the town grew around a dutch reformed church that was established in 1866. it was named after johannes venter who owned the farm "roodepoort" and the land the church was built on. it was proclaimed as a town in june 1887. the afrikaner nationalist eugène terre'blanche was born in ventersdorp, and the town is the base of the afrikaner weerstandsbeweging (awb), the far-right secessionist political organisation and former paramilitary group which terre'blanche founded. ventersdorp is centrally located, making it easier to access more prominent urban towns such as klerksdorp, lichtenburg, potchefstroom and rustenburg. the tshing township has a diamond mine nearby: a town councillor owned it in the early 1990s. tshing location has one high school ( thuto boswa high school)