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Sunday, 1st August 2010

 
Stepps


Stepps is one of several communities in the Glasgow area that can display a detailed and accurate history of its origins. This is because such places were built around their railway station, for settlement by city commuters wishing to live in the country and travel swiftly and cheaply each day to their place of work. Stepps could easily have been the very earliest of these, for it lies on Glasgow's first public railway, the Garnkirk 8s Glasgow of 1831, and the stopping place there seems to have been the citf's first suburban station. However, it was not until the late 1870s that commuters began to arrive in any numbers.

They settled at first in Cumbernauld Road, Lenzie Road, West Avenue and Cardowan Drive. Much of the infrastructure of the original commuter suburb survives.

Most of the first houses and shops are still in evidence, as is the Public Hall (opened originally as the Pinion Hall', for religious use, in 1885), the Parish Church (opened in Whitehill Avenue in 1900), the School (opened in 1902) and the Bowling Green (opened 1905). The only major casualties have been the U.p.Church (later St Andrew's) in Blenheim Avenue, which was opened in 1913, closed in 1983 and subsequently demolished; and the original railway station. The station was closed in 1962, but was later replaced by a new one in Cardowan Road, in 1989.

The outstanding feature of nearby Millerston is Hogganfield Loch. During the nineteenth century ice from the loch was popular with Glasgow shops for refrigeratory purposes. At this time, also, the loch began to be used for recreational purposes, especially for skating and curling in winter. During the early years of the twentieth century Glasgow Corporation started to acquire ground at the loch, with a view to creating a public park. A premenade was laid out around the loch and the park formally opened in July 1924. One hundred rowing noats and two motor boats were provided for recreational use. To coincide with the park's opening the Glasgow tramway network was extended from Riddrie to Millerston. The last trams in the area ran in 1959.
 
 

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