The suburb is situated on part of an old Witwatersrand farm called Doornfontein.[2]: 114 This small suburb has it origin in the year of 1895 or early 1896 and was known either as Fairview or Fawcus Township.[3]: 162 The land was owned by a man called George E. Fawcus who was married to a coloured woman and sometime after 1903, had made enough money off the land and so retired to Trinidad and Jamaica.[3]: 162–3 [2]: 114 He would sell the suburb to J.G. van Boeschoten and J. Lorenz.[2]: 114 In the Johannesburg newspaper, The Star, stands were being advertised for sale during November 1896 for an average price of £300 but some were priced as high as £450.[4]: 176 On the return of Fawcus' wife from the Caribbean in 1912 after her husband's death, she attempted to have the suburb renamed to Fawcus Township but was not successful.[3]: 163
Heritage
There are several heritage sites in the suburb. In Commissioner Street, Fairview is the modern fire station in front of which stands the original fire station tower whose foundation stone was laid in 1906 by Julius Jeppe.[2]: 114 Another heritage site is a Dutch Reformed Church in Op de Bergen Street and further down the same street, examples of early miners residences.[2]: 114
