The congregation of Holy Cross, Knightswood, was founded in 1926 under the Bishop of Glasgow's Church Extension Scheme, during the development of the area for residential housing after the First World War.

At that time Glasgow had some of the worst housing in Britain, notably in the Gorbals and Cowcaddens areas. Glasgow Corporation's response to the situation was to create new housing schemes, and in June 1923 the Corporation approved a plan to erect a first phase of 1,100 houses in the eastern area of Knightswood, then open countryside.  Building does not appear to have started until 1925, by which time grants from Central Government were available to help with the cost of construction.

Such was the importance of the Knightswood development that it was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Mr Stanley Baldwin, on October 1st 1925 during a visit to Glasgow, when he also paid an incognito visit to Cowcaddens and the Gorbals. 

  The following day the Glasgow Herald reported as follows:

"The first engagement of the afternoon was the inauguration of the housing scheme in Knightswood, which is distinguished as probably the largest undertaking of the kind which has so far been promoted in the country. The inauguration was performed by the formal opening of two semi-detached cottages in a completed corner block.  Mr Baldwin turned the key in one house and Mrs Baldwin unlocked the door of the other. Mr Baldwin briefly addressed the large crowd which assembled to witness the ceremony, and afterwards the party entered the houses and made an inspection of the rooms." 

The Diocese recognised the need to extend its work into this new area, and land was bought for future church building.  The Title Deeds, dated October 1926, state that the land on which Holy Cross was to be built, then within the Parish of New Kilpatrick in the County of Dumbarton, had been acquired by the Corporation of Glasgow from Mr George Neilson, Ironmaster, of Knightswood.  It was made over to the Diocesan Trustees for the sum of £900.18s.  Cowdenhill Road was at that time unmade, and a further £307.16s.1d was paid by the Diocese as a proportion of the cost of forming the street and sewer.

In the beginning worship was held in a wooden army hut which had been used in Gretna during the 1914-1918 war.  Few houses had been built by this time, with no made roads or paths.  The hut stood in an isolated position making attendance on dark winter evenings a hazardous undertaking.

The first entry in the Service Register is the dedication of the hut on April 22nd 1926 by the Right Reverend Edward Reid, Bishop of the Diocese.  The preacher was the Reverend P. H. Wilson, Priest in Charge of All Saints, St Andrews, whose congregation gave generous financial support to Holy Cross.