Wellesley Square (MBTA station)

WELLESLEY SQUARE
Station platforms viewed from Crest Road in 2013
Location	1 Grove Street Wellesley, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°17′51″N 71°17′38″W / 42.29755°N 71.29375°W / 42.29755; -71.29375Coordinates: 42°17′51″N 71°17′38″W / 42.29755°N 71.29375°W / 42.29755; -71.29375
Owned by	MBTA
Line(s)	Framingham/Worcester Line
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Construction
Parking	224 spaces ($4.50 fee) 2 accessible spaces
Other information
Fare zone	3
History
Opened	c. 1850
Rebuilt	1889, 1962
Previous names	Wellesley
Traffic
Passengers (2013)	804 (weekday inbound average)
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station Natick Center toward Worcester Framingham/Worcester Line Wellesley Hills toward South Station   Former services   New York Central Railroad Natick toward Worcester Worcester Line Wellesley Hills toward Boston

Wellesley Square is a commuter rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Framingham/Worcester Line, located just north of the MA 16-MA 135 intersection in downtown Wellesley, Massachusetts. It serves both walk-up and park-and-ride commuters, with a 224-space parking lot for the latter group. The station has low-level platforms and is not handicapped accessible.

The Boston & Worcester Railroad (B&W), extending outwards from Boston, reached through the West Parish of Needham in mid-1834. In 1839, the line was double tracked through the area. A station on the (B&W) opened at West Needham around 1850. It was renamed to Wellesley after the adjacent village in 1863, though the West Parish did not formerly separate from Needham to become Wellesley until 1881. The wood-framed building was moved half a mile to the east in 1889 (where it still stands, in use as a restaurant), when H. H. Richardson's successors Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge designed a stone Richardsonian Romanesque station for the Boston & Albany Railroad (B&A), which had taken over the B&W.

The 1889-built depot was demolished around 1962, and bare asphalt platforms replaced it. Amtrak Inland Route service served it until 1975, and from 1984 to 1986, but intercity ridership was very low compared to MBTA Commuter Rail ridership. In 1977 or 1978, the station was renamed Wellesley Square to differentiate it from the other two stations in Wellesley.