2008 marks the 150th anniversary of the first Union Station in Toronto. This sesquicentennial will be commemorated by an illustrated lecture at 7 pm on June 23 at the Toronto Reference Library near Yonge and Bloor Streets. This presentation is co-sponsored by Heritage Toronto and the Toronto Public Library.

The railway era began in Toronto in 1853, when the first Ontario, Simcoe & Huron Ry. train departed from the city for Machell's Corners, thirty miles to the north. A year later, that community was renamed Aurora. The Toronto passenger station was located on the south side of Front Street about where the eastern entrance to Union Station is today. The Great Western Railway opened between Toronto and Hamilton in 1855 and built its own station at the foot of Bathurst Street.