Davis (MBTA station)

DAVIS
Outbound train at Davis station
Station statistics
Address	Holland Street & Elm Street Somerville, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°23′49″N 71°07′23″W / 42.397°N 71.123°W / 42.397; -71.123Coordinates: 42°23′49″N 71°07′23″W / 42.397°N 71.123°W / 42.397; -71.123
Line(s)	Red Line
Connections	MBTA Bus: 87, 88, 89, 90, 94, 96
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Bicycle facilities	165 spaces
Other information
Opened	December 8, 1984
Accessible
Owned by	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Traffic
Passengers (2009)	11,628 (weekday average boardings)[1]
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station Alewife Terminus Red Line Porter toward Ashmont or Braintree

Davis Station is a transfer station serving the MBTA's rapid transit Red Line, located at Davis Square. Positioned at the intersection of Holland Street, Elm Street, and College Avenue, Davis Station is by consequence of geography and system layout the sole rapid transit station within Somerville city limits. It is bordered on both sides by stations that lie in Cambridge: Alewife and Porter.

Opened in 1985, Davis Station takes its name from Davis Square, which was named after Person Davis (1819-1894), a grain dealer who moved to the area in 1850 and built his estate near the intersection of Elm, Grove and Morrison Streets.^[2]

Facilities include a bus terminal for local routes, with a dedicated busway, two head houses and bicycle parking. Davis also includes connections to the Somerville Community Path and the Cambridge Linear Park.

Station layout

History

Streetcars propelled the growth of West Somerville after 1858, and regular passenger rail was not far behind. Beginning in 1870, passenger service on the Lexington and Arlington branch of the Boston and Lowell Railroad (later succeeded by the Boston and Maine Railroad) came through Davis Square, with a "West Somerville" stop in the square. A station was built in 1888.^[3] The streetcar and railroad service stimulated substantial development in the 1870s and 1880s as Davis Square quickly grew into an active commercial center. A boom in residential construction followed in the 1890s.^[4]

In 1927, passenger rail service was re-routed, contributing to a decline in the area that became more severe after World War II. In the 1960s or 1970s, local officials and citizen groups successfully petitioned the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to create a Red Line subway stop in Somerville at Davis Square. Davis opened to passengers for the first time on December 8, 1984,^[5] spurring major development and revitalization of the area.

Arts on the Line

As a part of the Red Line Northwest Extension, Davis was included as one of the stations involved in the Arts on the Line program. Arts on the Line was devised to bring art into the MBTA's subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was the first program of its kind in the United States and became the model for similar drives for art across the country.^[6]

Four of the original twenty artworks are located at Davis station.^[7] These works are:

• Ten Figures by James Tyler - Life-size people created out of cement, placed in areas around Davis Square
• Children's Tile Mural by Jack Gregory and Joan Wye - Many tiles created by children placed on the brick wall of the station mezzanine. In 2009, a group of local artists attempted to find as many of the tile-makers as possible. The schoolchildren are now 35–45 years old^[8]
• Poetry by various poets - Lines of poems are embedded into bricks on the station platform floor
• Sculpture with a D by Sam Gilliam - A large scale, brightly colored, abstract work^[9]

Attractions

• Tufts University, about a 10-minute walk north along College Avenue.
• Davis Square, which features:
  • theater and cinema
  • shops and restaurants
  • Somerville gallery of the Museum of Bad Art

Elm Street entrance

Accessibility

Davis Station is wheelchair accessible. See MBTA accessibility.

Bus connections

Additionally, Davis Station connects to several MBTA Bus Lines leading to nearby towns:^[10]

• 87 Arlington Center or Clarendon Hill - Lechmere Station via Somerville Avenue
• 88 Clarendon Hill — Lechmere Station via Highland Avenue
• 89 Clarendon Hill or Davis Square - Sullivan Square Station via Broadway
• 90 Davis Square - Wellington Station via Sullivan Square Station & Assembly Mall
• 94 Medford Square — Davis Square Station via West Medford & Medford Hillside
• 96 Medford Square — Harvard Station via George St. & Davis Square Station

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Davis (MBTA station).

External links

• MBTA Red Line — Davis Station
• Holland Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• College Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View

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