Forest Hills station is an intermodal transfer station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA rapid transit Orange Line and three MBTA Commuter Rail lines (Needham, Providence/Stoughton, and Franklin/Foxboro) and is a major terminus for MBTA bus routes. It is located in Forest Hills, in the southern part of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Most Providence/Stoughton Line and Franklin/Foxboro Line trains, and all Amtrak Northeast Corridor trains, pass through the station without stopping.
The station is surrounded by large parks. To the west of the station is Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum, part of Boston's Emerald Necklace; to the east are the Forest Hills Cemetery and Franklin Park, another part of Boston's Emerald Necklace. The station also marks the southern end of the linear Southwest Corridor Park, built over and around the Southwest Corridor (which carries Amtrak, commuter rail, and Orange Line trains into the center of Boston).
Several small retailers are located in the station, including a doughnut/coffee shop, newspaper stand and florist. During warmer months, a farmers' stand is set up. In addition, the station features an MBTA Police substation. Park and ride parking spaces for 206 cars are available on the station grounds. Forest Hills station is fully accessible on all modes.
History
Tollgate station
The Boston and Providence Railroad (B&P) was chartered on June 22, 1831, to build a rail line between its two namesake cities. Construction began in late 1832, and the B&P opened from Park Square, Boston to Canton in 1834. The remaining section of the B&P main line from Canton to Providence opened the following year with the completion of the Canton Viaduct. The B&P, like many early railroads, was primarily intended for intercity travel; the only intermediate stations north of Canton were at Dedham Plain (later called Readville) and Pierpont Village (later called Roxbury Crossing). (However, there was also an early flag stop at Tollgate where the line crossed the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike adjacent to one of its toll gates.)
Two additional stations in Jamaica Plain were added in 1842: Jamaica Plain at Green Street, and Tollgate at the former flag stop. The B&P began regularly running Dedham Specials (which used the main line to Readville and the Dedham Branch to Dedham station) in June 1842, which made commuting from Tollgate and the other intermediate stations possible. A second track from Roxbury Crossing to Readville was added in 1845. A small station building at Tollgate was added that year, and several businesses soon sprung up around the station.
On July 14, 1849, the B&P opened a second branch to Dedham – this one from Tollgate via West Roxbury. Commuter traffic on the B&P – which had numbered just 320 daily passengers from the eight stations north of Readville in 1849 – was rapidly expanding. The railroad cut sharply into the profits of the private turnpike; it became a free public road south of Dedham in 1843, and north of Dedham in 1857. Although the station and surrounding village retained the name "Tollgate" for some time, by the 1870s they were called Forest Hills after the Forest Hills Cemetery, which was founded nearby in 1848.
Horsecars and streetcars
The railroad would soon face its own competition in the form of horsecar lines. The West Roxbury Railroad opened from South Street at McBride Street in Jamaica Plain ( north of Forest Hills station) to Roxbury Crossing in 1857. It was immediately acquired by the Metropolitan Railroad and connected to its existing trackage, providing service from Jamaica Plain to downtown Boston. After the former Turnpike (soon renamed Washington Street) became a free public road in 1857, a horsecar line was constructed on it between Tollgate and existing tracks at Dudley Square.
Most horsecar service in Boston was consolidated under the West End Street Railway in 1887. Electric streetcar service in Boston began with the Beacon Street line in 1888; the Washington Street line was electrified on September 2, 1890. The West End built its first Forest Hills Yard (renamed Arborway Yard in 1924) in 1895. The West End was acquired by the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) in 1897. The line on South Street was extended to Forest Hills Yard in 1902; through service to the Tremont Street subway on the Arborway Line began in 1915. The Washington Street and South Street lines converged at Forest Hills Square, just east of the station; a covered platform was built there to aid transfers.