Until the 1780s Busby village consisted of a scatter of cottages along a track leading from Carmunnock to Mearns.

This original village or fermtoun was in the area of the present Busby railway station.

Busby as a village name could have disappeared, had it not been for events on the opposite side of the River Cart.

The third major change in Busby in the 1780s was a new road from Paisley to East Kilbride, which went through the village.

The first Busby Bridge was built on this route c.1785, and replaced an earlier ford above the waterfall.

Busby was never the perfect site for building a village, but developed due to the availability of water power on the River Cart.

From the 1780s the village became centred on a hilly part of Cartsbridge Farm, originally known as "The Bank".

Busby's Main Street was built on a very steep hill (although steep hills are very common in the area), and the road through to what is now Clarkston's town centre was built along a fragile slope which has collapsed several times since.

Thomas Donohoe, a pioneer of football in Brazil, was born and raised in Busby.