Glasgow Green came into being with the gifting of the land to Bishop William Turnbull and the people of Glasgow by James II in 1450. The land then, was completely different to that of now. It was an uneven  swamp which consisted of  High and Low Greens, Calton Green and Gallowgate Green. These in themselves were crisscrossed by 2 Burns, namely the Molendinar and the Camlachie Burns. For the first few hundred years the main purpose was to graze animals, the bleaching, washing and drying of linen, the drying of fishing nets and activities such as swimming.

1732 saw the opening of the city's first Wash-house affectionately known as the "Steamie" on the banks of the Camlachie Burn. 275 years later the clothes poles where washing was hung out to dry are still in evidence and there are 36 of them which have been restored and in some cases replaced completely.

1745 and the Young Pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie has entered Glasgow on Christmas Day and encamped his army on a piece of private land known as "Flesher's Haugh". He demands that his army be re-equipped and whilst waiting for the good people of Glasgow to do so, he takes up residence in the finest mansion in Glasgow. That residence belonging to a rich merchant by the name of Glassford. Eating in public twice a day with his fellow officers, he is waited upon by Jacobite ladies. He eventually leaves the city on January 4th 1746 enroute to lay siege to Stirling Castle. (The people of Glasgow are not sorry to see him go).

1765 and now we have James Watt strolling through Glasgow Green when he comes up with the idea of a separate condenser for the Steam Engine. This is said to kick-start the Industrial Revolution. A large stone is situated close to the spot where he had his idea.

1792 sees the expansion of the Green to the east with the purchase of "Flesher's Haugh from Patrick Bell of Cowcaddens.

1806, and a 43.5 metre high Column is erected (by public subscription) on the Green to commemorate Viscount Horatio Nelson's battles of Aboukir, Copenhagen and of course Trafalgar the year before. This monument predates the Dublin memorial by 2 years and the London column by 3 decades. Four years later, lightning struck the column destroying the top 6 metres. Repairs were swiftly carried out and the monument restored. In 2002 a complete restoration including the installation of floodlighting and repairs of the ravages of the last 200 years were carried out at a cost of £900,000. The Royal Navy held a remembrance service at the monument in 2005 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar.

1816 and the post Napoleonic war years saw the city fathers attempt to remodel the Green using jobless citizens to carry out levelling and draining work. 1816 also saw the gathering of 40,000 people on the Green demanding support for more representative government and an end to the Corn laws which were keeping food prices high.

1820 and Spring saw further unrest on the Green with strikers actually carrying out Military "Drilling" during the "Radical War". This rebellion was soon crushed and a James Wilson was susequently arrested for treason, went on trial July 20th ,found guilty and sentenced to hang within 40 days. He was hung on the 30th August and beheaded when eventually cut down from the gallows.

The Green has seen a number of projects mooted to change the environment and all have been defeated by public demonstration and condemnation by the citizens of Glasgow. Henry Bell of steamship "Comet" fame put forward the idea of building a canal from Broomielaw to the Green with a quay terminal in the Green. This idea was soon condemned and never implemented.

1820-1821 saw test borings carried out in Glasgow Green and large deposits of coal were found. Plans to mine the coal were recommended but at least this time the town council decided against this action. Three more times this plan was raised. In 1858 when the council were looking to raise monies to purchase land for other parks and again in 1869 and 1888 mining was recommended but public persuasion won the day and no mining was ever carried out.

1826 and the Camlachie and Molendinar Burns were culverted and further levelling and drainage work was carried out.

1832 again saw the park used for large gatherings of people and 70,000 gathered in protest at the Reform Act. In response to the Reform Act the Chartism movement grew in strength and led to the Chartist riot of 1848. William Gladstone's Reform Act of 1867 brought more mass meetings to the Green.

1855 and the St. Andrew's suspension bridge was opened allowing easy passage for the abundance of workers travelling from the Calton and Bridgeton to Hutchesontown and vice versa. The bridge has since been repaired in 1871 and again in 1905 and indeed went through a major refurbishment between 1996 and 1998 partly funded by the European Union fund.

The women's suffragette movement (founded in 1870) held many meetings in the park between the years of 1872 and 1910.

Also in 1872 a group of members of the Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club (founded in 1857 and moved to the Green in 1901) formed a football team to play Callander FC on the land at Flesher's Haugh. This team was the founding formation of the now Glasgow Rangers football club.

1881 saw the erection of a fountain to commemorate Sir William Collins a leading figure of the "Temperance Movement" and who served as Lord Provost of Glasgow between 1877 and 1880. The fountain was later resited beside the McLennan Arch in 1992 after the move of the Arch itself.

1889 and the Templeton Carpet Factory was completed. The council had rejected several designs submitted before agreeing on the design by architect William Leiper. His design was inspired by the Doge's palace in Venice. Tragically on the 1st of November at 17:15 high winds brought the unfinished facade of the building crashing down on the women at the weaving machines. When the dust had settled 29 women lay dead and many more injured. The management stipulated that the clearing up had to proceed through the night so they could open for business Monday morning. Further loss of life also happened in 1900 due to a fire in the premises. The factory was extended in 1930s and after the closure of the factory it became the Templeton Business centre. In 2005 the 1930s extension was demolished (Marco's Leisure Centre) and 143 new flats have taken up the space complete with private parking facilities. The original building now has a micro brewery, bar and restaurant with a beer garden.

The Doulton Fountain brought to the city for the 1888 Exhibition was gifted to the city after the exhibition and moved to a site near to Nelson's column in1890. It was built by the Royal Doulton factory to commemorate Queen Victoria's reign and was designed by the architect Arthur E Pearce. Standing some 48ft tall it is reputed to be the largest Terracotta fountain anywhere in the world. A larger than life size statue of Queen Victoria surmounts the fountain and unfortunately in 1891 it was struck by lightning destroying the Queens statue. The city fathers intended to replace the statue with a decorative urn but the Doulton factory heard of this and commisioned a second, hand-made statue to replace the original. The 4 maidens just below Victoria depict the largest of her dominions of the time these being Australia, Canada, South Africa and India. Below these there are 3 soldiers and 1 sailor supposed to represent the 4 countries of England Ireland Scotland and Wales (alphabetical order only). Below them you then have 12 Lions heads on the edges of the bowl and again below that you come to the statuary of the dominions depicting life in those countries. Glasgow's coat of arms is very evident on the fountain as are small statues of St Kentigern. The fountain had a working life of some 75 years or so until the water was switched off and then left to decay. Vandalised in the 1980s a decision was taken to remove some of the statuary for safe-keeping and fence off the remainder. The year 2002 saw a restoration programme at an enormous cost of millions but in June 2005 it was reopened and everyone thought the money was well spent. Unfortunately the maintenance has not been carried out to a particularly high standard and it badly needs repairs to the pumps and the lights. 

The People's Palace, opened in 1898 by the Earl of Roseberry and designed as a cultural centre for the people of the East end of Glasgow was originally laid out with Reading rooms on the Ground floor, a Museum on the First floor and an Art Gallery on the Second floor.The 1940s saw it transformed to a museum representing the history of Glasgow and its citizens.  Now it not only attracts the citizens of Glasgow but people from all over the world who come to catch a glimpse of what life was like in the past for the people of Glasgow. With the Winter Gardens behind it incorporating a cafe serving snacks and other refreshments it is a small oasis in the parkland. The Winter Gardens are very popular as a place to hold wedding receptions, retirement parties, graduation ceremonies etc etc.

Another piece of Park architecture, is possibly the most travelled piece of stonework in Glasgow. The Assembly Rooms designed by James and Robert Adam were demolished in 1890 and the Arch that was the centrepiece of the building was reconstructed and sited at the Western end of Monteith Row in 1892 at the expense of James McLennan. In 1922 it was then moved to a position facing Charlotte Street. It remained there until 1992 when it was moved again to face the old High Court in the Saltmarket. Now known as "The McLennan Arch".

1901 saw the Glasgow Corporation build a tidal Weir to try and maintain the water level as it flowed through the Park. This has had the effect of creating 2 ecosystems,with the water above the weir being freshwater and that below the weir of being saltwater. The Weir construction is now a listed building.

The First World War saw mass demonstrations on the Green. One of the first anti-war rallies being held in the shadow of Nelson's column by leftist John Maclean took place in September 1914. Shortly after that, under the DORA act (Defence Of the Realm Act) John Maclean and 2 others were arrested.

More mass protests were held on the Green when Lloyd George was invited to receive the Freedom of the city on 29th June 1916.

The following year in May 1917 saw workers  marching through the Green in support of Russia's February revolution.

Owing to the rise in migrant workers to the city saw the landlords increasing the rents and again this sparked off more protests in 1920.

Much more history of the Green will be published on this Website over the coming months as it is an ongoing project.