| Style: | MBTA | ||||||||||||||
| Wakefield | |||||||||||||||
| Address: | 225 North Avenue | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates: | 42.5022°N -71.0756°W | ||||||||||||||
| Other: | MBTA bus: | ||||||||||||||
| Platform: | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||||||
| Tracks: | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Parking: | 117 spaces ($2.00 daily) | ||||||||||||||
| Bicycle: | 6 spaces | ||||||||||||||
| Opened: | 1845 | ||||||||||||||
| Rebuilt: | 1889 | ||||||||||||||
| Accessible: | No | ||||||||||||||
| Owned: | Town of Wakefield | ||||||||||||||
| Zone: | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Passengers: | 483 (weekday average boardings) | ||||||||||||||
| Pass Year: | 2018 | ||||||||||||||
| Nrhp: |
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| Mapframe: | yes | ||||||||||||||
| Mapframe-Marker: | rail | ||||||||||||||
| Mapframe-Zoom: | 12 | ||||||||||||||
Wakefield station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Wakefield, Massachusetts served by the Haverhill Line. The station has two side platforms, which are not accessible, serving the line's two tracks. The station building, constructed in 1889, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 as Wakefield Upper Depot.
The Boston and Maine Railroad built its mainline through South Reading in 1845, primarily through the efforts of Thomas Spaulding, a local businessman. The first station was a wooden structure on the east side of the tracks. A new station building was constructed in 1889; the original depot was relocated and converted to a freight house.[1] By 1893, the town had six stations with as many as 60 trains per day. The building is architecturally distinctive in the town as an example of Panel Brick architecture.[2]
The station building was converted to commercial use by 1968.[3] A fire in one of the businesses inside gutted the structure late on December 17, 1974.[4] The 16inch-thick brick walls survived the fire; it was rebuilt by 1977, with a pharmaceutical company the first occupant.[5] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 as Wakefield Upper Depot.
Rail service on the inner Haverhill Line was suspended from September 9 to November 5, 2023, to accommodate signal work. Substitute bus service was operated between Reading and Oak Grove, serving all intermediate stops.[6]
The original station building, still extant, is located on North Avenue about to the south. The former Lynnfield Centre depot from the Newburyport Railroad line, closed in 1959, is located at the north end of the 1889-built station. Wakefield Centre station (Center Depot), another NRHP-listed station, is about to the east.