The lower, western side of the suburb is dominated by retail, particularly motor vehicle dealerships along Ipswich Road, known popularly throughout Brisbane as the "Magic Mile", light industry and warehouses.

[citation needed] Many of the houses are pre-war Queenslanders (on posts, with simple one floor, wooden construction), with small apartment blocks scattered through the suburb.

There are prime real estate areas on the top of hills, with views to the Great Dividing Range over Archerfield in the south, Seventeen Mile Rocks to the west, Mount Coot-tha, St. Lucia, Indooroopilly to the north-west and the city to the north.

[citation needed] The area is the traditional lands of the Australian Aboriginal Jagera people who lived there long before British settlement.

[citation needed] The suburb was founded as a stop-over for journeys from Brisbane south (Logan and Albert river valleys) and south-west (Ipswich and beyond).

The classified advertisement for the auction states for sale were '128 choice allotments, being re-subdivisions of subdivisions 1, 2 and 7 of Portion 158, Parish of Yeerongpilly'.

[9] The subdivision was close to the Moorooka railway station (on the western side of Ipswich Road) and was described as having good soil and elevated sites with "no swamps, no gullies, no broken land".

[11] The classified advertisement for the auction states for sale were '80 choice allotments, being part of Portion 125, Parish Yerongpilly'.

"Moorooka Railway Station Estate" was described as 'the position is admirable, being only five miles by rail from the city, where train stops every few minutes in the day', and 'takes in a wide scope of most interesting and charming rural and suburban views'.

In 1931, the Annerley Church of Christ commenced outreach in Moorooka, following from the establishment of a Bible school in Clifton Hill in the home of Mr P. Ryan in February 1929.

[30][31] Moorooka has traditionally hosted a working class population stemming from its history as a manufacturing hub during World War II.

The southern part of Moorooka bordering Salisbury was the location of government built returned servicemen housing.

[32] In 1968, the Brisbane City Council built and opened The Moorooka Bowls Club, which then hosted Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to the 1982 Commonwealth Games.

In 2022 the building's tender was awarded to the not-for-profit organisation The Third Place Group, in order to establish a community space that all Moorookans could enjoy.

[33] The Brisbane City Archives (a collection of local historical records dating back to 1859) was established at Moorooka.

[citation needed] The Moorvale Shopping district hosts office for the Brisbane City Council Councillor for Moorooka Ward Steve Griffiths.