Wellesley Square station

WELLESLEY SQUARE

Station platforms viewed from Crest Road in 2013
Location 1 Grove Street
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°17′51″N 71°17′38″W / 42.29755°N 71.29375°W / 42.29755; -71.29375Coordinates: 42°17′51″N 71°17′38″W / 42.29755°N 71.29375°W / 42.29755; -71.29375
Owned by MBTA
Line(s)
  Framingham/Worcester Line
Platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks 2
Construction
Parking 224 spaces ($4.50 fee)
2 accessible spaces
Other information
Fare zone 3
History
Opened c. 1850[1]
Rebuilt 1889, 1962[1]
Previous names Wellesley
Traffic
Passengers (2013) 804 (weekday inbound average)[2]
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station
toward Worcester
Framingham/Worcester Line
  Former services  
New York Central Railroad
toward Worcester
Worcester Line
toward Boston

Wellesley Square is a regional rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Framingham/Worcester Line, located just north of the MA 16-MA 135 intersection in downtown Wellesley, Massachusetts. It serves both walk-up and park-and-ride commuters, with a 224-space parking lot for the latter group. The station has low-level platforms and is not handicapped accessible.

History

The 1889-built station in June 1959

The Boston & Worcester Railroad (B&W), extending outwards from Boston, reached through the West Parish of Needham in mid-1834.[3] In 1839, the line was double tracked through the area.[4] A station on the (B&W) opened at West Needham around 1850.[1] It was renamed to Wellesley after the adjacent village in 1863, though the West Parish did not formerly separate from Needham to become Wellesley until 1881.[5] The wood-framed building was moved half a mile to the east in 1889 (where it still stands, in use as a restaurant), when H. H. Richardson's successors Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge designed a stone Richardsonian Romanesque station for the Boston & Albany Railroad (B&A), which had taken over the B&W.[1]

The 1889-built depot was demolished around 1962, and bare asphalt platforms replaced it. Amtrak Inland Route service served it until 1975, and from 1984 to 1986, but intercity ridership was very low compared to MBTA Commuter Rail ridership. In 1977 or 1978, the station was renamed Wellesley Square to differentiate it from the other two stations in Wellesley.[6][7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Roy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. p. 260. ISBN 9780942147087.
  2. ↑ "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14 ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  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. ↑ Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 278–283. ISBN 0942147022.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ "MBTA System Route Map". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 1977 – via WardMaps.
  7. ↑ "MBTA System Route Map". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 1978 – via WardMaps.


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