Coolidge Corner station explained

Coolidge Corner
Style:MBTA
Style2:Green
Address:Beacon Street at Harvard Street
Coordinates:42.3422°N -71.1209°W
Other: MBTA bus:
Platform:2 side platforms
Tracks:2
Bicycle:20 spaces
Opened:June 1, 1888
Rebuilt:1901; 2001
Accessible:Yes
Passengers:3,440 (weekday average boardings)
Pass Year:2011
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Marker:rail-light
Mapframe-Zoom:14

Coolidge Corner station is a light rail stop on the MBTA Green Line C branch, located at the intersection of Beacon Street and Harvard Street in the Coolidge Corner neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts. With 3,440 daily boardings by a 2011 count, it had more than twice the ridership of any other surface station on the branch.

History

Horsecar service on the Beacon Street line began between Coolidge Corner and downtown Boston on June 1, 1888. Electrified service began between Allston and downtown Boston via Coolidge Corner on January 3, 1889. Service was extended west from Coolidge Corner to Reservoir on January 12, and from Allston to the next day.[1]

On February 3, 1900, the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) established Coolidge Corner as a designated transfer point, where passengers could transfer between the Reservoir and Oak Square branches.[2] The town approved the construction of shelters at the stop in November 1900, and they were completed in 1901.[3] [4] Each is long with a 40feet-long canopy, made of white pine with a tile roof. Similar shelters were built around 1912 at Brookline Village, but demolished in 1938.[5] [6] A 1911-built electrical substation designed by Peabody and Stearns is located in Coolidge Corner on Webster Street.[7]

In the early 2000s, the MBTA modified key surface stops with raised platforms for accessibility. Portable lifts were installed at Coolidge Corner around 2000 as a temporary measure.[8] [9] The platform modifications – part of a $32 million modification of thirteen B, C, and E branch stations – were completed in 2001.[10]

The MBTA added wooden mini-high platforms, allowing level boarding on older Type 7 LRVs, at eight Green Line stations in 2006–07 as part of the settlement of Joanne Daniels-Finegold, et al. v. MBTA. Coolidge Corner and were originally to have one mini-high platform apiece as well; however, portable lifts were added at the stations instead.[11] [12]

In February 2024, the MBTA indicated long-term plans to replace the existing platforms with a longer island platform west of the Harvard Street grade crossing.[13]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Tremont Street Subway: A Century of Public Service . Clarke . Bradley H. . Cummings . O.R. . 1997 . Boston Street Railway Association . 0938315048.
  2. News: New Free Transfer Station . Boston Globe . February 2, 1900 . 5 . Newspapers.com.
  3. News: Brookline . Boston Globe . November 10, 1900 . 4 . Newspapers.com.
  4. News: Greatly Needed Storm Shelters . Boston Globe . January 4, 1901 . 8 . Newspapers.com.
  5. News: Brookline . Boston Globe . September 6, 1912 . 6 . Newspapers.com.
  6. Book: Trolleys Under the Hub . Cheney . Frank . Sammarco . Anthony M. . 1997 . Arcadia Publishing . 0752409077 . 111.
  7. Web site: National Register of Historic Places – Inventory Nomination Form: Brookline Multiple Resource Area . National Park Service . June 1985 . Sarah . Zimmerman . Carla . Wyman Benka . 7.46.
  8. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20120220063458/http://www.bostonmpo.org/bostonmpo/pmt-old/PMT-1.pdf . February 20, 2012 . Executive Summary . Program of Mass Transportation . January 2004 . Boston Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization . 2-9.
  9. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20010701041753/http://www.mbta.com/text-only/schedmaps/map/map.pdf . July 1, 2001 . Subway Map . 2001 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  10. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20011030194756/http://www.mbta.com/text-only/newsinfo/pressview.cfm#564 . The MBTA Continues Accessibility Program At Coolidge Corner Station . October 30, 2001 . Rivera, Lydia . July 12, 2001 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority . MBTA Press Releases.
  11. Web site: Settlement Agreement . Joanne Daniels-Finegold et al. v. MBTA . April 10, 2006 . 10–11.
  12. Web site: Green Line Stations Upgraded to Improve Accessibility . https://web.archive.org/web/20110116153104/http://ctps.org/bostonmpo/4_resources/2_transreport/archive/trpt0607.pdf . June 2007 . TRANSReport . Boston Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization . January 16, 2011.
  13. Web site: Green Line C Branch Accessibility Upgrades . February 15, 2024 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.