Concord station (Massachusetts)

Concord

Concord station in March 2016

General information

Location

90 Thoreau Street
Concord, Massachusetts

Coordinates

42°27′24″N 71°21′28″W / 42.45667°N 71.35778°W

Owned by

Town of Concord

Line(s)

Fitchburg Route

Platforms

2 side platforms

Tracks

Construction

Parking

86 spaces (free)

Bicycle facilities

10 spaces

Other information

Fare zone

Passengers

2018

367 (weekday average boardings)^[1]

Services

Preceding station	MBTA			Following station
West Concord toward Wachusett		Fitchburg Line		Lincoln toward North Station

Concord station is a commuter rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line located in downtown Concord, Massachusetts. It has two side platforms, which are low-level and not accessible, serving the line's two tracks.

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History

The original trackside windows and doors have been boarded up and replaced with painted-on copies. The structure on the roof was formerly a control tower.

Fitchburg Railroad service from Concord to Boston began in June 1844, and has continued since.^[2] When he lived at Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau complained that the village's schedule was set by the times of arrivals and departures at the station.^[3] Although the Fitchburg Line went through a series of contractions due to funding issues in the 1960s and 1970s, service to Concord was never interrupted.^[4]

A new station was completed in January 1875.^[5] The current station building was built in the Queen Anne style in the 1890s. The new station was damaged by fire in 1895 and substantially rebuilt. When built, it was a squat hip-roofed station similar to other stations on the line. A control tower on the trackside roof was added later.^[6]

In 1958, the station building was purchased from the B&M at a cost of $35,000 (equivalent to $355,000 in 2022).^[7] It was converted for use as a gift shop by 1962.^[8] By 1977, it was subdivided for use as offices, a restaurant, and retail space.^[7]

The depot was later modified during the 20th century and scarcely resembles the original. The trackside doors and windows have been boarded over, replaced by a mural painted in the early 1980s. Large side wings have been added, and the building converted for retail use. The circa-1907 express office is present just to the west and also in retail use; a freight house east of the station was demolished in 1991.^[6]

References

^ Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
^ Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. p. 201. ISBN 0942147022.
^ Stilgoe, John R. (1983). Metropolitan Corridor. Yale University Press. p. 209. ISBN 0300030428.
^ Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
^ "Suburban Notes". The Boston Globe. January 15, 1875. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
^ ^a ^b Roy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. pp. 142–143. ISBN 9780942147087.
^ ^a ^b Henry, Alan P. (August 10, 1977). "There's no depot like an old depot". Boston Globe. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Few Trains, But Stations Still Busy". Boston Globe. February 16, 1962. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com.