The original station was opened on 1 July 1885 by the Glasgow and South Western Railway, situated on a loop line to Elderslie Junction due to congestion on the line through Paisley Gilmour Street. Following closure of the Dalry and North Johnstone Line and the Greenock Princess Pier Line in 1966, local services through Paisley Canal continued through to Kilmacolm, with the occasional boat train to Ardrossan Harbour. In the latter years the Kilmacolm service finished at 7pm. At some point the station buildings were taken out of use and an over-line booking office was built at the Causeyside Street end of the platforms.
The station closed to passengers on 10 January 1983, however seven years later, the station was formally opened on 27th July 1990 by Councillor John Mullin, with the new train service commencing on 28th July. As the original station site had been sold and the platforms filled in, a new platform to the east of the Causeyside Street overbridge was constructed within the railway cutting.
Keep an eye out for the commemorative plaque marking the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Thomas Telford, the civil engineer who designed the Glasgow, Paisley and Ardrossan canal, which was opened in 1811, and converted to the railway in 1883.