Wood Island station

Wood Island station is an MBTA Blue Line rapid transit station located off Bennington Street (Route 145) in the Day Square section of East Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. The station is adjacent to and named for the former Wood Island Park, a once heavily used recreational area for East Boston residents. Most of the park was destroyed in the mid 1960s to expand Logan International Airport. It was built in 1952, replacing a pair of Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad stations that served the area.

Wood Island
An outbound train at Wood Island station in July 2021
General information
Location	450 Bennington Street East Boston, Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42.3797°N 71.0230°W / 42.3797; -71.0230
Line(s)	Revere Extension
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	MBTA bus: 112, 120, 121
Construction
Bicycle facilities	10
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	January 5, 1952[1]
Rebuilt	1994–1995
Previous names	Day Square (1952–1954) Wood Island Park (1954–1967)[1]
Passengers
FY2019	2,102 boardings (weekday average)[2]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station Airport toward Bowdoin Blue Line Orient Heights toward Wonderland
Location

History

Predecessor stations

Harbor View station in 1907. The original Wood Island station was of a similar design.

The narrow gauge Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad (BRB&L) opened from East Boston to Lynn on July 29, 1875.^[3]

Wood Island station was located at Prescott Street in what was then the Wood Island neighborhood, approximately at 42°22′28.6″N 71°1′25.45″W.^[4] It opened along with the rest of the line on July 29, 1875.^[3] The station was abandoned when the BRB&L ceased operations in 1940, and demolished several years later during expansion of Logan Airport.^[5] The station site is now occupied by aviation support businesses.

Harbor View, the next station to the northeast, was located at Short Street at 42°22′51.36″N 71°0′58.14″W.^[4] Harbor View was a boxy station of identical design to Wood Island, though it was not an original station on the line and opened later than its twin.^[3] Located a short walk from Bennington Street, it lost much of its ridership to East Boston Tunnel trolleys, and was closed significantly sooner than the rest of the BRB&L. The building was sold, moved closer to Cowper Street, and converted to a private residence.^[6]

By 1928 the line was electrified, with pre-pay stations - more a rapid transit line than a conventional railroad.^[7] However, due to the Great Depression, the BRB&L shut down on January 27, 1940.^[5]

Rapid transit

An outbound train approaching Wood Island in 1973

In 1941, the Boston Elevated Railway bought the BRB&L right of way from Day Square to Revere Beach for use as a high-speed trolley line similar to the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line; these plans were delayed by the onset of World War II.^[6] However, the 1926 Report on Improved Transportation Facilities and 1945–47 Coolidge Commission Report recommended that the East Boston Tunnel line, which had been converted to rapid transit from streetcars in 1924, be extended to Lynn via the BBRB&L route rather than using it for a trolley line.^[8][9]

In 1947, the newly formed Metropolitan Transit Authority (M.T.A.) decided to build to Lynn as a rapid transit line, and construction began in October 1948.^[6] The first part of the Revere Extension opened to Orient Heights on January 5, 1952, with intermediate stations at Airport Station and Day Square. M.T.A. built Day Square station on a new section of right-of-way, which connected the former Eastern Railroad's East Boston Branch (used by the extension as far as Airport Station) with the BRB&L at Harbor View. The station was located between the former Wood Island and Harbor View stations, serving Day Square and the Neptune Road / Wood Island Park development designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.

Day Square station had its platforms at ground level, with an elevated busway for buses and trackless trolleys located above the platforms. A loop for these vehicles extended over a parking lot south of the station.^[6] The extension to Airport, Day Square, and Orient Heights opened on January 5, 1952, with further completion to Wonderland station in 1954.^[1]

Day Square station was renamed Wood Island Park on October 21, 1954.^[1] In early 1967, as part of a series of station name changes, Wood Island Park was changed again to Wood Island, as Wood Island Park had been destroyed during the expansion of Logan Airport.^[1] The loop of the elevated busway was removed in the 1970s.

Modernization

The brick station built in 1995

In 1988, the MBTA began planning the Blue Line Modernization Project, which included accessibility modifications as well as platform extensions to accommodate 6-car trains. The project was then expected to be complete in 1994.^[10] In 1989, the MBTA awarded design contracts for modernization and platform lengthening (to allow six-car trains) at nine Blue Line stations, including Wood Island.^[11] Wood Island entered the final design stage on January 3, 1991.^[11] The MBTA received federal funding in 1992 for the project, which was seen as the most critical of the first phase of station reconstructions. The rebuilt Wood Island would be needed as a bus terminal during the relocation of Airport station, which in turn was needed to accommodate construction of the Third Harbor Tunnel.^[11][12]

Demolition of the elevated structure at Wood Island began in November 1993 under a $10.4 million contract.^[12] On June 25, 1994, the line was cut back to Orient Heights at all times to permit reconstruction of the outer stations; Wood Island remained open during construction. Beachmont and Wood Island were completely rebuilt, while Suffolk Downs, Revere Beach, and Wonderland were renovated. The outer stations reopened on June 26, 1995, with Wood Island completed several months later.^[1][13] Unlike the other stations, Wood Island was not fully accessible after the 1994-95 renovation; the elevators were not usable until 2000.^[14][15][16]

The platforms installed during the 1994-95 construction did not age well, and were replaced during a series of short-term station closures in 2008. Wood Island was closed from July 7 to September 5, 2008, for a renovation of both platforms.^[1][17] A 2024 city plan calls for reuse of an unused stub of Frankfort Street as an extension of the station busway for route 120 buses.^[18][19]

References

1. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
2. "A Guide to Ridership Data". MassDOT/MBTA Office of Performance Management and Innovation. June 22, 2020. p. 8.
3. Bradlee, Francis Boardman Crowninshield (1921). The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Narrow Gauge Railroad. Essex Institute. pp. 4–5 – via Google Books.
4. "Outline and Index Map of East Boston Wards 1 & 2". Atlas of the City of Boston, Vol. 9, East Boston. G.W. Bromley and Co. 1892. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
5. Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 268–272. ISBN 0942147022.
6. Cheney, Frank (2003). Boston's Blue Line. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 8, 63, 88–90. ISBN 9780738535760.
7. ""Narrow Gage" Electrified for Economy". Electric Railway Journal. 72 (23): 991–998. 8 December 1928. Retrieved 24 December 2015 – via Internet Archive.
8. Central Transportation Planning Staff (15 November 1993). "The Transportation Plan for the Boston Region - Volume 2". National Transportation Library. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
9. Boston Elevated Railway and Boston Department of Public Utilities (1945), Boston Rapid Transit System & Proposed Extensions 1945 - Metropolitan Transit Recess Commission Air View
10. Howe, Peter J. (July 4, 1988). "MBTA renovation to enter blue period". Boston Globe. p. 22 – via Newspapers.com.
11. Sanborn, George M. (1992). A Chronicle of the Boston Transit System. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2019-11-15 – via Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
12. Blake, Andrew (March 20, 1994). "MBTA to begin $467 million Blue Line project". Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com. (second page)
13. Blake, Andrew (June 18, 1995). "Blue Line stations set to reopen after $467m upgrade". Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com. (second page)
14. Tran Systems and Planners Collaborative (August 24, 2007). "Evaluation of MBTA Paratransit and Accessible Fixed Route Transit Services: Final Report" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
15. "Subway Map" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 17, 2000.
16. "Subway Map" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2001.
17. "Blue Line Rehab Project To Begin" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. June 18, 2008.
18. PLAN: East Boston (Report). Boston Planning & Development Agency. January 10, 2024. pp. 108, 109.
19. "BPDA Board adopts East Boston Tomorrow: PLAN: East Boston planning initiative" (Press release). Boston Planning & Development Agency. January 18, 2024.

External links

• MBTA - Wood Island