page_title: Railway Lands
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Railway Lands / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Original caption: “Toronto from the Air.”
context_page_description: Railway Lands is an area in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally a large railway switching yard near the Toronto waterfront, including the CNR Spadina Roundhouse and the CPR John Roundhouse, it has since been redeveloped and today is home to mostly mixed-used development, including the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre. The lands were owned and maintained by the Canadian National Railway and later transferred to the federal crown corporation Canada Lands Company. The area is bounded by Front Street, Yonge Street, Gardiner Expressway and Bathurst Street. The western portion of the Railway Lands is now part of the CityPlace neighbourhood and the eastern portion is now called South Core.
context_section_description: The first railway, Ontario, Simcoe and Huron (OS&H), arrived in Toronto in 1853 with a station located near the current Union Station. Rivals Grand Trunk Railway and Great Western Railway arrived in Toronto to compete with OS&H. The competition placed a strain on the new station and by 1873 a new Union Station was built by the GTR. In the 1880s Grand Trunk Railway acquired rival railways (GWR in 1882 and OS&H in 1888) and the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived in the city in 1888.
  The competition soon meant the second station was strained as well and by 1900 there was a need for a newer station. From the 1850s to 1920s the area south of the railway lands were filled in to accommodate railway needs. From 1858 onwards the railway expanded in area as the first Union Station was built. From the 1850s to 1920s, the area south of Front Street was filled in to provide more room for railways, industrial growth and harbour needs.
  On July 13, 1906, the Toronto Terminals Railway (TTR) was incorporated to "construct, provide, maintain and operate at the City of Toronto a union passenger station". It was also responsible for the entire 6.4 kilometres (4.0 miles) long railway corridor on either side of the station, between west of Bathurst Street and the Don River, known as the Union Station Rail Corridor (USRC).
  The TTR was jointly owned by the Grand Trunk Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway who each held 50% of the TTR shares. During station construction, the Grand Trunk Railway went bankrupt, was fully nationalized by the Government of Canada, and merged into the Canadian National Railway which would assume the Grand Trunk's 50% ownership of the TTR (and thus the third Union Station).
  Union Station was opened on August 6, 1927 by the Prince of Wales, although it was not completed yet. Four days later, the track network was shifted from the former second Union Station. To get to trains, passengers would walk from the south doors to the tracks located several hundred feet to the south while the new USRC viaduct, concourse and train shed was under construction. Demolition of the second Union Station began almost immediately and was completed in 1928. The third Union Station was not fully completed until 1930 when construction of the train shed had finished. The first major change to the Station took place in 1954 when the Toronto Transit Commission opened its Union subway station adjacent to Union Station, buried beneath Front Street.
caption: The Railway Lands between the Toronto waterfront and Front Street, c. 1919. The area saw a build up of rail lines from the 1850s to the 1920s.
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