This blog is a verbatim extract from the publication: The Port Elizabeth Directory and Guide to the Eastern Province of the Cape of Good Hope  for 1877

It provides a contemporary view of the town in a sometimes overly honest manner such as the words describing the town as “pleasingly disappointing” and bemoaning the paucity of trees.

Main picture: BIrd Street highligting the paucity of trees

ITS INSTITUTIONS, TRADE AND POPULATION.

The visitor for the first time to Port Elizabeth is almost sure to be pleasingly disappointed by it, whether it is approached by steamer, by rail, or by road . The view from the anchorage does not reveal the better portion, the Hill, whereon a large township is rapidly growing. The business part is presented to the newcomer as the liveliest in the Colony. The warehouses, offices, shops, and public buildings are mostly of a substantial, and, in many cases, of a costly description, and indicate the commercial predominance of the place over others on these shores. Sweeping along the seaboard and the skirt of the hills, from west to east, they vary in character only with the requirements of their owners.

From the boundaries of the Harbour Works on the western side to the business centre, the chief wool warehousing and hydraulic pressing is carried on. Some of the wool floors can store from four thousand to six thousand bales at a time. The chief difficulty at the seaside is the landing and shipping of goods, which have to be done on the beach by coolie labour, until the works designed by Sir John Coode can be carried out. The passenger traffic is conducted at the pier, at the foot of Jetty Street, where, once landed, cabs are at hand to convey you to any part of the town. Standing at the foot of this street, you have the RAILWAY STATION at your right hand. Within this building is the TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT.

Here you can either take the train by the Midland line to Uitenhage, or by the Northern Eastern go to Sand Flats ; and by the time these sheets are in the hands of the reader, the +opening of considerable extensions on both railways, under the direction of the Chief Resident Engineer, Mr. Devonshire  J. Scott, will be near at hand.

A few paces above the station, on the same side of the street, are the offices of the UNION ROYAL MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY. Facing this are the substantial, capacious and noble warehouses, steam wool pressing floors, engineer workshops and sawmills of MESSRS. BLAINE & co. Here, too, is the agency of the DONALD CURRIE line of mail packets. Arrived at the head of Jetty Street, where it opens into Main Street, you see the lofty LONDON AND SOUTH AFRICAN BANK, and, standing at this corner, you are opposite the granite obelisk, in the centre of Market Square and the TOWN HALL BUILDINGS.

Around the base of the obelisk the Municipality are about to add works of utility and ornament, including drinking fountains. Entering the Town Hall, we find the Library Rooms on our left, in which there are upwards of nine thousand volumes of books, together with Home and Colonial newspapers and magazines. The large Hall is most tastefully ornamented, and, including the galleries, it is capable of containing one thousand people. As a concert room it is considered very suitable . The Port Elizabeth and other Musical Societies have been able to render good music there with great advantage.

THE ATHENÆUM has a right to a portion of the building. The rooms of this Society are on the upper floor and are lofty and spacious.

THE MUNICIPAL OFFICES occupy a portion of the right wing. The Town Councillors meetings are held in the Council Chamber, upstairs. On the same floor as the Library and the Town Clerk’s Office, is THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, an airy, quiet, and fairly lighted room.

THE CUSTOM HOUSE, a handsome stone – faced building, at the top of Fleming Street, is close by. In the rear of the Town Hall is the indispensable Lock -up, also the Commissariat Yard (where all railway and public works’ stores are reserved) and the Produce Market. In the Square are the Post Office and the Police Court. Turning the corner by the London and South African Bank, and continuing along Main Street, apart from the almost princely warehouses and offices of many of the merchants, the Standard Bank of British South Africa is a prominent ornament to the borough. It is, without doubt, the finest banking building in the land. The principal room , lighted entirely from the roof , is sixty feet from floor to ceiling. Passing along to the North End , through Queen -street, Princes Street, and Adderley Street (which are a continuation only of Main Street, we notice a well-built, gloomy -looking, store structure, the Town Prison. Before reaching this place, the Gas Works are noticeable, near the railway and the Goods Station for railway accommodation.

THE HILL part of Port Elizabeth is as English and home-like in appearance as one can desire, with the exception of a paucity of trees. A walk up Bird Street or Western Road would lead one to imagine himself not far from some favourite suburban part of London .

EDUCATION
Here are the principal educational places. The Grey Institute, named after its founder, His Excellency Sir George Grey, is a plain building, with a handsome, newly added tower, in which is a four-faced clock, chiming the quarters. The premises bare been just enclosed by one of the most tasteful of iron ornamental railings, at considerable cost. In the rear is the Rector’s house , which has been built at a cost of nearly £2,000.

The Ladies’ Collegiate School, in the Western Road, is at present held in a small building, but arrangements have been made to raise an establishment worthy of the object for which it is required. The Convent School premises are among the first in the place -ample, open, dry, and airy. They cover a large area.

THE CHURCHES are among the first ornaments of Port Elizabeth. St. Augustine’s ( Roman Catholic ), St. Paul’s at the North End, Holy Trinity , the new Wesleyan Church in Russell Road, and the Scotch Presbyterian, all built of stone, are in the best taste and correct order of ecclesiastical architecture. St. Mary’s, the old ” parish church ,” and the Baptist Church in Queen Street, are of the old order of square tower and plain body, familiar to many a lover of rural recollections in the old Country. Besides these there are several minor Churches and Chapels for the accommodation of the different congregations, both white and coloured, all of which are well attended.

THE MOHAMMEDANS have two small mosques and picturesque minarets in Strand Street, but we do not often hear the voice of Mohamet’s followers upon it .

High up the Hill, between Bird Street and Western Road, a proper Synagogue is being built, that the Jews resident in and frequenting the town, may have a better place than the present ex – grammar school [Western Road] in which to meet for prayer and worship.

THE PARKS
For recreation there are two parks. The Park Garden on the Hill [St. George’s} is worthy of a visit several times a week, while the Prince Alfred’s Park, at the North End, is one of the most attractive to one who loves the shady rest, the blithe carol of birds, and the sweet perfume of rustic nooks.

THE LIGHT HOUSE near the Grey Institute on the Hill, is to enable vessels to anchor in the Bay at night. By this station the shipping can make their wants known, or communicate with their agents, during stormy weather, when landing is impossible. An ornamental cottage for the keeper adjoins, and forms together with the Donkin Obelisk, a very distinctive group on the summit of the Hill. The Obelisk was erected in 1820 by Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin in memory of his wife, Lady Elizabeth , who had previously died in India. It is stated that “ the town below” is named after this estimable lady. At the Hill Lighthouse a time-ball falls each day at 1 pm. Cape Town time; 1.33 p.m. Port Elizabeth time. A pluviometer and other instruments enable the lightkeeper to make meteorological observations. By means of the telegraph wire, which connects this station with the Recife Lighthouse, vessels are reported from the westward long before they get round to the anchorage.

THE PROVINCIAL HOSPITAL is an institution [on Richmond Hill] in every way commendable. It is admirably situated on a most healthy site, from which a fine view of the bay and shipping can be obtained. The institution is supported by Parliamentary grants, a land endowment, and private subscriptions. More than one thousand sick are treated annually. It has a good staff of medical men.

CARRIER COMPANIES now relieve parties of goods’ conveyance from and to the stations, and forward to the country ; these are now established at the several termini of the lines of railway.

HOTEL ACCOMMODATION is abundant, but not sufficient for the wants of the town and the constant stream of strangers passing in and out of Port Elizabeth. CABS AND OMNIBUSES ply all day at fixed tariffs. POSTAL deliveries all over the town take place several times a day. A penny post is established all along the lines of railway from and to Port Elizabeth. On Tuesday and Friday two NEWSPAPERS, the Eastern Province Herald and the Port Elizabeth Telegraph, appear. A free sheet is issued on Wednesday and Saturday, and the Observer on Thursday. The Good Templar, a magazine, is issued at the beginning of each month.

THE DIAMOND FIELDS, FREE STATE, AND TRANSVAAL Coaches leave every Tuesday for Kimberley, via Graham’s Town, punctually at 6 a.m., and as this is the only reliable route, it is the one most encouraged. By this line the Free State and the Transvaal are best reached , their Honours President Brand and President Burgers both taking this as the most direct and certain road to Bloemfontein and Pretoria. Travellers from here reach Kimberley on the sixth day and have the advantage of sleeping in a bed every night, as the coaches stop on the way for that purpose. Postal communication is also had with the Fields three times a week, and telegraphic daily .

THE MAIL STEAMERS, now leave England and Port Elizabeth every Friday. Communication with both places, either personally or by letter, can now be bad within twenty – five days from the date of departure.

THE TRADE AND POPULATION
Owing to the continuous draft upon the population of Port Elizabeth , to increase the villages and townships upcountry, where business can be done, the census returns for 1875 do not show anything like development of numbers. It is owing mainly to the enterprise of this commercial heart of the colony that the Eastern, South-Eastern, and Northern Districts are continuously fed with the bones and sinews of industry. Its intelligence and capital create year after year new centres of trade, add to the list of villages and townships, and cause not only enlarged wants, but quicken the need and the supply of exports . The Division of Port Elizabeth , with the exception of Stockenstrom , which is 240 square miles in area, is the smallest of all the fiscal and electoral divisions, so severely has it been pared down by different political processes.

According to the last census there were 603 edifices uninhabited and building, with 2,116 houses and 353 tents within this area of 251 square miles. The average number of persons to the square mile was 57-88. There were males 8,320, females 6,208,or a total of 14,528 . Of these 9,309 were white, or European, 945 Hottentots, and all others, 4,274. There were 6,395 Europeans who could read and write, 409 who could read only, and 2,505 who could do neither. The coloured who could read and write were 939, read only 433, neither read nor write 3,847.

The extent of cultivated land was 3,985 morgen, 450 roods ; for wheat 55 morgen 300 roods, which yielded 3601 bushels; for barley 40 morgen 150 roods, yielding 1,733 bushels ; for rye 7 morgen , producing 150 bushels ; oats, 3,785 morgen, giving only 6 bushels of oats, but 13,745 lbs of oat hay; for maize and millet 16 morgen 150 roods, yielding only 20 bushels. Although it is neither an agricultural nor a manufacturing town or division, and is, superficially, almost the smallest, it is the largest of all in its commercial importance and progress.

With a rural population of only 1,476 souls, and a town community of 12,974, it far exceeds every other in the value of its imports and exports, which have vastly increased of late years, 88 will be seen on reference to the tables which are given in another part of this volume. The facilities for trade are being rapidly advanced. Railway communication is being extended in several directions. The telegraph wires have been carried over many miles of country since 1875. The postal service, both inland and for ocean mails, has been made more frequent ; and under the personal directions of Sir John Coode himself the harbour works have begun in such a form as give promise of that substantial improvement which his son-in -law , Mr. Wm. Shield, the Resident Engineer, is prepared to make, with the aid of a board of practical encouragers (such as we have in the new Commissioners) and the cooperation of an efficient staff. With protection for the shipping, a cleared anchorage, and a possible dock under the shadow of Fort Frederick , and within the protection of the contemplated breakwater, the harbour, which a naval writer a quarter of a century ago described as better than the Bay of Palermo, and preferable to Table Bay for six months in the year, will become one of the most important of England’s distant stations, and of the first consequence to the trade, peace, and prosperity of South Africa.

Source
The Port Elizabeth Directory and Guide to the Eastern Province of the Cape of Good Hope  for 1877, Main Street, PE, JWC Mackay Publisher