Boston and Providence Rail Road

Boston and Providence Railroad

The Boston and Providence Railroad built the Canton Viaduct in 1835. Revere Copper Mill can be seen in the background
Locale	Boston, Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island
Dates of operation	1834–1888
Track gauge	Standard
Length	41 Miles
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts

The Boston and Providence Railroad was an early US Railroad in New England, connecting Boston and Providence and is now part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.

The Boston and Providence Railroad was incorporated June 21, 1831, and chartered the next day to build a railroad between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island.

Construction began in late 1832. The first section, from Boston to Canton with a branch to Dedham, opened in 1834, and the rest on July 28, 1835 with the completion of the Canton Viaduct. Stations in Jamaica Plain allowed the development of one of the first commuter suburbs in America.

Until 1899, when South Station opened, the Boston terminal was at Park Square, with a crossing at grade of the Boston and Worcester Railroad at the current merge at Back Bay station (also opened in 1899, serving only the B&P). The original Providence terminal was at Fox Point, from which it ran east along the Seekonk River shore and over the river via the India Point Railroad Bridge into East Providence (then part of Seekonk, Massachusetts) before turning north towards Boston. A ferry across the Providence River connected Fox Point to the South Providence terminal of the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (opened 1837).