page_title: Lechmere station
section_title: East Cambridge station
hierarchical_section_title: Lechmere station / History / East Cambridge station
caption_attribution_description: English: East Cambridge station in 1905
context_page_description: Lechmere station is a light rail station in Lechmere Square in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the intersection of Cambridge Street and Monsignor O'Brien Highway. An elevated station is under construction nearby as part of the Green Line Extension, replacing for the former surface-level station, which closed on May 24, 2020. The bus terminal at the old station remains open as a transfer point between MBTA bus routes and Lechmere–North Station shuttle buses until the new station opens. The new station will be served by the D Branch and E Branch of the MBTA Green Line upon its planned April 2021 opening.
  The Lechmere Viaduct was opened in 1912 with an incline to Lechmere Square, allowing streetcars from Cambridge Street and Bridge Street to reach the Tremont Street subway. In 1922, the Boston Elevated Railway opened a prepayment transfer station at Lechmere, separating the surface streetcars from the tunnel routes. The station was served by various tunnel routes; the surface streetcars were replaced by buses. Lechmere station had two platforms on opposite sides of a balloon loop, with a small storage yard inside the loop.
context_section_description: The Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) opened between its namesake cities in 1835. Passenger service initially ran express between the two cities, but local stops were soon added. One of the first was East Cambridge, originally located near the Prison Point Bridge. By 1865, it was moved north to the foot of Third Street, closer to development on Dog Island (East Cambridge). The station was popular with employees from Somerville commuting to the factories of East Cambridge; among its more famous users was Benjamin Butler.
  In 1926, the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M), which had acquired the B&L in 1887, began work on North Station plus an expansion of its freight yards. The B&M proposed to abandon East Cambridge station in order to realign the ex-B&L into the new station. Although most inner stations were largely replaced by streetcars and automobiles at this time, East Cambridge was still used by both industrial workers and by those headed to the Middlesex County Courthouse, and the proposed closure was locally opposed. The Public Utilities Commission approved the closure of East Cambridge and nearby Prospect Hill in March 1927; one train was rescheduled for ten minutes earlier to accommodate court attendees. The stations closed at some point between then and May 17, when trains were rerouted over the new alignment.
caption: East Cambridge station in 1905
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