The Story of the Settlement
The History of Grahamstown is so inseparably bound up with that of English colonization in South Africa, that a correct record of the one, if elaborated upon as it could and should be, would comprise the true story of the other. From the day of its establishment to the present time, it has occupied a most prominent position in every movement which had for its object the political, commercial, religious, or social advancement of the Cape Colony. Every step that has marked its growth may aptly be described as the evidence of the growth in South Africa of English influence and English colonization. As the primitive buildings which formed the military post out of which it has grown disappeared to give place to more substantial buildings and residences, and the semblance of a town sprung up in the valley so wisely selected as the site of the future “City of the Settlers,” so a like advance was made in other parts of the Colony.