Washington Street Elevated

The Washington Street Elevated was an elevated segment of Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway system, comprising the southern stretch of the Orange Line (named after the original name for a section of Washington St, Orange St.). It ran from Chinatown through the South End and Roxbury, ending in Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain. The initial portion of the line, which ran from Dover (now East Berkeley) Street to Dudley Square opened in 1901, while the extension south to Forest Hills was completed by 1909.

The Washington Street Elevated was abandoned and torn down in 1987, replaced by a long-planned reroute some distance to the west, following the Southwest Corridor that had originally been planned for Interstate 95 through Boston. During 2002, the MBTA deployed bus rapid transit along much of the route from Dudley Square to Downtown Crossing in the form of Phase I of the controversial Silver Line; while significant effort was made to optimize the street routes for bus travel, there was considerable neighborhood criticism for reducing the number of available stops.

Stations

Old MBTA map showing Washington Street Elevated route

Dudley Terminal in 1904

The Washington Street Elevated consisted of six stations, the most complex and major of which were at Dudley Square and Forest Hills. The original stations were designed by architect Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow, Jr. and originally featured much in the way of ornamentation and architectural prowess. By the time the "El" closed, however, much of this detail had been lost to decades of decay, neglect and cost-cutting. Forest Hills Station was designed by Edmund March Wheelwright and was quite different from the other stations along the line. The majority of stations were scrapped; however, Northampton Station was sold to the Seashore Trolley Museum (Kennebunkport, Maine) and still exists there. Parts of Dudley Station were saved and incorporated into the current bus station.

The stations themselves were:

Station	Location	Opened	Transfers and notes
Forest Hills	Arborway and Washington St, Jamaica Plain	November 22, 1909	Green Line "E" Branch (suspended from 1985), Forest Hills Cemetery
Green	Green and Washington Sts, Jamaica Plain	September 11, 1912
Egleston	Egleston Square, Roxbury/Jamaica Plain	November 22, 1909
Dudley	Dudley Square, Roxbury	June 10, 1901
Northampton	Northampton St, South End	June 10, 1901
Dover	Dover St (now East Berkeley St), South End	June 10, 1901
Tower D junction, to Atlantic Avenue Elevated (1901-1938), Washington Street Tunnel (1908-1987), and Tremont Street Subway (1901-1908)

External links

• Photos of the old Main Line Elevated
• Text on and illustrations of old Main Line Elevated
• Detailed historical report with high-res photos
• YouTube link of Outbound Orange Line train on the Washington Street Elevated