The history of Toronto in photos is a post I've been toying with putting together for a while. Having spent considerable time digging through the digital holdings of the Toronto Archives, it just seemed to make sense to pull all of these various posts together into one place — hence the ambitious title. This is not, of course, an authoritative history of this city (far from from it), but the 90 some odd posts linked to below provide a thematically organized visual overview of Toronto that I hope will be worth a return visit or two for those interested in the city of yesteryear. I also have every intention of adding to this little archive as additional historical posts are published on the site.

The vast majority of the photographs featured below derive from the Toronto Archives, which means that should you see something that you really like, it's probably available for purchase from the source. For those interested in a less visually oriented take on Toronto history, there is also our Nostalgia Tripping series, which was designed to be a bit more about storytelling than just the photos.

After having scanned the links below, should you have ideas for other posts that you'd like us to pursue, I'd be grateful for the feedback/suggestions. Here is our ongoing history of Toronto in photos.

Lost Toronto

• The top 10 buildings lost to demolition in Toronto
• The lost trains stations of Toronto
• The lost movie theatres of Toronto
• The lost hotels of Toronto
• The top 10 unbuilt projects in Toronto

The TTC

• What TTC subway cars used to look like
• What TTC buses used to look like in Toronto
• A visual history of Toronto streetcars
• The route the Toronto subway might have taken
• Original renderings of TTC subway stations
• What ever happened to the Queen Street subway line?
• When the subway system was shiny and new
• 90 years of the TTC in photos and videos
• A fond farewell to the TTC's fishbowl buses

Cityscape

• What expressways used to look like in Toronto
• What the suburbs used to look like around Toronto
• What banks used to look like in Toronto
• What the CNE used to look like
• What Trinity Bellwoods Park used to look like
• What sports stadiums used to look like in Toronto
• What beaches used to look like in Toronto
• What malls used to look like in Toronto
• What grocery stores used to look like in Toronto
• What gas stations used to look like in Toronto
• What butcher shops used to look like in Toronto
• What variety stores used to look like in Toronto

Streets and intersections

• A visual history of Jarvis Street
• A Visual history of Dupont Street
• What King West looked like in the 1980s
• What Yonge Street looked like in the 1970s
• That time when Toronto widened the streets
• A visual history of Queen and Bay
• A visual history of Yonge and Queen
• A visual history of Queen, King and Roncesvalles
• A visual history of Yonge and Bloor
• A visual history of Yonge and Dundas

Structures and buildings

• The tragic fate of the Temple Building
• A visual history of the Royal York Hotel
• When Union Station was shiny and new
• What City Hall might have looked like in Toronto
• The CN Tower turns 35-years-old
• The changing face of First Canadian Place
• The birth of the Queen Street Subway (no, not that one)
• The birth of the Bloor Viaduct
• The birth of the Gardiner Expressway
• When the Toronto skyline got its jolt of modernism
• A look back at the birth of the SkyDome
• The Eaton Centre turns 35 years old
• A lesson in heritage restoration at Queen & Bathurst
• How to research the history of your house or apartment

Non-TTC transportation

• A visual history of the Railway Lands
• A visual history of Toronto ferries
• A visual history of Toronto taxicabs

Places / Neighbourhoods

• A visual history of Kensington Market
• A visual history of the Toronto Islands
• When the Distillery District produced booze and bombs
• That time Toronto filled in the harbour
• What Queen's Quay looked like before the condos
• What the Port Lands used to look like
• What Liberty Village looked like before the condos

Vintage Toronto

• Vintage signage in Toronto
• Vintage signage in Toronto redux
• Vintage photographs of Toronto at night
• Vintage computers and technology in Toronto
• Vintage photographs of snow in Toronto
• Vintage photographs of winter in Toronto

Photographers

• The Toronto of William James, the city's most prolific early photographer
• The Toronto photographs of Ellis Wiley
• The TTC photographs of Eric Trussler
• The Toronto photographs of Arthur Goss

Art, maps and other documents

• Toronto in art from the 1830s to the 1980s
• The Detroit Publishing Company's Toronto photos
• The 1856 panorama of Toronto
• The Bird's Eye View of Toronto map
• Goad's Fire Atlas of Toronto
• Nostalgia tripping via vintage postcards
• Vintage postcards redux
• If you like historical maps of Toronto, go here

It wasn't always so rosy...

• A look back at when Toronto was a city run on coal
• A look back at when Toronto was kind of filthy
• That time when Toronto was a city of parking lots
• The great Toronto fire of 1904

Overviews

• Aerial photographs of Toronto from the 1920s to the 1980s
• The transformation of Toronto's skyline from 1880 to today

By decade

• 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 prior to the 1850s

Other Toronto history resources

• Toronto Archives
• Ontario Archives
• National Archives
• Toronto Public Library
• Toronto History on Flickr
• The History of Toronto: An 11,000 Year Journey

Sites worth visiting for historical content

• Heritage Toronto
• Silent Toronto
• Torontoist's Historicist series
• Lost Toronto
• Urban Toronto
• Toronto Dreams Historical Ephemera Blog

Photos in this post derive from the Toronto Archives with the exception of the painting of a streetcar on Dundas, which is by Michel Binette ("Brush Strokes on Dundas Street" 1979).