The farm Kronendal, which was in existence since 1843, was registered in 1858 in the name of Jan Michiel van Helsdingen. Kroondal was one of 22 German Lutheran mission congregations established in the former Natal and Transvaal.
The settlement was surveyed and divided into plots in 1889 and a school which acquired a reputation for excellence was founded. Among those of the pupils who were not German-speaking were Louis Botha, who was to become South Africa's first Prime Minister, and the Afrikaans poet Totius, J D du Toit. The largely German-speaking town has a distinctly Teutonic architecture and cultural atmosphere.
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