Within a single lifetime, the Industrial Revolution transformed Scotland completely .. almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. Glasgow and its surrounding areas quickly became one of the world's pre-eminent centres of heavy engineering, with the northern areas seeing the arrival of the canal, followed by ironworks, brickworks and foundries.

   

The canals were built to give access to iron ore and coal, and the industries spread along the canal banks. The prospects of jobs and good conditions brought in workers and tradesmen, and a thriving community was formed in Possilpark of around 10,000 people, 1200 of whom were employed at the Saracen Foundry owned by Walter Macfarlane.

MacFarlane oversaw the removal of all the woodlands and after creating railway access to his foundry, laid out the rest of the park land as a grid plan of streets and tenements, including naming the main street running through the new suburb "Saracen Street".