and Ontario Premier Leslie Frost pulled a switch that began operation of
Canada's First Subway, the Yonge Subway from Eglinton to Union. They then
boarded the first official train to Union Station. More than 250,000 rode that
first day.
Fifty years and 5.7 billion rides later, Toronto Mayor David Miller and
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty will be joined by Human Resources and Skills
Development Minister Joseph Volpe and TTC Chair Howard Moscoe to re-enact the
original ride taken by Frost, Lamport and party half a century ago. They will
ride the official train to Union Station to join the Yonge Subway's 50th
anniversary celebration party in the Grand Hall of Union train station.
The public is invited attend the party by coming directly to the Grand
Hall at Union train station, Bay and Front streets, or boarding the Special
Anniversary train from one of the original 12 stations to the Grand Hall. The
anniversary train leaves Eglinton Station southbound at about 10:35 a.m. It
will stop at Davisville, St. Clair, Summerhill, Rosedale, Bloor-Yonge,
Wellesley, College, Dundas, Queen and King, arriving at Union Station at about
10:50 a.m. The regular subway schedule will continue to serve the entire 69-
station subway system.
At Union train station, entertainment will include musicians from the
Claude Watson School for the Arts, "The Subway Song" - first played in Toronto
in about 1950, strolling entertainers, displays of historic TTC photos, the
John DeRinzy Yonge subway construction art collection and art from Winchester,
Rosedale and Northern Secondary school students. Following the official
ceremony, scheduled to begin shortly after 11 a.m., a giant cake prepared by
the students in the George Brown College Baking and Pastry Arts Programme will
be served.
Public Event
Who: Representatives of three levels of government - Mayor David Miller,
Premier Dalton McGuinty, Human Resources and Skills Development Minister
Joseph Volpe - along with TTC Chair Howard Moscoe
Subway
Where: Public can come directly to Grand Hall at Union Station or join
the Special Anniversary train from any of the original 12 stations,
Eglinton to Union
When: 10:35 a.m. Tuesday, March 30, 2004