(rshsdepot) Hopkinton, MA

[Jim Dent <jdent1_@_optonline.net>]

 From the Boston Globe...

New life for a rail station
Days as a shed are at an end

By Alison O'Leary Murray, Globe Correspondent  |  November 3, 2005

The trains that once rumbled down the tracks are long gone. But a former 
railroad station in Hopkinton is going back into service after decades 
as a family's backyard shed.

The two-room, wood-frame station that was a stop on a Milford-to-Ashland 
line at the turn of the century is being renovated and reinvented as an 
information kiosk, warming hut for ice skaters, and multipurpose 
community building.

Its location near scenic Ice House Pond on West Main Street is not far 
from where it stood during the railroad days.

Town Meeting in 2001 appropriated $12,000 for the project. The town's 
community preservation fund has allocated $8,000.

''Hopkinton has seen explosive growth in the past few years," said 
Michaelyn Holmes, chairwoman of the town Historical Commission. ''There 
are a lot of residents who are new to town. I look at the station 
location as a gateway, an opportunity to connect people to the past and 
provide information on the town's history as well as information about 
things like open-space areas to enjoy."

The trains have been gone from Hopkinton for more than 60 years and most 
people forgot about the station, which had been moved in the 1940s by J. 
Howard Leman to his backyard in the Woodville neighborhood.

But reconstructing the building, which was cut apart and removed from 
the Woodville property in 2002 and stored in someone else's backyard for 
several years, has brought many people -- and memories -- back, said 
Michelle Gates, the resident who spearheaded the effort to preserve it.

''It's been wonderful that since we've been working on it some of the 
old townies have been stopping to say, 'I remember the old conductor,' 
and 'I remember the color of the building,' " Gates said. ''That's what 
it's all about for me -- the appreciation of people who remember what it 
was like when Hopkinton was a little town in the woods."

The population of the town, a community west of Boston known to many as 
the starting point of the Boston Marathon, grew more than 50 percent -- 
to about 14,000 -- from 1990 to 2003, according to the US Census.

The railroad line was built around 1870. It sold its last passenger 
ticket in 1912, but continued with its primary business, hauling freight 
such as coal and grain, until the late 1930s, according to Hopkinton 
Historical Commission records.

The station stood near the intersection of Main and Meserve streets, 
where old meets new as a lumber and hardware store that goes back to 
railroad days jostles with a large, new day-care center.

The time it took to get the project approved by all of the necessary 
town boards and officials, to secure funding and hire contractors, and 
then to do much of the carpentry work to put it back together was 
overwhelming at times, said Gates, who also holds seats on several town 
boards, including the Recreation Commission and Community Preservation 
Act Committee.

She credited Chris Barry, a 17-year-old Hopkinton High School junior who 
adopted the project as his Eagle Scout challenge, with keeping her going.

''He's a hard worker and has a great attitude," Gates said, adding that 
Barry's twice-weekly calls to go over a checklist of tasks were a big 
help through the permitting and reconstruction process.

''It's a big project, but I'm so glad I chose it," said Barry, who 
described himself as a history buff.

''We took off all of the tongue-in-groove boards and stabilized the 
walls, then sanded the walls and primed some," said Barry, who has done 
some hands-on work on the project with Gates's father, John McGrath, a 
general contractor who volunteered to help oversee the reconstruction.

''It's amazing how much wood goes into a building that's just 16 by 32 
feet."

The renovation will give the structure a new roof that will recall the 
building's historical appearance. The roof's shingles will mimic the 
original slate, and large eaves will overhang the edge of the building 
for maximum shelter.

Gates forecasts a ribbon-cutting before the project's fifth anniversary 
next spring.

Alison O'Leary Murray may be reached at amurray_@_globe.com.
© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1238
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=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org