West Medford station 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

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus alo ...

. It serves the

Lowell Line The Lowell Line is a railroad line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running north from Boston to Lowell, Massachusetts. Originally built as the New Hampshire Main Line of the Boston & Lowell Railroad and later operated as part of the Boston & M ...

, and is located at West Medford Square.

History

When the original Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) was laid out in the 1830s, West Medford was mostly farmland. The route of the new railroad (one of the

oldest railroads in North America This is a list of the earliest railroads in North America, including various railroad-like precursors to the general modern form of a company or government agency operating locomotive-drawn trains on metal tracks. Railroad-like entities (1700s ...

) was built on land acquired from

Peter Chardon Brooks Peter Chardon Brooks (January 6, 1767 – January 1, 1849) was a wealthy Massachusetts merchant. Early life Brooks born in North Yarmouth, Maine, on January 6, 1767. His parents were the Rev. Edward Brooks and Abigail Brown. In 1769, the fami ...

, who sold a strip for the right-of-way plus a parcel for the station on High Street. Medford Gates station was open by 1838. The name reflected the large gates built to warn passerby about the

grade crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term also ...

. The

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970, B ...

(B&M) opened its Medford branch to Medford Square in 1847; the B&L station was renamed West Medford in the early 1850s. A new station building was constructed in 1854. The adjacent High Street grade crossing, and the Canal Street crossing southeast, are the only grade crossings on the line south of Wilmington. Elimination of the High Street crossing was considered in 1932, but not implemented. The depot structure, built in 1886, was demolished in the 1960s. The decorative weathervane from the roof of the station was acquired by the Henry Ford Museum in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...

in the 1950s. In 2019, the MBTA listed West Medford as a "Tier I" accessibility priority.

References

External links

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MBTA - West Medford

City of Medford - West Medford Train Station

Station from High Street from Google Maps Street View
Stations along Boston and Maine Railroad lines MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Medford, Massachusetts Railway stations in Medford, Massachusetts