The name of the town means "gateway of the hartbees" (a species of antelope) in Afrikaans.

The town consists of holiday homes and permanent residences around the dam as it is popular with visitors from nearby Gauteng Province.

In 2010 the Hartbeespoort Aerial Cableway was completely revamped and modernised and officially reopened on 14 August 2010 by Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk.

[5] Hartbeespoort is part of the Madibeng Local Municipality, that also includes the nearby town of Brits.

Despite the semi-rural setting of the Hartbeespoort environs, it is ranked by the World Health Organization as the most polluted town in South Africa in terms of airborne particulates, with air pollution levels roughly twice that of Vereeniging, a heavily industrialised city south of Johannesburg.