Newton Centre is a light rail station on 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 ...

Green Line D branch, located in the

Newton Centre Newton Centre is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The main commercial center of Newton Centre is a triangular area surrounding the intersections of Beacon Street, Centre St ...

village of

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

. A former

regional rail Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster serv ...

station, it was converted for light rail use and reopened on July 4, 1959, along with the rest of the line. The 1891-built station and express office are part of the

Newton Railroad Stations Historic District The Newton Railroad Stations Historic District in Newton, Massachusetts is composed of three geographically separate historic railroad stations and one baggage/express building on the former Boston and Albany Railroad Highland branch, which was ...

, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

History

The first station at this site opened in 1852 on Langley Road as a part of the Charles River Railroad. The

Boston and Albany Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Pass ...

commissioned a building which design was started by H. H. Richardson in 1886, the year of his death, and which design was finished by Richardson’s successor firm of

Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge was a successful architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, operating between 1886 and 1915, with extensive commissions in monumental civic, religious, and collegiate architecture in the spirit and style of Henry ...

. The new station, built by the Norcross Brothers firm of Worcester, opened in 1891. The station was heavily modified in 1907 when the line was sunk below grade to eliminate street crossings. The

Highland branch The Highland branch, also known as the Newton Highlands branch, was a suburban railway line in Boston, Massachusetts. It was opened by the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1886 to serve the growing community of Newton, Massachusetts. The line was ...

was closed in 1958 and quickly converted for light rail use. The station building was rented out as commercial space; by 1962, it housed a clothing store. Until 2008, it housed a

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coffee shop containing a sign that indicated when a Boston-bound train arrived. However, the shop was closed in October 2008 as part of Starbucks' restructuring campaign due to the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

. The Deluxe Station Diner, a satellite restaurant of the Deluxe Town Diner in

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 ...

, opened in the newly renovated building in December 2010. Deluxe Station Diner morphed into Jamie's on Union in September 2020 which closed in August 2022. The space currently sits vacant. In the early 2000s, the MBTA modified key surface stops with raised platforms 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. ...

as part of the Light Rail Accessibility Program. The renovation of Newton Centre was completed around 2002. Around 2006, the MBTA added a wooden

mini-high platform Railway platform height is the built height – ''above top of rail (ATR)'' – of passenger platforms at stations. A connected term is ''train floor height'', which refers to the ATR height of the floor of rail vehicles. Worldwide, there are ...

on the inbound side, allowing level boarding on older Type 7 LRVs. These platforms were installed at eight Green Line stations in 2006–07 as part of the settlement of '' Joanne Daniels-Finegold, et al. v. MBTA''. In October 2012, the MBTA changed the station name from Newton Center to Newton Centre to match the village name.

References

External links

MBTA - Newton CentreMay 1968 photo of Newton Center station

Union Street entrance from Google Maps Street View

Braeland Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{MBTA Subway Stations Green Line (MBTA) stations Railway stations in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Railway stations in the United States opened in 1959 Former Boston and Albany Railroad stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1852