Nostalgia: A new century ... and a new era for Kirkcaldy

During the 1800s the town had seen massive growth, mainly through incorporating the neighbouring villages of Linktown, Pathhead, Sinclairtown and Gallatown, but also through new building.

At last there was a decent road connection with the latter three suburbs via the Vlctoria Viaduct, which was completed in 1902.

The new viaduct, however, was just a necessary precursor to the big event - the joint development of trams and electricity.

For more than a year workmen were busy from one end of the town to the other, laying tracks from Gallatown into the centre of town and out to the far end of Linktown.

There was also the construction of the recently demolished power station on Victoria Road and the laying of cables to carry the electricity the length of the route.

The town already had gas lighting but it was the dawning of a new age when on December 23, 1902, 49 electric arc lights lit up the street from Ravenscraig Castle to the far end of Links Street.

Within months almost 50 customers shops and factories had applied for a link-up to the new source of light and power.

The trams arrived with the first service starting on February 28, 1903. So successful was this new transport system that in the first three months it had carried over half a million passengers, despite the fact that Kirkcaldy’s population at this time was only a little over 34,000.

One side effect of the trams was that the Links Market, which had previously been held on Links Street, was moved to Sands Road - now the Esplanade.

The turn of the century also brought a host of new public buildings in the town centre area.

The Adam Smith and Beveridge Halls had just been opened in 1899 – a bequest from the same Michael Beveridge who gave Kirkcaldy its Beveridge Park in 1892.

The new General Post Office building on the corner of Hunter Street opened in 1900 and two years later the new police station opened on St Brycedale Avenue.

Along the High Street The Kings Theatre opened in 1904.

The spirit of renewal which seemed to dominate this time extended into all fields.

Two prominent churches were raised: the distinctive red building of St Andrew’s Church, on Victoria Road, and the gothic St Marie’s, on the junction of Victoria Road and Dunnikier Road.

There was need of educatin too, and the first decade saw several new schools: Gallatown and North primary schools, and, the new Elementary High School, built on to the existing High School and now part of Fife College on St Brycedale Road, and Viewforth High School.

Between 1904 and 1908, £140,000 worth of improvements were done to the harbour,and also in 1908 the tram system was extended to reach Leven.

There were leisure developments too. In 1906 Kirkcaldy’s first golf course was laid out at Balwearie, the Kirkcaldy Amateur Operatic Society was formed in 1907, and youngsters could join the new Boy Scout movement from 1908.