Lake Street (MBTA Lexington Branch station)

LAKE STREET

Lake Street station in 1915
Coordinates 42°24′16.3″N 71°8′49.1″W / 42.404528°N 71.146972°W / 42.404528; -71.146972Coordinates: 42°24′16.3″N 71°8′49.1″W / 42.404528°N 71.146972°W / 42.404528; -71.146972
Owned by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Line(s)
  Lexington Branch
History
Opened 1846 (original);
March 1968 (MBTA)[1]
Closed 1958 (original);
10 January 1977 (final)[2][1]
Traffic
Passengers ≤10 daily (1976)[2]
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station
Lexington Branch

Lake Street is a former station on the Lexington Branch, opened in 1846 along with the rest of the Lexington Branch and ending its life as part of the MBTA Commuter Rail system. In 1958, the two Lexington Branch stations in Arlington (Lake Street and Arlington Centre) were closed; however, due to community opposition to their closure, the two stations were later reopened, Arlington Centre in October 1965 and Lake Street in March 1968.[2][1] In January 1977, following a major snowstorm which temporarily shut down the Lexington Branch, stranding a train at Bedford Depot, the MBTA announced that commuter rail service on the branch would not be restored.[3] In the 1980s, the MBTA planned to extend the Red Line through Arlington and Lexington to Route 128 along the former path of the Lexington Branch as part of the Northwest Extension, but fierce opposition from Arlington residents scuttled this plan, and the Northwest Extension was cut short to Alewife in northwestern Cambridge.

The only surviving stations of the Lexington Branch are Bedford Depot and Lexington; Lake Street was demolished at some point following the branch's closure.[3]

The former site of Lake Street station, photographed in August 2013

References

  1. 1 2 3 Belcher, Jonathan (22 March 2014). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and Construction (22 April 1976). Capital needs developed at the corridor level: core and west (Report). Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and Construction. p. 101-102.
  3. 1 2 "About the Lexington Branch". Friends of Bedford Depot Park. Retrieved 9 July 2015.


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