The Bloor-Danforth subway, Toronto’s first east-west subway, opened between Keele and Woodbine stations in February 1966, running under Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue and across the Don Valley on the lower deck of the Prince Edward Viaduct. The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) lists the official opening as February 25, 1966, while the City of Toronto and Transit Toronto give February 26. The line was later extended to Islington and Warden in 1968 and to Kipling and Kennedy in 1980.
The story has two parts that sit 50 years apart: a bridge deck built in 1918 for trains that did not yet exist, and a series of political and financing decisions in the late 1950s that finally put trains on it. This article follows both, and shows where the sources give different dates.
A deck built for trains that did not exist
The route across the Don Valley was settled long before the subway was. According to Transit Toronto’s station history, voters rejected a bridge linking Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue in 1910, 1911, and 1912, the last vote lost by 59 votes. A 1913 referendum approved the viaduct by 9,236 votes. The City of Toronto’s online exhibit on proposed building and transport schemes confirms the three earlier defeats and adds that bidders in 1913 submitted designs both with and without a lower deck for a future subway.
Transit Toronto states that Toronto’s Commissioner of Public Works, R.C. Harris, required the lower deck in the 1913 design, and that the viaduct was finished in 1918 under its budget of $2.5 million. The City exhibit does not name Harris. It says only that the lower deck was eventually used when the Bloor-Danforth line opened in 1966. The two sources are consistent, but the attribution to Harris rests on the Transit Toronto account alone. The structure itself, designed by architect Edmund Burke with construction engineer Thomas Taylor, is covered in the Prince Edward Viaduct article.
Why Bloor and not Queen
Transit Toronto’s history of the city’s subways traces the debate. In 1942 the TTC proposed two streetcar subways, one under Yonge Street and Bay Street and one under Queen Street and Adelaide Street. In 1945 it proposed a full rapid-transit subway under Yonge and a smaller streetcar subway under Queen. On January 1, 1946, Toronto ratepayers approved a subway proposal by a wide margin, on condition of a 20 percent federal subsidy. The subsidy did not come through, and the Queen line was shelved. The Yonge line was built from 1949 and opened in 1954 (see the article on the Yonge subway opening).
The TTC then argued for the Bloor-Danforth corridor because streetcar ridership on Bloor was rising and the city was spreading outward. The city and some Etobicoke towns opposed the choice, and a compromise nicknamed the “Flying-U” did not win enough councillors. The decision was made at the new metropolitan level created in 1954 (see Metropolitan Toronto in 1954). Transit Toronto records that Metro Council approved the Bloor subway in January 1958, the Ontario Municipal Board approved it in September 1958, and Metro Council approved the financing in April 1959.
Building the line in three phases
The plan was staged. The first phase was the University subway, a line from Union Station north under University Avenue to Bloor Street. The City exhibit gives November 16, 1959, as the official groundbreaking for that line and February 28, 1963, as its opening. The second phase ran from St. George to Greenwood. The third, to Woodbine and Keele, was originally scheduled for 1969. Transit Toronto reports that in the early 1960s the province advanced the TTC $60 million so that the Keele-to-Woodbine section could be built in one go. The whole project, including the University line, was estimated at $200 million.
The City exhibit places the start of Bloor-Danforth construction in June 1962. Most of the route was built by cut and cover, in which a trench is dug along the street and roofed over. Transit Toronto lists two bored sections: about 686 m (2,250 ft) between Yonge and Sherbourne, and about 561 m (1,842 ft) between Lansdowne and Dundas West. Keele became the system’s first elevated subway station, and the line rose over a dip near Dundas West. Transit Toronto also notes that asbestos fibre was sprayed on tunnel walls to reduce noise, a practice later regretted.
At the east end of Rosedale Valley the subway did not follow Bloor Street. Transit Toronto explains that the curve of the Bloor Street bridge was too sharp for subway cars, so the line left Bloor at Castle Frank and crossed the ravine on a bridge the TTC built for itself.
Opening day and its disputed date
The opening was a single day on paper and two days in the record. The TTC’s list of official opening dates gives Keele to Woodbine as February 25, 1966. The City of Toronto’s TTC exhibit and Transit Toronto’s history both give February 26, 1966. Transit Toronto’s station page for Castle Frank also says that station opened on February 26. The sources do not explain the difference. A plausible reading, which none of them states, is that one date marks the official ceremony and the other the start of public service, so the two dates are shown here side by side instead of being merged.
According to Transit Toronto, the new line doubled the number of subway stations and allowed the TTC to cut back many streetcar routes. The TTC had also moved its bus network onto a grid ahead of the University and Bloor-Danforth openings, as the City exhibit notes.
Extensions and a timeline
Work on the extensions began on March 1, 1965, according to Transit Toronto. The same date-and-source pattern repeats in each later opening, with the TTC one day earlier than the City exhibit and Transit Toronto.
| Event | TTC official list | City of Toronto exhibit |
|---|---|---|
| Keele to Woodbine opens | February 25, 1966 | February 26, 1966 |
| Islington and Warden open | May 10, 1968 | May 11, 1968 |
| Kipling and Kennedy open | November 21, 1980 | November 22, 1980 |
Transit Toronto puts the cost of the final two stations at $110 million: $71.4 million for Kennedy and $38.6 million for Kipling. Its history describes them as the last subway extensions for some time. The later story of the network is in the article on the Toronto subway.
Frequently asked questions
When did the Bloor-Danforth subway open?
The first section, from Keele to Woodbine, opened in February 1966. The TTC gives February 25, 1966, and the City of Toronto and Transit Toronto give February 26, 1966.
How does the subway cross the Don Valley?
It runs on the lower deck of the Prince Edward Viaduct, which was built into the bridge before it was completed in 1918 and left unused until 1966.
Why does the subway leave Bloor Street near Castle Frank?
Transit Toronto says the curve of the Bloor Street bridge over Rosedale Valley was too sharp for subway cars, so the TTC built its own bridge across the ravine.
Was the Bloor-Danforth line built before the Yonge line?
No. The Yonge subway opened in 1954 and the University line in 1963. Bloor-Danforth followed in 1966.
Related reading
- The Prince Edward Viaduct and its lower deck
- The Yonge subway opening of 1954
- Danforth Avenue and Greektown
- Metropolitan Toronto and its 1954 decisions
- An overview of Toronto’s history
Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- Transit Toronto, A History of Subways on Bloor and Queen Streets
- City of Toronto, The TTC: 100 Years of Moving Toronto, Bloor-Danforth-University Subway (online exhibit)
- Toronto Transit Commission, Official Opening Dates (Operating Statistics 2020 page on the TTC)
- Transit Toronto, Castle Frank station history (Subway Station Database)
- City of Toronto, No Little Plans: Roads (online exhibit)
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 25). The Bloor-Danforth Subway of 1966: How It Was Built. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/bloor-danforth-subway-1966
MLA: “The Bloor-Danforth Subway of 1966: How It Was Built.” History of Toronto, 25 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/bloor-danforth-subway-1966. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “The Bloor-Danforth Subway of 1966: How It Was Built.” Last modified October 25, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/bloor-danforth-subway-1966.
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