Summary
King Station was built in 1853 by the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron Railway while its construction was progressing northward from Toronto to Collingwood. It followed a standard design that was built in multiple places on the OS&H in its early years of operation, one of which was further south in Concord. The first train arrived in King on May 16th of the same year, originally only opening to Aurora but with service expanding to Collingwood by December of 1854. King City began to grow around the station as the arrival of the railway brought prosperity with it. The OS&H reorganized as the Northern Railway of Canada in 1859.
In the decades after its construction the station changed hands multiple times, first with the merger between the Northern Railway and the Hamilton & North-Western Railway in 1879. The two formed the Northern & North Western Railway, and by 1881 a total of five trains were stopping at King Station on a daily basis. Seven years later in 1888, the N&NW was itself acquired by the much larger Grand Trunk Railway who made slight modifications to the station around 1900. The renovations included a new bay window for improved visibility from the station agent’s office inside, and possibly other changes to the interior. Service to King Station had increased to eight trains per day by 1920. The Grand Trunk encountered financial difficulties into the 20th century, culminating in its nationalization and subsequent merger with Canadian National in 1923.
The popularization of automobiles during the early to mid 20th century resulted in a decline in passenger ridership. This was further intensified by the completion of Highway 400 in 1952, which ran roughly parallel to the railway and served most of the same communities. The station closed to passengers in 1964 after which it sat abandoned for several years. It was moved to the Kortright Center for Conservation in 1968 but it was neglected and began to rapidly deteriorate in the years that followed. Luckily it was moved again to the King Township Museum in 1989, where it was subsequently restored and put on public display.
The station can still be found on display at the King Township Museum today, and it’s believed to be the oldest surviving railway station in Canada. The King City GO Station was built in the same location as its predecessor in 1982, bringing direct passenger rail service back to the community for the first time in 18 years.
A winter image of King station from the early 1900’s with three men standing in front. Courtesy of the Ross Gray collection. 
An early 1900’s postcard of King station, now under ownership of the Grand Trunk Railway. Note the train in the distance. Courtesy of the Toronto Public Library. 
An April 1910 fire insurance map of King City. Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada. 
A new set of semaphores seem to have been hastily attached to the roof of the station by the time of this 1932 photograph. Courtesy of the Dennis Taylor collection.
Condensed Station Info:
| Location: | Served By: | Current State: | Date Built: | Date Demolished: |
| King Road | NRC (1853 – 1879 N&NW (1879 – 1888) GTR (1888 – 1923) CNR (1923 – 1964) | Moved and Restored | 1853 | N/A |