Cleveland Circle is a surface light rail station on the

MBTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

Green Line C branch, located in the

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

neighborhood of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

, at

Cleveland Circle Cleveland Circle, an area of Boston, Massachusetts, is located in Boston's Brighton neighborhood, and more specifically the Aberdeen section of Brighton, in very close proximity to Brookline and Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, at the intersecti ...

. Cleveland Circle station is

handicapped accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...

, with raised platforms to accommodate low-floor trams.

History

PCC Streetcars at Cleveland Circle, 1951

The Beacon Street line opened in 1889; most streetcars ran through Cleveland Circle to Lake Street after 1896, with some terminating at the Chestnut Hill Carhouse (renamed Reservoir Carhouse around 1900). A waiting room was originally located in a leased building at the southeast corner of Cleveland Circle; it was heavily damaged by fire on December 10, 1897, and the

West End Street Railway The West End Street Railway was a streetcar company that operated in Boston, Massachusetts and several surrounding communities in the late nineteenth century. Originally an offshoot of a land development venture, the West End rose to prominence ...

allowed the property to revert to the owner. In 1915, the route was cut back to Reservoir, at the Reservoir Carhouse. Around 1947, the terminus was redesignated Cleveland Circle after the adjacent traffic circle, to differentiate it from the nearby

commuter rail station Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are consi ...

– which, twelve years later, would become a streetcar station itself. Although Cleveland Circle is no longer a traffic circle, the station retains its name. In the early 2000s, the MBTA modified key surface stops with raised platforms for

accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...

. Portable lifts were installed at Cleveland Circle around 2000 as a temporary measure. The platform modifications - part of a $32 million modification of thirteen B, C, and E branch stations - were completed around 2003. On May 2, 2007, the MBTA added a wooden mini-high platform on the outbound side, allowing level deboarding from older Type 7 LRVs. These platforms were installed at eight Green Line stations in 2006–07 as part of the settlement of '' Joanne Daniels-Finegold, et al. v. MBTA''. The ramp was removed in July 2020 during a track reconstruction project.

References

External links

MBTA - Cleveland Circle

Cleveland Circle Station from Google Maps Street View
{{MBTA Subway Stations Brighton, Boston Green Line (MBTA) stations Railway stations in Boston MBTA subway stations located above ground Railway stations in the United States opened in 1889