In 1853, seven years after Bloemfontein was proclaimed a town, Hoffman Square took shape on a plain north of the Bloemspruit. First called Market Square, the site gained shops, hotels, a post office and other buildings over time.
The market was a space for cattle and farm produce to be traded. Saturdays were particularly busy, when sellers, buyers, spectators and up to 100 wagons and 1 000 oxen would gather on the square.
Bloemfontein grew rapidly after the Anglo Boer War (1899 – 1902) and the town bosses soon decided that a market, with its raucous noise and livestock smells, had no place in the city centre. So, in 1925, the market was moved a block north east to a new, bigger building on Baumann Square, which remained in use…
