Original Photo: 

This 1890s view from the City of Toronto Archives is looking south over the Dufferin Street crossing of the Grand Trunk Railway. The rail line had been opened by the Great Western Railway in 1855, which became part of the Grand Trunk in 1882. This quiet scene belies the busyness that would have prevailed every September during the Toronto Industrial Exhibition since Dufferin Street was then the main entrance to the annual fair. At the centre of this view can be seen the crossing attendant whose job it was to halt road and pedestrian traffic when trains passed over Dufferin Street. The small child standing beside him is possibly his daughter and we can surmise that the house on the left was their domicile. The small buildings right of centre are probably ticket booths for the exhibition. The large building behind the trees is the Palace of Industry, built in 1858 at King Street West and Shaw Street and co-designed by famed engineer Sandford Fleming. In 1878, the structure was disassembled and rebuilt in this location as the Crystal Palace. It burned in 1906 and was replaced by the Horticulture Building. This scene was greatly altered in 1910 when the Exhibition authorities built the imposing Dufferin Gate and in 1912 when the Grand Trunk built a four-track main line through here, today the busiest railway track in Canada. The Dufferin Gate was demolished in 1959 to make way for the Gardiner Expressway.

Research by Derek Boles