The photos are meant to be arranged by district and are meant to be in date order but nobody's perfect so they might be a bit out of sync. To put the pictures into context you might want to also view the Information/History page. Click on the links or just scroll down the page...

Obviously I'm not laying claim to these photos - they were taken before I was born! I have lifted them from various web sources (as with all stuff, if it's your image and you're not happy I've pinched it, sorry, let me know and it can be removed). Most, in fact, have already been pinched by others from these two books which can be purchased in most good booksellers (and some bad booksellers too).  Click on the book to order online (not from me):

Old Maps of Rutherglen

Map of Rutherglen in 1773, just the Main Street and a few country houses

Map of Rutherglen in 1821, a bit more detailed than the previous map.  Glasgow is beginning to swell...

      Central Rutherglen in 1913 - Bankhead looks very different from today, you can also see that Main Street stops just after the Cross!  The houses in thee bottom right of the map (Melrose Ave etc) had just been built.

Map from 1920, the Main Street area is very busy, Burnside and Kirkhill are growing fast and Glasgow continues to spread east and south surrounding Rutherglen - at this time the Gorbals was one of the most populated areas on Earth!

Compare this map with the 1925 map and you can see that Croftfoot, Kings Park, Eastfield and Burnhill now appear.  I don't know the true age of this map, I had it down as about 1950 but Spittal is not shown as being built, although I'm 90% certain the houses there were constructed at the same time as Burnhill and Eastfield, so the map might be pre-war - if so it shows there was a lot of expansion in the area in the 1930s.  The Main Street extends down to Richmond Park but there are no tenements there yet.  Still no sign of building having started at Cathkin, Fernhill, Castlemilk or Toryglen, but the slum clearance programme had begun, and soon most of the open space in this map was gone. 

Rutherglen Main Street, Farme Cross, Shawfield

This drawing shows Ruglen Old Parish Church in the 1500s - the pointy steeple is the only part left

The first Dalmarnock Bridge over the Clyde - looks like it's made of straw!

Rutherglen used to hold many horse and cattle fairs in the 18th/19th centuries. This view is from the town hall!

As above. This view (from where the snooker club is now) looks towards the west end of Main Street.

  Rutherglen Bridge has been about for a while too.  It still leads from Shawfield towards Bridgeton and Glasgow Green

Shawfield House was where the car showrooms on Glasgow Road are now

There was a large cotton works on the banks of the Clyde at Dalmarnock - I think the first Dalmarnock bridge is on the left (which is now the railway bridge) and the road on the right leads to the site of the current bridge

Miners (without helmets!) at the Farme Colliery

This was taken from near Shawfield. The chimneys are of White's Chemicals.  Now a sewage plant on the left bank and Arnold Clark etc on the Ruggy side.

One part of Whites Chemicals at Shawfield.  A massive plant, a big source of employment in Rutherglen...and after it closed, a cause of much poison-related disease and soil pollution!

Looking to Glasgow from Rutherglen in early 1900s. The landmark factory chimneys have been replaced by tower blocks, which will soon also be gone. What will be on the 21st Century skyline?

Back courts in King Street.  Don't know if the buildings survive, probably not.

Rutherglen Cross (at Stonelaw Road) - the white building is gone but the tenements (Kerrys etc) are still there

Farme Cross from Dalmarnock Rd. The small tenement, which is now the sort of park bit, hides the terraced houses.

This is Farme Castle, also now gone. See the History section for more...

The Presbyterian Church was on King Street, roughly where the Salvation Army is nowadays

Overtoun Park's fountain used to be in the middle of Main St till cars came along and it became a huge traffic hazard!

Stonelaw Rd towards Main St - on the left was a pub, then a cafe, now a car park. Small shops on the right are still there.

Caledonian Potteries had a big (and minging) works at Farmeloan Road

Looking south up Stonelaw Road from Main Street. The vehicle in the background is for checking the tram cables.

Boots at the Cross has been there for donkeys. Now in a boring square building tho. The tenement behind is long gone.

Main Street - from the Burnhill end, looks similar to today, except the cinema's a bingo now

This part of Main St with Rio cinema (where the bypass is) looks different today!  Marini's on the right nowadays

Main Street at the corner of Kirkwood Street - Lloyds TSB bank is there now, beside the taxi rank

Regent Street looked like Kirkwood Street. They knocked it down and put up Greenhill Court instead. Nice work...

Main Street from Stonelaw Road - still looks the same, minus the trams

These pictures from the Dalmarnock side of the Clyde (at the sewage works now) show the buildings of White's Chemicals.  By the shabby look of the buildings, I think the plant had stopped operating by then.

Sandbags over the shopfronts during WWII as Main Street prepares for Air Raids

The Queen came to Rutherglen and had a chuckle in the 50s

Redeveloping Ruggy after WWII - looks like they're building St Columbkille's Church here

Main Street through the smog of the 60s - not much traffic!

 The foreground shows now-demolished tenements in Dalmarnock along with the massive power station which used to be on the banks of the Clyde.  The white buildings in the centre are at Farme Cross, and on the horizon you can make out the shapes of the Castlemilk tower blocks, probably during construction.

A dramatic shot of one of the Dalmarnock tower blocks being demolished in 2001

Burnhill, Toryglen, Bankhead, Kings Park

Mill Street looking north (Bankhead Road on the left), so today this would be just under the flyover bridge

Burnhill Street looking west - these houses were replaced by the white flats.  Universal Connections is now on the left.

Westmuir Place (this is between Prospecthill Road and Burnhill Street) looking east towards Main Street.  Different now!

Burnside Mill (actually in Bankhead, confusingly) was once a busy weaving mill with its own wee loch!

West Parish Church, a bit isolated at the Burnhill side of Glasgow Road now, but was originally a feature at the Western end of the Main Street.  The bank on the left has been replaced by the white flats, and the wee building on the right was bulldozed for the Mill Street bypass.  Check the wee man pushing the cart!

ACME Tea Chest company was based at the site of the current ASDA from the 17th Century until the 1910s

Hampden Park in 1910 - Scotland 2 England 0! YAAAS!  Attendance: 106,000!

Aikenhead House In Kings Park - a grand house which has been looked after for once!  See Bankhead page

Holyrood School in the 1920s - this building still stands, after modification.  All surrounding buildings have changed

The Kings Park shops in Castlemilk Road, back when they were clean and new in the 30s

The Clydesdale Bank on Castlemilk Road.  The bank has shut recently, but the building is still standing.

Kings Park Art Deco cinema - only built in the 30s, now gone forever! New white apartments on the site.

Looking cold, the shops at Croftfoot roundabout, Somerfield's to the left now (hardly the heart of Rutherglen but still...)

Curtis Avenue, Kings Park - much the same as today, minus all the parked cars and new grey pebbledash walls

Toryglen Shops in the 1950s (at Edinbeg Place)

Third Lanark home games in the 50s.  Hard to believe there was even a team there, since it's so close to Queens Park, let alone a club that got 10,000 fans and won trophies!  Crazy...

Eastfield, Stonelaw, Gallowflat, Overtoun Park

Hamilton Rd shops looking east - same on the left, all change on the right

Gallowflat House was a big country mansion. It was where the granny flats now are, at East Main Street.

Eastfield, another country mansion which was neglected and demolished. It stood where Trinity's football pitch is now.

Overtoun Park, looking up the steep grass at Mill St.  The bandstand was there until it was used in the '88 Garden Festival.  It also looks like there used to be a sort of bus shelter at the top of the grass!

These allotments, south of the Maternity Hospital, were converted into football pitches which is now an Old Folks home!

Clydebridge in the 1930s, looking west - you can follow the river into Glasgow

Richmond Laundry used to look a lot better - these are now derelict buildings on Cambuslang Road

Clyde Iron Works was a huge plant near the Clydebridge steelworks (between the River Clyde and Tollcross).  The two factories combined were one of the world's biggest.  The Iron Works were demolished in the 1970s.

Burnside, Fernhill, Cathkin

Cathkin House is up high in the woods above the housing scheme of the same name. Now an Old Folks Home

The corner of Stonelaw Road and Greystone Avenue. There was a farm before houses were built. Now a traffic island.

A castle where the Shell garage in Burnside is now, hence the name Stonelaw Towers. A class landmark has been lost!

Burnside, just as the tenement flats were going up. Carpet Centre is on the left - Bank of Scotland etc hasn't been built!

This loch is now the playing fields between Springhall and Burnside. That's why the school is called Loch Primary!

Burnside newsagent - ahh, Bisto!

Burnside looking south - a cinema where Safeway now is, and the wee shops like Dellos aren't there at all.

Burnside Bowling/Tennis Club. Looks the same today.  Probably the same old geezers on the greens too!

Greystone School (at the wee lane) - now flats, after being a forest for many years

I think Woodburn House (on Buchanan Drive) was a country mansion - it is now an agricultural training college

Burnside Primary - in 2004, but counts as an 'old photo' cos the playground in this picture is now the new extension!

This photo in Fernhill was also taken in 2004 (took me two years to make the website!), the block of flats in the foreground are already demolished now (Feb 06) and the surrounding blocks are to follow suit soon!

 
And similarly, these flats in Cathkin are too far gone to repair, and if not knocked down yet they will be soon...

Cambuslang

Rosebank House in Cambuslang - where the grey tower blocks are now

Cambuslang Main Street (I think the train station is on the right now, looking towards Blantyre)

Cambuslang Main Street at Greenlees Road, looking west towards the train station.  The north (right-hand) side of the street is completely different nowadays, the south side is much the same!

Rosebank dyeing works (north from the train station) - its buildings are now an industrial estate

Greenlees Mine was one of about 30 small pits between Toryglen and Cairns, including at Ruggy Health Centre

The Silverbanks area is now a small estate of maisonettes like Springhall, but traditional tenements used to be there, and previously the site was a quarry for the stone for many of the local buildings

Cambuslang's Hoover factory in the 1940s - and the Cambie Rangers ground to the left

Cambuslang in the 60s, when they were getting all excited about their new flats and shops (now demolished!)

Orion Bridge (at Cambuslang Morrisons) is just stumps now.  It has been replaced by a modern bridge leading to the motorway.  Clyde Iron Works in the distance.

The Circuit in Cambuslang, during the cold 80s.  These flats are redeveloped now.

Castlemilk

Castlemilk House - gone completely, which is a shame

This is Ardencraig Road before there were any buildings on it.  It's a long road, I can't work out what houses would be there now.  Looks like it could be close to the burn near Hoddam Avenue

A early photo of Castlemilk House - looks excellent!  And in its place they built...

Castlemilk tenements - a good idea at the time, except they got carried away and built about a million of them, these are on Birgidale Road and have been redeveloped

  As above, these look like they might be Dougrie Place... at least they had toilets inside!

The red and yellow multi-storey flats under construction

Mitchellhill 'Jeely Piece' flats when they were brand new in the 1970s - look, there was another tower block at Bogany Terrace (right-hand side) and lots of tenements - wee houses there now

 And here are those flats being demolished in 1993!

 Summer 2005, a 'ghost block' on Mitchellhill before they were demolished in the November.  A landmark gone (could be seen from Paisley, Easterhouse etc) but best knocked down due to damp, junkies, edge of civilisation.

 And last but not least, here's some animated demolition!  This one is of the Jeely Piece flats  - neither the photos nor the animation is my work but I would have been damn proud if it was!

 This is the demolition of two of the 'Hutchie' tower blocks in the Gorbals in February 2006.  Not exactly a Rutherglen event but you can't miss these massive structures either driving into town or looking over the city from the Ruggy side.  I lifted the photos and made the animation, which is why it's not as good as the previous shots!