Dedham Corporate Center station (signed as Dedham Corporate Center/128) is an

MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track to 141 different stations, with 58 statio ...

station in

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest b ...

. It serves the Franklin/Foxboro Line, and is located just off exit 28 of

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

Route 128 The following highways are numbered 128: Canada * New Brunswick Route 128 * Ontario Highway 128 (former) * Prince Edward Island Route 128 Costa Rica * National Route 128 India * National Highway 128 (India) Japan * Japan National Route 128 ...

. It serves mostly as a park-and-ride location. The station consists of two platforms (each a long low asphalt platform with a short high-level platform for

accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

) serving the Franklin/Foxboro Line's two tracks. Previous stations named Dedham Junction (1881-1884 and 1888–1899) and Rust Craft (1955-1977) were located near the modern site.

History

Dedham Junction

The

Norfolk County Railroad The Norfolk County Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts, United States. Chartered as two different companies in 1846 and 1847, it completed a rail line between Dedham and Blackstone in 1849. A branch to Medway, Massachusetts was built in 18 ...

completed their Midland Division from

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

to Boston in January 1855. No station was originally located at the modern location, which was in the middle of a swamp until the middle of the 20th century. The line passed through several operators and finally to the

New York and New England Railroad The New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE) was a railroad connecting southern New York State with Hartford, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; and Boston, Massachusetts. It operated under that name from 1873 to 1893. Prior to 1873 it was ...

in 1875. In 1881, the NY&NE built a branch from Dedham Junction (near the modern station site) to Dedham to replace the Norfolk County's original route to Dedham. This allowed the railroad to (unsuccessfully) compete with the

Boston and Providence Railroad The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the Rail transport in the United States, first rail ...

's Dedham Loop for Boston-Dedham commuter traffic. The branch was closed in 1884, but reopened in 1888 by state commission order. In 1890 a short leg allowing Dedham-Islington travel for the

Old Colony Railroad The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, ...

's Wrentham Branch was opened; trains using this route skipped Dedham Junction station. By 1898, the

New Haven Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

had acquired the Old Colony, NY&NE, and the Boston & Providence. With the New Haven having no need for four routes to the small town of Dedham, the southern branch was soon abandoned. Service via Dedham Junction ended in 1899 and via Islington in 1904.

Rust Craft

On May 2, 1955, the New Haven Railroad opened Rust Craft station off Rustcraft Road, slightly east of the modern station location. The station served the 1,500 employees of the

Rust Craft Greeting Card Company The Rust Craft Greeting Card Company was an American greeting card, printing company and owner of television stations. The company The company was founded in a bookstore in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1906 by its owner, Fred Winslow Rust. The compa ...

plant, which opened that July. It was the first

reverse commute A reverse commute is a round trip, regularly taken, from an urban area to a suburban one in the morning, and returning in the evening. It is almost universally applied to trips to work in the suburbs from homes in the city. This is in opposition to ...

-focused station on the MBTA system and was "hailed as the start of a new era". Rust Craft station was closed in 1977 due to low ridership. On October 25, 1977, a group of teenagers blocked a

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

freight train by placing a tree across the tracks near the station, then looted the stopped train.

Dedham Corporate Center

In the late 1980s, the Dedham Corporate Center office park was built nearby due to convenient access to Route 128 and Route 1. The developer, National Development, constructed the station platforms and a temporary 500-space parking lot at a cost of $527,000. The size and temporary nature of the parking lot was intended to avoid lengthy environmental review. National Development had previously donated land for Forge Park/495 station, which had opened in 1988. The development and station were opposed by some residents and local politicians concerned about additional traffic at the East Street rotary. Dedham Corporate Center station was opened on January 15, 1990. The station initially failed to attract ridership; six weeks after opening, just 44 cars were counted in the parking lot one weekday. The MBTA offered free parking during August 1990 in an attempt to attract riders. A planned parking garage on the north side of the station and a road bridge over the tracks were never constructed.

Accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...

mini-high platforms were added by 1992. Boston– service for events at

Gillette Stadium Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is southwest of downtown Boston. It serves as the home stadium and administrative offices for both the New England Patriots of the National Footb ...

was shifted to the Franklin Line in 1995, with Dedham Corporate Center as an intermediate stop. There was initially no access to the station from Rustcraft Road on its north side; a nearby apartment complex was forced to operate a shuttle bus to avoid a two-mile walk to the station. A crosswalk and sidewalk providing access were added around 2007. In late 2014, a

kiss and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rapi ...

dropoff lane was built on the north side of the station off Rustcraft Road.

References

External links