Stony Brook station is a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

station in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. It serves 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 ...

Orange Line and is located below grade at Boylston Street in the

Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of Roxbury, Massachusetts, Roxbury. The community seceded from Roxbur ...

neighborhood. The station opened on May 4, 1987, as part of the Southwest Corridor project, replacing an earlier station that was open from 1897 to 1940.

History

Railroad station

The

Boston and Providence Railroad The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the Rail transportation in the United States, fir ...

opened through Roxbury in June 1834. Local stations were gradually added; Boylston Street station was open by around 1849. A new station building was constructed in 1872. It was a one-story wood building located on the west side of the tracks north of Boylston Street. The final wooden bridges on the railroad's mainline were eliminated in the early 1880s when Stony Brook was rerouted to the east side of the tracks. A new station at Boylston was constructed around 1891. Starting in 1891, the

Old Colony Railroad The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, ...

(acquired in 1893 by the

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated principally in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

) raised the section of its main line through Jamaica Plain (extending from Massachusetts Avenue to ) onto a 4-track stone embankment to eliminate dangerous grade crossings. The project involved the replacement of the five NYNH&H stations in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain; the new elevated stations opened on June 1, 1897. On November 22, 1909, the

Washington Street Elevated The Washington Street Elevated was an elevated segment of Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway system, comprising the southern stretch of the Orange Line. It ran from Chinatown through the South End and Roxbury, ending ...

was extended south from (now Nubian Square) to Forest Hills. Although the five NYNH&H stations in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain continued to operate for over three decades following the southward extension of the Washington Street Elevated, they were ultimately unable to compete with the Elevated, and all, including Boylston Street, were closed on September 29, 1940 due to a lack of passengers.

Orange Line station

In the 1960s, plans took hold to extend

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

into downtown Boston along the NYNH&H's right-of-way and to replace the Washington Street Elevated (after 1967 known as the Orange Line) with a rapid transit line running in the new highway's median. Although the project was halted by

highway revolts Highway revolts (also freeway revolts, expressway revolts, or road protests) are organized protests against the planning or construction of highways, freeways, expressways, and other civil engineering projects that prioritize motor vehicle traff ...

in 1969 and the February 11, 1970 announcement by Governor Francis W. Sargent of a moratorium on new highway construction within the

Route 128 The following highways are numbered 128: Canada * New Brunswick Route 128 * Ontario Highway 128 (former) * Prince Edward Island Route 128 Costa Rica * National Route 128 (Costa Rica), National Route 128 India * National Highway 128 (India) Ja ...

corridor, and eventually cancelled by Governor Sargent in 1972, the right-of-way had already been cleared. This empty strip of land (known as the Southwest Corridor) was eventually developed into the

Southwest Corridor Park Southwest Corridor Park is a linear urban park in Boston, Massachusetts, part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston and managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. It extends from the South End and Bac ...

, and the Orange Line was moved to a new alignment along the Corridor in 1987 despite the cancellation of the project originally calling for its relocation. This included a new rapid transit station at Boylston Street, on the site of the former NYNH&H station, named Stony Brook after the former watercourse of the same name. (The name was determined in 1985 as part of a series of station name changes.) The Washington Street Elevated was permanently closed on April 30, 1987, and the new southern half of the Orange Line, including Stony Brook, opened on May 4. Stony Brook has not been served by

MBTA bus The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates List of MBTA bus routes, 152 bus routes in the Greater Boston area. The MBTA has a policy objective to provide transit service within walking distance (defined as ) for all residents ...

service since route 48 was discontinued on July 1, 2012. The entire Orange Line, including Stony Brook station, was closed from August 19 to September 18, 2022, during maintenance work.

References

External links

MBTA - Stony Brook

Boylston Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{MBTA Subway Stations Jamaica Plain, Boston Orange Line (MBTA) stations Railway stations located underground in Boston Railway stations in the United States opened in 1897 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1987 Railway stations in the United States closed in 1940