Wellesley Square station is a commuter rail station on the

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 ...

Framingham/Worcester Line, located just north of the MA 16- MA 135 intersection in downtown Wellesley, Massachusetts. It serves both walk-up and park-and-ride commuters, with a 224-space parking lot for the latter group. The station has low-level platforms and is not

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 ...

History

The Boston & Worcester Railroad (B&W), extending outwards from Boston, reached through the West Parish of Needham in mid-1834. In 1839, the line was double tracked through the area. A station on the B&W opened at West Needham by 1850. It was renamed to Wellesley after the adjacent village in 1863, though the West Parish did not formerly separate from Needham to become Wellesley until 1881. The wood-framed building was moved half a mile to the east in 1889 (where it still stands, in use as a restaurant), when

H. H. Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

's successors Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge designed a stone

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

station for the Boston & Albany Railroad (B&A), which had taken over the B&W. The 1889-built depot was demolished around 1962 to make room for a post office; only bare asphalt platforms remained. Amtrak ''

Inland Route Inland may refer to: Places Sweden * Inland Fräkne Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden * Inland Northern Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden * Inland Southern Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden * Inland Torpe Hundred, a hundred ...

'' service served it until 1975, and from 1984 to 1986. In 1977 or 1978, the station was renamed Wellesley Square to differentiate it from the other two stations in Wellesley. In 2019, the MBTA listed Wellesley Square as a "Tier I" accessibility priority. In June 2021, the MBTA issued a $28 million design contract for a project to add a third track from Weston to Framingham, including reconstruction of the three Wellesley stations and West Natick station. The project was expected to cost around $400 million, of which rebuilding Wellesley Square station would be $31-35 million, with completion in 2030. , the MBTA plans to pilot a freestanding temporary accessible platform at

Beverly Depot Beverly Depot is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Beverly, Massachusetts. Located in Downtown Beverly, it serves the Newburyport/Rockport Line. It is the junction of the line's two branches to Newburyport and Rockport and is served by every trai ...

in late 2023. If successful, Wellesley Square would be one of the first four stations to receive a temporary platform while a full reconstruction is planned.

References

External links

MBTA - Wellesley Square

HABS entry for Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge station
Former Boston and Albany Railroad stations MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Former Amtrak stations in Massachusetts Railway stations in the United States opened in 1889 Romanesque Revival architecture in Massachusetts Wellesley, Massachusetts {{MBTA-stub