In 1884, brothers Fred and Harry Struben, having discovered gold on the farm Wilgespruit at the western end of the Witwatersrand, were granted concessions to mine the area.

[3]: 286  Though the Struben brothers' Confidence Reef bore little gold and their mine was unprofitable, the ramshackle town that grew around it became the Roodepoort Municipality in 1904.

[3]: 286  Incorporating the towns of Hamburg, Florida and Maraisburg, Roodepoort became a city in 1977, and has since developed as one of Johannesburg's most predominantly Afrikaans-speaking districts.

It is bordered by Cosmo City to the north, Randburg to the east, Soweto to the south and Krugersdorp to the west.

The CBD of the city has shifted from its historical center to a location adjacent to the N1 highway & 14th Avenue interchange in Constantia Kloof.

Another large greenspace is the Kloofendal Nature Reserve, a 128ha park with trails, amphitheatre, dam and small wild mammals.