looks at the "bustling, sprawling mixture of crumbling residences and grimy industry" in what once was "a peaceful country village" with a rural air. Things, however, changed when a railway line was completed, stimulating suburbanization and industrialization. Population returns, industrial development, the influence of St Mary's Anglican Church and establishment of a municipality (1882) are analysed and described in an attempt to rediscover the Woodstock of yesterday and today.