Pretoria North was first settled in 1878 by a pioneer column of Afrikaner farmers who started farming alongside the passing Apies River. The Area became a stopping point for travelers moving through the North of Pretoria to the Northern Transvaal. 4 October 1904 the Pretoria-North Parallel Medium school was established and was the first state school in the area in Pretoria. Now called Laerskool Danie Malan, it is a sought-after facility rich in history and tradition. It has been an anchor of the Pretoria North Community for over 115 years. At the heart of the Pretoria North CBD is the North Park shopping mall which is a very small and quiet shopping center not maintained anymore. The main retail activity in Pretoria North takes place in the displaced retail center of Shoprite located on the corner of Ben Viljoen and Gerrit Maritz Streets. Other business centers include Solomons General Dealers on Gerrit Maritz Street and Tele Tech on Ben Viljoen Street. Solomons began as a “smous” early in the 1900’s, visiting farms and plots in the surrounding area. The roof of the shop was painted blue and customers often referred to it as “Die Blou Winkel” in those days most of the business was groceries and deliveries were made by horse or donkey cart. In 1994 the old store were demolished to make way for the new Solomon’s Lifestyle.   The Pretoria North area is largely residential with the Rachel De Beer and Gerrit Maritz corridors straddled by Ben Viljoen Street being the central business district. The Town Planning that went into designing Pretoria North was very poor as the area did not leave space for cultural landmarks and heritage sites.