Old Colony Railroad Station (North Easton, Massachusetts)

EASTON VILLAGE

The historic Old Colony Railroad Station building. The new MBTA platform will be built just across the track
Location Off Oliver Street
North Easton, Massachusetts
Owned by MBTA
Line(s)
  South Coast Rail

phase 2

Platforms 1 side platform (planned)
Tracks 1
Construction
Disabled access Yes
History
Opened 1881
Opening 2030 (planned)
Closed June 30, 1959
Electrified 2030 (planned)
Previous names North Easton Depot
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station
South Coast Rail
(Proposed)
North Easton Railroad Station

Old Colony Railroad Station, North Easton as it appeared in 1890
Location 80 Mechanic St.
North Easton, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°4′9.37″N 71°6′11.95″W / 42.0692694°N 71.1033194°W / 42.0692694; -71.1033194Coordinates: 42°4′9.37″N 71°6′11.95″W / 42.0692694°N 71.1033194°W / 42.0692694; -71.1033194
Built 1881
Architect H. H. Richardson
Part of H. H. Richardson Historic District of North Easton (#87002598)
Significant dates
Designated NHLDCP December 23, 1987
Designated CP November 3, 1972

The Old Colony Railroad Station, also known as the North Easton Railroad Station, is a historic railroad station designed by noted American architect H. H. Richardson. It is located just off Oliver Street in North Easton, Massachusetts, and currently houses the Easton Historical Society, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. In 1987 it also became part of the H. H. Richardson Historic District of North Easton, a National Historic Landmark District.

The historic station will be joined by the modern Easton Village station as part of the South Coast Rail phase 2 will be built on the former Dighton and Somerset Railroad and Old Colony & Newport Railroad.

History

The station was commissioned in 1881 by Frederick Lothrop Ames, director of the Old Colony Railroad, during the same year that Richardson designed the Ames Gate Lodge for his nearby estate. Frederick Law Olmsted landscaped its grounds. North Easton Depot closed on June 30 1959 with the rest of the Old Colony division of the NYNH&HRR

In 1969, the Ames family purchased the property from the Penn Central Railroad and gave it to the historical society.

A new MBTA Commuter Rail station, Easton Village, is proposed to be built at the site as part of the South Coast Rail project. An 800-foot-long (240 m) high-level platform will be constructed across the track from the historic building.[1]

Architecture

It is a relatively small station, a single story in height with Richardson's characteristic heavy masonry and outsized roof. Its long axis runs north-south with the tracks, now disused, along its west side. The building is laid out symmetrically within, with a large passenger room at each end (one for women, the other for men).

The station's facade is constructed of rough-faced, random ashlar of gray granite with a brownstone belt course and trim. Two large, semicircular arches punctuate each of the long facades, inset with windows and doorways, and ornamented with carvings of a beast's snarling head; a further semicircular arch projects to form the east facade's porte-cochere. Eaves project deeply over all sides, supported by plain wooden brackets.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Figure 3.2-23 Easton Village Station Proposed Reconstruction" (PDF). Volume II: FEIS/FEIR Figures Final Environmental Impact Statement/Final Environmental Impact Report on the South Coast Rail Project proposed by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New England District. August 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Cummings, Albert L. (January 1960). "Old Colony Railroad Station" (PDF). Historic American Buildings Survey. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. p. 2. Retrieved March 1, 2014.

List of Old Colony Railroad stations

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