Opening of Union Station
"You build your stations like we build our cathedrals"
– the Prince of Wales during the official opening of Union Station
On August 6, 1927, Edward, the Prince of Wales, opened Union Station. The Prince of Wales was accompanied by his brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of York (shown in foreground of the image), British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and Mrs. Baldwin, and Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. The welcoming party included Ontario Lieutenant Governor William Donald Ross and Mrs. Ross, Ontario Premier G. Howard Ferguson and numerous other members of the Ontario and Canadian governments.
The Prince of Wales was issued the first ticket sold at Union Station, to Alberta for a cost of $71.20, which today would cost over $1,100. During this ceremony, the Prince of Wales was also presented with a gold key that unlocked the station.
On August 11, 1927, Union Station received and dispatched its first passenger trains.
Constructing Union Station
In the late 19th century, many small rail companies served Canadian cities and built their own rail stations in each city they served. The opportunity to combine forces in Toronto came as a result of the great fire in 1904.
The fire demolished 14 acres of the downtown manufacturing and warehouse district. The Canadian Pacific (CPR) and Grand Trunk Railways, recognizing the need for a larger station, negotiated with the City of Toronto for control of some of this land. The City leased the land to the Grand Trunk Railway in 1905.
Construction began in 1914. Material shortages during World War I and the collapse of the Grand Trunk Railway in 1919 delayed completion of the station.
Finished in 1921, it remained unused for six more years because of legal differences between the Harbour Commission, the City and the railways over grade separations. In 1924, a final plan was approved by the Board of Railway Commissioners, and work on the necessary viaduct, bridge, grading, platforms and tracks commenced.
Design of Union Station
A number of architects collaborated on the new Union Station design: the Montreal Firm of G.A. Ross and R.H. Macdonald, Hugh Jones of the CPR and John M. Lyle of Toronto.
Designed in the Beaux-Arts style, it was the largest and most opulent station erected in Canada. Monumental in design, the great Hall features a coffered vault ceiling of Gustavino tiles. The shape of the ceiling is echoed in the four-storey, barrel-vaulted windows on the east and west walls. Mid-way up the north and south walls are carved names of the cities that were then serviced by the CPR and the Canadian National Railways (CNR), the government-owned railway that replaced the Grand Trunk. The list alternates from side to side, naming the cities from east to west.
The interior walls are of Zumbro stone from Missouri; the floors are Tennessee marble, laid in a herringbone pattern. The exterior walls of the station are Indiana and Queenston limestone. Each of the 22 Bedford limestone columns weights 75 tons and is 40 feet high.
Key points
- Construction of Union Station was ordered by the Board of Railway Commissioners in 1905. The City of Toronto leased the land to the Grand Trunk Railway in 1905, then later to the Toronto Terminals Railway Company (jointly owned by Canadian National and Canadian Pacific) to build Union Station.
- Union Station was designed in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts style by a team of architects composed of the Montreal Firm of G.A. Ross and R.H. Macdonald, Hugh Jones of the CPR and John M. Lyle of Toronto.
- It was built by Canadian Pacific Railway and Grand Trunk Railway.
- Union Station was the largest and most opulent train station erected in Canada during the last phase in railway station construction.
Construction began in 1913, but was delayed for several years because of World War I.
- The station was officially opened by the Prince of Wales on August 6, 1927. Construction on the station had in fact been completed eight years earlier.
- The first passenger trains were received and dispatched on August 11, 1927.
Waterfront railway history
- The first passenger train departure in Upper Canada originated from a wooden shed opposite the Queen’s Hotel on Front Street, Toronto, on May 16, 1853.
- The Northern Railway of Canada moved its rail shed to a point below the embankment opposite what is now Spadina Avenue.
The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada established a station at the corner of Front and Bay in 1855; this became Toronto's first Union Station in December 1855, when the Great Western Railway arrived to share the facility with the Grand Trunk Railway.
- The Great Fire of 1904 resulted in the 850-foot long block of Front Street between Bay and York being reduced to rubble, save two or three buildings.
- When the Royal York Hotel was built in 1929, it introduced Toronto’s first sub-grade path, linking the hotel and Union Station.
The Ontario Government announced on May 19, 1965 that it would begin operation of a new commuter service on Canadian National tracks between Hamilton and Pickering.
- GO Transit was born with the first train to leave Oakville eastbound on May 23, 1967. GO established new railway marshalling yards in Toronto’s suburbs to handle most of the freight traffic with a terminus at Toronto Union Station.
