Named after the Mackenzie family who lived here from the late 1700s through to the 1890s. The family were mainly employed in the Hand Loom Weaving trade, at one time the largest source of employment in Lanark.

When this trade declined from the 1860s onwards other employment was sought. In 1862 Kenneth McKenzie became Lanark’s Town Drummer, a post he held for over ten years. In 1881 John McKenzie and his son Kenneth both worked as Street Porters.