Sunday, 19 April 2009

My Town Monday - Toronto Then and Now



At the SW corner of King and Yonge Streets was the Dominion Bank. This photo was taken in 1890.








Today on the same corner stands the a newer bank built in the 1920s of the Toronto-Dominion Bank with a modern tower transformed into a luxury condo-hotel at One King Street West.









[Toronto's First Union Station pre 1850 by William Armstrong - wikipedia]




Toronto’s first train station was built by the Grand Trunk railway in 1858 at a location just west of the present train station today.


[Great Western Railway- Toronto c 1870 - wikipedia]






[Toronto Union Station from rear circa 1885 - wikimedia]






[Union Station in 1888 from the water]





[Union station c. 1913]





[New union station opened in 1927 - postcard 1939 - CanuckNurse CC=sa-flickr]




[Union Station in 2003 - Laird Scott CC=nc-nd-flickr]






[Sunnyside House at Queensway and Glendale]






[Today the location is of the St Josephs Health Centre - allaboutgeorge CC=flickr - click to enlarge]





[Downtown Toronto in 1939 from postcard - CanuckNurse CC=sa-flickr]






[Downtown Toronto in 2003 - Kingdafy CC=nc-nd-flickr]



Travis Erwin from Amarillo, Texas is the founder of My Town Monday. For other locations to visit please go to Travis' site here.

16 comments:

  1. They just don't build them as cool anymore! Lovely old buildings.

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  2. Toronto looks pretty both then and now.

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  3. I love your Toronto then and now posts, Barbara. My favorite picture today is the one of the horse wagons at the back of the railroad station. Times sure have changed, haven't they?

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  4. Ooooh! I'm first! You know what, Barbara, I could look at this photos all day long. I so wish I was going home this summer.

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  5. You find the best postcards, Barbara! The ones I find always have oversized fish or neon hotel signs.

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  6. Great historical photos and sketches. They make a wonderful comparison to today.

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  7. It's amazing to see progress in action.

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  8. Clair, most buildings today are no longer made from stone, but steel and glass.

    Patti, the city reclaimed the area south of the lake shoreline and built south of Union Station.

    Teresa, they have and sometimes I wonder if for the better.

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  9. Barrie, nice try. You might be able to wrangle a trip if the exchange rate stays higher for US$.

    Charles, most every place has changed in last hundred or so years.

    Clare, the postcards are there waiting to be discovered.

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  10. Reb, thanks.

    Travis, many things have changed in Toronto since the mid-1600s.

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  11. I love the historical view you share. It is so interesting to see "then" and "now." Thanks, Barbara.

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  12. Love the old pictures...especially the blurry one :)

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  13. Debra, you will have something to look forward to as there will be many more.

    L.A., seems we are kindred souls in old photos as well as time.

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  14. I loved this collection of before and afters. Excellent shots. Many thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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  15. I really like the Toronto Union Station picture. There's something simple and elegantly industrious about it.

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