Early Days in Eldoret: L.S. van Aardt Remembers Sixty Four

An excerpt from Early Days in East Africa by L.S. van Aardt, shared by William Kiptoo in The Wonders of Sergoit Hills Facebook group "for lovers of history." Full text of the excerpt as shared. It is a settler's memoir and reflects the attitudes of its time.

First shared in The Wonders of Sergoit Hills Facebook group on 4 April 2022.

Eldoret, or "Sixty Four," was built on a slope. Main Street was wide enough for a wagon with a team of sixteen oxen to turn. Only Europeans owned shops on Main Street, which was flanked by sanitary lanes housing bucket latrines. Indian labourers, nicknamed churas or frogs by the Lumbwa (Kalenjin), emptied the buckets at night. Some Indians owned shops adjoining Main Street, with the remaining shopkeepers on the road out to Soy, known as the Indian Bazaar. Further along was the Native Location.

The shops in Main Street included a general dealer's establishment owned by Captain J. Macnab Mundell, who boasted he could get you anything from a pin to an elephant. There were two banks, the Standard and the National Bank of India, the latter a three storey building with the only lift in town.

I remember a chemist, Howse and McGeorge; a bakery owned by a Mr Duncan; a Ford agency owned and run by T.J. O'Shea; a doctor's surgery reputed to be haunted; the Miss Bartons' tea room; Gailey and Roberts; a butchery owned by George Bryant; Ethridge's printing press; a florist (name forgotten); Whiteaway and Laidlaw, drapers; C. Edison Egleton, a workshop owner; and a post office with an Indian postmaster.

George Bryant, who was always half seas over, would come into town every morning, buy up all the flowers and present them to Miss Ethridge, with whom he was madly in love. She could not stand him and returned the flowers to the florist as soon as poor George left the shop. Wilson ran a high class grocery and stocked the most delightful imported sweets.

In the Indian street, Juma Haji supplied the school with bread, Bhogal Brothers had a shop, and Ambram, a shoemaker, charged ten shillings for a pair of handmade shoes. We often visited a soft drinks manufacturer, whose most popular drink was a sickly sweet one called "Love O."

A farmer known as Rooi Piet, on account of his flaming red hair, used to come to town once a month or so on horseback to shop and collect his mail. There were no post boxes. Mail was sorted into cubbyholes and kept behind the counter. I was in town one morning when Rooi Piet rode up and demanded his mail.

The postmaster said he should come in and collect it, whereupon Piet, still mounted, rode in and attempted to jump the counter. After that, the postmaster would be waiting, mail in hand, as soon as he saw Piet approaching. After collecting his mail, Piet would adjourn to the Pioneer Hotel, where he would drink steadily for a week before being helped home by two African men who accompanied him for that very purpose. They ran beside the horse, propping him up so he stayed in the saddle.

People parked flush on Main Street, and as the Model Ts had poor brakes, drivers had to place a stone in front of a wheel to stop the car from rolling. The street became so littered with stones that the police issued a warning to motorists to remove their stones when leaving or face prosecution. Suiker Vlei was so named because a wagon loaded with sugar once got stuck there and all the sugar melted.

Mrs Ortlepp owned the farm on which Eldoret town was built. She started the first cinema and a skating rink. The first film shown was King Kong, and they strongly advised people with weak hearts to stay at home. Both buildings burnt down shortly after the showing. Mrs Ortlepp always dressed well and never went out without her parasol.

The first European to be hanged in Kenya was a youth called Ross. I was at the Eldoret European School with him. Later he murdered two young girls on Menengai; he threw one into the crater and left the other on the rim. He refused to tell where the body of the first one was, and the Kenya Regiment and the police searched for days before finding her. The hangman who had to carry out the execution owned a restaurant outside Nairobi, which I used to frequent. He delighted in insulting his clients, but he did serve very good food.

The headmaster of the Eldoret European School was Mr Hunter, a very strict disciplinarian. I had many a beating from him. While I was at school, Pagel's Circus arrived in Eldoret from South Africa. The entrance fee for children was only fifty cents. Not having such a large sum, I sneaked in, but was caught, given a beating and then let in for free!

I watched a strong man who could lift an elephant and three horses placed on a hinged platform. A Wall of Death, clowns and trapeze artists entertained the town. A rugby team from Stellenbosch University visited Eldoret, with a youthful Danie Craven on the team.

The Sparrows farmed just outside town, and when they died their son Bert presented the wagon they had used on their trek from South Africa to the Town Council, who placed it in front of the newly built Town Hall. At independence they asked him to remove it. He transported it to the Norfolk in Nairobi, where it still stands. The first mayor after independence was Joseph Oloo (he has a street named after him), previously employed by the chemist. He took over from J. Wolstan Beard.

End of excerpt.

The original post included a photograph of Eldoret's Main Street in pioneer days (1924). See also Eldoret Town Facts.