History of Salt River

• Province: Western Cape
• Coordinates: 33°55′58″S “18°27′27″E
• Area: 2.75 km2
• Municipality: City Of Cape Town

Fishing village by the river

This suburb began to grow in about 1665, the settlement consisted of several fishermen’s cottages and an inn. It overlooked a fjord on the river Once the railway line reached here in 1862 it began to develop into a major rail junction. It was amalgamated with Woodstock into one municipal area in 1883.

The integrated area was a boomtown in the early 1900s.

In the early days, this was a booming suburb as it was close to town. It was the industrial heart of Cape Town in the 1900s with the steel and railway industries being here. Salt River has also been the centre of the textile industry for many years.
In the 50s and 60s, many Malay and “coloured” people moved into the area from “District Six”, even before the forced removals. Here they could buy houses. For some reason, people of Indian extraction were prohibited from buying property, unless it was attached to a corner grocery shop. Consequently, there used to be grocery stores on almost every corner. Today the suburb is a cosmopolitan, integrated area with people of varying cultures living together

Battle of Salt River

On the 1st of March 1510, a force of around 150 Portuguese armed with swords and spears attacked and raided a local village.  A force of 170 locals along with a herd of cattle counter-attacked using stones, fire-hardened tipped wooden spears and poison arrows. The locals herded the cattle that they used as shields  and achieved victory

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