Uphams Corner
An outbound train at Uphams Corner station in 2022
General information
Location691 Dudley Street
Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°19′09″N 71°04′07″W / 42.3191°N 71.0686°W / 42.3191; -71.0686
Line(s)Dorchester Branch
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
ConnectionsBus transport MBTA bus: 15, 41
Construction
AccessibleYes
Other information
Fare zone1A
History
Opened1855; November 3, 1979;[1]
October 5, 1987[1]
Closed1944; January 30, 1981[1]
RebuiltJanuary 23, 2007[2]
Previous namesStoughton Street (until 1880s)
Dudley Street (1880s - June 15, 1924)[3]
Passengers
2018151 (weekday average boardings)[4]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Four Corners/Geneva
toward Readville
 Fairmount Line Newmarket
toward South Station
Four Corners/Geneva
toward Forge Park/495 or Foxboro
 Franklin/​Foxboro Line
Limited service
Location

Uphams Corner station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the Fairmount Line. It is located on Dudley Street in the Uphams Corner area of the Dorchester neighborhood. It was reopened in 1979 after the line had been closed for 35 years. The station is fully accessible with two full-length high-level platforms and ramps to the street, which were added during a construction project that finished in 2007.

History

Original station

Construction of the new station in 1907

Service on the Fairmount Line (as the Dorchester Branch of the Norfolk County Railroad and later the New York and New England Railroad and New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad) began in 1855, although it was frequently out of service until 1867.[5] The service included a stop at Stoughton Street near Uphams Corner; a Cottage Street station may have also been briefly located a block to the north.[6][7] The station was renamed Dudley Street after the street was renamed between Brook Avenue (the Roxbury/Dorchester border) and Uphams Corner in 1874.[8][9]

Elimination of the busy Dudley Street grade crossing was long desired, but proved difficult because changing the grade of Dudley Street required modifying several nearby cross streets and numerous buildings.[10] Construction to raise the tracks and lower Dudley Street began around September 1906.[11] A temporary streetcar bypass track, railroad trestle, and station opened in January 1907.[12][13] The railroad initially intended to continue using the 54-year-old wooden station building, which was insufficient to handle the 2,700 daily passengers at the station.[14][15] After a May 1907 hearing, the railroad agreed to build a new stone station.[15][16]

The 1909-built Dudley Street station

The grade crossing elimination was completed in 1908.[17] It cost $500,000 (equivalent to $11,500,000 in 2022) and modified the grade of the tracks for nearly a mile from Massachusetts Avenue to Bird Street.[13] The new stone station opened on April 14, 1909 at a cost of $18,000 (equivalent to $415,000 in 2022), then serving 65 trains per day. Located on the east side of the tracks, it was 72 by 27 feet (21.9 m × 8.2 m) in size with a 45-by-25-foot (13.7 m × 7.6 m) waiting room, a ticket and telegraph office, and a baggage room. It was made of red brick with a concrete foundation, brownstone base, and limestone trim.[17] A pedestrian tunnel under the tracks connected the platforms.[18][19]

On June 15, 1924, the station was again renamed as Uphams Corner to avoid confusion with Dudley Street Terminal.[20][3] Undercut by streetcars, buses, and the Elevated for decades, service on the line ended in 1944.[5]

MBTA station

The station's full-length accessible high-level platforms were added in the 2006 reconstruction

The Dorchester Branch (also known as the Midland Route) was reopened as a bypass on November 3, 1979 during Southwest Corridor construction, including stops at Uphams Corner, Morton Street, and Fairmount.[1] Uphams Corner was originally built at minimal cost, with small low-level platforms and staircases to Dudley Street. Intended to be only in service for several years, the station was not handicapped accessible.

Uphams Corner and Morton Street were dropped effective January 30, 1981 as part of systemwide cuts.[1][21] Service over the route was intended to be temporary; however, it was popular with residents of the communities the line passed through. When the Southwest Corridor reopened on October 5, 1987, the Fairmount shuttle service was retained, with Uphams Corner and Morton Street renovated and reopened.[1][22]

The station was rebuilt in 2005–2007 as part of the larger Fairmount Line Improvements project, which also included four new stations along the line.[23] A groundbreaking was held on April 14, 2005.[24] The rebuilding included new full-length high-level platforms, ramps to Dudley Street, canopies, and new lighting and signage. The fully accessible station was officially reopened on January 23, 2007.[2][25]

In the mid-2010s, Uphams Corner station became locally known for high rates of heroin use at the lightly used and largely unpatrolled station.[26]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
  2. 1 2 "State Implementation Plan – Transit Commitments Monthly Status Report" (PDF). Massachusetts Department of Transportation. April 19, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 1, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Jacobs, Warren (October 1928). "Dates of Some of the Principal Events in the History of 100 Years of the Railroad in New England. 1826-1926". Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. Railway and Locomotive Historical Society. 17 (17): 15–28. JSTOR 43504499.
  4. ↑ Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  5. 1 2 Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 295–298. ISBN 0942147022.
  6. ↑ KKO and Associates (October 15, 2001). Fairmount Line Feasibility Study: Task One:Assessment of Existing Conditions (Draft). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  7. ↑ "Plate J". Atlas of the county of Suffolk, Massachusetts : vol. 3rd including Boston and Dorchester : from actual surveys and official records. G.M. Hopkins & Co. 1874. pp. 44–45.
  8. ↑ "Plate 28". City atlas of Boston, Massachusetts : complete in one volume : from official records, private plans and actual surveys. G.M. Hopkins & Co. 1882.
  9. ↑ A record of the streets, alleys, places, etc. in the city of Boston. City of Boston. 1910. p. 161 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ↑ "Abolition of the Dudley-St Crossing of Great Interest to Dorchester People". Boston Globe. March 3, 1904. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Nearly 300 Men Busy at the Dudley-St Crossing". Boston Globe. December 2, 1906. p. 26 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Making Way for New Trestle Bridge". Boston Globe. January 1, 1907. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. 1 2 "Changes Because of Grade Crossing Work at Dudley-St Steam Railroad Station". Boston Globe. January 13, 1907. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Want A Stone Station". Boston Globe. March 15, 1907. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. 1 2 "Station Built 54 Years Ago". Boston Globe. May 16, 1907. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Massive Bridge Assumes Shape at Dudley-St Crossing". Boston Globe. June 20, 1907. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. 1 2 "Dudley St Has New Station". Boston Globe. April 14, 1909. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Atlas of the City of Boston, Dorchester". G. W. Bromley and Co. 1910. Plate 4.
  19. ↑ "Transformation Attending the Work on Grade Crossing at Dudley-St Station". Boston Globe. August 26, 1907. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Dorchester District". Boston Globe. June 9, 1924. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ "T changes start today". Boston Globe. February 1, 1981. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  22. ↑ Rothenberg, Alex (July 14, 1987). "Midlands Branch commuter rail service scheduled to resume in fall". Boston Globe. p. 22 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ O'Sullivan, Jim (March 30, 2005). "Concerns Arise over Uphams Corner Station Shutdown Details". Dorchester Reporter. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  24. ↑ "MBTA Begins Upgrading Fairmount Line" (PDF). TRANSreport. Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization. May 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 9, 2010. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
  25. ↑ "Uphams Corner Station Overhaul Complete" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. January 24, 2007.
  26. ↑ O'Hara, Kelli (September 28, 2015). "7News Special Report: Heroin Hotspot". 7News. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
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