Farmer Cornelis P. Rademeyer was persuaded by residents in 1838 to make some of his farmland along the Hartebees River available for the construction of the first church in the area. On Sunday, 3 November 1839, the new Dutch Reformed church was inaugurated. For the next 40 years, it formed the center of congregational life in the area. Oudtshoorn gradually grew around this church. During September 1847, following the "urgent wishes of neighbors", C.P. Rademeyer requested permission from the Cape government to turn his farm, Hartebees River, into a town, which he would name after Baron Pieter van Rheede van Oudtshoorn.