Summary

Mimico Station was built by the Great Western Railway in 1856, roughly one year after opening their Toronto Branch between Toronto and Hamilton on December 3rd, 1855. While there are no known photos of this station, it was most likely a small wooden structure containing only a basic waiting room, freight room and station agent’s office. It was located on the north side of the tracks at the foot of Windsor Road. There was an attempt to establish a suburban neighbourhood centered around the railway station during this time and advertised as being eight minutes from Toronto by train. A post office was established in 1858 but the housing plan ultimately failed to materialize. Despite this, Mimico Station would see a total of six trains per day by 1860. This would increase to nine trains per day by the time of Canada’s confederation in 1867. A Toronto to Mimico commuter train was launched by the Great Western at some point after this, but by February 1st, 1881 the Toronto World newspaper reported that it was being operated at a loss and the railway was considering its suspension. The station would change hands when the larger Grand Trunk Railway gained control of the Great Western in 1882.

By 1886, service to Mimico Station had increased significantly to 23 trains per day. The Grand Trunk replaced the station building during the same year ahead of another planned suburban housing project in the area. This time the efforts were successful, and Mimico became a key stop on the Grand Trunk’s commuter passenger trains based out of Toronto. From 1888 until their discontinuation in 1895, these suburban trains regularly ran between Mimico and Toronto’s City Hall Station. A second track was put in place between Toronto and Hamilton during the same period to allow for a higher volume of trains. In an effort to move its freight facilities further away from downtown Toronto, a 120-acre freight yard was constructed just west of Mimico Station between Royal York Road and Kipling Avenue in 1906. The so-called Mimico Yard included a 32-stall roundhouse and a variety of other locomotive maintenance and refueling facilities. The yard would have provided job opportunities to the local population and as Mimico grew, its station was soon made inadequate. A replacement was built by the Grand Trunk once more in 1916, this time on the opposite side of Royal York Road. Beyond having many of the same amenities as its predecessors, it was noticeably larger.

The Grand Trunk Railway encountered financial difficulties during the early 20th century, culminating in its nationalization and subsequent absorption into Canadian National in 1923. For an unknown reason, service to Mimico Station was reduced to just four trains per day by 1925. A slight rebound to seven trains per day would be seen by 1943, but the popularization of automobiles and air travel in the postwar era would cut it short. This was only further exacerbated by the construction of the nearby Gardiner Expressway and Queen Elizabeth Way during the same period. Service was cut to five trains by 1960, then to four by 1963. Mimico Station was closed to passengers in 1967 when the formation of GO Transit. Canadian National proceeded to end its local service between Toronto and Oakville, and GO Transit instead opted to build its own passenger station on the east side of Royal York Road to take advantage of more space for parking than the existing station property could allow for. After many years a group of local community members had the station moved across the street to Coronation Park in 2007. It was then restored and readapted as a community and education centre.

Condensed Station Info:

Location:	Served By:	Current State:	Date Built:	Date Demolished:
Royal York Road and Judson Street	GWR (1856 – 1882) GTR (1882 – 1923) CNR (1923 – 1967)	Demolished (First) Moved and restored (Second)	1856 (First) 1916 (Second)	1916 (First) N/A (Second)