The Boston and Lowell Railroad opened between its namesake cities in 1835; local stops were added after several years. Winter Hill station was located at Gilman Square in Somerville, one of several stations in the city. The station building was a long wooden structure north of the tracks. In 1870, the Lexington Branch was routed over the B&L east of Somerville Junction, increasing service to Winter Hill and several other stations. In 1888, a new stone station was built on the south side of the tracks; the wooden station was split into two sections which were reused as houses still standing near Magoun Square. The new station was made of red marble ashlar with rough marble trim; the waiting room featured a marble fireplace. The inner suburban stations lost much of their ridership to streetcars, especially after the Lechmere Viaduct sped travel times to downtown beginning in 1911. The ticket office at Winter Hill was closed in 1926. On April 25, 1927, the Lexington Branch was reconnected to the Fitchburg Line; the 1870-built line west of Somerville Junction became the Fitchburg Cutoff used only by freight trains. Three stations on the cutoff plus Prospect Hill and East Cambridge stations east of Winter Hill were closed entirely; service to Winter Hill ended then or soon after. The railroad unsuccessfully attempted to sell the station for reuse. The abandoned station building was demolished in July and August 1934, as it had become a target for vandalism. The stone base of the former station was used to house electric equipment until Green Line Extension construction began in 2018. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the newly formed MBTA reopened several inner-suburb commuter rail stations in response to community desire for service that was faster if less frequent than buses. In 1976, Winter Hill station was considered for reactivation, but ridership was expected to be negligible due to the nearby,,, and buses. In November 2012, the MBTA indicated that the Gilman Square station was expected to be completed by June 2019, as part of the Phase 3 of the Green Line Extension project. As of 2014, the MBTA expected the Gilman Square station to be completed in 2020, but in December 2016, it announced the station's opening had been delayed until 2021.
