Senekal was established on 7 June 1877 on the farm De Puk in the district of Winburg. It is the panoramic Eastern Free State on the main route between Bloemfontein and in the heart of a flourishing and progressive agricultural district. The first sales of the plots started on 25 May 1875 and were a huge success.
"Senekal" can refer to two things: a surname and a town in South Africa. The surname is of Dutch origin and may be derived from a place name or personal name. Senekal the town, located in the Free State province, was named after Commandant-General F.P. Senekal who built of sandstone and erected in 1896 the NG Church with the its equally historic wall of fossilised tree trunks that surrounds the church. It has been declared a historic monument. According to scientists, these tree trunks are approximately 250 million years old. The fossils were removed at the Sand River, west of Senekal.
The Dutch Reformed Church was built on the same place as where the original Dutch Reformed Church stood since 1875 to 1895. The church became too small and was replaced by the current church. JH and AE Till, were the architects and the builder was Rowe Marshall and Hill. The church was initiated on 17 December 1896. The church is situated in Van Riebeeck Street in the middle of Senekal.
A wall of petrified tree trunks encircles the Historic old Dutch Reformed Church. According to scientists these tree trunks are approximately 250 million years old. The longest trunk with a length of 17,5 m is situated in the western side of the ring-wall. Die fossil tree trunks were excavated next to the Sandrivier, west of Senekal. The tree fossils belong to various Dadoxylon tree species; under which is the Dadoxylon Sclerosum and is – according to some palaeontologists – related to the plant division Coniferophyta to which the current pine and yellowwood belong.
Senekal also claims the house of AD Keet, the poet whose family lived and worked in the house that now stands in Zuider Street, a marble memorial needle, an angel in honour of commandant-general FP Senekal, and the Burger Monument in memory of the fallen Boers of Senekal during the South African War, as other fallen soldiers.