Line(s) Fitchburg Line Tracks 2 Architectural style American Queen Anne style | Platforms 2 side platforms Opened 1894 Added to NRHP 2 March 1989 | |
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Location Commonwealth Avenue & Main Street
West Concord, MA 01742 Owned by Depot: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Parking: Town of Concord Parking 146 spaces, $4.00 fee,
3 accessible spaces Address Concord, MA 01742, United States Similar Concord, South Acton, Littleton/Route 495, North Leominster, Kendal Green | ||
West Concord Depot is a rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail system in West Concord, Massachusetts. The depot, which opened in 1894, is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Contents
Location
West Concord Depot is located at 20 Commonwealth Avenue near the intersection of Main Street. Service to the station is provided by the Fitchburg Line from Boston to Fitchburg, Massachusetts both inbound and outbound.
History
The depot opened in 1894 as Union Station at the junction of the Fitchburg Railroad and Old Colony Railroad, in a section of Concord that was initially called Concord Junction. Eventually, the name of the station stop, and the section of town, was renamed West Concord. Both railroads were eventually merged into other railroad companies to create larger networks. The Fitchburg Railroad became part of the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900 while the Old Colony Railroad was absorbed into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Regular passenger service on the New Haven Railroad portion of the line ceased in 1930s.
The depot is now owned by the MBTA, which purchased the passenger operations of the Boston & Maine Railroad in 1976. The building houses an MBTA office, a restaurant, and a waiting room for morning rail passengers.
West Concord Depot is a Queen Anne Style building which was entered on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. As of 2007, local residents and businesses along with the Town of Concord and the MBTA were working to restore the station exterior after years of decay. The original railroad diamond is located in the bricks on the former right-of-way of the New Haven Railroad's Lowell Secondary Line between Framingham and Lowell, Massachusetts. This right-of-way is scheduled to become the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.
The building has housed a restaurant since the mid-1970s (or earlier). Currently, the building holds the Club Car Cafe restaurant.