Massachusetts Avenue station explained

Massachusetts Ave
Style:MBTA
Style2:Orange
Coordinates:42.3416°N -71.0833°W
Other: MBTA bus:
Tracks:2
Passengers:5,627 boardings (weekday average)[1]
Pass Year:FY2019
Opened:May 4, 1987
Structure:Below grade
Accessible:Yes
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Marker:rail-underground
Mapframe-Zoom:12
Map State:collapsed

Massachusetts Avenue station is a rapid transit station in the South End and Symphony neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA Orange Line, and is located at 380 Massachusetts Avenue. The station opened in 1987 as part of the renovation and relocation of the southern Orange Line into the Southwest Corridor. The Orange line runs parallel to the Northeast Corridor, which carries Amtrak trains and several MBTA commuter rail lines.

Station layout

Like all stations on the Orange Line, Massachusetts Avenue is accessible. The station has a single island platform serving the two tracks of the Orange Line. The main headhouse is located on the south side of Massachusetts Avenue; a pedestrian tunnel leads to a secondary entrance on the north side. An exit-only staircase at the south end of the platform leads to a footbridge connecting Gainsborough Street and Camden Street.

The MBTA plans to add a fare lobby and elevator at the footbridge, and to replace the existing elevator at the main entrance. A $4.7 million design contract for and Massachusetts Avenue was awarded in April 2020.[2] Design work reached 30% completion in 2021 and 75% completion in 2022; it was nearing completion by November 2023.[3] [4] [5] [6]

History

Chickering station

The Boston and Providence Railroad (B&P) opened southwest from Boston in June 1834. There were initially no intermediate stations between the Boston terminal (near Park Square) and, as the line passed through the unoccupied Charles River mud flats.[7] Filling of the flats began in the late 1850s, forming the Back Bay and South End neighborhoods. The flats between Tremont Street and the railroad causeway were filled and developed during the 1860s, becoming the west portion of the South End.[8]

In September 1872, the B&P purchased a parcel at Camden Street from the Boston Water Power Company.[9] [10] A station building was under construction by that November.[11] [12] Chickering station, named for the nearby Chickering & Sons piano factory, opened in 1873.[13] The single-story brick structure was located on the south side of the tracks on the northeast side of Camden Street.[14] Chickering station was commonly used by baseball fans attending games at the South End Grounds.[15]

The Old Colony Railroad leased the B&P in 1891.[16] In November 1891, the Old Colony purchased a parcel on the north side of the tracks adjacent to West Chester Park (now Massachusetts Avenue).[17] Although the railroad reportedly intended to build a station there to replace Chickering, it did not do so; the land was instead used for a rail yard.[18] [19] The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad acquired the Old Colony in 1893.

Chickering station was closed in 1896 because Back Bay station was under construction just to the northeast, and because the West End Street Railway operated frequent streetcar service on nearby Columbus Avenue.[20] [21] A footbridge was built over the tracks connecting Camden Street and Gainsborough Street in 1904.[22] The vacant station building remained extant until at least the 1910s.[23] [24] [25]

Nearby residents and institutions, including the YCMA on Huntington Avenue, petitioned the railroad in 1912 and 1919 to reopen the station.[26] [27] [28] The 1919 petition was opposed by the railroad, which cited low ridership when the station was previously open and a desire not to compete with streetcars. The railroad also did not provide evening service to the inner stations on the line, so the station would not have served the nearby theaters.[29] The petition was rejected by the state Public Service Commission later in 1919.[30]

Rapid transit

The modern station was constructed as part of the Southwest Corridor project from 1979 to 1987. It opened along with the new southern section of the Orange Line on May 4, 1987. The entire Orange Line, including Massachusetts Avenue station, was closed from August 19 to September 18, 2022, during maintenance work.[31]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: A Guide to Ridership Data . MassDOT/MBTA Office of Performance Management and Innovation . June 22, 2020 . 9.
  2. Web site: MBTA Contract Nos. A90PS02, A90PS04, & A90PS05: Architectural and Engineering Services for Station and Accessibility Improvements . John . Schwarz . April 13, 2020 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  3. Web site: System-Wide Accessibility Initiatives—December 2021 . December 2021 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Department of System-Wide Accessibility . 10.
  4. Web site: Massachusetts Avenue Station Accessibility and Infrastructure Improvements: Recorded Project Overview – 30% Design . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority . December 2021 . Tim . Horan.
  5. Web site: System-Wide Accessibility Initiatives—December 2022 . December 6, 2022 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Department of System-Wide Accessibility . 9.
  6. Web site: System-Wide Accessibility Initiatives—November 2023 . November 27, 2023 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Department of System-Wide Accessibility . 10.
  7. Map of the city of Boston and immediate neighborhood : from original surveys . 1852 . McIntyre . Henry . 1:5,400 . Wagner & McGuigan's Steam Lith Press.
  8. Book: Boston: A Topographical History . 3rd . Walter Muir . Whitehill . Lawrence W. . Kennedy . Belknap Press . 2000 . 99-086597 . 0-674-00267-9 . 129, 158–159.
  9. News: Sales of Houses and Lands . The Boston Globe . September 21, 1872 . 8 . Newspapers.com.
  10. Plan of lands belonging to the Boston Water Power Company and the Commonwealth, on the Back Bay, showing part of the city streets, and the streets, on the land of the Commonwealth as laid out to date . 1:3,000 . May 1, 1860.
  11. News: Annual Meeting of the Boston & Providence Railroad Company . The Boston Globe . November 21, 1872 . 1 . Newspapers.com.
  12. Book: Report of the Board of Directors of the Boston and Providence Railroad Corporation for the Year Ending September 30, 1872 . 6 . November 20, 1872 . Boston and Providence Railroad Corporation.
  13. News: Boston and Providence . The Boston Globe . November 20, 1873 . 4 . Newspapers.com.
  14. Atlas of County of Suffolk, MA including Boston Proper . Plate Y . yes . Part of Ward 11, Boston . 1 . 1874 . G.M. Hopkins & Co..
  15. Web site: South End Grounds (Boston) . Society for American Baseball Research . Bob . Ruzzo.
  16. Book: Karr, Ronald Dale . The Rail Lines of Southern New England . 2 . Branch Line Press . 2017 . 9780942147124 . 175–183.
  17. News: Beautifying Boston . The Boston Globe . November 29, 1891 . 12 . Newspapers.com.
  18. News: Real Estate Firm . The Boston Globe . December 6, 1891 . 16 . Newspapers.com.
  19. Atlas of the city of Boston : Boston proper . 1898 . Bromley . George Washington . Bromley . Walter Scott . G.W. Bromley & Co. . 1:960 . Plate 31 . yes . Part of Wards 10 & 19, City of Boston.
  20. Book: Seventh Annual Report of the Public Service Commission for the Eleven Months ended November 30, 1919 . January 1920 . Massachusetts Public Service Commission . 222–223 . Google Books.
  21. The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine . Two Abandoned Stations . 5 . June 17, 1906 . Newspapers.com.
  22. News: Notes Here and There . Boston Evening Transcript . April 7, 1904 . 7 . Newspapers.com.
  23. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts . 2 . 1914 . Plate 52 . https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3764bm.g03693191402/?sp=82 . Sanborn Map Company.
  24. Atlas of the city of Boston : Boston proper and Back Bay . 1917 . Bromley . George Washington . Bromley . Walter Scott . G.W. Bromley & Co. . 1:960 . Plate 30 . yes . Part of Wards 7 & 13, City of Boston.
  25. Right of way and track map, Boston and Providence R.R. Corp. operated by the New York, New Haven and Hartford R.R. Co., operating from Pleasant View to Boston, station 2180+80 to station 2207+20, city of Boston, state of Mass . New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad . June 30, 1915 . 1:600.
  26. News: Petition for Chickering Station . The Boston Globe . March 26, 1912 . 10 . Newspapers.com.
  27. News: Want Chickering Station . The Boston Globe . April 19, 1912 . 16 . Newspapers.com.
  28. News: Hearing on Reopening of Chickering Station . The Boston Globe . June 2, 1919 . 5 . Newspapers.com.
  29. News: New Haven Opposes Opening Old Chickering Station . The Boston Globe . June 4, 1949 . 4 . Newspapers.com.
  30. News: Winthrop and Revere Fare Petition Shelved . Boston Globe . December 2, 1919 . 6 . Newspapers.com.
  31. Web site: A Rider's Guide to Planning Ahead: Upcoming Orange & Green Line Service Suspensions . August 2022 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

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