Glendale is a village in the province of Mashonaland Central, Zimbabwe.
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The village of Glendale was given it's name by Earl and Sir Raleigh Grey, Governers of 'Mashonaland' during the 18-19th centuries. The name comes from a town called Glendale, situated in Northumberland in England where Earl Grey was born. The village of Glendale is located in the Mazowe valley of Zimbabwe, about 85 km north east of Harare. The word 'Mazowe' derives from a ChiShona word meaning Elephants, of which there were many roaming that area in Zimbabwe.
The Glendale village developed from the pursuits of commercial farming and mining carried out by families who settled during the 18-19th century (See: Rhodes and Rhodesia; The European conquest of Zimbabwe, 1884-1902 by Arthur Keppel-Jones). During the Colonial era farming and mining businesses flourished which in turn gave employment to many hundreds of thousands of peoples benefiting from long term employment. Local enterprise drew peoples from the neighbouring regions of Zimbabwe to work in the area, who, at that time, mainly came from Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique. In 2000 Zimbabwe's Land Reform project disrupted the area, including the village as commercial farming and agriculture was halted as white, local European farmers were cruely forced off the land and out of their homes in the Glendale area.
The Village of Glendale grew alongside a railway that was established in the early 1900s. The railway serviced the local community of farmers and miners with it's supplies, and stretches north of the village to the eastern area of Zimbabwe. A general provisions store was built, and over the years other shops; including a post office, further established the village. Farming families bought land and carved out farms from virgin bush and long term employment drew hundreds of thousands of local and migrant peoples to settle in the area. Glendale's rural council governed the development of the village and the Glendale community grew from a mix of multi-cultural peoples. Prior to 1900 the peoples of the area were a collective of small or medium sized tribal groups, who largely spoke the common language of Chishona. Chief Chiweshe; a Chishona speaker, who is a prominent Chief of the Chiweshe Communal Lands, is resident in Chiweshi, north east of the Glendale village of Zimbabwe.
According to the 1982 Population Census, Glendale had a population of 6,076. Maize, cotton, cattle, pigs, wheat, dairy and citrus were farmed in the region. Glendale has a large railway depot, cotton depot and ginnery. A textile industry was developing in the village. Zimbabwe's leading iron pyrites producer, the Iron Duke Mine, is 15 km south of Glendale.
The Glendale Inter-Denominational Church, the Glengrey Primary School, along with it's associated community centre was established, and built by Major Anthony Browne. Major Browne's son Nicholas; who developed the area of Glendale through his years of participation on the Board of the Rural Council of Glendale, also re-built St. Peter's Church that is situated in Tsungubvi township; a suburb of the Glendale village. They are buried; alongside loved ones of members of other families of Glendale's community, in Glendale's Interdenominational Church's graveyard called the 'Glendale Church Garden of Rest'.