Eldoret is the fifth largest principal city and the fastest growing town in Kenya. While other towns were founded under British influence, Eldoret town emerged under the Boer farmers from South Africa in 1909. The Boers had moved towards the highlands in search of land for farming as they fled being colonized by the British in South Africa.
According to John Kamau, a feature journalist on the history of Kenya, Eldoret town had a bar named Rat Pit that was self-service. Revellers would just go in, take beer and leave the money at the counter. If anyone needed change, they would take an exact amount from what was left by other patrons.
The bar was accidentally locked at one time and when two thirsty revellers came, they broke the door to enter into the bar to drink. From then, the door wasn't repaired thus operated without a door.
Brian Du. Toit, the author of the book; 'The Boers in East Africa' captures the tales of old Eldoret town. Du Toit says, as the Boers had settled in Eldoret, the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited decided to set up a branch in the region. The safe was being transported by an Ox-cart to the bank but unfortunately fell off on the way.
He writes that despite their efforts to load back the safe onto the Ox-cart, they couldn't. They decided to rebuild the bank which was made of mud and tin roof around the safe. It is reported that the location of the bank is the present day Stanchart Bank.
John Kamau outlines in his publication that Eldoret got a name from typing error and actually should have been Eldaret. During naming of the town, the governor at the time, Percy Girouard summoned the farmers to give the town a name and Sirikwa, Eldare, Sosiani, Bado Kidogo were suggested.
"The governor suggested that letter 'T' be added to Eldare (a Maasai word meaning place of rocks) so as to make Eldaret but due to a typing error in the official gazette of January 1992, the name was wrongly spelt Eldoret and was never rectified," writes Kamau.
Eldoret town is rich in history, from the Boers invasion to the British colonization. It is noted that various names such as 64 stadium, 64 resort and sporting club and many other names arose during the British colony.
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