The PATH began in 1900, when the T. Eaton Co. joined its Yonge Street store and its bargain annex with tunnels. Five tunnels existed downtown by 1917, a Union Station link followed in 1927, and developers built most of the rest from the 1960s on. The City of Toronto now says the network spans more than 30 kilometres.
The first tunnel, 1900
The first underground walkway in downtown Toronto was a commercial convenience. The Toronto Financial District Business Improvement Area and the City of Toronto both date the start to 1900, when the T. Eaton Co. connected its main store at 178 Yonge Street to its bargain annex with tunnels. Wikipedia adds that the tunnel ran under James Street and that it is still in use, but that detail rests on a single secondary source, so treat it as likely rather than settled. The story of the company behind it is told in the articles on Eaton’s in Toronto and on Timothy Eaton.
The tunnel was a private passage between two properties of one company. Neither the City nor the BIA describes it as the start of a planned pedestrian system, and the idea of a system came much later.
The City of Toronto’s PATH page lists the next steps in a short timeline. By 1917 there were five tunnels in the downtown core. In 1927 a tunnel was built between Union Station and the Royal York Hotel. The station itself opened that year, and the history of Union Station covers the building. Wikipedia reports that this tunnel was later replaced by a connection between the Royal York and Royal Bank Plaza.
Why the network grew in the 1960s
After the Second World War, downtown Toronto changed fast. The Yonge Street subway opened in 1954, which is covered in the article on the Yonge subway opening, and a new generation of large office towers began to rise in the financial district. The Financial District BIA says planners of the 1960s worried about crowded sidewalks as these towers went up. Linking buildings to one another and to subway stations underground offered a way to add shops and services and to reach more people.
A study of the PATH published by the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto describes the same moment. Postwar planners took a handful of existing underground links and recast them as an “urban pedestrian system,” a response that several North American cities tried at the time as traffic and density increased. The Daniels summary adds that public investment and planning interest were short-lived and that the City’s direct role stayed small. After that the network grew unevenly, driven mostly by private developers.
Wikipedia credits the city planner Matthew Lawson with persuading developers in the 1960s to build underground malls with the promise that they would later be linked. Other secondary accounts repeat this, but I did not find the claim in a primary source, so it is given here as attributed rather than confirmed.
The Toronto-Dominion Centre and the office-tower model
One of the new office complexes of the period had a shopping level built under the ground. The Ontario Heritage Trust’s background paper on the Toronto-Dominion Centre says the complex was built between 1963 and 1969 with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe as lead architect, working with John B. Parkin Associates and Bregman and Hamann Architects. The 56-storey Toronto-Dominion Bank Tower was finished in 1967, the one-storey Banking Pavilion in 1968, and the 46-storey Royal Trust Tower in 1969. Beneath the granite plaza is a below-grade shopping concourse. According to the Trust, the original plans allowed for about 14,300 square metres of retail space there, along with underground parking for 700 vehicles. The bank that gave the centre its name has its own story in the article on Toronto-Dominion Bank.
The Trust paper does not mention the PATH, and I could not confirm from a primary source that the concourse was connected to other buildings in the 1960s. Secondary accounts, including Wikipedia, describe the complex as an early example of a large downtown development with underground shopping and room to grow. The sources reviewed do not describe a 1960s link between the Toronto-Dominion Centre and Union Station, so none is claimed here.
The Trust also records that the City designated the first three buildings under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in 2003, and that a provincial plaque was unveiled on June 7, 2005.
Growth in the 1970s and the move to a single system
The City’s timeline picks up again in the 1970s. Growth accelerated then, and its first step was a tunnel that joined the Richmond-Adelaide Centre to the Sheraton Centre. Wikipedia places that link in the early 1970s.
For years there was no central plan. The change came in 1987, when City Council made the City the coordinating agency for the PATH and agreed to pay for a system-wide signage design. In 1988 the City hired design firms to develop a design concept. The Financial District BIA says three firms were hired. Colour-coded signs were developed in the early 1990s to help people find their way. A newer wayfinding system was commissioned in 2016 and 2017 by the City and the Financial District BIA and installed in spring 2018.
Wikipedia lists later milestones that I have not checked against primary sources. They include a tunnel built north from Scotia Plaza through Bay Adelaide Centre that began in the last quarter of 2007, a 2011 to 2012 long-term plan that called for 45 new entry points and up to 60 kilometres of walkways, and a covered bridge from Scotiabank Arena to a building on Queens Quay in August 2014. Dates for later links are best checked against current City maps.
How big it is, according to the City
Size claims for the PATH vary, so it helps to use one source and give its date. The City of Toronto’s PATH page, last modified on January 21, 2025, says the network is mostly underground and spans more than 30 kilometres. It lists more than 75 connected buildings and access to six subway stations. The City puts retail space at 3.7 million square feet and counts about 1,200 restaurants, shops and services. It estimates $1.7 billion in annual sales and 4,600 jobs, and it says more than 200,000 business-day commuters use the PATH. The Daniels study also describes the network as about 30 kilometres long.
Other published figures are lower. Some travel and reference pages give 27 kilometres. The difference comes down to what counts as part of the PATH, and the City’s figure should be treated as the current official description rather than a measured total.
Wikipedia says Guinness World Records listed the PATH as the largest underground shopping complex in the world in 2016, with more than 1,200 retail fronts, but it sources that claim to a single local newspaper article. The City page makes no such claim. The same Wikipedia page says Montreal’s underground network passed the PATH in length in 2023. Because both statements rest on secondary reporting, they are offered as reports, not facts. Readers who want the City’s current figures, a map and practical advice for finding their way can use the separate article on the PATH as an underground shopping network.
What the history shows
The PATH was not designed as one project. A department store began it in 1900, a railway and a hotel added a link in 1927, and developers built most of the rest from the 1960s on, with the City stepping in as coordinator in 1987. That explains why the walkway has no single owner and why the quality of its corridors varies from one building to the next. The segments were laid out to serve the buildings they connect, which is one reason signage became a City project.
The Daniels study notes that the network is largely detached from street-level life and that the City’s recent Downtown Plan gives the PATH only minor attention. That is a scholarly judgment, not a fact about every corridor, but it fits the pattern in the dates above. The City’s main contributions have been signage and wayfinding, in 1987 to the early 1990s and again in 2016 to 2018, rather than construction.
Frequently asked questions
When did the PATH begin?
The City of Toronto dates the start to 1900, when the T. Eaton Co. linked its stores with tunnels. By 1917 there were five tunnels downtown.
When was the Union Station tunnel built?
The City lists a tunnel from Union Station to the Royal York Hotel in 1927. Wikipedia reports that it was later replaced by a different connection.
Who built the PATH?
No single builder did. The University of Toronto’s Daniels Faculty describes growth driven mostly by private developers. The City became the coordinating agency in 1987.
How long is the PATH?
The City of Toronto says more than 30 kilometres, on a page last modified on January 21, 2025. Some other sources give lower figures such as 27 kilometres.
Did the Toronto-Dominion Centre start the PATH?
No. The network began in 1900. The Toronto-Dominion Centre, whose first tower was finished in 1967, is described by secondary sources as an early large development with underground shopping.
Sources
- City of Toronto, PATH: Toronto’s Downtown Pedestrian Walkway (page last modified January 21, 2025; accessed October 2026)
- Toronto Financial District Business Improvement Area, PATH history (accessed October 2026)
- Ontario Heritage Trust, Provincial Plaque Program background paper, Toronto-Dominion Centre (accessed October 2026)
- University of Toronto, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, “Multi-Layered Urbanism: Toronto’s PATH System” (accessed October 2026)
- Wikipedia, “Path (Toronto)” (accessed October 2026), used only for statements attributed to it in the text
Related reading
- The PATH as an underground shopping network
- Eaton’s in Toronto
- Toronto Union Station history
- Yonge subway opening, 1954
- Eaton Centre directory
Last verified: November 2026
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, November 1). PATH Underground Walkway History: From Eaton’s Tunnel to Today. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/path-underground-walkway-history
MLA: “PATH Underground Walkway History: From Eaton’s Tunnel to Today.” History of Toronto, 1 Nov 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/path-underground-walkway-history. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “PATH Underground Walkway History: From Eaton’s Tunnel to Today.” Last modified November 1, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/path-underground-walkway-history.
The pages have no named author, so the site is given as the author. Add the date you read the page if your style asks for it.