Yeoville, Gauteng

Yeoville
Yeoville Show map of Gauteng Yeoville Show map of South Africa Yeoville Show map of Africa  Yeoville shown within Gauteng
Location within Greater Johannesburg  Yeoville
Coordinates: 26°10′S 28°3′E / 26.167°S 28.050°E / -26.167; 28.050Coordinates: 26°10′S 28°3′E / 26.167°S 28.050°E / -26.167; 28.050
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Municipality	City of Johannesburg
Main Place	Johannesburg
Area
• Total	0.97 km2 (0.37 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	18,884
• Density	19,000/km2 (50,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	96.5%
• Coloured	1.1%
• Indian/Asian	0.5%
• White	1.6%
• Other	0.4%
First languages (2011)
• Zulu	29.1%
• English	21.2%
• Southern Ndebele	15.1%
• Xhosa	4.5%
• Other	30.0%
Postal code (street)	2198
PO box	2143

Yeoville is a suburb of Johannesburg, in the province of Gauteng, South Africa. It is located in Region F (previously Region 8).

Yeoville was proclaimed as a suburb in 1890 (four years after the discovery of gold led to the founding of Johannesburg) by Thomas Yeo Sherwell, who came from Yeovil in the United Kingdom. The area was advertised as a 'sanitarium for the rich' in which the air was purer because it was up on a ridge overlooking the dirty, smoke-filled mining town that had sprung from nothing out of the (then) Transvaal bushveld. However, the rich did not buy into the suburb. Instead it became a multiclass area, one to which many poorer people living below the ridge in Doornfontein aspired. It was also a place which attracted many of the waves of migrants from abroad that came to South Africa seeking a new life..

By the 1970s, it had a predominantly Jewish character, with a number of synagogues in the area and Jewish delicatessens and bakeries in the main business street. Harry Schwarz, a well known Jewish lawyer and politician was Member of Parliament for Yeoville from 1974 to 1991.

Over the years Yeoville, and its neighbouring suburb Bellevue, also attracted its fair share of artists, musicians, students and political activists. However, it was in the late 1970s that a process began which would change the nature of these two suburbs forever. The establishment of a small, discreet club by a well-known music producer called Patric van Blerk resulted in the main business street through the two suburbs, named Raleigh St in Yeoville and Rockey St in Bellevue, becoming the bohemian cultural centre of South Africa, with a number of night spots and restaurants moving from nearby Hillbrow, till then the night-time entertainment mecca of Johannesburg. Within two years, the high street was transformed from a quiet community street serving the local residents to an internationally-known cultural centre with restaurants, jazz bars, bookshops, arts and crafts outlets, trendy clothing outlets, photography studios and record shops. On the down side, drug dealers and a criminal element also moved into the area, taking advantage of the opportunities arising out of the almost 24-hour buzz of activity in the street.