North Station - History

History

Before North Union Station opened on the spot in 1893, there were four separate stations in the area:

• The Boston and Maine Railroad terminal was just north of Haymarket Square, between Canal Street and Haverhill Street, stretching most of the way to Traverse Street. This approach was later used by the Green Line and Orange Line. The other three were all on the north side of Causeway Street, with the first two in the area where North Station is now:
• The Boston and Lowell Railroad terminal was on the east side of Nashua Street, stretching east for about a block.

• Next was the Eastern Railroad terminal, across Causeway Street from Friend Street.
• The Fitchburg Railroad station was on the other side of the Boston and Maine Railroad approach, right next to Beverly Street, the approach to the Warren Bridge.

Just south of North Station was the Canal Street Incline through which the Green Line and Orange Line originally went from elevated to subway. The original North Union Station was demolished in 1928 to make way for the Boston Garden, which included a new North Station as part of the design. This was in turn replaced by the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in 1995, which also necessitated a redesigned North Station. The waiting area was originally very limited, but this was rectified by an expansion completed in 2007 which greatly enlarged it. The redesigned station was built for 12 tracks, but only 10 are in service.