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The name Brakpan comes from a small pan on a farm called Weltevreden, which was filled with very brackish water and was probably referred to as the " brakpan" and it was near this pan that the first settlement started. In 1888, a coal seam was discovered and a coal mine under the name of Brakpan Collieries was started.
When a railway line was constructed from Germiston to Springs, Brakpan became one of the stations along the route.
From that moment the village began to grow rapidly, remaining a suburb of Benoni until 1912 when it was granted the status of a municipality and proclaimed as a town. Brakpan's central position in makes it a good distribution centre for industry, especially engineering works and foundries. More recently the municipality allowed the building of a huge casino (Carnival City) and entertainment complex, which opened the town to tourists and provided much-needed jobs for the people.
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