Former Boston and Albany Railroad Train Depot in MA

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Although it was farming that first drew settlers to the valley in the early eighteenth century, Palmer as it stands today was built by the mills and railroads of the nineteenth century. The textile mills were responsible for the development of Palmer's villages of Thorndike, Three Rivers, and Bondsville in the north; in the south, a commercial educational and residential center grew along the railroad line and was aptly named Depot Village. The coming of the Western Railroad (later Boston & Albany) in 1839 initiated this growth by opening up the markets in Boston to the town. The completion of the New London Northern Railroad (later the Vermont Central) in 1850 connected Palmer with water shipping routes in the south reducing the cost of moving raw materials and finished goods to and from the mills. In the first fifteen years after the caning of the Boston & Albany, the population of the town doubled and continued to increase until it peaked in the early 1920s. Depot Village grew to be by far the largest of the four villages comprising the town of Palmer.

The large amount of transportation activity at Depot Village and the expansion of the Boston & Albany line impelled the building of a large new station to replace the two smaller and inconvenient stations serving the village. Construction began in May of 1883, with Union Station being opened to the public on June 1^st, 1884.

For passengers in the late 1800s, the Station became a stop on a long trip or a transfer point between railroad lines. Among the largest number of travelers to pass through Union Station were the immigrants coming to work in the textile mills. The village soon provided three hotels to serve the transient population while boardinghouses grew in number to temporarily house the new arrivals. Many people passed through Palmer to make connections on their way to mills in Ware, Athol, Hardwick, Winchendon, and Northampton.

For industry, the Station provided a shipping outlet for its goods. Same of the larger accounts to use the railroad were the Thorndike Company, the Boston Duck Company, The Palmer Company (all textile mills), The Holder Woolen Mill, Ridge's Food for Infants and Invalids Company, and the Palmer Carpet Mill.

Union Station was a stopping point for many trains during World War I; men being moved from the north paused long enough in Palmer for a hot meal on their way to join ships docked in New London Harbor.

By the turn of the century, thirty to forty trains stopped daily at Union Station. Railroad activity was at its peak in Palmer with five railroad companies serving various sections of town. The Boston & Albany, the Vermont Central, the Ware River Line, the Athol-Enfield Line, and the Boston & Maine Railroad were all in operation; building had commenced but was never completed on the Hampden Line and the Southern New England Railroad (Grand Trunk). Although financing for the construction of the Hampden line was secured, operating monies and management expertise were anticipated to come from a merger with the Boston & Main Railroad. When this merger failed to occur, the line was unable to profitably continue. Construction of the Grant Trunk was halted for financial reasons. When funds ran short the builder, Charles Hay, returned to England seeking further financing. Unfortunately, Hay booked return passage to the United States on the Titanic. Without Hay's leadership, construction on the line halted shortly after his death. The village of Thorndike had a small depot of its own while Three Rivers and Bondsville each supported two train stations, though very modest ones. In 1912, the citizens of Palmer erected a sign just east of the town center proclaiming "Palmer, The Town of Seven Railroads."

Many of the residences on Church, Pleasant, and South Main Streets in Depot Village were built by employees of the railroads: agents, engineers, and operators settled near Union Station and built several fine Victorian homes.

Along with the permanent residents brought by the railroads were many visiting dignitaries and politicians. Abraham Lincoln stopped briefly in Depot Village on March 5^th, 1860, as did U.S. Grant (July 29^th, 1865) and James Polk (June 28^th, 1847). Andrew Johnson addressed the town's population from the rear of a train on June 29^th, 1867. Jenny Lind stopped long enough in July of 1851 to stroll down Main Street. On August 20^th, 1914, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt broke his train trip long enough to dine at the Nassawana House Hotel on Main Street. Alfred Smith became lost during his 1928 Vice-Presidential campaign and found himself in Palmer; he ate at the station restaurant before continuing on his way to Amherst. Of the more permanent visitors was Erasnus S. Fields (1833-1847 and 1854-1859) who painted the portraits of several prominent citizens in his studio on Main Street.

By the 1930s, with the closing of the textile mills and the increase of automobile and truck transport, the railroad began a slow decline. Little used, Union Station remained the property of the railroad until it finally discontinued passenger service in 1960. After 1960, the station served as a pool hall and luncheonette; the building is currently vacant.

Union Station is the earliest surviving example of Henry Hobson Richardson's work for the Boston & Albany Railroad and is in itself an outstanding example of the Richardsonian Romanesque style of architecture. Commissioned in August 1881, Richardson was challenged to design a station that would serve both the New London Northern Railroad and the Boston & Albany, replacing the existing two-station format. The result was a unique trapezoidal design placed in the triangular area formed by the crossing of the lines. The critical elements of Richardson's style are present in the massive but simple structure with polychromatic rock-faced masonry, Romanesque arches, and broad roof plans. This station also successfully exhibits Richardson's intent of design as described by Marianna Griswold VanRensselaer in 1885:

Significant involvement by H.H. Richardson is evidenced by the existence of the Study Plan for the Station drawn in his own hand (this is reproduced in H.H. Richardson Complete Architectural Works by Jeffrey Karl Ochsner). Although the interior plan was later modified, the original shape, entrance, and platform treatment was maintained. Union Station, therefore, embodies the influential characteristics of Richardson's designs and the pride of the railroads that built it. Although portions of the passenger shed (ca. 1940) and the platform overhangs (1986) at the north and west elevations have been removed, the Station retains enough original fabric that the essence of H.H. Richardson's style remains.

The Flynt Construction Company of Monson, Massachusetts (later of Palmer) received the contract for the building of Union Station with a bid of $40,000, although the actual cost was $53,616. The Flynt Company was chosen for the fine quality of granite in their Monson quarry and their recent success in the construction of numerous local buildings. These included the Town Hall, the Horatio Lyon Memorial Library, and St. Patrick's Church, all of Munson, and St. Paul's Universalist Church of Palmer. During the 1880s, the company expanded its operations to include all of New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Among the major commissions received and completed were as follows: South Park Avenue Church, Chicago; St. Francis Zavier Church, New York City; East Orange, New Jersey High School; Post Office, Skowhegan, Maine; and the Mills in Biddeford/Saco, Maine. By 1896, the company employed between 800 and 1,000 men. Within twenty-five years, however, with the deaths of most of the original partners, the company found itself in financial trouble. The business was liquidated in 1921.

Also commissioned at the time of the Station, but no longer intact, was Union Station Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. The park was located at the entrance to the depot yard. The approach to the Station was down a slight decline with the Boston & Albany tracks on the right and the park on the left bordered by the lines of the New London Northern Railroad on its far side. Olmstead designed the approximately one-acre park as a peaceful warm weather waiting area with roofed circular benches connected by gravel walkways. The focal point was a twenty-foot stone grotto with a pool and fountain. The park was maintained until filled in during railroad excavations (ca. 1950).

The town's six original railway stations were of typical mid-nineteenth century rectangular plan with pitched roofs and high walls. Consequently, Richardson's unique design for. Union Station was first viewed by local citizens with skepticism: "Architecturally the building will be about as handsome as a flat iron with the handle off. It will appear very 'squatty' in fact -- all length and no height. For the amount of money to be invested in the structure the roads ought to have a much more handsome and considerably larger building..."(Palmer Journal. July 20^th, 1883). Palmer's architectural tastes lagged behind the more stylish eastern areas; Greek Revival houses were the dominant building type as late as 1875 in the town's villages. By May 1884 the tone of the Palmer Journal articles had dramatically changed: "Although the building may not be classified as belonging to any particular style of architecture, it certainly has a very picturesque external appearance."

With this modicum of acceptance, the town chose H. R. Robertson of Springfield in 1890 to design Memorial Hall in a modified Richardsonian Romanesque style. Although of pressed red brick, the building contains Romanesque arches and window treatments similar to Union Station. The balance of public buildings constructed in Palmer in the late nineteenth century were of Classical Revival design while the residences were of conservative Victorian styling.

Building Description

Union Station is located in downtown Palmer at the western terminus of Depot Street. North and west of the Station property is the Palmer commercial district; to the east is a mixed commercial and residential area; south, beyond the train lines is a mixed residential and industrial area. Located approximately 650 feet from the westernmost house on Depot Street, the lot on which the Station sits is triangular-shaped and contains 18,695 square feet of land. The Station is bounded by the triple lines of Conrail on the north, by the double lines of the Vermont Central Railroad to the south, and by a forty-five-foot wide gravel and stone parking lot to the east. The two sets of tracks cross and form the triangular lot on which the Station stands. The remaining portion of the original railyard (1 ½-acres) is a vacant lot enclosed by a chainlink fence and used by the Vermont Central Railroad to store equipment. The original passenger sheds for the Station extended from the northeast corner of the building (160 feet); these were removed ca. 1940.

Union Station has a trapezoidal plan and rises from a sandstone foundation through one full story to a second story contained beneath a slate-covered complex hipped roof. The roof originally extended beyond the building's walls to a depth of approximately thirteen feet forming porches on all four sides of the Station, these overhangs were removed from the north elevation (1986).

Two stone chimneys rise from the roof, one at both the east and west ends. Designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the building has walls of random ashlar Monson granite trimmed with Longmeadow sandstone. Windows, doors, and arches are framed with rusticated sandstone surrounds. Windows are of varying sizes; most are three tiers high with the bottom level being the largest (containing 1/1 sash) and the top two of smaller but equal size (single-pane sash). Window widths are either of single, double, tripartite or quintuple glazing separated by sandstone mullions. Doors are capped by heavy sandstone lintels. Of the twelve entries, seven retain their original doors.

The Station's primary entry is at the east elevation of Depot Street. The east elevation is composed symmetrically around a central tripartite arched window, behind which the ticket office for both the Boston & Albany Railroad and the New London Northern Railroad. Flanking the central arch are identical entries, each consisting of a wide doorway topped by a large arched transom (now blocked with plywood). At each end of the elevation is a large three-tier quintuple window. Behind the southern window was the New London Northern baggage room was housed behind the north window. Rising above the first story, is a central cross gable containing an arched opening (presumed to be a window originally but now blocked with plywood).

The north elevation, facing the Boston & Albany tracks, is composed asymmetrically. From the east end, the elevation possesses a three-tier tripartite window, an entry that originally opened into the smoking room, an entry opening into the general waiting area, two three-tier tripartite windows between which was originally a Western Union telegraph office, a second entry opening into the general waiting area, a three-tier tripartite window, an entry leading to the kitchen, a three-tier tripartite window, a single-tier window, an entry opening into the Boston & Albany agent's office, and a three-tier single-width window. Above the first story, three gabled dormers project from the roof. The largest of these (east) contains three narrow windows over five windows of a slightly larger size. The two smaller dormers (west) are identical, each containing three small windows.

The south elevation, facing the New London Northern tracks, is an asymmetrical assortment of doors and windows (see Drawing #1). Beginning from the west end, the elevation possesses a single-tier window, a single-width three-tier window, an entry which led to the New London Northern agent's office, an entry opening into the kitchen, a single width three-tiered window, a single-tier double window, a three-tier tripartite window, an entry opening into the former dining room, a three-tier double window, and a three-tier single-width window which lights the ladies' room, a three-tier double window, an entry to the general waiting area, a three-tier tripartite window, an entry for the New London Northern baggage room, and a large arched window.

The original layout of the Station called for a ticket office at the east end flanked by a smoking room (north) and a baggage room (south). The general waiting room was thirty feet by fifty feet with entrances from the platform on each side (north and south). A semi-circular glass Western Union office bordered the north side of the waiting roam; to the west was a restaurant with a kitchen and pantry. Two agent's offices completed the floorplan at the building's west end. On the second floor were roans for conductors.

Although recently partitioned, the Station retains most of its original interior fabric. Notable are the two large Romanesque arches dividing the waiting room. The walls of the Station's interior are of pressed brick to a height of six feet with molded red oak sheathing the walls to the ceiling. The original waiting room was two stories in height with a cathedral ceiling; interior light was from the roof dormer and gas lamps. The station has a full basement with a dirt floor.

Significant alterations to the building include the removal of approximately 160 feet of the north passenger shed and twenty-five feet of the south shed (ca. 1940), and the partial removal of the roof overhang (1986). A fire in June of 1981 burned through a portion of the west and southwest roof causing minor damage. The original plans called for the construction of a separate baggage room for the Boston & Albany Railroad about thirty feet from the Station's east entry. Indications are this structure was removed sometime before 1938; the assessor's records fail to identify the exact date of removal or even its existence as a separate structure. Consequently, nothing is known of this structure's design or construction from local records.

North and west facades (1986)

East & North Facades (1986)