For all the Leo’s out there, you can tell your family and friends that Union Station is also a Leo. On August 6th, Toronto’s favourite station celebrated its 97th birthday. Although construction on the station began in 1914, Union didn’t officially open until 1927, a full 40 years before the Toronto Maple Leaf’s last Stanley Cup victory.
Union Throughout the Years
1851: Toronto’s Union Station belongs to a family of Union Stations. A “Union Station” is a building that multiple railway companies use. The first Union Station opened in Columbus, Ohio in 1851.
1872: The Union Station we know today may have officially open in 1927, but did you know that an earlier Union station was built in 1872 on Front Street between York and Simcoe streets? The station was modelled on the Illinois Central Station in Chicago and had three domed towers, one containing a clock.
1927: In front of a large crowd on Saturday, August 6, 1927, His Royal Highness, Edward, the Prince of Wales, cut the ribbon that opened Union Station with a pair of gold scissors. After cutting the ribbon, the Prince of Wales was escorted to the ticket counters where he was issued the first ticket ever sold at Union Station. The ticket was to Alberta and cost today’s equivalent of approximately $1184.49
1970s: Toronto Terminals Railway took over the East Wing after a fire gutted most of its interior. In 1975, Parks Canada designated Union Station a National Historic Site because it was, and still is, the country’s finest example of a classical Beaux-Arts’ railway station. Beaux-Arts was the academic architectural style taught at the infamous École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France from the 1830s to the late 19th century.
2000’s: In 2000, The City of Toronto purchased Union Station. In 2008, Toronto City Council approved the implementation of the Union Station Revitalization Project (USRP), with the first phase of construction beginning in 2010.
2010’s-present day: Since the USRP concluded in 2021, gross floor area at Union Station has increased approximately 14%. This includes an addition of approximately 14,900 square metres of new retail space, including the new retail level under the concourses, Union Food Court, Fresh Market, and an overall enhanced retail experience. Additional enhanced features include a revitalized VIA Concourse and Panorama Lounge, the Front Street, York Street, and Bay Street glass moat covers, expanded PATH access, and two new bike parking stations.
With 60+ retailers, and a calendar full of free events daily, in the past 97 years Union Station has become one of Toronto’s top destinations for everything shop, dining, and cultural experiences. The fun never ends at Union.
