Rouxville, Free State

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Rouxville is located in the eastern Xhariep District Municipality, shown in blue

Rouxville is a small wool and cattle farming town in the Free State province of South Africa and is situated on the N6 national route. The town is at the centre of the wool producing area of the Transgariep.

Rouxville is situated near a number of other interesting locations - Zastron (30 km), Aliwal North (33 km), Smithfield (38 km), Gariep Dam (ca. 60 km) and Bethulie are all within easy reach. The country of Lesotho is ca. 70 km away. Places such as Lady Grey, the Witteberg mountain range (with the 2,769 m Avoca peak) and the Drakensberg mountain range are all also easily accessible from Rouxville.

[edit] History

The town started after mail irregularities at Aliwal North led authorities to re-direct mail between the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State 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 Reverend Pieter Roux^[1] 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, all of the town's citizens were called up for military service and the town was completely deserted for two years.