Dec 9, 1911: City controller Horatio Hocken gives a speech at the Board of Trade, calling for a subway line to be built under Bay and Yonge Streets as soon as possible. “A rapid transit system must be built eventually and the sooner the better and cheaper." 1/3

Hocken warned that "Toronto is notorious for postponing necessary improvements until the cost has doubled or trebled." Estimated to cost a little over $5 million in 1911 dollars, the proposed subway line would have run from Front Street to St. Clair Avenue. 2/3

Hocken became mayor of Toronto in 1912, but couldn't push the subway through. In a plebiscite, Toronto voters rejected the $5.4 million expenditure. When a subway finally opened under Yonge Street in 1954, the cost to build it was $67 million. 3/3