All these TTC subway stations were once the 'end of the line'

A trip along either of Toronto's two subway lines in the present day is plenty of time to catch up on work, consume an entire podcast, or maybe just sit and disassociate between the omnipresent obligations of everyday life. 

But this wasn't always the case, and, for previous generations, that "end of the line" announcement used to come a whole lot faster.

Let's look back at some of the TTC subway stations that were once the last stops on their routes.

Line 1 Yonge–University

1954: Eglinton, Union 

Toronto's — and Canada's — first subway line opened Mar. 30, 1954, with an initial 7.4-kilometre route connecting Union Station in the south with Eglinton Station in the north. It was shiny and new, but it had a long way to go.

1963: Eglinton, St. George

The Yonge Line became the Yonge-University Line in 1963 when the route was extended north from the original southern terminus of Union up to a new terminal station at St. George via University Avenue, giving those bright red early-era trains a bit more ground to cover.

1973: York Mills, St. George

The Yonge leg of the line was extended further north to York Mills in 1973. At this point, the almost 20-year-old line extended almost 15 kilometres — roughly doubling in length from the 1954 route — serving 19 stations.

1974: Finch, St. George

The following year, the Yonge subway was extended north, reaching its current (as of 2025) terminus of Finch.

1978: Finch, Wilson

A significant extension came four years later, when the western leg of the line was continued up Spadina and along the then-new Allen Expressway — a stub of the cancelled Spadina Expressway — terminating at Wilson Station.  In just 20 years of growth, the Yonge subway had become the Yonge-University Line, which again was changed to the Yonge-University-Spadina Line.

1996: Finch, Downsview (renamed Sheppard West in 2017)

The busiest subway line in the country remained in a state of stasis for the better part of two decades, before another minor extension pushed the line's western leg to Downsview. At this point, the line covered approximately 26 kilometres and 30 stations.

2017: Finch, Vaughan Metropolitan Centre

Renamed "Line 1 Yonge–University" in early 2014, the route was extended outside of Toronto for the first time a few years later with the massive Toronto-York-Spadina Subway Extension Project.

This extension, which brought the line to its current form as of 2025, saw six new stations opened with the new terminus at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, bringing the line to 38 stations across over 38 kilometres of track spanning two cities.

But there's more in store for Line 1, with the forthcoming Yonge North Subway Extension to bring the line's eastern leg north from Finch Station into Vaughan, Markham and Richmond Hill, with another five stations across roughly eight kilometres of track.

Line 2 Bloor–Danforth

1966: Keele, Woodbine

Toronto got its second subway line on Feb. 26, 1966, when the Bloor-Danforth subway opened from Keele to Woodbine, running just shy of 13 kilometres end-to-end.

1968: Islington, Warden

Work to extend the line began immediately after its opening, and just over two years after the city's second subway route first got rolling, the Bloor-Danforth grew again with nine new stations — gaining three stations at the east end of the route and six more in the west.

1980: Kipling, Kennedy

The line grew by one station on each end a dozen years later, with the introduction of Kipling and Kennedy stations, reaching its current (as of 2025) length of just over 26 kilometres and 31 stations.

Renamed Line 2 Bloor–Danforth in 2014, the line is now growing yet again, with a 7.8-kilometre extension into Scarborough that will add another three stops to the line.

Honourable mention: Interlined subway routes

The TTC briefly experimented with interlining its subway network for six months in 1966 in conjunction with the Bloor-Danforth subway's opening, where trains would cover both lines in a somewhat confusing arrangement that the transit agency ultimately scrapped.

While the experiment was short-lived, it did result in Toronto's only ghost subway station in Lower Bay, which was shuttered for good at the conclusion of the interlining program.