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Transit-oriented development - in 1847
By adamg on Mon, 08/01/2022 - 10:27am
The State Library of Massachusetts posts a copy of an 1847 broadside ad for what we'd now call a subdivision in Woburn:
It boasts that the lots for sale are within a three-minute walk of the train depot, with trains to and from Boston stopping at the station 18 times per day, as well as nearby churches, good schools, and a thriving village. Who wouldn’t want to live near all of these amenities! The lots were good-sized, too, ranging from 6,000 to 15,000 feet and located near Wedge Pond.
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Comments
Now Winchester
South Woburn was incorporated as Winchester in 1850, 3 years after this advertisement. The station is now Winchester Center
We would now call this Winchester
take another look at the linked article
And there's still train service here. However, the station suffered from neglected maintenance, causing the T to close it last year. It may be another year or two before its replacement opens.
Was it 18 trains total, or 18
Was it 18 trains total, or 18 each direction?
Today there are 22 southbound trains, 21 northbound.
Comparing the speed, it was 20 minutes back then, and today it's about 21 minutes southbound, 17 minutes northbound. Can't tell for sure because Winchester Station is closed right now, so I added 3 minutes to the Wedgemere travel times.
But it stopped a lot more back then
between Winchester and downtown Boston. Now the only stops are Wedgemere and West Medford, but back then a train would also have stopped at some, most, or all of these stations: Medford Hillside, Tufts (College Ave), Ball Square, Somerville Junction (Central Street in Somerville), Winter Hill (Gilman Square), Prospect Hill (around Washington Street in Somerville), and East Cambridge (near Lechmere).
How could an 1847 steam train
How could an 1847 steam train make all those stops and get to North Station in 20 minutes? Maybe some of those stations hadn't opened yet. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magoun_Square_station says Somerville Junction opened by the early 1850s.
They are actively rebuilding Winchester Center now
I don't know when it's slated to reopen but I did find it notable that wealthy Winchester got prompt service on what looks to be a pretty comprehensive restoration meanwhile critical T stops are literally crumbling with no obvious repair efforts underway.
Maybe Winchester is paying for it out own town funds? If not, it's a questionable priority for a station that serves relatively few people especially when there's another stop only a few blocks away.
At 3 1-2 o'clock?
Did they not have the Slash in typesetting back then?