:Brockton station (MBTA)

File:First Brockton station, circa 1880.jpg

The northern section of the Fall River Railroad was extended south from Randolph to North Bridgewater around October 1846.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fall-river-monitor/132232783/ |title=Winter Arrangement |author=Fall River Railroad |newspaper=Fall River Monitor |date=November 14, 1846 |page=4 |via=Newspapers.com}} A further extension opened to {{bts|Middleborough}} on December 21, 1846, completing the line between South Braintree and Fall River. The first North Bridgewater station was a one-story structure located south of Center Street on the west side of the railroad tracks.{{cite web |url=https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:kh04dt694 |title=First railroad station west of railroad south of Centre St |work=Brockton: The Early Years as a City in Photographs, 1881–1950 |publisher=Digital Commonwealth |date=c. 1870s}}{{citation |title-link=:commons:File:1853 map of North Bridgewater, Massachusetts.jpg |title=Map of the town of North Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts |year=1853 |first1=Henry Francis |last1=Walling |first2=E. |last2=Whiting |publisher=Friend and Aug, Philadelphia |via=Wikimedia Commons}} (Until 1895, most railroads in southeastern Massachusetts had left-hand running, with Boston-bound trains on the western track).{{cite journal |jstor=43504499 |title=Dates of Some of the Principal Events in the History of 100 Years of the Railroad in New England. 1826-1926 |first=Warren |last=Jacobs |date=October 1928 |journal=Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin |publisher=Railway and Locomotive Historical Society |volume=17 |issue=17 |pages=15–28}}

Unusually among larger cities in Massachusetts, Brockton was never a railroad junction; east-west branches were built from Bridgewater proper before North Bridgewater became a major manufacturing area. A charter for a branch from Stoughton to North Bridgewater was applied for in 1845 – before the railroad had even been completed – but nothing became of the plan.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historynorthbri00kinggoog |title=History of North Bridgewater: Plymouth County, Massachusetts, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time, with Family Registers |first=Bradford |last=Kingman |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historynorthbri00kinggoog/page/n368 303]–304 |publisher=Innes and Niles |via=Internet Archive |year=1866}} The Fall River Railroad merged into the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad in 1854.{{cite book |title=The Rail Lines of Southern New England |edition=2 |last=Karr |first=Ronald Dale |publisher=Branch Line Press |year=2017 |isbn=9780942147124 |pages=379, 401–405}} Commuting from North Bridgewater to Boston on the railroad was possible after 1854, and North Bridgewater was the outer terminus of some trains in the late 1850s and early 1860s.{{cite book |title=Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years |last1=Humphrey |first1=Thomas J.|last2=Clark |first2=Norton D. |publisher=Boston Street Railway Association |year=1985 |isbn=9780685412947 |pages=95–96}}

The railroad became the Old Colony and Newport Railroad in 1863, and finally the Old Colony Railroad in 1872. A new Victorian-style station was built in 1873–74 at Church Street on the west side of the tracks.{{citation |title-link=:commons:File:1878 bird's eye view map of Brockton, Massachusetts.jpg |title=Brockton, Mass. |year=1878 |publisher=Beck & Pauli |via=Wikimedia Commons}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2GI9AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA9-PA8 |page=8 |date=November 1873 |title=Tenth Annual Report of the Old Colony Railroad Co. to the Stockholders |publisher=Old Colony Railroad Company}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2GI9AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA10-PA6 |page=6 |date=November 1874 |title=Eleventh Annual Report of the Old Colony Railroad Co. to the Stockholders |publisher=Old Colony Railroad Company}} The town was renamed Brockton in 1874, with the railroad station changing its name on May 7.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbrockto00king |title=History of Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1656–1894 |first=Bradford |last=Kingman |year=1895 |publisher=D. Mason & Company |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofbrockto00king/page/n24 19]–20, 570 |via=Internet Archive}}{{Cite journal |jstor=43504499 |title=Dates of Some of the Principal Events in the History of 100 Years of the Railroad in New England. 1826-1926 |first=Warren |last=Jacobs |date=October 1928 |journal=Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin |publisher=Railway and Locomotive Historical Society |volume=17 |issue=17 |pages=15–28}} The railroad was a key part of the town's burgeoning shoe industry and rapid growth, which caused Brockton's population to double from 1877 to 1887.{{cite web |url=https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/ma/ma1500/ma1584/data/ma1584data.pdf |title=Photographs: Written Historical and Descriptive Data |pages=4–6 |work=FIELD STREET BRIDGE Spanning the Old Colony Railroad at Field Street, Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts |publisher=Historic American Engineering Record |date=September 1996 |first=Lola |last=Bennett}} A new freight house was built in 1881.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2GI9AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA17-PA8 |page=6 |date=November 1881 |title=Eighteenth Annual Report of the Old Colony Railroad Co. to the Stockholders |publisher=Old Colony Railroad Company}}

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File:Brockton station from stereogram.jpg

On June 21, 1890, the Massachusetts General Court passed An Act to Promote the Abolition of Grade Crossings, which allowed town officials or a railroad company to petition the state superior court to create an independent commission to determine whether a grade crossing could and should be eliminated. The costs of such eliminations were to be paid 65% by the railroad, not more than 10% by the town, and the remainder by the state.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/actsresolvespass1890mass#page/462/mode/2up |title=Acts and resolves passed by the General Court |chapter=Chapter 428: An Act to Promote the Abolition of Grade Crossings |publisher=Secretary of the Commonwealth |year=1890 |pages=463–468}}

The small local cost provided towns incentive to petition for crossing eliminations to prevent public thoroughfares from being blocked by trains. Numerous municipalities soon agitated for crossing eliminations, with Brockton's April 1891 petition the first of the lot. Shortly before then, the Old Colony Railroad announced plans to replace the aging and undersized Brockton station with a more appropriate structure. The station design was well-received, but its at-grade design – which would have precluded crossing eliminations – was seen as a threat to the economic future of the city. Brockton then had no fire station east of the railroad, adding fire safety concerns to the more widespread issue of pedestrian safety. Frequent delays for fire engines responding to calls caused higher insurance rates and lower land values in the eastern part of the city.

The 1890 law had only authorized municipalities to eliminate crossings with public roads; however, many crossings in Brockton were private roads that the city did not have the right to modify.{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ZwxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA260 |title=The Abolition of Grade Crossings in Brockton, Mass. |magazine=Railroad Gazette |date=April 13, 1894 |pages=260–261 |volume=26 |via=Google Books}} On June 15, 1892, the General Court authorized Brockton to include private roads in its grade separation project.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/actsresolvespass1892mass#page/438/mode/2up |title=Acts and resolves passed by the General Court |chapter=Chapter 393: An Act Related to The Abolition of Grade Crossings in the City of Brockton |publisher=Secretary of the Commonwealth |year=1892 |pages=439–440}}

File:Brockton station viaduct over Massachusetts State Route 27.jpg

As the petition to consider elimination of all grade crossings in the city was under way, city engineer F. Herbert Snow prepared a preliminary plan. The proposal called for tracks to be raised and streets lowered through the city center, and the tracks lowered and streets raised in the Campello village to the south. Brockton station and Montello station to the north would be completely replaced and relocated, while Campello station would be replaced on its existing site.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7ozAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA435|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7ozAQAAMAAJ |pages=435–446 |chapter=III. Abolition of Grade Crossings in the City of Brockton |first1=F. Herbert |last1=Snow |first2=James W. Jr. |last2=Rollins |title=Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies |volume=14 |year=1895}} The railroad was initially opposed to the expense of the plan; however, city engineers made a convincing case that grade separation would only be more expensive in the future, and the two parties reached an agreement in June 1893. The New Haven Railroad leased the Old Colony Railroad in 1893 and continued with the project. The Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners approved the grade separation project on April 21, 1894, allowing construction to proceed.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kk0tAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA187 |title=Annual Report [including Railroad and Street Railway Returns] of the Board of Railroad Commissioners |page=187 |chapter=C. Orders Relating to Railroads |author=Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners |year=1895 |publisher=Wright and Potter |via=Google Books}}

File:Brockton station white border postcard.JPG

Snow oversaw the design and construction of the project until its completion. The final quadruple-tracked stone viaduct was {{convert|0.7|miles}} long, with stone arch bridges spanning five downtown streets; seven new bridges over the railroad were built near Montello and Campello.{{cite book |url=https://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/townreports/SE-Mass/bro.pdf |title=MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Brockton |page=11 |chapter=IX. LATE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD (1870–1915) |publisher=Massachusetts Historical Commission |year=1981}} A total of {{convert|9000|feet|sigfig=2}} of track was raised up to {{convert|15|feet}}; an additional {{convert|5100|feet|sigfig=2}} was lowered up to {{convert|12|feet}}. A pair of stone passenger stations were constructed north of Centre Street in Brockton, with a pedestrian tunnel connecting the two buildings. A smaller station pair was built at Campello, and a shelter was added at Montello. The stations were designed by Bradford Gilbert, who had previously designed a number of other Old Colony stations including those still standing at {{bts|Bridgewater}}, {{bts|Canton Junction}}, and North Abington.{{cite book |title=A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses |last=Roy |first=John H. Jr. |publisher=Branch Line Press |year=2007 |isbn=9780942147087 |page=135}}

The pair of Brockton stations was built of Milford pink granite with brown trim and slate roofs in the Richardsonian Romanesque style then common for railroad stations in the area. The main station was {{convert|33x140|feet}}, with the secondary station {{convert|30x108|feet}}.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76755355/the-boston-globe/ |title=Brockton's New Railway Station |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=August 8, 1895 |page=5 |via=Newspapers.com}} A platform next to each building served the outer tracks, while the inner pair of tracks was fenced off to allow express trains to safely pass at speed.{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AyxKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA178 |title=Track Elevation at Brockton, Mass.: N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R. |pages=178–179 |magazine=Engineering News and American Railway Journal |volume=37 |issue=12 |date=March 25, 1897 |via=Google Books}} The western two tracks and station were constructed first, allowing service to continue without interruption on existing tracks until that half of the modified tracks were completed. A massive new freight yard was constructed just north of downtown Brockton; smaller yards were built at Montello and Campello to handle local freight.

The grade separation and station construction were completed by early 1897. The finished project, with its stone stations and bridges, was well-received; a number of other cities modeled their grade separation efforts on Brockton's success. However, the work cost $2,236,411 ({{inflation|US|2236411|1897|r=-4|fmt=eq}}), of which the railroad paid the majority. Despite the operational benefits, railroads thereafter became much more wary of large grade separation projects:

{{blockquote|Brockton ought to be more than satisfied, for no other city will get so complete a work in abolishing grade crossings. A prominent official of the railroad recently told me that the railroad company made a mistake in being induced to expend $2,000,000 in a little city like Brockton, to abolish crossings. He said that the railroad company would never again be induced to engage in such an elaborate expenditure in a like undertaking.}}

Passenger rail service around Boston began declining in the 1920s, starting with branch lines. By 1954, Brockton was served by 13 daily round trips, for six of which it was the outer terminus. Only two of the four tracks remained at the station.{{cite book |title=The New Haven Railroad's Old Colony Division |pages=26–27 |first=Robert A. |last=Liljestrand |publisher=Bob's Photo |year=2000}} After the completion of the parallel Southeast Expressway, remaining passenger service on the Old Colony Division was ended by the New Haven Railroad on June 30, 1959. The bridge over the Neponset River was destroyed by fire in 1960; the need for a replacement bridge drastically increased the cost of restoring passenger service. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was founded in 1964 to subsidize suburban commuter rail service; the agency restored service on several other lines, but southeastern Massachusetts remained without passenger service. The line continued to be used for freight service by the New Haven and its successors Penn Central and Conrail. The station buildings were torn down in the late 1960s during an urban renewal project.{{cite book |title=Brockton (Images of Modern America) |page=67 |first=James E. |last=Benson |year=2015 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9781467133951}} A new police station, which lacked the grandeur of both the former railroad buildings and the former police station, was constructed on the eastern site in 1967.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSopWnaNXDYC |title=Brockton (Images of America) |pages=43, 92–93, 108 |first=James E. |last=Benson |year=2010 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9780738573083 |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |title=Brockton Revisited (Images of America) |page=86 |first=James E. |last=Benson |year=2012 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9780738576688 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JAvDzPsTHd4C |via=Google Books}} It was built atop the retaining walls of the former station; the walls and several stone stairwells to the street remain intact.

File:Brockton station platform from pedestrian crossing, June 2017.JPG

In the 1970s, calls began to restore service on the former Old Colony Division. On January 27, 1973, the MBTA purchased most of Penn Central's commuter rail rights-of-way in southeastern Massachusetts, including the Middleborough main line from Braintree to Campello. A 1974 state analysis of restoring commuter rail service indicated that the Brockton platforms were still extant, but would need refurbishing for use.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/reportrelativeto1974mass#page/30/mode/2up |title=Report relative to railroad service from Boston to Brockton and cape cod |via=Internet Archive |year=1974 |page=31 |author=Massachusetts General Court Legislative Research Council}} From 1984 to 1988, Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad seasonal commuter and excursion service stopped in Brockton at the former station site.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36786694/the_boston_globe/ |title=Passenger train service to Cape Cod begins anew: Hyannis, Falmouth—All aboard! |newspaper=The Boston Globe |page=23 |date=June 30, 1984 |first=Fred |last=Pillsbury |via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}{{citation |title-link=:commons:File:Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad 1988 spring timetable.pdf |title=Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad Spring Schedule |publisher=Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad |date=May 27, 1988 |via=Wikimedia Commons}}

In 1984, a state-directed MBTA study found that restoration of commuter rail service would be feasible.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/oldcolonyrailroa00unit#page/4/mode/2up |title=Old Colony Railroad Rehabilitation Project from Boston to Lakeville, Plymouth and Scituate, Massachusetts: Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report |publisher=United States Department of Transportation Urban Mass Transportation Administration |date=March 1992 |via=Internet Archive |chapter=Executive Summary |page=ES-4}} A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was released in May 1990, followed by a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) in 1992. Both the DEIS and FEIS included conceptual plans placing Brockton station between Crescent Street and Lawrence Street, south of the former location and just outside the downtown core.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zNs3AQAAMAAJ&pg=SL2-PA4 |title=Old Colony Railroad Rehabilitation Project from Boston to Lakeville, Plymouth and Scituate, Massachusetts: Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report |publisher=United States Department of Transportation Urban Mass Transportation Administration |date=May 1990 |via=Google Books |volume=3 |chapter=Figure VIII-B4: Brockton Station Conceptual Site Plan}}{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ds3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PT50 |title=Old Colony Railroad Rehabilitation Project from Boston to Lakeville, Plymouth and Scituate, Massachusetts: Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report |publisher=United States Department of Transportation Urban Mass Transportation Administration |year=1992 |via=Google Books |volume=3 |chapter=Figure VIII-B4: Brockton Station Conceptual Site Plan}} However, the station was instead constructed at the previous site, accessed behind the police station. The accessible full-length island platform occupies the former inner track spaces, with the line's two current tracks location where the outer tracks originally were.{{cite web |url=http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/movies/MBCR+Maps+(2010).pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008000656/http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/movies/MBCR%2BMaps%2B%282010%29.pdf |archive-date=October 8, 2013 |title=Massachusetts Bay Colony Railroad Track Charts |date=2010 |author=Held, Patrick R. |publisher=Johns Hopkins Association for Computing Machinery |url-status=dead }}{{MBTA Bluebook 2014}} The Middleborough/Lakeville Line and Plymouth/Kingston Line opened for commuter service on September 29, 1997.

On February 15, 1999, the Brockton Intermodal Centre (BAT Centre) opened one block away as a terminal for Brockton Area Transit Authority local bus service. The $4 million bus station was designed to imitate the architecture of the former railroad station. The project also included a 250-space surface parking lot.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36786796/the_boston_globe/ |title=New Brockton bus terminal fuels hope for downtown |newspaper=The Boston Globe |first=Alexander |last=Reid |date=February 14, 1999 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}} In December 2001, the state congressional delegation secured $1 million to support construction of a parking garage at the bus terminal.{{cite press release |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011222193546/http://kennedy.senate.gov/cgi-bin/nph-dpc1s?dir=~kennedy%2Fstatements%2F01%2F12&head=statements%2F01%2F12%2Fsearch_top&foot=statements%2Fsearch_bottom&sort=-date&cols=0%2C65%2C35 |url=http://kennedy.senate.gov:80/cgi-bin/nph-dpc1s?dir=~kennedy/statements/01/12&head=statements/01/12/search_top&foot=statements/search_bottom&sort=-date&cols=0,65,35 |date=December 4, 2001 |publisher=Office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts |title=SENATORS KENNEDY AND KERRY ANNOUNCE CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL OF $1 MILLION FOR BROCKTON'S TRANSPORTATION CENTER |archive-date=December 22, 2001 |url-status=dead }} The garage opened on April 30, 2004.{{cite web |url=http://ridebat.com:80/bat_centre.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040603070025/http://ridebat.com/bat_centre.asp |title=bat intermodal centre |publisher=Brockton Area Transportation Agency |date=April 30, 2004 |archive-date=June 3, 2004 |url-status=dead }}

The seasonal weekend CapeFLYER service to Cape Cod began stopping at Brockton in 2015.{{cite press release |url=https://www.mbta.com/news/2260 |title=CapeFLYER Service Begins Memorial Day Weekend |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority |date=May 13, 2015}}

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{{Reflist}}

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• [https://www.mbta.com/stops/place-MM-0200 MBTA – Brockton]
• Google Maps Street View: [https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0840345,-71.0163347,3a,75y,348.18h,90.8t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1syOUDHceAkttiHFGn1xEfEg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Centre Street entrance], [https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0857508,-71.0163762,3a,75y,194.64h,87.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPe8pgIWxdf6qNoRW18a26w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Court Street entrance], [https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0849216,-71.0156384,3a,75y,283.97h,88.19t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sq00ryFPLvpDz51zBIcCb9g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Commercial Street entrance]

Category:MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Plymouth County, Massachusetts

Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1997

Category:Former Old Colony Railroad stations

Category:Buildings and structures in Brockton, Massachusetts

Category:Bus stations in Massachusetts