Harvard station is a
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
and bus transfer station in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
. Located at
Harvard Square
Harvard Square is a triangular plaza at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street and John F. Kennedy Street near the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The term "Harvard Square" is also used to delineate the busin ...
, it serves the
MBTA
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
's
Red Line subway system as well as
MBTA bus
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates List of MBTA bus routes, 170 bus routes in the Greater Boston area. The MBTA has a policy objective to provide transit service within walking distance (defined as ) for all residents ...
es. Harvard averaged 18,528 entries each weekday in FY2019, making it the third-busiest MBTA station after and .
Five of the fifteen
key MBTA bus routes
Key bus routes of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) system are 15 routes that have high ridership and higher frequency standards than other bus lines, according to the 2004 MBTA Service Policy. Together, they account for roughl ...
stop at the station.
Harvard station is located directly beneath Harvard Square, a transportation, business, and cultural focal point in Cambridge. The Red Line rail platforms lie underneath
Massachusetts Avenue Massachusetts Avenue may refer to:
* Massachusetts Avenue (metropolitan Boston), Massachusetts
** Massachusetts Avenue (MBTA Orange Line station), a subway station on the MBTA Orange Line
** Massachusetts Avenue (MBTA Silver Line station), a stati ...
just north of the center of the square. Many connecting surface transit routes are served by the Harvard bus tunnel, which runs on the west side of the station. The primary station entrance leads to a central atrium fare lobby under Harvard Square; there is also a secondary fare lobby for the Red Line toward the north end of the station, with entrances at Church Street and opposite it, near Harvard's
Johnston Gate
The Johnston Gate is one of the several entrances to Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Completed in 1889 after a Georgian Revival design by McKim, Mead, and White
McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define ...
; and an unpaid entrance to the bus tunnel at Brattle Square.
Station layout
Harvard station has a complex structure located largely under triangular Harvard Square, from which Massachusetts Avenue runs to the north and east and Brattle Street to the southwest, and under the surrounding streets. The main lobby is located under the square itself, and approximately matches its triangular shape. The glass-and-steel main headhouse is located in a sunken concrete plaza at the south end of the square.
The plaza, locally known as "the Pit", plays host to homeless people, street artists, skateboarders, and activists. Passengers descend eastward from the headhouse on a bank of stairs and elevators, then turn and descend northwest on a second escalator bank into the lobby. An elevator is located adjacent to the headhouse; the station is fully
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 ...
.
The Red Line platforms are located on two stacked levels, north of the square under Massachusetts Avenue.
The outbound (northbound) track is above and slightly east of the inbound track; both have
side platform
A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...
s on their west sides.
These
split platform
A split platform is a station that has a platform for each track, split onto two or more levels. This configuration allows a narrower station plan (or footprint) horizontally, at the expense of a deeper (or higher) vertical elevation, because ...
s run from near the south end of Harvard University's
Straus Hall
This is a list of dormitories at Harvard College. Only freshmen live in these dormitories, which are located in and around Harvard Yard. Sophomores, juniors and seniors live in the House system.
Apley Court
South of Harvard Yard on Holyoke Stre ...
to the south part of
Flagstaff Park
Flagstaff Park is a park in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the ...
near Garden Street.
A pair of ramps lead from the main lobby - which has faregates on its north side - to the platforms. A secondary fare lobby is located above the middle of both platforms, with small brick headhouses on both sides of Massachusetts Avenue at Church Street near
Johnston Gate
The Johnston Gate is one of the several entrances to Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Completed in 1889 after a Georgian Revival design by McKim, Mead, and White
McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define ...
.
Bus tunnel
![MBTA route 78 bus in Harvard Bus Tunnel, August 2015](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/MBTA_route_78_bus_in_Harvard_Bus_Tunnel%2C_August_2015.JPG)
Immediately west of the subway platforms is the -long Harvard bus tunnel, used by MBTA buses and formerly
trackless trolleys
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
.
Like the Red Line, it is split into two stacked tunnel levels; the northbound level is above and slightly east of the southbound level.
Both levels have platforms on their east side, located under Brattle Street southwest of the main lobby. A pair of ramps connect the main station lobby to the platforms; a small set of stairs also connects the lower platform to the west side of the lobby. A headhouse and an elevator to the upper level are located at Eliot Square at the southwest end of the platform.
The south portal of the tunnel is located on Mount Auburn Street; it runs slightly west of Brattle Street to Harvard Square, then northward along the west side of Massachusetts Avenue. The north portal is located inside Flagstaff Park near the south end of
Cambridge Common
Cambridge Common is a public park and National Historic Landmark in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It is located near Harvard Square and borders on several parts of Harvard University. The north end of the park has a large playground. T ...
, with an incline to the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Cambridge Street.
The Harvard bus tunnel is equipped with dual
overhead wire
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipmen ...
s to power trackless trolleys, as well as
ventilation fans
Ventilation may refer to:
* Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation
** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing
*** Ventilator, a ma ...
to remove
diesel exhaust
Diesel exhaust is the gaseous exhaust produced by a diesel type of internal combustion engine, plus any contained particulates. Its composition may vary with the fuel type or rate of consumption, or speed of engine operation (e.g., idling or at ...
. Buses using
compressed natural gas
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...
(CNG) are banned from the tunnel (because lighter-than-air CNG can collect and cause a
gas explosion
A gas explosion is an explosion resulting from mixing a gas, typically from a gas leak, with air in the presence of an ignition source. In household accidents, the principal explosive gases are those used for heating or cooking purposes such as nat ...
in the event of a leaking tank), as are all non-MBTA vehicles.
The platform is located on the left side for southbound buses (all terminating routes). MBTA trolleybuses were equipped with an additional left-hand door for boarding on this level; because this door did not have a farebox, passengers instead paid while alighting from routes 71 and 73.
Because buses using the tunnel do not have left-hand doors, passengers must alight next to the wall and cross in front of the bus.
Bennett Alley, a private alley south of Mount Auburn Street, is used for layovers and for northbound buses to access the tunnel from Bennett Street.
History
Original station
Horse-drawn omnibus
A horse-bus or horse-drawn omnibus was a large, enclosed, and sprung horse-drawn vehicle used for passenger transport before the introduction of motor vehicles. It was mainly used in the late 19th century in both the United States and Europe, ...
service between
Harvard Square
Harvard Square is a triangular plaza at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street and John F. Kennedy Street near the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The term "Harvard Square" is also used to delineate the busin ...
in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and downtown Boston began in 1826. The hourly service soon increased to ten-minute headways to meet demand.
In late 1849, the
Fitchburg Railroad
The Fitchburg Railroad is a former railroad company, which built a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. The Fitchburg was leased to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900. The main li ...
opened the
Harvard Branch Railroad
The Harvard Branch Railroad was a short-lived branch from the Fitchburg Railroad to Harvard Square and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Part of the former right-of-way is now used by Museum Street.
The company was incorporated April ...
, with a Harvard Square station near where
Austin Hall is now located. With only six daily round trips, the branch failed to compete with the omnibus service and was closed in 1855.
On March 26, 1856, the
Cambridge Railroad
The Cambridge Railroad (also known as the Cambridge Horse Railroad) was the first street railway in the Boston, Massachusetts area, linking Harvard Square in Cambridge to Cambridge Street and Grove Street in Boston's West End, via Massachusett ...
began
horse-drawn tram
A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar.
Summary
The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, w ...
service between Harvard Square and
Bowdoin Square
Bowdoin Street in Boston, Massachusetts extends from the top of Beacon Street, down Beacon Hill to Cambridge Street, near the West End. It was originally called "Middlecott Street" as early as the 1750s. In 1805 it was renamed after the Governor ...
- the first such service in the Boston area.
Following the opening of its
Beacon Street line earlier that year, the
West End Street Railway
The West End Street Railway was a streetcar company that operated in Boston, Massachusetts and several surrounding communities in the late nineteenth century.
Originally an offshoot of a land development venture, the West End rose to prominence ...
began electric streetcar service on the North Cambridge–Bowdoin Square line on February 16, 1889.
Murray Street Carhouse was built for the new electric cars.
The West End (which was acquired by the
Boston Elevated Railway
The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) was a streetcar and rapid transit railroad operated on, above, and below, the streets of Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding communities. Founded in 1894, it eventually acquired the West End Street Railwa ...
in 1897) rapidly expanded its electric operations, including other lines meeting at Harvard Square.
After the success of the 1897-opened
Tremont Street Subway
The Tremont Street subway in Boston's MBTA subway system is the oldest subway tunnel in North America and the third oldest still in use worldwide to exclusively use electric traction (after the City and South London Railway in 1890, and the Bud ...
, the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) planned an elevated system with lines to Cambridge,
South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...
,
Charlestown, and
Roxbury. The latter two lines opened in 1901 as the
Charlestown Elevated
The Charlestown Elevated was a segment of the MBTA Orange Line rapid transit line that ran from the Canal Street Incline in downtown Boston, Massachusetts through Charlestown to a terminal in Everett, Massachusetts. It opened in June 1901 and ...
and
Washington Street Elevated
The Washington Street Elevated was an elevated segment of Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway system, comprising the southern stretch of the Orange Line. It ran from Chinatown through the South End and Roxbury, ending ...
, while the South Boston line was determined to be infeasible.
After debate about running an elevated line above business districts in Cambridge, the BERy agreed in late 1906 to built a line under
Beacon Hill in Boston, over a new
West Boston Bridge
The Longfellow Bridge is a steel rib arch bridge spanning the Charles River to connect Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood with the Kendall Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The bridge carries Massachusetts Route 3, US Route 3, the MBTA Re ...
, and under Main Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge to Harvard Square.
Construction began on May 24, 1909.
The Cambridge Subway opened from Harvard Square to
Park Street Under
''Park Street Under'' is a sitcom set in a fictional subterranean bar in the Park Street subway station in Boston, Massachusetts. It was produced starting in 1979 by Boston television station WCVB-TV. This was a rare example in the United States ...
on March 23, 1912, with intermediate stations at
Central Square and
Kendall Square
Kendall Square is a neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The square itself at the intersection of Main Street and Broadway. It also refers to the broad business district east of Portland Street, northwest of the Charles River, north of MIT ...
.
The two-level underground Harvard Square station largely matched the triangular shape of Harvard Square. The subway platforms were oriented east-west under Massachusetts Avenue at the east end of the station, with the outbound (unloading) platform above and slightly north of the inbound platform.
The outbound platform was long and at least wide; the inbound platform was long and at least wide to accommodate passengers waiting for trains.
West of the platforms, the tracks merged onto a single level, with a
pocket track
A pocket track, tail track, or reversing siding (UK: centre siding , turnback siding) is a rail track layout which allows trains to park off the main line. This type of track layout differs from a passing loop in that the pocket track is usuall ...
between them. This three-track tunnel ran southwest under Brattle Street to
Eliot Shops; outbound trains could reverse direction at the pocket track or continue to the yard.
A two-level streetcar tunnel formed the west part of the station, with platforms long.
The southbound (lower) level was for streetcars running on Mount Auburn Street, while the northbound level was for streetcars running on Massachusetts Avenue and Garden Street. The streetcar platforms were divided into unloading and loading sections for the
through-routed streetcar lines, allowing separation of passenger flows in opposite directions.
This philosophy was used throughout the station, with dedicated one-way transfer passages between trains and streetcars in all directions. All passages were level or sloped downwards for ease of movement, and stairs were only necessary for entering or exiting the station at the surface.
The platforms and floors were made of
granolithic
Granolithic screed, also known as granolithic pavingEmmitt and Gorse, p. 566. and granolithic concrete,Harris, p. 470. is a type of construction material composed of cement and fine aggregate such as granite or other hard-wearing rock.Ingham, p. 1 ...
. Station walls were tiled with white enamel, with a red tile band above the floor and white plaster above.
The exit to Harvard Yard also had dark granite inside and black marble at the surface.
Early plans called for a monument-like headhouse in Harvard Square matching that of
Scollay Square station.
However, a one-story, oval-shaped brick and stone entrance/exit structure was constructed instead.
Like the rest of the Cambridge Subway, it was designed by a committee of architects led by
Robert Peabody.
Additional entrances were located on the south side of Massachusetts Avenue east of Holyoke Street, and inside a BERy waiting room on the south face of the square. Secondary exits were located on the northeast side of the square (later in front of
Lehman Hall
Dudley Community (formerly called Dudley House) is an alternative to Harvard College's 12 Houses. The Dudley Community serves nonresident undergraduate students, visiting undergraduate students, and undergraduates living in the Dudley Co-op. In ...
) and on the north side of Massachusetts Avenue east of the square near the Wadsworth House.
The original headhouse was replaced by
a smaller structure in 1928.
Otherwise, the station was little changed until the 1970s.
Streetcar tunnel
With an eight-minute running time between Harvard Square and Park Street, the Cambridge Subway was fifteen minutes faster than surface streetcars. No longer needing to run to downtown Boston, lines from the north and west were truncated to Harvard Square. The streetcar tunnel served lines to
Watertown Watertown may refer to:
Places in China
In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways.
Places in the United States
*Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town
**Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...
,
Waverley Square, Belmont, Huron Avenue, and Arlington Heights via North Cambridge. Some lines were
through-routed
Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...
: Arlington Heights with Watertown, and North Cambridge line with Waverley and Belmont; the Huron Avenue line terminated at Bennett Yard.
[ ] Lines to
Lechmere Square
Lechmere Square ( ) is located at the intersection of Cambridge Street and First Street in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was originally named for the Colonial-era landowner Richard Lechmere, a Loyalist who returned to England at the beginnin ...
,
Kendall Square
Kendall Square is a neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The square itself at the intersection of Main Street and Broadway. It also refers to the broad business district east of Portland Street, northwest of the Charles River, north of MIT ...
, and Boston continued to use surface tracks in the square.
On May 4, 1912,
Lexington and Boston Street Railway cars from
Lowell began using the tunnel. This lasted until the line was replaced by buses (later becoming
MBTA route 62) in 1924.
By 1922, 104 streetcars per hour (24 single cars and 40 two-car trains) ran northbound through the tunnel during the afternoon peak.
In response to overcrowding, the BERy extended the loading section of the northbound platform from to and widened the existing portion, doubling its area.
Construction work started in late 1922 and was finished in 1923. At that time, the BERy believed that Harvard would be the permanent terminus; the heavy ridership from the north was expected to be handled by
extending rapid transit from Lechmere Square.
[ ]
Bus routes added in the 1920s and 1930s (including the 1925 conversion of the Harvard-Kendall line) originally stopped on the surface.
Trackless trolleys
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
(trolleybuses) began to use the tunnel with the conversion of the Huron Avenue streetcar line (now route ) on April 2, 1938.
(The Harvard–Lechmere line – now route – was converted in 1936, but it continued to run on the surface because of road geometry. Not until spring 1956 were wires reconfigured to allow the line to use the tunnel.)
The busy Arlington Heights line (now route ) was converted to surface-stopping diesel buses on November 19, 1955.
In the late 1950s, the MTA (which had replaced the BERy in 1947) needed additional streetcars to run the new
Riverside Line
Metrolink's Riverside Line is a commuter rail line running from Los Angeles Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles to Riverside along the Union Pacific Railroad. It runs weekday peak commuter hours only, with very little midday and reverse co ...
(which opened in 1959), but no domestic manufacturers were still producing
PCC streetcar
The PCC (Presidents' Conference Committee) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful in its native country, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the ...
s.
The City of Cambridge also planned road work that would interrupt streetcar service, and wished to eliminate "safety islands" (where passengers boarded streetcars) from Massachusetts Avenue.
The MTA replaced
Arborway
Arborway (also known as The Arborway) consists of a four-lane, divided parkway and a two lane residential street in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1890s as the south most ...
-based trolleybus lines with diesel buses, then transferred the trolleybuses to replace the Harvard-based streetcars. Some off-peak and Sunday service was replaced in 1956, followed by Cushing Square
short turn
In public transport, a short turn, short working or turn-back is an earlier terminus on a bus or rail line that is used on some scheduled trips that do not operate along the full length of the route.
Short turns are practical in scheduling when t ...
service in 1957.
On September 5, 1958, the Watertown () and Waverley () lines and the North Cambridge short turns (now route ) were replaced with trolleybuses, ending streetcar service through the tunnel.
The four trolleybus routes (sometimes considered three, as most trips on the 71 and 73 were through-routed with North Cambridge trips) continued to use the tunnel.
As of 2006, it was one of only two urban trolleybus subways (tunnels with stations) in the world, following the end of trolleybus service in the
Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel
The Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT), also referred to as the Metro Bus Tunnel, is a pair of public transit tunnels in Seattle, Washington, United States. The double-track tunnel and its four stations serve Link light rail trains on the ...
in 2005; the other is the
South Boston Transitway.
(The
College Hill Tunnel, in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
, was used by trackless trolleys from 1948 to 1953, but had no stations.
The use of the
Essen premetro subway in Germany by trolleybuses ended in 1995,
and the
Kanden Tunnel and
Tateyama Tunnel in Japan were non-urban trolleybus tunnels.)
On March 30, 1963, the MTA replaced all remaining trolleybus routes except for the Harvard-based routes with diesel buses.
[ ] The Harvard tunnel was closed on Sundays, with trolleybuses replaced by diesel buses operating on the surface.
Original plans had called for the trolleybuses to be replaced by diesel buses at all times, but this was delayed while the MTA investigated methods to ventilate the tunnel.
Diesel buses equipped with
early catalytic mufflers were tested from 1962 to 1964, with the hope of eliminating most surface bus traffic from Harvard Square.
[ ] In January 1965, catalytic-muffler-equipped diesel buses on route 77 began using the tunnel, followed by route 96 in March 1966.
However, the trolleybus lines were never replaced with diesel buses.
Maintenance facilities
The BERy constructed a pair of rail yards on a site bordered by Eliot Street, Bennett Street, University Road, Charles River Road, and Boylston Street, to the southwest of Harvard Square. Much of the site was occupied by BERy and
West End Street Railway
The West End Street Railway was a streetcar company that operated in Boston, Massachusetts and several surrounding communities in the late nineteenth century.
Originally an offshoot of a land development venture, the West End rose to prominence ...
streetcar barns; the area had been used for horsecar facilities since at least 1871.
The rest of the site, which had once been marshland, was occupied by private buildings.
The west half of the site was occupied by Bennett Street Yard, a storage and maintenance facility for streetcars. It included a 16-track, carhouse that could hold 92 streetcars, plus an open-air storage yard.
Bennett opened on March 30, 1911, replacing nearby Boylston Street and Murray Street carhouses.
The eastern half of the site housed the Eliot Square Shops, used for storage and maintenance of the Cambridge Subway rolling stock. It had a three-track machine shop and five covered maintenance tracks, plus open-air storage tracks.
The whole facility covered , including the shop building and the -wide yard.
Footings were built between the yard tracks to allow for future
air rights
Air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning, or renting, land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by others.
This legal ...
development.
On the west side of the shop building, a single track ran up a ramp to Bennett Yard.
Nicknamed "Bancroft Hall" (after BERy president
William Bancroft
William Amos Bancroft (April 26, 1855 – March 11, 1922) was a Massachusetts businessman, soldier and politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and on the Common Council, Board of Aldermen, and as the Mayor of Cambrid ...
) by employees, the shop building was used to assemble the forty new subway cars.
Eliot Square Shops cost $1.00 million (equivalent to $ million in ) out of the total $11.75 million cost of the Cambridge Subway.
On the east side of the yard, the BERy constructed a concrete platform for special service to events such as the
Harvard football games at
Harvard Stadium
Harvard Stadium is a U-shaped college football stadium in the northeast United States, located in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium is owned and operated by Harvard University and is home to the Harvard Crimson footba ...
. Known as Stadium station, it had a main ramp entrance/exit at the south end, plus eight smaller stair entrance/exits along the east wall.
It was not open for regular use and did not have turnstiles; instead, employees collected all fares. Fully staffing the station took 49 employees, including 24 ticket sellers and 12 ticket choppers. Stadium station could handle 26,000 passengers in 45 minutes after a game, with trains running every 1 minutes.
The architecture of the station was designed by Robert S. Peabody.
It first opened for
a home game versus Brown on October 26, 1912; the last known use was on November 18, 1967 for the final home game of the 1967 Harvard football season.
BERy also constructed a brick division headquarters building, later known as the
Conductor's Building, in Bennett Alley between the yard and the streetcar tunnel.
It was used by the BERy and its successors until around 2000; in 2014-2016, the building was renovated for use as a restaurant. It is the last remaining aboveground building from the 1912 construction of the Cambridge tunnel. The Harvard Square power station, which was built for streetcars in 1897, was located adjacent to Eliot Shops across Boylston Street. It had a substantial
coal trestle for freight streetcars to deliver coal.
A
steam tunnel ran west from the power station under Eliot and Bennett yards, supplying steam power to both.
After
Widener Library
The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, housing some 3.5million books in its "vast and cavernous" stacks (library architecture), stacks, is the centerpiece of the Harvard College Libraries (the libraries of Harvard's Harvard Faculty of Arts an ...
was built in 1912, Harvard University built a steam tunnel to Harvard Yard and used excess steam to heat the new library and other buildings. The power station was largely unused by the time it was sold to the university in 1929. Harvard demolished the structure in 1930 in favor of purchasing steam from a Cambridge Electric Light Company plant.
Eliot House
Eliot House is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University. It is one of the seven original houses at the college. Opened in 1931, the house was named after Charles William Eliot, who served as president of the universit ...
opened on the site in 1931.
In April 1924, the BERy converted the
East Boston Tunnel
The Blue Line is a rapid transit line in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, one of four rapid transit lines operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It runs from Bowdoin station in downtown Boston under Boston Harbo ...
(later the
Blue Line from streetcars to high-platform metro rolling stock.
A small maintenance facility was built underground near
Maverick station
Maverick station (known as Maverick Square) is a rapid transit station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA's Blue Line and is located at Maverick Square in East Boston. It is the easternmost underground station on the Blue Line and a ...
, but more extensive work was performed at Eliot Shops.
Cars were brought to the surface at a portal west of
Bowdoin station
Bowdoin station ( ) is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) rapid transit station in Bowdoin Square in Boston, Massachusetts. The station is the downtown terminus of the Blue Line, part of the MBTA subway system. It has a singl ...
, towed on surface tracks on Cambridge Street and the Longfellow Bridge, and transferred onto the Cambridge–Dorchester line tracks at a gate near the west end of the bridge.
This was done until April 25, 1952, when the new maintenance facility at
Orient Heights
Orient Heights is a historic section of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is commonly considered part of East Boston; it is Boston's northernmost and northeasternmost neighborhood.
The neighborhood sits on a hill, which measures 152 fee ...
eliminated the need for the transfer.
Beginning in 1956,
Ashmont–Mattapan Line streetcars were towed to Eliot Shops behind Cambridge–Dorchester line trains after the abandonment of surface lines severed the connection to
Arborway Yard.
This continued until a maintenance facility was built at
Mattapan
Mattapan () is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. Historically a section of neighboring Dorchester, Mattapan became a part of Boston when Dorchester was annexed in 1870. Mattapan is the original Native American name for the Dorchester ar ...
in 1971.
The BERy purchased a private garage adjacent to Bennett Yard in October 1931; it was reopened on July 28, 1932 as a garage for BERY maintenance trucks. Pavement was laid around several tracks in Bennett Yard in 1936 and 1938 for use by trolleybuses. Several yard tracks were removed in 1942 and 1949, the latter to accommodate trolleybuses for the conversion of the
Harvard–Massachusetts line.
Until it was reassigned to Reservoir Carhouse in 1940, the
Lake Street line had been based out of Bennett Street, requiring a long deadhead move along Cambridge Street to Lechmere.
After the last Bennett-based streetcar lines were replaced with trolleybuses in 1958, the facility was used solely by trolleybuses and diesel buses.
All trolleybus maintenance was performed at Bennett, though some were also stored at
North Cambridge Carhouse.
In October 1958, the MTA sold the east part of Bennett Yard to the city of Cambridge, which used the paved area as public parking.
Around 1963,
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
originally proposed to build
his presidential library near Harvard, on the south side of the Charles River. In June 1964, then-city councilman
Alfred Vellucci
Alfred E. Vellucci (1915–2002) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served four non-consecutive terms as mayor, and was known for his often antagonistic relationship with Harvard University.
Life a ...
proposed to instead locate the library on the site of the Bennett and Eliot railyards, on the northern side of the river. The MTA had begun offering this site for sale the previous year, with Harvard University and several real estate developers developing bids, as the agency planned for a replacement maintenance facility either near
South Station
South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan In ...
or as part of the planned northwestern Red Line extension.
[ ] Shortly after being selected as architect in December 1964,
I.M. Pei
Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...
indicated an interest in the yard site,
[ and it was chosen over a smaller southern site in mid-1965.][ In January 1966, governor John A. Volpe signed a bill allowing the state to purchase the yards from the now-renamed MBTA, and in turn to give the site to the federal government for the library. However, delays with the Red Line extension project caused corresponding delays with the purchase.][ ]
The MBTA ultimately purchased land near South Station for its new Red Line maintenance facility in December 1969. Cabot Yard opened in June 1974, freeing the Eliot Shops site for development.[ However, community opinion had by then turned against placing the library in Harvard Square because of concerns about traffic and crowding; in November 1975, the Kennedy Library Corporation voted to instead place the library at ]Columbia Point
Columbia Point is a high mountain summit of the Crestones in the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The thirteener is located east by south ( bearing 102°) of the Town of Crestone in Saguache County, Colorad ...
near UMass Boston
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...
. Eliot Shops closed in 1976, with demolition beginning on December 22. Bennett Yard closed on March 22, 1980, replaced by new maintenance facilities at North Cambridge and Watertown Yard
Watertown Carhouse is a bus maintenance facility and former streetcar carhouse located in the southern section of Watertown, Massachusetts, across the Charles River from Watertown Square. As Watertown Yard, the site also serves as a bus depot se ...
.
In October 1978, the first building of a new John F. Kennedy School of Government
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
complex opened on the southern half of the site. The new buildings were constructed on fill atop the concrete base of the yard. A single segment of wall reading ''BOSTON ELEVATED RAILWAY CO. 1911'' remained in the courtyard of the Kennedy School until a 2015-17 expansion project. The abandoned tunnel to Eliot Shops under Brattle Street is still extant and used for MBTA storage.
Former stations
There have been a total of five stations on the Red Line in and around Harvard Square. The original Harvard station was located just east of the current station, and some remains exist. The original station closed permanently on January 30, 1981. The surviving eastern end of the original outbound side platform
A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...
, built to accommodate passengers alighting at the former terminus, is still visible from passing trains.
The 1945 Coolidge Commission report - the first major transit planning initiative in the region since 1926 - recommended an extension from Harvard to Arlington Heights via East Watertown. The 1947 revision recommended an extension north to Porter Square instead, with branches along the Fitchburg Railroad
The Fitchburg Railroad is a former railroad company, which built a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. The Fitchburg was leased to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900. The main li ...
to Waltham and the Lexington Branch
Lexington may refer to:
Places England
* Laxton, Nottinghamshire, formerly Lexington
Canada
* Lexington, a district in Waterloo, Ontario
United States
* Lexington, Kentucky, the largest city with this name
* Lexington, Massachusetts, the oldes ...
to Lexington. The 1966 ''Program for Mass Transportation'' by the 1964-created MBTA
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
called for an immediate extension to Alewife Brook Parkway via Porter Square, with possible future extensions to Arlington or Waltham.
During the construction of the current Harvard station, two temporary stations were built. "Harvard/Brattle", a temporary station built of pressure-treated wood
Wood easily degrades without sufficient preservation. Apart from structural wood preservation measures, there are a number of different chemical preservatives and processes (also known as "timber treatment", "lumber treatment" or "pressure treat ...
, consisted of two island platform
An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...
s between three tracks in Eliot Yard, just outside the portal. A $1.4 million construction contract was approved on December 7, 1977, with a groundbreaking ceremony on January 23, 1978. The station was open from March 24, 1979 to September 1, 1983, and was the northern terminus of the Red Line during that period. The temporary station was completely demolished, and parts of the Kennedy School of Government now occupy the space.
"Harvard/Holyoke" station was located in the main Red Line tunnel east of the current station, at Massachusetts Avenue and Holyoke Street. Although it served inbound passengers only, the temporary station was fully built with tile walls and other durable details. It was open from January 31, 1981, to September 1, 1983. The abandoned side platform is still visible from inbound Red Line trains.
Current station
The Church Street secondary entrance to the new station opened on September 6, 1983. The main lobby and the new Harvard Square headhouse opened on March 2, 1985.[ ] (The reconstructed former headhouse had been returned to the square and occupied by Out of Town News
The Harvard Square Subway Kiosk is a historic kiosk and landmark located in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was built in 1928 as the new main headhouse (entrance building) for the previously-opened Harvard Square subway station. A ...
in 1984.) The artworks
A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetics, aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from ...
at Harvard and the three new stations were dedicated on May 3, 1985.
The renovated busway opened on September 7, 1985, completing the $72 million construction project.[ ] The bus platforms had been moved to the south (occupying part of the former tunnel to Eliot Square Shops) and renovated during the six-year closure of the tunnel. The northern ramp of the tunnel was also rebuilt during the closure. In addition to the route previously using the tunnel, bus routes , , and were rerouted into the tunnel. (Route , which remained on the surface, began using the tunnel northbound only in 2008.) A memorial plaque honoring John H. "Muggsie" Kelly, a construction foreman
A construction foreman, construction forewoman, or construction foreperson is the worker or skilled tradesperson who is in charge of a construction crew. This role is generally assumed by a senior worker.
Duties and functions
Normally the forema ...
who was killed by a crane collapse during construction in May 1982, was dedicated in October 1985. The One Brattle Square shopping complex, opened in 1992, was constructed partially on air rights
Air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning, or renting, land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by others.
This legal ...
over the south end of the bus tunnel.
Harvard Square was planned to be the terminus of a spur of the Urban Ring Project
The Urban Ring was a proposed project of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to develop new public transportation routes that would provide improved circumferential connections amon ...
, a circumferential bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
line. Under draft plans released in 2008, northbound buses would have crossed the Lars Anderson Bridge and entered the bus tunnel via Eliot Street, Bennett Street, and Bennett Alley. Southbound buses would have started at the Dawes Island bus stop, then proceeded on the surface on Eliot Street and JFK Street back to the bridge. The project was cancelled in 2010 due to high cost.
The MBTA agreed to build a new elevator at the south end of the upper busway at Eliot Square, and to replace the Harvard Square elevator, as part of the 2006 settlement of '' Joanne Daniels-Finegold, et al. v. MBTA''. Construction of the Eliot Square elevator began in mid-2010. The $4.1 million project, which provided redundant elevator Redundant elevators are additional elevators installed to guarantee greater accessibility of buildings and public transportation systems in the event that an elevator malfunctions. The United States Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund desc ...
access to the station, was completed in January 2012. The main elevator in Harvard Square was closed in 2018 for an 18-month replacement with a larger glass elevator. The new elevator, which has copper sheeting on the kiosk, opened on October 31, 2019.
A project to make repairs to the deteriorated pavement, replace the trolleybus wire, replace lighting, improve wayfinding, and add automatic doors to the main station area is taking place in 2019 and 2020. On June 23, 2019, the upper busway was temporarily closed; most buses used the lower busway for boarding and surface stops for alighting, while routes 71 and 73 ran on the surface only. The upper busway reopened and the lower busway closed on October 21. The lower busway reopened on November 22, with the upper busway again closed until December 21. Additional closures of the lower busway took place from March 31 to May 2 and June 21 to December 21, 2020, as decreased ridership during the coronavirus pandemic allowed for faster construction. The upper busway was again closed from June 20 to July 29, 2021, with the lower busway then closed until August 29. Improvements to wayfinding signage and lighting in the station began in 2020 but were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trolleybus service ended on March 13, 2022, with routes 71 and 73 rerouted to board in the upper busway.
Bus connections
A number of routes use the Harvard bus tunnel. All board on the upper level, and all but the 71 and 73 terminate on the lower level.
*: –Harvard station
*: Waverley Square–Harvard station
*: –Harvard via Concord Avenue
*: Belmont Center–Harvard via Huron Avenue
*: Arlington Heights–Harvard station
*: Arlmont Village–Harvard station
*: – (northbound buses)
*: Medford Square–Harvard station
Several other routes stop at street level near the north headhouse:
*: Harvard Square–
*: Harvard Square–Nubian station via Allston
Allston is an officially recognized neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was named after the American painter and poet Washington Allston. It comprises the land covered by the zip code 02134. For the most part ...
*: Harvard Square–
*: Harvard Square–
*: Sullivan Square station–Reservoir station (southbound buses)
Southbound buses on routes 66 and 86, and terminating buses on route 77, also serve a stop on Eliot Street at Bennett Street.
Public artwork
As a part of the Red Line Northwest Extension
The Red Line is a rapid transit line operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) as part of the MBTA subway system. The line runs south and east underground from Alewife station in North Cambridge, Massachusetts, North Cambr ...
, Harvard was included as one of the stations involved in the pioneering Arts on the Line
Arts on the Line was a program devised to bring art into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Arts on the Line was the first program of its kind in the United States and became th ...
program. Arts on the Line was devised to bring art into the MBTA's subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was the first program of its kind in the United States and became the model for similar arrangements to fund public art across the country.[Red Line Northwest Extension Pamphlet page 5](_blank)
The Davis Square Tiles Project. Accessed May 31, 2010
Four of the original twenty artworks were located at Harvard station.
. Cambridge Arts Council. 2002. Accessed May 30, 2010 The first two are located within the station interior, while the remaining two were located outdoors:
* ''Blue Sky on the Red Line'' by György Kepes
György Kepes ˆÉŸÃ¸É¾ÉŸ ˈkÉ›pɛʃ(October 4, 1906 – December 29, 2001) was a Hungarian-born painter, photographer, designer, educator, and art theorist. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1937, he taught design at the New Bauhaus (later the Sc ...
– A large stained-glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
wall composed of mostly cobalt blue glass
Cobalt glass—known as "smalt" when ground as a pigment—is a deep blue coloured glass prepared by including a cobalt compound, typically cobalt oxide or cobalt carbonate, in a glass melt. Cobalt is a very intense colouring agent and very litt ...
, with the exception of a red band that runs the length of the work. It is mounted on the wall of the upper Harvard bus tunnel so that it is visible from the central atrium space of the station. The work required $40,000 of repairs in 1998. Backlighting for the artwork, which had not been functional for years, was restored in December 2019.
* ''New England Decorative Art'' by Joyce Kozloff
Joyce Kozloff (born 1942) is an American artist whose politically engaged work has been based on cartography since the early 1990s.
Kozloff was one of the original members of the Pattern and Decoration movement and was an early artist in the 1970 ...
– An long mosaic split up into 8 sections, each resembling a quilt.
* ''Gateway to Knowledge'' by Anne Norton
Anne Norton (born 1954) is an American political scientist and Stacey and Henry Jackson President’s Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Early life
As a child, Norton lived and traveled throughout th ...
– A high brick structure divided vertically down the center by a gap, but still attached at the top. One half is slightly forward of the other (located in Brattle Square).
* ''Omphalos'' by Dimitri Hadzi
Dimitri Hadzi (March 21, 1921 – April 16, 2006) was an American abstract sculptor who lived and worked in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also taught at Harvard University for over a decade.
Life
Hadzi was born to Greek-American immigrant pare ...
– A freestanding grouping of pillars made up of various shapes that intersect at odd angles using many different types and polishes of granite. Previously located just north of the news stand which is also north of the main station entrance, the sculpture was removed in 2013 due to deterioration, with plans to refurbish and relocate it elsewhere.
Gallery
File:Information booth in Harvard Square, October 2005.jpg, A Cambridge Visitor's Information Center was installed next to the main entrance to the station
File:Harvard station dedication plaque.JPG, 1985 dedication plaque for the new station, which had opened in 1983
File:Ramp to inbound Red Line platform at Harvard station, January 2009.jpg, View looking northward from station atrium lobby, with outbound platform above inbound platform
File:Upper level of Harvard Bus Tunnel, December 2010.jpg, Passengers waiting in Harvard bus tunnel, upper level. Central atrium is visible though windows at rear.
File:South entrance to the Harvard Bus Tunnel, May 2014.jpg, Western portal of the Harvard bus tunnel connects to Mount Auburn Street (behind camera viewpoint)
File:Harvard headhouse 1912.jpg, Original station headhouse of 1912
File:MBTA Harvard Square Station in 1967.jpg, Roof of station headhouse in 1967; this structure is now a newsstand near its original location.
File:Harvard Square T station 1976.jpg, Station headhouse as seen in 1976; by this point the "T" signage was in use.
References
External links
MBTA – Harvard
*Google Maps Street View
Harvard Square headhouse
Church Street headhouses
Eliot Square headhouse
{{MBTA Subway Stations
Red Line (MBTA) stations
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1912
Bus stations in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Railway stations in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Harvard Square
Arts on the Line
1912 establishments in Massachusetts
Railway stations in Massachusetts at university and college campuses
Railway stations located underground in Massachusetts
MBTA subway stations located underground