New Glasgow, a town on the East River, Pictou County, took its name from Glasgow, Scotland around 1809 and was incorporated in 1875 with A. C. Bell as first Mayor. New Glasgow is located on the main line of the Canadian National Railways, 109 miles east of Halifax, 42 miles east of Truro, and 174 miles from Sydney.

According to the Eighth Census of Canada (1941), the population of New Glasgow grew from 1,676 in 1871 to 9,210 by 1941. More than 85% of the inhabitants in New Glasgow were originally from the British Isles, and 61% of the British Isles races were Scottish or of Scottish origin. The principle religious denominations were Presbyterian (28.5%), Roman Catholic (25%) and United Church of Canada (22%).

The largest town in the County of Pictou, New Glasgow was one of the greatest manufacturing centres east of Montreal by the second decade of the twentieth century. Among the many industries, there were machine shops; bridge and structural steel works; manufacturers of mining machinery and miners' tools, heavy wagons and trucks, marine and stationary motors, cultivators, harrows, and steel furniture; jewellery-makers; marble, granite, and wood working factories; and a corn and feed mill.

The first school in New Glasgow opened about 1812, and a school-house was built by 1818. A postal way office was established about 1834 and a jail built about 1838. Aberdeen Hospital was under construction in 1896, and officially opened on March 25, 1897. The Intercolonial Railway between New Glasgow and Truro was completed by April, 1867, and the first sod for the Eastern Railway was turned in February 1877 with the line opening on September 8, 1879. In the Fall of 1904 the Egerton Tramway Co. Ltd. completed its tram line connecting four East River towns.

Several major fires figure in the history of New Glasgow. In 1873 a fire destroyed much of the business section. On April 19, 1874, another fire did $200,000 worth of damage, and on May 23, 1875 a further $25,000 loss was suffered because of fire. On September 20, 1948, a $100,000 fire once again destroyed part of the downtown business section.