Uphams Corner station explained

Style:MBTA
Uphams Corner
Address:691 Dudley Street
Coordinates:42.3191°N -71.0686°W
Other: MBTA bus:
Platform:2 side platforms
Tracks:2
Passengers:151 (weekday average boardings)
Pass Year:2018
Opened:1855; November 3, 1979;
October 5, 1987
Closed:1944; January 30, 1981
Rebuilt:January 23, 2007
Accessible:Yes
Zone:1A
Former:Stoughton Street (until 1880s)
Dudley Street (1880s–June 15, 1924)
Other Services Header:Former services
Other Services Collapsible:yes
Mapframe:yes

Uphams Corner station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the Fairmount Line. It is located on Dudley Street in the Uphams Corner area of the Dorchester neighborhood. It was reopened in 1979 after the line had been closed for 35 years. The station is fully accessible with two full-length high-level platforms and ramps to the street, which were added during a construction project that finished in 2007.

History

Original station

Service on the Fairmount Line (as the Dorchester Branch of the Norfolk County Railroad and later the New York and New England Railroad and New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad) began in 1855, although it was frequently out of service until 1867. The service included a stop at Stoughton Street near Uphams Corner; a Cottage Street station may have also been briefly located a block to the north.[1] [2] The station was renamed Dudley Street after the street was renamed between Brook Avenue (the Roxbury/Dorchester border) and Uphams Corner in 1874.[3] [4]

Elimination of the busy Dudley Street grade crossing was long desired, but proved difficult because changing the grade of Dudley Street required modifying several nearby cross streets and numerous buildings.[5] Construction to raise the tracks and lower Dudley Street began around September 1906.[6] A temporary streetcar bypass track, railroad trestle, and station opened in January 1907.[7] [8] The railroad initially intended to continue using the 54-year-old wooden station building, which was insufficient to handle the 2,700 daily passengers at the station.[9] [10] After a May 1907 hearing, the railroad agreed to build a new stone station.[11] The grade crossing elimination was completed in 1908. It cost $500,000 and modified the grade of the tracks for nearly a mile from Massachusetts Avenue to Bird Street. The new stone station opened on April 14, 1909, at a cost of $18,000, then serving 65 trains per day. Located on the east side of the tracks, it was in size with a NaNfeet waiting room, a ticket and telegraph office, and a baggage room. It was made of red brick with a concrete foundation, brownstone base, and limestone trim.[12] A pedestrian tunnel under the tracks connected the platforms.[13] [14]

On June 15, 1924, the station was again renamed as Uphams Corner to avoid confusion with Dudley Street Terminal.[15] [16] Undercut by streetcars, buses, and the Elevated for decades, service on the line ended in 1944.[17]

MBTA station

The Dorchester Branch (also known as the Midland Route) was reopened as a bypass on November 3, 1979, during Southwest Corridor construction, including stops at Uphams Corner, Morton Street, and Fairmount. Uphams Corner was originally built at minimal cost, with small low-level platforms and staircases to Dudley Street. Intended to be only in service for several years, the station was not handicapped accessible.

Uphams Corner and Morton Street were dropped effective January 30, 1981 as part of systemwide cuts.[18] Service over the route was intended to be temporary; however, it was popular with residents of the communities the line passed through. When the Southwest Corridor reopened on October 5, 1987, the Fairmount shuttle service was retained, with Uphams Corner and Morton Street renovated and reopened.[19]

The station was rebuilt in 2005–2007 as part of the larger Fairmount Line Improvements project, which also included four new stations along the line.[20] A groundbreaking was held on April 14, 2005.[21] The rebuilding included new full-length high-level platforms, ramps to Dudley Street, canopies, and new lighting and signage. The fully accessible station was officially reopened on January 23, 2007.[22] [23]

In the mid-2010s, Uphams Corner station became locally known for high rates of heroin use at the lightly used and largely unpatrolled station.[24]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Fairmount Line Feasibility Study: Task One:Assessment of Existing Conditions (Draft) . October 15, 2001 . KKO and Associates . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  2. Book: Atlas of the county of Suffolk, Massachusetts : vol. 3rd including Boston and Dorchester : from actual surveys and official records . 1874 . G.M. Hopkins & Co. . 44–45 . Plate J.
  3. Book: City atlas of Boston, Massachusetts : complete in one volume : from official records, private plans and actual surveys . 1882 . G.M. Hopkins & Co.. Plate 28.
  4. Book: A record of the streets, alleys, places, etc. in the city of Boston . 161 . 1910 . City of Boston . Internet Archive.
  5. News: Abolition of the Dudley-St Crossing of Great Interest to Dorchester People . Boston Globe . March 3, 1904 . 11 . Newspapers.com.
  6. News: Nearly 300 Men Busy at the Dudley-St Crossing . Boston Globe . December 2, 1906 . 26 . Newspapers.com.
  7. News: Making Way for New Trestle Bridge . Boston Globe . January 1, 1907 . 7 . Newspapers.com.
  8. News: Changes Because of Grade Crossing Work at Dudley-St Steam Railroad Station . Boston Globe . January 13, 1907 . 4 . Newspapers.com.
  9. News: Want A Stone Station . Boston Globe . March 15, 1907 . 17 . Newspapers.com.
  10. News: Station Built 54 Years Ago . Boston Globe . May 16, 1907 . 3 . Newspapers.com.
  11. News: Massive Bridge Assumes Shape at Dudley-St Crossing . Boston Globe . June 20, 1907 . 13 . Newspapers.com.
  12. News: Dudley St Has New Station . Boston Globe . April 14, 1909 . 11 . Newspapers.com.
  13. Web site: Atlas of the City of Boston, Dorchester . Plate 4 . yes . 1910 . G. W. Bromley and Co..
  14. News: Transformation Attending the Work on Grade Crossing at Dudley-St Station . Boston Globe . August 26, 1907 . 3 . Newspapers.com.
  15. News: Dorchester District . Boston Globe . June 9, 1924 . 5 . Newspapers.com.
  16. 43504499 . Dates of Some of the Principal Events in the History of 100 Years of the Railroad in New England. 1826-1926 . Warren . Jacobs . October 1928 . . Railway and Locomotive Historical Society . 17 . 17 . 15–28.
  17. Book: Karr, Ronald Dale . The Rail Lines of Southern New England . Branch Line Press . 1995 . 0942147022 . 295–298.
  18. News: T changes start today . Boston Globe . February 1, 1981 . 24 . Newspapers.com.
  19. News: Midlands Branch commuter rail service scheduled to resume in fall . Alex . Rothenberg . Boston Globe . July 14, 1987 . 22 . Newspapers.com.
  20. News: Concerns Arise over Uphams Corner Station Shutdown Details . Dorchester Reporter . March 30, 2005 . O'Sullivan, Jim . January 10, 2012.
  21. Web site: MBTA Begins Upgrading Fairmount Line . TRANSreport . May 2005 . Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization . December 29, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101209182509/http://bostonmpo.org/bostonmpo/4_resources/2_transreport/archive/trpt0505.pdf . December 9, 2010 . dead .
  22. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20170801021623/http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/Portals/17/docs/sip/April2012SIPStatusUpdate.pdf . August 1, 2017 . State Implementation Plan – Transit Commitments Monthly Status Report . April 19, 2012 . Massachusetts Department of Transportation . dead.
  23. Uphams Corner Station Overhaul Complete . January 24, 2007 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  24. News: 7News Special Report: Heroin Hotspot . 7News . September 28, 2015 . O'Hara . Kelli . September 29, 2015.