By the 1870s, Toronto’s economy and population were booming and the old station was no longer adequate. The Grand Trunk built a new Union Station on the same site that opened on July 1, 1873. At the time it was the largest and most opulent railway station in Canada and was designed in the Italianate/2nd Empire style by architect Thomas Seaton Scott, who later designed Grand Trunk’s Bonaventure Station in Montreal. The builder was John Shedden & Co. and the Chief Engineer was the GTR’s E. P. Hannaford. The main entrance and façade faced the harbour rather than the city, underscoring the continued importance of boat travel on Lake Ontario. As the Grand Trunk absorbed several smaller railways serving Toronto, passenger trains were increasingly consolidated at Union Station. The arrival of the