A farmer, shopkeeper and prospector, Petrus Johannes Marais, having read Sir
Walter Scott's
The Fortunes of Nigel at the time (see
Nigel), formed the
Nigel Gold Mining Company after the discovery of gold on the farm
Varkensfontein in 1886. Today the town is focused primarily on mining and also has various heavy industries. The town became known as the setting of the popular Afrikaans-sitcom
Vetkoekpaleis, a sitcom that revolves around the daily lives of staff members of the Vetkoekpaleis (a
Vetkoek-themed fast-food restaurant). Nigel's municipal government became part of the much larger
City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality following the creation of new local government structures in 2000, along with most of rest of the
East Rand. On 1 August 2010, a fire at the Pieter Wessels old age home led to the deaths of 22 people.
Dennis Hardman,
Olympic shooter for Zimbabwe, was born in Nigel in 1943. ==References==