Kimberley - But which one?
By Inlemay
@Inlemay (17714)
South Africa
August 11, 2016 6:34am CST
The name of a Town . . . Lets visit up North First . . . . Kimberley, Norfolk; Kimberley, Nottinghamshire. They are the only two found in United Kingdom.
Canada hosts only ONE Kimberley in British Columbia!
United States have the most Kimberley's in the world:
Kimberly, Arkansas; Kimberly, Alabama; Kimberly, Idaho;
Kimberly Township, Aitkin County, Minnesota;
Kimberly, Nevada which is apparently a ghost town;
Kimberly, Oregon, unincorporated community - Not sure what the means, maybe someone in Oregon can shed some light on "unincorporated community"?
Kimberly, Utah not quite ghostly but just an abandoned town;
Kimberly, Fayette County, West Virginia, unincorporated community - here is that use of words again?
Kimberly, Monongalia County, West Virginia, unincorporated community;
and lastly - Kimberly, Wisconsin!
Kimberley's all the way down under in Western Australia . . . .
then there is another one - Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania.
Kimberley - South Africa - this is the one I shall be visiting this week-end:
Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa. Some very interesting FACTS if you like to read on.
"Kimberley was the first city in the Southern Hemisphere and the second in the WORLD after Philadelphia to integrate electric street lights into its infrastructure on Sept. 2, 1882. The first Stock Exchange in Africa was also built in Kimberley, as early as 1881"
"Kimberley has had a profound effect on the course of history in Southern Africa. The discovery of diamonds there, more than a century ago, proved to be the first step in the transformation of South Africa from an agricultural into an industrial country. When gold and other minerals were later discovered to the north, there were already Kimberley men of vision and enterprise with the capital and technology to develop the new resources." - H.F. Oppenheimer, 1976 - Even the Oppenheimer's made their Fortune on the Diamond Fields in South Africa.
Interesting fact is that the Oppenheimer's were of German decent - 'born in Friedberg, Germany . . . Sir Ernest Oppenheimer (22 May 1880 – 25 November 1957) was a diamond and gold mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist, who controlled De Beers and founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa.'
His son . . Harry Oppenheimer's early life as wikipedia explains, is quite remarkable for someone in SA - "born to an assimilated Jewish family of German origins in Kimberley, the original centre for diamond mining in South Africa, and lived most of his life in Johannesburg. He converted to Christianity when he married his wife.
After completing his primary schooling in Johannesburg, he attended Charterhouse School in England, before going on to study at Christ Church, Oxford University, graduating in 1931 in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. When he married his wife Bridget , he chose to enter the Anglican Church, but remained a supporter of Jewish causes during his entire life. He authorized the flow of diamonds to Israel's important diamond-sorting and diamond-cutting industry." He was said to be one of the RICHEST men in the world . . . we are aware that his son is now the richest man in South Africa.
So just a little bit of the place I am going to visit this week-end - Full of history; museums and art works. We took the New Yorker there on our way to the Cape last year . . . He was impressed that it was the LARGEST MAN MADE HOLE in the WORLD!
That's a FACT!
This will be a great postcard sending opportunity for me so watch the mail box everyone - If you want to read about the wonder rescue of a DOG in the Big Hole follow the link:
Good Morning - I have this song buzzing in my head this morning 'Wake me up' by Avicii, BUT in actual fact I dont want anyone to wake me up quite yet as I am...
8 people like this
10 responses
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
11 Aug 16
It seems as though Kimberly is a great place to visit and that there are certainly a lot of them. I have never visited any Kimberlys ever!! lol
2 people like this
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
12 Aug 16
often a 'town' not big enough to be a town, they have a name, an identity, but prob no post office, or city hall, etc
1 person likes this
@just4him (305792)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
21 Aug 16
Unincorporated means that the town isn't large enough to have a governing body - mayor, police department and so forth. It's a very small town, no more than a few houses or streets. My mother grew up in Kimberly, Wisconsin. It's a nice sized city and very pretty.
You have a lot of great info on Kimberley, SA. I had heard of the Oppenheimer's, but didn't know where they were from other than originating somewhere in Germany.
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (48908)
• United States
11 Aug 16
I have known a few folks named Kimberly, but have never been anywhere with that name
1 person likes this