Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lost its own local council and administratively became a component of the City of Glasgow District within the Strathclyde region (along with neighbouring Cambuslang).

[50][51] She was the town's first female MP as well as the first for the SNP (the seat had been held by Labour since 1964, with only two men – Gregor Mackenzie and Tommy McAvoy – representing the area between then and 2010, after which Tom Greatrex served one full term).

[71][72][73] Historic areas near the Main Street such as Bankhead, Burnhill and Gallowflat have changed greatly over the decades, with the Farme Cross and Shawfield areas mostly occupied by industry of various types; the expansion of the village of Burnside (which falls under the Rutherglen boundary but has its own Community Council) to share a single suburban settlement with its larger neighbour, and the construction after World War II of peripheral housing schemes on land surrounding Burnside which had been either farms or rural estates (Blairbeth, Cathkin, Eastfield, Fernhill, Spittal and Springhall) have given the town a frequently changing character.

[74][17][75] The 1922 book Rutherglen Lore indicated a deliberate intention for the historic Burgh area to be encircled to the south by residential suburbs, while all land to its north would be dedicated to industry,[76][77] and that largely remains the case a century later.

This focus, and the aforementioned territorial limitations, have meant housebuilding has generally been southwards on the higher ground leading to the Cathkin Braes (with almost all suitable land occupied by the early 21st century) and nowadays the town's historic core, with the majority of facilities and the highest population density, is concentrated much further north than the geographic centre.

[97][100] On the wide pavement outside the library is a replica of the town's mercat cross (the original stood nearby from the 12th to the 18th century),[74] erected in 1926 as part of Rutherglen's octo-centenary celebrations, and in memory of a former provost of the burgh.

[74][101][73] Behind the library on King Street is the premises of the local branch of The Salvation Army whose brass band play regularly at the Old Parish Church and who have had a presence in the town since the 1880s;[102] their hall stands roughly on the site of the mediaeval Rutherglen Castle,[103] and replaced a wooden building initially used by the Rechabite Society.

Directly across from the Town Hall is St Columbkille's Church [de],[19][106] the current main building of which dates from 1940 (designed by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia),[74] although the congregation was established in 1851 and there has been a documented Catholic presence in the local area since the 6th century.

[116][117] After a new eastern section of Main Street was set out with the removal of old cottages beside the church (this would later be extended through the Gallowflat area), in 1914 a cinema, 'The Pavilion' was constructed there to a design by John Fairweather; later being refurbished in 1930 as 'Green’s Picturedrome', it closed in 1959 although was not demolished until the 1980s.

[88] The police station is adjacent to the former district Court and museum[121][75] and was overlooked to the south by 'Royal Burgh House', an office block built in 1998, originally occupied by the local authority which subsequently relocated the services to East Kilbride and Cambuslang[122][123] before the building was largely destroyed by a fire in 2022.

[134] In 2010, Burgh Primary moved from their 1901 building to new premises a few blocks east, still in the heart of town on Victoria Street,[19][135] – this site was previously the location of the Macdonald School: built 1865, used in its later years as an annex for Rutherglen Academy,[136] then as a nursery and community centre, demolished in the 2000s.

[145][147] At what is now the western end of Main Street (since it was shortened by the construction of the dual carriageway bypass first phase in the early 1970s), there are two public houses on its northern side; the 'Vogue Bar' has been present for some decades and is known as a base for local Celtic F.C.

[159] The town's current railway station opened in 1979 is the fourth such provision in the immediate area, with the first (1842–1879 and second (1879–1897)[17] - on what are now the West Coast Main Line tracks which no longer offer a stop in Rutherglen - accessed from either side of Farmeloan Road.

[162] There is also a Catholic primary school (St Columbkille's) in Clincarthill,[163] built on the site of Bellevue House, a children's home run by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul from 1912 to 1961 which was discredited in the 2018 Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

Rutherglen Maternity Hospital stood adjacent from 1978 to 1998,[168][167] but despite a good record of patient care and only 20 years in operation, it was closed and demolished to alleviate financial burdens in the local health board and concentrate a wider range of services over fewer sites.

[216][217] A Tesco superstore built in the early 21st century on some of the vacant former industrial land between the river and railway lines off Dalmarnock Road (specifically the Phoenix Tubeworks, which had been converted into a trading estate) was later extended to feature two fast-food restaurants.

This led to more ambitious plans being adopted for the area (as well as at Shawfield),[221][222] including the Rutherglen Links environmentally friendly business park,[178][223][224] the main building for which occupies a prominent location off Farmeloan Road,[208][225][226] with further office pavilions further east towards the motorway junction.

[17] Far more recently, a 'smartbridge' for pedestrians and cyclists was built to encourage links between the regenerating Shawfield area and Dalmarnock railway station, also in connection with the 2014 Commonwealth Games, several of the events for which were held nearby at the Emirates Arena.

[75] A prominent landmark is a tree-covered ancient burial mound[19][268][269] which had been used at one time as an icehouse in the grounds of the grand Gallowflat House (built 1760s, demolished 1910s)[270][271] which was located at the eastern end of today's Reid Street.

[280] During the 28 years when the Academy and Gallowflat buildings were part of the same school, hundreds of teenage pupils would walk the 400 yards (350 metres) between them several times each day via the very steep Wardlaw Drive and other quiet residential streets.

[74][258][257][308][309] Rutherglen's war memorial[310] – erected in 1924, designed by Paul Gray with a bronze figure by sculptor George Henry Paulin[74][311] which originally had a prominent location at the western end of the Main Street – was also left on the 'other' side of the road.

[318][319] The neighbourhood is recognisable for its 'White Flats' housing scheme (two dozen separate 16-apartment blocks, cube-shaped but with sloping roofs, dating from the early 1970s and refurbished externally in 2019 at a cost of £1.6 million)[320] that replaced a development of prefabs.

[75] There is also older (c. 1930) housing off Toryglen Road and Westmuir Place, and grass areas also feature heavily, especially around the mound of Burnhill itself where the Jenny Burn, flowing from Cathkin Braes via Spittal and Bankhead, passes underneath making its way towards the Clyde.

The burn flowing through the area provided power to industries in times past,[75] mostly on Cathcart Road, including the Avonbank, Westburn and Burnside weaving factories,[88] the Cathkin Laundry (1894 to 2013),[332] previously the site of a curling pond opened in 1881[333][17] (probably linked to the Carmunnock & Rutherglen Curling Club which still competes today, though not locally based)[334] plant nurseries including Glenroyal – now a small social housing development[335][336] – and the Cathkin Bakery, the production facility for Nairn's (oatcakes and biscuits) until 1978.

[352] The mill was powered from the Cityford Burn that flows through most of this side of Rutherglen and is visible here for some distance,[75][353] running north then west to a small pond at Bankhead Road, known as the 'Paddy' (paddling pool),[354] although this is somewhat overgrown and distended and is no longer popular with locals for this recreational purpose as it once was.

[75][371] It is surrounded by several mid-20th century housing estates, in some cases modernised[372] which are within Rutherglen but not considered to be parts of Burnside as they were built to provide homes for people from other areas of the town, and from Cambuslang, who needed to be re-housed.

[75] The neighbourhood has some limited local amenities[394] and small parks, as well as a school, St Mark's RC Primary – its associated church of the same name is located to the south of the housing at the edge of the neighbouring Fernhill area,[395] which has no direct link to Blairbeth for vehicles.

[408] Springhall is a self-contained 1960s local authority housing estate,[409][372] mostly consisting of a compact network of maisonettes, and featuring a community centre and library dating back to the time of the scheme's construction[410] but extensively upgraded between 2019 and 2021.

[419] A short way further south on the Springhall side of the A749 is the unusual white castellated villa 'Elpalet', designed by the housebuilder John McDonald (whose companies constructed thousands of new homes in Glasgow in the 1930s, including hundreds in Burnside),[420][421] to be his own residence.

In Shawfield there is an indoor trampoline facility, while Topgolf opened a driving range in Farme Cross (adjacent to the motorway) in 2022;[232] traditional golf has been played at the Cathkin Braes club on the southern edge of Rutherglen since the 1880s.