This is Welkom
Welkom is the centre of the industrial and commercial heartland of the Free State Goldfields.The city derives its name from the farm "Welkom", upon which precinct it was founded in 1948 by Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, the mining magnet.
Legend has it that Sir Ernest had his chauffeur drive him into what has since become Stateway and stop at a spot situated roughly between the Civic Centre and Central Park he alighted, holding a spade (some say it was made of gold though this may be taking credulity beyond its boundaries), dug up a sod of soil and proclaimed:"On this site I shall build my garden city".
Whatever the truth of the legend, people are united in the opinion that Welkom worthily fulfills Sir Ernest's ideal of establishing a 21st century community, and one, moreover, which is ideally suited to supply the demands of industrial and commercial developers.
Centrally situated, Welkom is placed within comfortable distance from other major cities. Johannesburg is only 250 km away, while the distance to Bloemfontein measures 155 km.