Wellesley Farms (MBTA station)

WELLESLEY FARMS

Wellesley Farms station in 2009
Location 90 Croton Street
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Owned by Town of Wellesley
Line(s)
Platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks 2
Construction
Parking 199 spaces ($4.50 daily)
4 accessible spaces
Bicycle facilities 16 spaces
Other information
Fare zone 3
History
Opened 1830s
Rebuilt 1890
Traffic
Passengers (2013) 558 (weekday inbound average)[1]
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station
toward Worcester
Framingham/Worcester Line
  Former services  
New York Central Railroad
toward Worcester
Worcester Line
toward Boston
Wellesley Farms Railroad Station
Location Croton Street Extension, Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA
Coordinates 42°19′23.5″N 71°16′19″W / 42.323194°N 71.27194°W / 42.323194; -71.27194Coordinates: 42°19′23.5″N 71°16′19″W / 42.323194°N 71.27194°W / 42.323194; -71.27194
Area 2.1 acres (0.85 ha)
Built 1890
Architect H.H. Richardson
Architectural style Romanesque, Richardsonian Romanesque
NRHP Reference # 86000259[2]
Added to NRHP February 14, 1986

Wellesley Farms is a regional rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Framingham/Worcester Line, located in the Wellesley Farms section of Wellesley, Massachusetts. The current station building, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson in 1886 and constructed in 1890, has been listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as Wellesley Farms Railroad Station since 1986.[2]

With 558 daily boardings in 2013, it is the least-used station on the line outside Route 128, although still around average for stations on the system.[1]

History

The Boston & Worcester Railroad (B&W), extending outwards from Boston, reached through the West Parish of Needham in mid-1834.[3] Rice's Crossing station opened as a flag stop north of Glen Road soon afterward.[4] In 1839, the line was double tracked through the area.[5]

Wellesley Farms station, which was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson prior to his death in 1886, opened south of Glen Road to replace Rice's Crossing in 1890.[4] Like many B&A stations, it had attractive landscaping; Charles Mulford Robinson called it "unique, and to be remembered" in 1904.[6]

The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[2] In July 2004, the MBTA closed a paved crossing between the crossings in response to concerns about safety. Similar crossings exist at some other MBTA stations, but the agency's policy is to eliminate grade crossings whenever possible when building or renovating stations.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14 ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  3. Humphrey, Thomas J. & Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 21–25. ISBN 9780685412947.
  4. 1 2 Fiske, Joseph E.; Ellen W. Fiske (1917). History of the Town of Wellesley, Massachusetts. Boston, Chicago: The Pilgrim Press. p. 26. OCLC 6541911 via Internet Archive.
  5. Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 278–283. ISBN 0942147022.
  6. Robinson, Charles M. (1904). Boston & Albany Railroad: Suburban Station Grounds. H. T. Coates. OCLC 25110729 via Internet Archive.
  7. Shartin, Emily (25 July 2004). "Convenience loses out to safety at rail station". Boston Globe. Retrieved 4 March 2016.

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