Belmont Center Underpass Over 100
The Belmont Center underpass celebrated one hundred years of service as the gateway to the municipal and commercial center of town in 2007. The area looked very different before the construction was completed in 1907.
When the new town of Belmont was incorporated in 1859, the unique octagonal Wellington Hill station became the entrance to the town center. It stands today only 300 feet from its original location at the juncture of Common Street and Concord Avenue.
Both the Fitchburg and the Massachusetts Central/Central Massachusetts rails ran at street level at the same junction. Throughout the remainder of the 1800's and into the first decade of the 1900's this complex of roadways and railways prevailed.
In 1902 the Boston and Maine Railroad bought out the Fitchburg charter and began making plans for a bridged overpass to replace the grade crossing. Work began in 1906 to raise the grade of the tracks some 7' between Hills Crossing (at Brighton Street) and Wellington Hill (Belmont Center). The roadway under the tracks was excavated 14" from its original level.
On the original plans a steel girder bridge was to carry the rails over the roadway. Henry O. Underwood and Edwin F. Atkins intervened on behalf of a structure more pleasing to the eye and the result was the handsome stone arch bridge now standing. Huge granite blocks, many measuring 3' x 4' x 7', support the underpass to the Center, providing a strong but graceful approach.
The depot just west of the railroad viaduct was built the next year, 1908. For construction of the building, 365 tons of field stones were hauled by dray horses from the Highland Stock Farm guided by a local farmer, David L. Thomas. The station, too, was an elegant and unique addition to the complex. It is now the home of Belmont's Lion Club.