The original trackside windows and doors have been boarded up and replaced with painted-on copies. The structure on the roof was formerly a control tower.
Fitchburg Railroad service from Concord to Boston began in June 1844, and has continued since.[2] When he lived at Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau complained that the village's schedule was set by the times of arrivals and departures at the station.[3] Although the Fitchburg Line went through a series of contractions due to funding issues in the 1960s and 1970s, service to Concord was never interrupted.[4]
A new station was completed in January 1875.[5] The current station building was built in the Queen Anne style in the 1890s. The new station was damaged by fire in 1895 and substantially rebuilt. When built, it was a squat hip-roofed station similar to other stations on the line. A control tower on the trackside roof was added later.[6]
In 1958, the station building was purchased from the B&M at a cost of $35,000 (equivalent to $370,000 in 2023).[7] It was converted for use as a gift shop by 1962.[8] By 1977, it was subdivided for use as offices, a restaurant, and retail space.[7]
The depot was later modified during the 20th century and scarcely resembles the original. The trackside doors and windows have been boarded over, replaced by a mural painted in the early 1980s. Large side wings have been added, and the building converted for retail use. The circa-1907 express office is present just to the west and also in retail use; a freight house east of the station was demolished in 1991.[6]
^"Suburban Notes". The Boston Globe. January 15, 1875. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
^ abRoy, John H. Jr. (2007). A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses. Branch Line Press. pp. 142–143. ISBN9780942147087.
