History
The Boston and Providence Railroad was built through Hyde Park in 1832-34, but a station was not immediately placed in the area, which was still largely unsettled. Henry Grew moved into the area in 1845 and others followed. Within a few years, "Kenny's Bridge" (at today's River Street) was an unofficial station stop. By 1852, a depot building had been built. Hyde Park was incorporated as a town in 1868; the station was renamed to Hyde Park sometime before 1876.
The Boston & Providence Railroad was acquired by the Old Colony Railroad in 1888, which in turn became part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1893. On October 24, 1895, the 4:15 from Providence rear-ended the 5:18 local train from Sharon at Hyde Park at approximately 5:30 pm. The cause of the wreck was uncertain but may have been faulty signals. The engine of the Providence-originating train was driven halfway through the trailing passenger car of the Sharon train, killing two people and injuring over twenty more. Among the injured were several members of a wedding party.
The overhead station structure was demolished during the 1970s, leaving just bare platforms to serve passengers. The NYNH&H folded into Penn Central in 1969, who sold the line and station to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in 1973. Conrail took over Penn Central in 1976 and the Boston & Maine Railroad was contracted to operate the southside commuter lines starting in March 1977, thus marking the sixth operator to run trains to Hyde Park.
In November 1979, the station was closed for Southwest Corridor construction, while all Providence and Franklin trains were rerouted over the Fairmount Line. During this time, the MBTA modernized the station with new ramps and short high-level platforms. The station reopened in October 1987 and has served Providence/Stoughton and Franklin line trains since.
Crossing the tracks at Hyde Park is not only illegal but extremely dangerous, because Amtrak trains, as well as some express commuter trains, pass through the station without stopping. The blind curve to the north makes it difficult to know if a train is coming; moreover, trains may operate in either direction on any track without warning, and without regard to any normally intuitive current of traffic. To discourage trespassers, the fence between tracks is lubricated to make hopping it more difficult. Despite these measures, several trespassers have been struck at Hyde Park, with the most recent fatality in September 2011.
Read more about this topic: Hyde Park (MBTA Station)
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“Indeed, the Englishman’s history of New England commences only when it ceases to be New France.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
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—Attributed to Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929)