Hersey 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

Needham, Massachusetts Needham ( ) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. A suburb of Boston, its population was 32,091 at the 2020 U.S. Census. It is home of Olin College. History Early settlement Needham was first settled in 1680 with the purchase of a ...

. Located in the Bird's Hill neighborhood, it serves the

Needham Line The Needham Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running west from downtown Boston, Massachusetts through Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, and the town of Needham. The second-shortest line of the system at just ...

. The station serves as a park-and-ride, with easy access from Route 128. Hersey station has been open since 1917, except for an 8-year closure during Southwest Corridor construction. It is fully accessible.

History

The Needham cutoff opened on November 4, 1906, from

West Roxbury West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the town of Brookline to the north, the cities and towns of Newton and Needham to the northwest and the town of Dedham to the ...

Needham Junction Needham Junction station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Needham, Massachusetts. It serves the Needham Line. It is located on Junction Street near Chestnut Street in the southwestern part of Needham. It opened in 1906 when the New Haven Railro ...

, allowing trains from the former New York and New England Railroad to reach Boston without needing to use the

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

's Highland branch. Building the cutoff required a significant length of difficult rock cuts - "one of the heaviest pieces of short railroad construction ever attempted in New England" - reaching a depth of at Great Plain Avenue. Needham Junction was originally the only stop on the cutoff; Bird's Hill opened as an infill station at Great Plains Avenue in 1917. The station was closed with the rest of the line on October 13, 1979, due to Southwest Corridor construction. On March 21, 1980, the Massachusetts Legislature directed the MBTA to rename the station to honor Needham selectman Henry D. Hersey, "an outstanding spokesman for commuter rail service in the commonwealth". In addition to this station, the MBTA also honored Hersey by naming locomotive MBTA 1000 as ''Henry D. Hersey "Mr. Commuter Rail"''. Newly designated Hersey station reopened with the rest of the line on October 19, 1987. Unlike the other Needham Line stations, Hersey was not renovated during the closure with a mini-high platform for handicapped accessibility. A mini-high platform was added between 1990 and 1992, making the Needham Line the first completely accessible line on the MBTA system; a parking lot was also added on the south side of the station

References

External links

MBTA - Hersey

Great Plain Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
Buildings and structures in Needham, Massachusetts Former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad stations MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Railway stations in the United States opened in 1917 1917 establishments in Massachusetts {{Massachusetts-railstation-stub