Bridgewater Railroad Station
Depot St
1893
Architectural Style
Richardsonian Romanesque
Significance
Architecture, Commerce, Transportation
Use Type
General Retail Store, Rail Station, Rail Station
Neighborhood
Bridgewater Industrial/Transportation Corridor
Massachusetts Historical Commission Report
Architectural Significance
This is a fine example of a Richardsonian Romanesque Railroad station. It is a long rectangular building constructed of blocks of rock-faced gray and brown granite. Its main facade features a columned porte cochere—its track-facing side retains its covered platform with substantial posts and stick style-like bracing. This building features passages of well-carved Romanesque Revival foliate motifs.
Historical Significance
Built in 1893, the Bridgewater Railroad Station attests to the fact that Richardsonian Romanesque railroad design was alive and well seven years after H.H. Richardson's death. An extensive search at the Boston Public Library (Fine Arts Dept.) and Bridgewater Public Library History Room did not reveal the name of the architect or the firm responsible for this station's design. Built at the time of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company's takeover of the Old Colony Railroad line, this station is similar to those on the Boston and Albany line built by H.H. Richardson during the early 1880s (e.g. the railroad station at Auburndale Center, Newton, MA). The first railroad came to Bridgewater in 1846 and triggered an era of prosperity and expansion for Bridgewater industries with plants adjacent to the railroad tracks. Passenger service was terminated in 1959 but has been recently resumed (July, 1984) by the Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad.