Lake Street station (Arlington, Massachusetts)

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Lake Street
Lake Street station, circa 1915.jpg
Lake Street station around 1915
Coordinates42°24′16.3″N 71°8′49.1″W / 42.404528°N 71.146972°W / 42.404528; -71.146972Coordinates: 42°24′16.3″N 71°8′49.1″W / 42.404528°N 71.146972°W / 42.404528; -71.146972
Line(s)Lexington Branch
Other information
Fare zone1
History
Opened1846; March 1968[2]
ClosedMay 17, 1958; January 10, 1977[1][2]
Passengers
1976Fewer than 10 daily[1]
Services
Preceding station MBTA.svg MBTA Following station
Arlington
toward Bedford
 Lexington Branch Cambridge
toward North Station

Lake Street station was a commuter rail station on the Lexington Branch, located in the East Arlington section of Arlington, Massachusetts. It was closed in January 1977 when service on the Lexington Branch was suspended.

History[]

Floral display at Lake Street station in 1905

The Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad opened from West Cambridge (on the Fitchburg Railroad) to Lexington on September 1, 1846.[3] Lake Street station was located in East Arlington; it was commonly used to reach nearby Spy Pond for winter ice skating.[4] The railroad was acquired by the Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) in 1870; a new line was constructed from Lake Street to Somerville Junction to reach the B&L mainline. The new line opened on December 1, 1870, and the old route to West Cambridge was abandoned.[5][6]

The B&L was leased by the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) in 1887. In the 1890s and 1900s, during the City Beautiful movement, the B&M held contests among its station agents to create floral displays at its station. Station agent Brosnahan's displays at Lake Street won prizes in several years.[7]

In 1926–27, the B&M rebuilt the abandoned line between Lake Street and West Cambridge to allow the Lexington Branch to use the Fitchburg mainline east of West Cambridge.[8] On April 24, 1927, passenger service was rerouted over the rebuilt line. Most of the 1870-built connector was retained as the freight-only Fitchburg Cutoff; a short section near Lake Street was initially kept to serve a Dewey & Almy Chemical Company plant, but later abandoned.[9]

Closure[]

On April 18, 1958, the B&M received permission from the Public Utilities Commission to drastically curtail its suburban commuter service, including abandoning branches, closing stations, and cutting trains. Among the approved cuts was the closure of four stations on the Lexington Branch in Arlington - Lake Street, Arlington, Brattles, and Arlington Heights - because Arlington was part of the funding district of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which provided parallel bus service on Massachusetts Avenue.[10] The four stations, with collective daily ridership around 200 passengers, were closed on May 16, 1958.[3][11] The only surviving stations of the Lexington Branch are Bedford Depot and Lexington; Lake Street was demolished prior to 1959.[12][13]

Due to community input, Arlington Centre station was reopened in October 1965, followed by Lake Street in March 1968.[1][2] Ridership at Lake Street station generally did not exceed 10 passengers per day; although taking the Lexington Branch allowed a faster trip than taking the 77 bus to Harvard (then the northwestern terminus of the Red Line) and then transferring to the Red Line to get to downtown Boston, it had only one trip per day and was substantially more expensive.[1]

On January 10, 1977, following a major snowstorm which temporarily shut down the Lexington Branch, stranding a train at Bedford Depot, the MBTA announced that commuter rail service on the branch would not be restored.[12] In the 1980s, the MBTA planned to extend the Red Line through Arlington and Lexington to Route 128 along the former path of the Lexington Branch as part of the Northwest Extension, but fierce opposition from Arlington residents scuttled this plan, and the Northwest Extension was cut short to Alewife in northwestern Cambridge.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and Construction (22 April 1976). Capital needs developed at the corridor level: core and west (Report). Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and Construction. pp. 101–102.
  2. ^ a b c Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
  3. ^ a b Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 77, 87. ISBN 9780685412947.
  4. ^ "Good Skating". Boston Globe. December 16, 1898. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Boston and Lowell Railroad". American Railroad Journal. Vol. 27, no. 5. February 4, 1871. p. 122 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ "Boston and Maine Railroad". Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Vol. 30: Valuation Reports. Interstate Commerce Commission. 1931. p. 780 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ "Hills Crossing Again Captures First Prize in Floral Display Contest at B&M Stations". Boston Globe. October 1, 1905. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Two Railroad Lines Being Built by B. & M. for Total of Two Miles". The Boston Globe. October 28, 1926. p. 36 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  9. ^ "Train Diversion Starts April 24th". The Boston Globe. April 16, 1927. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  10. ^ "Drastic Service Cuts Approved on Five B.& M. Divisions". Daily Boston Globe. April 19, 1958. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "B.&M. Closes Saugus Branch, 3 Other Lines". Daily Boston Globe. May 17, 1958. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ a b "About the Lexington Branch". Friends of Bedford Depot Park. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  13. ^ "Arlington: $74.30 Tax Rate Seen, New Zoning Plan OK'd". Boston Globe. March 24, 1959. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[]

Media related to Lake Street station (Arlington, Massachusetts) at Wikimedia Commons

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