Originally built around Cardowan Colliery, Garnkirk fire-clay works and clay mines in the immediate area, Cardowan's proximity to Glasgow has been key to its expansion over the years, which has seen the former colliery site being transformed into a large scale residential development.

Excluding Cardowan Drive and the northern end of Cardowan Road which are often regarded as being part of Stepps, the earliest housing in the area which is still existing was built in the late 1930s to early 40s and served to replace housing in the (now extinct) nearby villages of Garnkirk and Heathfield.

Due to the shortages of building materials during the second World War the last five blocks on Frankfield Road were built with flat roofs which were only replaced in the 1980s.

The 1980s also brought the construction of Blaneview and further housing on Clayhouse Road, and in the 1990s Nicholson Court was built on the site of the original Stepps railway station and sidings.

(John Kilpatrick, Maurice M'Bride, George Jackson) A further explosion occurred in 1932 on 16 November in which 11 men were killed.