Ballardvale station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station on the

Haverhill Line The Haverhill Line (formerly named the Haverhill/Reading Line) is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running north from downtown Boston, Massachusetts through the cities and towns of Malden, Melrose, Wakefield, Reading, Wilmington, And ...

, located in the Ballardvale village of

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

History

The

Andover and Haverhill Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970, ...

opened through Ballardvale in 1836. In 1849, the Boston and Maine Railroad moved the line about west to its present alignment as part of a lengthy relocation to serve the growing mill city of

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

. The original depot was converted to a residence. A two-story

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

depot was built in 1849 at the Andover Street crossing to serve as the new Ballardvale station. A baggage room was added around 1893. In 1950, it was cut in half, moved , and converted to a private residence. The baggage room was detached and served as the station shelter for some time. In November 1974, North Andover and Andover declined to renew their subsidies. Service to North Andover station ended on November 15 that year. Days before, Andover commuters and businesses raised funds to continue service until April 1975. On April 7, 1975, town residents voted "overwhelmingly" to reimburse the commuters and subsidize service for an additional year. The town declined to subsidize further service, and the three Andover stops (Shawsheen, , and Ballardvale) were dropped effective April 2, 1976. The round trip, by then stopping just at

, Bradford and Haverhill, was ended in June 1976. The MBTA bought all B&M commuter equipment and lines on December 27, 1976, including the Western Route from Wilmington Junction to the New Hampshire border. Service to Haverhill, including the stop at Ballardvale, resumed on December 17, 1979. A mini-high platform for accessibility was added around 1992. Ballardvale station was left as single track after the 2010–2017 double-tracking project. However, the MBTA currently plans to reconstruct the station and add a second track.

References

External links

MBTA – BallardvaleStation from Andover Street from Google Maps Street View
Stations along Boston and Maine Railroad lines MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Essex County, Massachusetts Railway stations in the United States opened in 1836 {{MBTA-stub