Editing Germiston (section)

==History==
{{moresources|section|date=August 2022}}
[[File:Interior of St Boniface Anglican church in Germiston South Africa.JPG|thumb|left|Interior of [[St Boniface Church, Germiston|St Boniface Church]]]]
[[File:Gereformeerde Kerk Germiston.jpg|thumb|left|The third and current church housing the [[Reformed Churches in South Africa|Gereformeerde Kerk]] Germiston]]
Germiston was established in the early days of the gold rush when two prospectors, John Jack from the farm of [[Germiston, Glasgow|Germiston]] near [[Glasgow]] and August Simmer from [[Vacha, Germany|Vacha]] in Germany, struck paydirt on the farm of ''Elandsfontein''. In August 1886, the pair were on their way to the Eastern Transvaal when they ''outspanned'' (rested their pack animals) on the farm ''Elandsfontein'' and decided to stay and buy a half-interest in the farm.<ref name="TSA">{{Cite book |title=The Tourist in South Africa |last=Conolly |first=Denis |publisher=Travel-Guide (PTY) LTD |year=1975 |asin=B0000E7XZN}}</ref>{{rp|285}}<ref name=founding>{{cite book | last1 = De Freitas | first1 = Frank | author-link1 = |last2 = De Freitas |first2 = Daphne |author-link2 = | date = 1966 | title = The Story of Germiston | url = https://sahistory.net/documents/the-story-of-germiston/ | location = Johannesburg | publisher = Da Gama Publications | pages = 9&ndash;12 | isbn = <!-- Predates ISBNs; I cannot find an ISBN for this book -->}}</ref> On 20 September 1886, ''Elandsfontein'' and the neighbouring farm ''Driefontein'' were proclaimed public diggings by the government of the [[South African Republic]], and the town of '''Elandsfontein''' sprang up around the [[Simmer and Jack]] mine, centred on the [[Township (South Africa)#Legal meaning|township]] of Germiston (site of today's Germiston CBD), laid out by Simmer and Jack 2&nbsp;km from the mine and named after Jack's father's farm.<ref name=TSA/>{{rp|285}}<ref name=founding/> Both men made fortunes, and in 1904, after the [[Second Boer War]], the town was renamed Germiston.<ref name=founding/>

In 1921, the world's largest gold refinery, the [[Rand Refinery]], was established at Germiston. Seventy percent of the western world's gold passes through this refinery. Although gold mining gradually wound down in Germiston, to the point that by the end of the 20th century it was no longer a mining centre, the Rand Refinery remains as busy as ever.