This 1908 article discusses the then-new Forest Hills elevated station. The drawing above shows an open, fenced-in ground floor. It did get closed in quite a bit more than that on the sides. Notice the water fountain in the middle of the road. And notice the style of writing in the article. It content comes out sounding like a P.R. release, but they style is very different from anything we'd read in a newspaper today. They had not yet received the cut, cut cut message, so they weren't mean with their words.
Boston Daily Globe March 23, 1908
Hope To Have work Done This Year
Building of the Elevated Station in Forest Hills Sq Has Commenced - The Platform Arrangement.
After a prolonged disagreement over the location of the Forest Hills terminal of the elevated railroad, ground has at last been broken in Forest Hills sq. and the work of putting in the foundations for the new station begun.
The abrupt termination of the elevated structure at the entrance of the square, with its big derricks overhanging the roadway, has long been an annoyance to the residents of the district, and the completion of the work is looked forward to by all.
The terminal will be located on the west side of the square, adjoining the NY, NH & H tracks, and will be 360 feet long by 70 feet wide - a much larger station than the present terminal at Dudley st. Two tracks will pass through the station, one inbound and the other outbound.
There being no loop as at Dudley st, a blind end will be used; that is, the tracks will extend beyond the station far enough for a train that has unloaded its passengers from Boston to run out and switch over to the inbound track, when it will return to the station and load passengers for Boston from an opposite platform.
Egress from the unloading platform of the station to the surface car loading platform will be by means of two stairways. Passengers arriving on surface cars and bound for Boston will alight on an opposite platform and will gain access
to the elevated loading platform by means of two moving stairways and two ordinary stairways. Both surface car platforms will be enclosed by fences as is the case now at Dudley st.
The elevated platforms will be large enough to accommodate any crowds that will have occasion to use them for some years to come, the loading platform being 30 feet wide and the unloading platform will have a width of 20 feet, while their great length of 360 feet will amply accommodate an eight-car train, as will all of the new elevated stations and those on the Washington-st subway.
The material used in the construction of the new station and that portion of the elevated structure which crosses the arborway will be reinforced concrete, and the architecture of the whole will be sufficiently ornate to be in keeping with the surroundings, the portion of the elevated structure previously mentioned being somewhat similar in design to the present railroad bridge over the arborway.
The northern end of the station, which might be called the front entrance, will be somewhat higher than the rest of the building and will be 64 feet high. In that portion of the building will be located a waiting room, toilet rooms and an office.
With the completion of this station the Dudley-st station will cease to be a terminal and become a way station, and to this end important changes are to be made there.
No definite arrangements have yet been made by the elevated officials for handling the traffic under the new conditions, but in all probability some of the surface car line which now feed Dudley-st station will be diverted to one of the new elevated stations, possibly that at Egleston Square, thus relieving the Dudley-st station of a great deal of congestion. The engineers hope, with good fortune, to be able to complete the work by the end of this year, when, with the completion of the new subway, Boston will have taken a long stride in the direction of real rapid transit.
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