This is what Toronto looked like from the 1860s to the 1990s
A decade-by-decade historical look at photos of Toronto offers a glimpse of the various developments and transformations of a city that's often been accused of having a troubled relationship with its past.
Looked at over a span of more than a century, the growth and development of Toronto over the years is breathtaking and reflects major changes in technology and transportation as well as major local and world events.
In some decades, the city is unrecognizable compared to today.
1850s
1856.
Armstrong, Beere and Hime panorama, 1854.
House of Providence (lost to the DVP's Richmond off-ramp)
1860s
Provincial Lunatic Asylum (999 Queen West)
The view from St. Lawrence Market
Toronto City Hall 1868
1870s
Front and Wellington streets (Coffin Block)
The Crystal Palace (lost to fire)
King and Yonge streets looking east
1880s
Grand Opera House
Toronto Harbour
Horse-drawn streetcar
The Yonge Street Arcade
1890s
Old Union Station (a.k.a Union Station II)
Queen's Park (provincial Legislature)
Knox College
Track work for electric streetcars
1900s
Board of Trade Building (lost to demolition)
Celebrating the end of the Boer War (Yonge Street)
The Fire of 1904
Diving Horse at Hanlan's Point
City Hall and Terauley Street (now Bay Street)
Looking West along Front Street (Old Union Station in the background)
1910s
Arrival of Immigrants at (Old) Union Station
Looking southeast from Richmond and Bay streets
Soldiers leave for war at (Old) Union Station 1914
Excavating the site for New Union Station (Queen's Hotel in the background)
Bloor Viaduct nearing completion
299 Queen Street West in 1919
1920s
Muddy Mount Pleasant Road
Queen and Bay streets
Brand new Royal York Hotel 1929
TTC Bus
Yonge and Lawrence
1930s
Yonge Street Mission during the Great Depression
South of City Hall
Carlton and Yonge (prior to re-routing)
Air Ship and Canadian Bank of Commerce Building
Canada Life Building and Osgoode Hall
Looking up Bay Street (City Hall in background)
Maple Leaf Gardens 1934
1940s
Christie's Wartime ad
Imperial Bank of Canada Building
Streetcars in front of Union Station
Sunnyside Pool and Beach
Wartime factory work
Subway construction begins 1949
1950s
Subways arrive at Toronto Harbour 1953
Dundas Station
Interior of a subway car
Skyine in 1959
1960s
Letros Building
Bay and Wellington
Nathan Phillips Square
Steinbergs
Skyline
1970s
Approaching Yonge and Bloor
CN Tower construction
The Gooderham/Flatiron Building
Carlton Line
City Hall 1973
Toronto Star Building 1976
1980s
Skyline and bus
The Manulife Centre
The Monorail (Toronto Zoo)
Ontario Place
Bellair Street
Exhibition Stadium
1990s
Skydome
Skyline
Yonge and Dundas
Chinatown
Queen West
The Royal York
See additional photos from each decade here:
- Toronto of the 1990s
- Toronto of the 1980s
- Toronto of the 1970s
- Toronto of the 1960s
- Toronto of the 1950s
- Toronto of the 1940s
- Toronto of the 1930s
- Toronto of the 1920s
- Toronto of the 1910s
- Toronto of the 1900s
- Toronto of the 1890s
- Toronto of the 1880s
- Toronto of the 1870s
- Toronto of the 1860s
- Toronto of the 1850s
Toronto Archives. Photos up to the 1980s were sourced from the Wikimedia Commons and the Toronto Archives, with the exception of the lead image, which was originally published in Time Magazine and the skyline shot from the early 1960, which appeared in National Geographic. Credits for photos from the 1990s are as follows: billcummins, cliffordstead, Olga S, CanadaGood, nothingtoseehere, and also nothingtoseehere.
