[2] The town was established in 1905[3] and named after Goodwood Racecourse in England as the founders intended to make it a racing centre.

Three of them lie on the Cape Town-Johannesburg main line:[4] Goodwood, Vasco and Elsies River.

It also has Monte Vista and Acasia Park stations which are on the secondary line between Cape Town and Bellville.

In 1939, the council adopted a pseudo-heraldic "coat of arms" depicting an aeroplane, an ox-wagon, and a horse jumping over a fence.

The crest was a palamino unicorn issuing from a golden mural crown and holding a red disc between its forelegs, and the motto was Procedo.