Transportation history and railway heritage site.

Details of Site Location: On the north side of the railway tracks south of Queen Street and in line with Gladstone Avenue.

Boundary History: The station occupied less than half an acre.

Current Use of Property: None.

Historical Description: Over time, there were six railway stations that had Parkdale in their names. This one was the first of the series and has two incarnations, both more or less on the same site. The company that built this station in 1856 is the most historic of all. It went through several rapid changes in name: Incorporated in 1849 as the Toronto Simcoe and Lake Huron Union Railroad Company, by the next year the name had been changed to the Ontario Simcoe and Huron Union Railroad Company. In 1858 it changed its name again, to the Northern Railway Company of Canada; it is as the Northern Railway that it is usually remembered and noted on maps. The first line ran to Aurora, then to Collingwood with a branch line to Barrie. In 1888, the company was absorbed by the Grand Trunk Railway. But it and this station are pioneers in Toronto’s railway history. The small wooden station building was used as a passenger station until 1885. The company had other structures in the city, but not in the immediate area, so the station came to be viewed as too small for the burgeoning community of Parkdale. Under Grand Trunk, the station remained on the same site but was enlarged and reoriented to face the tracks in 1885. By 1889 it bore the name of North Parkdale. The Canadian National Railways took over Grand Trunk and continued to use the station until 1976, when it was abandoned. Despite the fact that it was not particularly attractive and was rambling in character, the station was moved, complete with wooden platform, in 1977 to Sunnyside, where it served all CN passengers going north. In October of that year, the station was destroyed by fire and never replaced. All of Parkdale’s other stations are later than this one.

Relative Importance: The importance of this first of Parkdale’s passenger stations lies in its pioneer history, built by the first of Toronto’s railway companies. It is also significant because it served a rapidly growing community that attracted other railway companies to build stations in Parkdale. While it was not the very first of all stations in Toronto, it was first to be built to serve a new community.

Planning Implications: It would support local pride and public education generally if a plaque were to be mounted on the site explaining the pioneer railway and the station, as well as the evolution of Parkdale as a community.

Reference Source: William Hood, private collection.