40 Amazing Vintage Photographs That Show What Toronto Looked Like in the 1900s

Toronto in the 1900s didn’t much resemble the city we know today. Not only was the skyline virtually undeveloped—the tallest structures were the Temple Building at 10 storeys and the Trader’s Bank Building at 15 storeys—but the Bloor Viaduct was yet to link the east and west sides of the city.

In the 1900s, Toronto had a population of approximately 210,000 people, horses and carriages were still common on city streets, and the city suffered one of the worst fires in its history, losing almost all of the main commercial district (bounded by Bay, Wellington, Yonge, and Front Streets).

Here’s what Toronto looked like through the 1900s:

King Street, 1900

Board of Trade Building, 1900

Cycling club, 1900

Weston Train Station, 1900

Eaton’s factory interior, 1901

Laying asphalt on Elm Avenue, 1902

Jarvis Street, 1903

Entrance to U of T campus, 1903

Yonge looking north from Temperance, 1903

Fire aftermath, 1904

Fire aftermath, 1904

CNE midway, 1904

Candy department Eaton’s, 1904

High Park, 1904

St. Lawrence Market, 1904

Newsboy, 1905

Tally Ho showing visitors around the city, 1905

Crystal Palace (later destroyed by fire), 1906

Sleighing at Queen’s Park, 1906

Yonge and Front, 1906

Bookies at Woodbine Race Track (original), 1907

Carriage ride, 1907

Cycling in Mimico, 1907

Hanlan’s Point Hotel and Regatta, 1907

Bathurst north of St. Clair, 1907

Old (but then new) City Hall, 1907

Diving Horse at Hanlan’s Point, 1907

The Grange, 1907

Confederation Life Building, 1907

Yonge north of Bloor, 1907

Queen and James, 1908

Government House, 1908

Yonge and Queen, 1908

Dufferin Racetrack, 1908

University Avenue (with Queen’s Park in the distance), 1908

William Davies Store, 1908

Toronto Street, 1908

Collecting coal, 1909

Queen and Spadina, 1909

Ruins of Hanlan’s Point Hotel, 1909

(via blogTO)