The name Westhill dates back to 1859 when John Anderson, from Strichen, bought the two neighbouring estates of Wester Kinmundy and Blackhills. In the early 1960s Westhill was still a tiny hamlet of Skene, with fewer than 100 residents.

It was local solicitor Ronald Fraser Dean who, in 1963, proposed that the expanse of fields might support something other than crops and livestock. With the backing of the former Aberdeen District Council and the Secretary of State for Scotland, and the financial support of the Ashdale Land and Property Company, he sowed the seeds of a new settlement…

The first of the new-builds — from the Persley Development Company — appeared in the autumn of 1968. In 1971 the population was close to five hundred; ten years later it would be nearer 5,000. Westhill was proving a magnet for young families determined to get on the property ladder, an influx accelerated by the oil boom.

Community spirit was quickly evident with the formation of Westhill and District Residents Association in 1972. Part of the driver was a lack of amenities: the growth of housing had outstripped the provision of retail, recreational and social facilities. Transport pressures saw major road works in January 1973 with realignment of what is now Old Skene Road and Westhill Drive. That year  community infrastructure was delivered — Ashdale Hall; a site (albeit temporary) for a Royal Bank of Scotland; and a health centre next to Denman Gardens.

A primary school — what would the first of four — came a year later. The golf course and Westhill Inn opened in 1976, the same year the first industrial land was occupied, just 1.5 acres taken by Kingswells Body Builders. By the end of the decade Westhill Academy had opened.

Westhill, the town, had arrived.

For the 1980s and 90s, click here.