The Junction, formally West Toronto Junction, is a west-end Toronto neighbourhood centred on Dundas Street West at Keele Street. It took its name from the railway lines that met there in the 1880s and was a separate town until Toronto annexed it in 1909. The stockyards opened in 1903, and local voters kept the area dry from 1903 or 1904 until the last dry pocket voted for licensed premises in November 2000.
A crossing before the railways
The land sits on a flat plain left by the glacial lake that preceded Lake Ontario, between creek valleys to the north and south. A City of Toronto heritage study notes that Indigenous trails crossed the region, including the Toronto Carrying Place, and that the Mississaugas of the Credit negotiated the Toronto Purchase of 1787 and Treaty 13 in 1805. The article on the Toronto Carrying Place covers the trail in more detail. After York was founded in 1793, Dundas Street and Old Weston Road became the main routes through the district. Estates, inns and farms lined them.
The Junction Residents Association says the area was mostly rural until the 1870s. The Carleton Race Course, owned by the Keele family, occupied much of the land from 1857 to 1876. After the railways arrived, Daniel Webster Clendenan developed the old track area. The two main straightaways of the track survive as High Park Avenue and Pacific Avenue.
The railways and the name
Three rail lines reached the district in the second half of the 19th century. The City’s study lists the Grand Trunk Railway in 1856, the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway in 1871 and the Credit Valley Railway in 1879. The Canadian Pacific Railway later took over the Credit Valley line, and the City says the convergence of lines near Keele and Dundas gave the area its name. The Junction Residents Association adds that the name may also recall two Indigenous trails that crossed here, so the origin of the name is not settled. For the wider story of the lines, see the 19th-century railways of Toronto.
The Canadian Pacific built large yards from Keele Street west to Scarlett Road. Foundries, mills and wire factories followed, drawn by cheaper land, labour and taxes. The area gained an official port of entry in the 1890s, so local firms could clear goods without going downtown. By the 1920s the Junction was one of Toronto’s two main manufacturing districts, with the waterfront as the other.
Village, town, city and annexation
The municipal timeline moved fast. The City’s study says the Village of West Toronto Junction was established in 1884 and incorporated in 1887. It became a town in 1889, after joining neighbouring communities including Carleton and Davenport, according to the Residents Association. It was later renamed the Town of Toronto Junction and then became the City of West Toronto in 1908. Toronto annexed it in 1909. The Residents Association says the boom years ran from 1888 to 1890, followed by a hard recession from 1893 to 1900.
Workers came from many places. The Residents Association lists Irish Catholics and English industrial workers first, then Italians, Poles, Macedonians and Croatians. A Maltese community grew up around Dundas Street and St. John’s Road from the early 1920s, and the neighbourhood is still called Little Malta. The City’s study says the Maltese community flourished after the Second World War. See Italian Toronto and postwar immigration for the wider patterns.
The Union Stock Yards
The stockyards were the district’s biggest employer. The City’s history of Toronto’s meat industry says the Union Stock Yards opened in 1903 at the south-west corner of St. Clair Avenue West and Keele Street. Gunns set up there in 1907 and the Harris Abattoir in 1913. Canada Packers formed in 1927 from a merger of the William Davies Company and the Harris firm. The Government of Ontario took over the yards in 1944 and renamed them the Ontario Stock Yards.
Sources disagree on the closing date. The City gives 1994, after more than 90 years of business, while the Residents Association says the yards closed in 1993 and moved to Cookstown. Most nearby meat-packing plants closed soon afterward. The site is now a big-box retail area still called Stockyards.
Why the Junction stayed dry
Local voters banned the sale of alcohol early in the 20th century. Sources give 1903 and 1904 for the vote. The Globe and Mail reported in 2000 that the town revoked liquor licences in 1903 because of rowdiness, and the City and Heritage Toronto both say 1904. Heritage Toronto tells one story behind the campaign. A man was killed walking home from the Subway Hotel on Keele Street in the winter of 1897, and residents blamed drink. A local politician known as “Temperance Bill” Temple (1898 to 1988) led the later fight to keep the Junction dry. The wider provincial story is in the article on the Ontario Temperance Act.
The Globe reported that when the Junction joined Toronto in 1909, it did so on condition that it could decide whether to stay dry. The ban ended in two steps. In the 1997 municipal election the area west of Keele voted to allow alcohol. The eastern half stayed dry after falling 24 votes short of the 60 per cent needed. On November 13, 2000, residents of that remaining part voted 76 per cent in favour of sales in licensed premises, and the Globe called it the last alcohol-free neighbourhood in the city. The City’s study dates the end of prohibition to 2000, while some local accounts say 1997 or 1998, so the answer depends on which part of the Junction you mean.
Dundas Street West declined in the later 20th century. The City’s study blames suburban competition, industrial closures and the alcohol ban, and the Residents Association says restaurants and bars could not operate while the ban lasted. It credits the end of the ban with encouraging new restaurants and bars.
Dundas Street West: buildings to look for
The main street is the Junction’s historic core. The City’s study area runs along Dundas Street West from Annette Street to near Malta Park and includes 292 properties, of which 154 are proposed as contributing to the heritage character. The study says almost half of the buildings date from 1900 to 1919 and about 70 per cent from before 1920. The buildings it highlights include:
- James Hall at 2975 Dundas Street West, the former town hall.
- The former Crystal Theatre at 2897 Dundas Street West.
- The Campbell Block warehouse at 2856 Dundas Street West.
- Five early bank buildings, including the former Dominion Bank at 2945 and the Standard Bank at 3079.
- The former Avenue Hotel at 340 High Park Avenue.
- Postal Station D at 330 Keele Street and Fire Station 423 at 358 Keele Street.
The study is still a proposal, so heritage designation may change the list. West of the district lies High Park, and the rail corridor to the north forms a clear edge. Former industrial sites north of Dundas have been redeveloped since about 2000, according to the City.
Frequently asked questions
Why is it called the Junction?
The City of Toronto says the area is named after the railway junction near Keele and Dundas, where several lines met in the 1880s. A local history group suggests the name may also recall two Indigenous trails that crossed there.
When did the Junction become part of Toronto?
Toronto annexed the City of West Toronto in 1909. The community had been a village from 1887, a town from 1889 and a city from 1908.
How long was the Junction dry?
The ban began in 1903 or 1904, depending on the source. The area west of Keele voted to allow alcohol in 1997, and the last dry pocket voted for licensed premises in November 2000.
What happened to the Toronto stockyards?
The Union Stock Yards opened in 1903 at St. Clair Avenue West and Keele Street and later became the Ontario Stock Yards. They closed in 1993 or 1994, depending on the source, and the site is now a retail area.
What is Little Malta?
Little Malta is the area around Dundas Street West and St. John’s Road. It has been known by that name since the early 1920s and still has Maltese businesses and a Maltese church.
Sources
- City of Toronto, City Planning, West Toronto Junction Main Street Heritage Conservation District Study, findings and recommendations display boards (2026)
- Junction Residents Association, “A Short History of the Junction” (accessed October 2026)
- City of Toronto, online exhibit “Made in Toronto: Meat” (accessed October 2026)
- The Globe and Mail, “Vote in the Junction makes Toronto all wet,” November 15, 2000
- Heritage Toronto, “Junction Triangle Prohibition Ghosts” (accessed October 2026)
- Wikipedia, “The Junction” and “Ontario Stockyards” (accessed October 2026), used only for orientation
Related reading
- Railways of 19th-century Toronto
- Ontario Temperance Act of 1916
- High Park history
- The Toronto Carrying Place
- Postwar immigration to Toronto
- Roncesvalles Village history
Last verified: October 2026
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 31). The Junction Toronto History: Railways, Stockyards and the Dry Years. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/the-junction-toronto-history
MLA: “The Junction Toronto History: Railways, Stockyards and the Dry Years.” History of Toronto, 31 Oct 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/the-junction-toronto-history. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “The Junction Toronto History: Railways, Stockyards and the Dry Years.” Last modified October 31, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/the-junction-toronto-history.
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