Allandale Waterfront GO Station

Early years

The Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Union Railroad (OS&HURR) first built a station here in 1853. The current structure, the fourth station building on the site, was designed by the architectural firm Spier and Rohns, built in 1904 by Richard Scruton, and opened by then-operator Grand Trunk Railway on 19 June 1905. The station provided passenger service for the Grand Trunk and later the Canadian National Railway and Via Rail until closing in 1980. It briefly reopened as a GO passenger facility from 1990 to 1993. In 1996 the CNR lifted rails between Allandale and Longford.

ACDC

The Allandale Community Development Corporation or 'ACDC' (with City interests) purchased the buildings and adjacent 7 acres (28,000 m²) from CNR after train service discontinued in the 1980s. ACDC then sold the station to CHUM Ltd in 2000.

CHUM ownership

CHUM Ltd. purchased the 6.9 acres (28,000 m²) of land, including the station buildings for $1,050,000 in 2000. CHUM planned to restore the Allandale Station building as part of their plan to develop of a new broadcast centre on the site, though changed their plan in 2004. In 2007 CHUM agreed to sell the property to the City for the same amount CHUM originally paid. CHUM received a Charitable Donation Tax Receipt reflecting the increased value of the property since 2000 largely due to the restoration and site works completed by CHUM.

Redevelopment

Construction of the new Allandale Waterfront GO Station (located adjacent to the historic Allandale Station) broke ground in spring 2010 and the station officially opened on 28 January 2012. Redevelopment of the station cost approximately $5 million.

The area of the historic station is currently undergoing two remaining stages of redevelopment: (i) the City of Barrie is undertaking the restoration of the historic Allandale Station, and (ii) the City of Barrie is undertaking the restoration of Gowan Street, which borders the southern edge of the station lands. The area is expected to become a new transportation and cultural hub of the city once all the construction is complete.

Heritage station buildings

The station buildings comprise a federally designated heritage railway station protected by the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act. The Italianate structures are near the southwest shore of Kempenfeldt Bay in Lake Simcoe, separated from it by a public park. The station complex was originally adjacent to Kempenfeldt Bay until the land behind the station was infilled and levelled to build a rail yard.

The station complex consists of a station building, an office building, and a restaurant adjacent to each other along the rail line. They have a uniform roof pitch, and form an atypical layout for a railway station. The low-pitched roof and deep overhanging eaves are indicative of Prairie School design influence. Two of the buildings were designed in 1904 by the Detroit firm Spier & Rohns.

The interior and exterior features of the buildings are provincially protected under an Ontario Heritage Trust conservation easement. The station building was considered the "flagship of the Grand Trunk" upon its opening.

Services

Allandale Waterfront station has weekday train service consisting of 5 trains southbound to Union Station in the morning, and 7 trains returning northbound from Union Station in the afternoon. At other times, GO bus route 68 connects the station to Newmarket Bus Terminal where passengers can transfer to GO bus route 65 toward Toronto.

Weekend train service consists of 3 trains southbound to Union station in the morning and 3 trains returning northbound in the evening. At other times, GO bus route 68 connects the station to Aurora GO station where passengers can connect to the all-day weekend train service to Toronto.

Connecting buses

Archeology

The Allandale station site was subject of an archeological excavation, during which objects were recovered from the Uren substage of the Middle Ontario Iroquoian period. It has been dated to the late 12th to early 13th century, and was used as a fishing station by the Iroquois. It is the only documented fishing station from the Uren period, and one of few sites of that period to have been discovered.

The site is regarded by archeologists as a temporary location "for exploitation of local fish resources". Numerous fish remains were found in the site's midden, but no longhouses were found there.

Analysis of the fish remains indicates that various species were caught for consumption at this site. These include species in the Catostomidae family (110 White Sucker, 23 Longnose Sucker, and 103 specimens from other Catostomus species), Percidae family (34 Yellow perch and 1 Walleye), as well as 12 Ictaluridae, 14 largemouth bass and 4 smallmouth bass, 5 Centrarchidae, and specimens from several other species.

In 2011, human bone fragment remains were discovered underneath the crawl space of the office building at the site during an excavation for an archeological site assessment as part of grading work for the new train station. These were later determined to have been in the fill used as backfill for the foundation, but was of indeterminate origin. An incisor found amongst those remains was interpreted to be part of the Uren archeological material, but data is insufficient to ascertain its ultimate origin.