Deacon Thomas Fraser first settled the area that would become New Glasgow in 1784. It was officially named "New Glasgow", after Old Glasgow in Scotland, in 1809, the same year its first trading post was developed.

In 1840, George MacKenzie started the town's first shipbuilding company, which eventually built or owned 34 vessels. Hundreds of ships have since been built along the East River. Scottish immigrants, including those on the Ship Hector in 1773, heavily settled the area.