Although today the Stillorgan area is very clearly part of Dublin’s suburbs, this relationship really only began to emerge in the second half of the nineteenth century. Indeed, the modern-day concept of a suburb which we tend to take for granted only evolved from about this time onwards. The discussion that follows examines some of the significant phases in Stillorgan’s evolution as a suburb, from tentative beginnings linked to new transport links, through a phase of institutional growth, to state-of-the-art developments on either side of ‘the Emergency’ and ending with its possible status as the ultimate Irish suburb of the 1960s.