The Boston Elevated Railway constructed the Washington Street Elevated from downtown Boston to in 1901; an extension to was approved on January 4, 1904 and began construction on May 2, 1906. Construction of the elevated structure proceeded southbound and reached Egleston Square on August 20, 1906, although construction on the station did not start until 1907 because of delays in the design. The extension opened on November 22, 1909 with Egleston as the sole new intermediate station; to the south was added as an infill station in 1912.
Architecture
The architectural design of the station was similar to the earlier stations designed by A.W. Longfellow Jr. at Dover and Northampton, with most exterior surfaces sheathed in copper, although it is not believed that Longfellow designed the station. Its structural design incorporated improvements over the older stations, including the first use of reinforced concrete on the Elevated. The waiting room was suspended below the steel elevated structure, which allowed it to be larger than the between-the-tracks waiting rooms at Dover and Northampton. Anticipating use of eight-car trains due to higher than expected ridership, the station was built with side platforms rather than a island platform.
Transfer station
Egleston was intended to serve as a transfer point for surface streetcar lines from Jamaica Plain and Dorchester in order to divert traffic from overcrowded Dudley station. The staircases from the station waiting room originally led directly into Egleston Square itself and into the median of Washington Street, which required many streetcar passengers to cross lanes of traffic to reach the station. In response to continued streetcar crowding at Dudley, the BERy built an off-street prepayment transfer station on the east side of the intersection, with an escalator and connecting bridge directly to the waiting room. The transfer station and bridge were constructed in 1916 and opened on January 20, 1918.
Closure
Streetcar service continued for several decades before bustitution; route 42 to Dudley was converted in September 1949, route 29 to Mattapan in September 1955, and route 40 to Arborway in December 1955. Route 43 – the last streetcar route into the Tremont Street subway via the Pleasant Street incline – was cut back from Egleston to Lenox Street in June 1956, although bustitution of the remaining section did not occur until 1961 and 1962. From 1979 to 1987, the Southwest Corridor was reconstructed to include the Orange Line as well as commuter rail and intercity service. Egleston station and the rest of the Washington Street Elevated closed on April 30, 1987; the relocated Orange Line opened on May 4, 1987.
