About Modimolle

In the 1860s, a Voortrekker group of Dutch religious zealots known as the Jerusalem Trekkers set off for the Holy Land. After discovering a river flowing northwards, they consulted the maps at the back of their Bibles and decided that it was the Nylrivier. They settled the town and called it Nylstroom in 1866. After discovering what they believed to be a ruined pyramid, they were convinced that they had found the Nile. It was in fact, a natural hillock, known to the locals as Modimolle. A Dutch Reformed Church was built in 1889 and is the oldest church in subsahara Africa north of Pretoria. It was also used as a hospital during the Second Boer War.

The first railway line reached Nylstroom in 1898, connecting the town to Pretoria. During the Second Boer War, the British operated a concentration camp in Nylstroom, where Boer women and children where interned as part of the British Scorched Earth policy. This subsequently led to the loss of 544 lives at the Nylstroom concentration camp. Strijdom Huis was the principal residence of the 6th Prime Minister of South Africa, JG Strijdom and is situated in Nylstroom