Boksberg is a town on the East Rand - east of Johannesburg which, like so many others, owes its existence to the discovery of gold in the region in 1887. Main Reef Road stretches for miles and once linked all the mining towns on the Witwatersrand.
It is now an industrial town with many factories and businesses in the municipal area (partly due to its close proximity to OR Tambo International Airport) as well as being a dormitory town for Johannesburg.
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Prior to 1860, the present municipal area of Boksburg and its immediate environs comprised mainly the highveld farms called Leeuwpoort, Klippoortje, Klipfontein and Driefontein. Carl Ziervogel bought the farm Leeuwpoort in 1875 and for 300 morgen of barren, rocky veld he paid £75.
In September 1886 Pieter Killian, a young Afrikaans prospector, discovered quartz reefs on Leeuwpoort. He also discovered quartz reefs on the farm Vogelfontein and samples were sent to Pretoria for assaying, which confirmed the presence of gold. Killian advised Dr W.E. Bok, Secretary of State for the Transvaal Republic, of the results of the assay. The town was later named after Dr W. Eduard Bok.
The upshot of this was the proclamation, on 10 March 1887, of the two farms as public diggings. Carl Ziervogel, who had been trying to sell Leeuwpoort, now opened the first gold mine on the East Rand, the Ziervogel Gold Mining Company. Cornish miners were brought out to work the diggings.
