Sullivan Square and its station are named for James Sullivan, an early 19th-century Governor of Massachusetts and first president of the Middlesex Canal Co. A plaque commemorating the canal is on the column right of the entrance to the station. The B&M's East Somerville station building was closed in 1927; in February 1932, with just a few trains a day stopping, the railroad successfully petitioned the Public Utilities Commission to abandon the station entirely. However, the station remained in use, served by a small number of trains on both the Eastern Division and Western Division. On April 18, 1958, the Boston and Maine Railroad received permission from the Public Utilities Commission to drastically curtail its suburban commuter service, including abandoning branches, closing stations, and cutting trains. Among the approved cuts was the closure of all Eastern Division service south of Lynn, including the Saugus Branch plus mainline stations at East Somerville, Everett, Chelsea, and Forbes. The Saugus Branch and mainline stations were closed on May 16, 1958. The first rapid transit station at Sullivan Square opened on June 10, 1901 as part of the Charlestown Elevated rapid transit line, a predecessor to the modern Orange Line. The original elevated station was considered a crown jewel of the "El", along with a similar station complex at Dudley Square in Roxbury. Surface streetcars ran up to 10 stub-end tracks at the level of the elevated stations, allowing cross-platform transfer underneath an expansive trainshed. The station was designed as a major transfer point, with many streetcar lines that had gone downtown truncated to Sullivan. Lexington and Boston Street Railway cars from as far away as Lowell ran to Sullivan Square until May 4, 1912, when they were redirected to Harvard station. Over time, deferred maintenance on the Charlestown Elevated and Sullivan Square station took its toll. A large fire also caused significant damage to the station's upper level on November 1, 1967. The Haymarket North Extension was constructed in the early 1970s along the Haverhill Line right-of-way, with a relocated new Sullivan Square station under the elevated I-93 expressway. The Charlestown Elevated closed on April 4, 1975; the Haymarket North Extension opened as far as Sullivan Square on April 7. The new Sullivan station was the terminus of the extension for five months until Wellington opened on September 6, 1975. There were proposals to renovate the cavernous old trainshed for use as retail or gallery spaces, but no such conversion took place; the massive structure was subsequently razed in 1975 and repurposed as an MBTA service vehicle parking lot. Only supports for a footbridge crossing the traffic circle remain of the elevated station. A similar structure at the Dudley Square station on the Orange Line was carefully preserved, lowered to ground level, and reopened in 1993 as a major bus transfer station. Sullivan station was not originally accessible. Construction of elevators at Sullivan and Wellington began in 1991.
Plans
Sullivan Square station was a proposed stop on the MBTA's planned Urban Ring Project. The Urban Ring was to be a circumferential bus rapid transit line designed to connect the current MBTA Lines to reduce strain on the downtown transfer stations. Plans from 2008 also called for the addition of platforms to serve the adjacent Haverhill and Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail lines. The project was cancelled in 2010. The MBTA plans to add three elevators to the station, including an elevator to the lower busway. The work will also include replacement of the existing elevators, and two footbridges to connect the new elevators. A design contract was awarded in April 2020.
Station layout
Bus connections
Sullivan Square has long been a major transfer point for surface transit. The original elevated station had surface and elevated streetcar loops to serve a number of BERy and Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway lines. The modern station has a two-level busway that serves 13 MBTA bus routes to Medford, Everett, Malden and other surrounding cities:
