Mills Syndicate

Updated: Dec 13, 2019

Mills Syndicate was the company which ran the trams from the centre of Cape Town over Kloof Nek road down Camps Bay Drive and back via Sea Point between 1900 and 1930.

They also was property developers which basically put Camps Bay on the map. Camps Bay was originally marketed as a resort destination. There were few houses at the time but there were people who camped in the area. The tramline was the result of the astute town planning by the Mills Syndicate, who realised that if accessibility could be improved, Camps Bay would become a very popular suburb. The Mills Syndicate planned to build a tramline to provide convenient and quick access from Camps Bay to the city.

The first tram (one of 17 cars) went through Camps Bay from Cape Town in 1901. At St. Johns’ Road in Sea Point the trams branched off for Kloof Road en-route to Camps Bay. The tram became a popular and cheap excursion before the days of motor cars. A year later in 1902, the second line that came from Camps Bay over Kloof Nek, was opened, which was a great engineering achievement. The both lines closed in 1938.

Snippitts of history ... ------------------ Here is some legalities which Mills Syndicate had to go through to build this Tramline ...

"that the company commenced the work of constructing its tramlines as stated . The Kloof -road, and is continuing with this work only in accordance with approved plans and specifications, and the dispute referred to in the 14th paragraph of the said affidavit does not affect the construction of the permanent way, but Is purely connected with the "widening of the road, in terms of the agreement between the Mills Syndicate (Limited) and the Corporation."

The company also took up the position that it has been represented to its predeceseors, the Mills Syndicate Company, Limited, that portion of the land that would be required to widen the Kloof-road to 60 feet was the pro- perty of the Council, an allegation which is absolutely repudiated by the Council. It does not seem necessary to lay before this Honourable Court the whole of the correspondence in question.

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"There were at this time numerous locomotive and tramcar manufacturing companies in Britain. From among these, the Gibson Brothers selected the Dick, Kerr & Company with offices in London and Kilmarnock in Scotland, to supply suitable steam tram locomotives. One of the reasons for this choice of contractor was that as well as actually constructing tramcars Dick, Kerr & Company also built, supplied and equipped tramway systems. Such was their reputation as tramway engineers that the Mills’ Syndicate had used their services when planning the Camps Bay Tramway Company in 1899 in Cape Town."

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It may sound strange to conceive – knowing what we know about the area now – but Camps Bay once only had one full-time resident. Yes, that’s right, only one, single person lived in Camps Bay throughout the year, while others merely visited.

Besides being home to Von Kamptz and his wife’s farm, Ravensteyn (which was destroyed in the war in the 1800s), the area officially only had one resident. This lonely Lenny was a man known only as Glendinning.

According to historical documents, Glendinning must’ve felt the loneliness of being the only man in Camps Bay overwhelming, as he desperately tried to sell up to 40 plots in Camps Bay to visitors, but to no avail.

He tried his luck at selling (what is now) prime real estate again in the early 1900s, when he claimed to have found gold in Camps Bay, but, once again no one wanted to live in Camps Bay.

Camps Bay was officially incorporated into the City of Cape Town in 1913.