Then and Now
The East Brookfield Depot

Passengers waiting at the East Brookfield Depot ca. 1910. Photo courtesy of the Bullard Archives.

History and Architecture

Built for the Boston & Albany Railroad in 1894 , the East Brookfield Depot was designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, the architectural firm formed by the H. H. Richardson partners after Henry Hobson Richardson’s sudden death at the age of 47.

Henry Hobson Richardson designed nine railroad depots himself for the B&A RR and Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge worked on 23 others that were “in his style”. The Trinity Church in Boston amd the Palmer Railroad Station, now known as the Steaming Tender Restaurant, are two other examples of his designs.

As H. H. Richardson said to one client, “I’ll plan anything a man wants, from a cathedral to a chicken coop.” Compared to the Trinity Church in Boston, the East Brookfield Depot may be the size of a chicken coop, but what a fine chicken coop it was!

The rounded walls, gently curved roof, and eyelid dormer of the East Brookfield Train Depot are a trademark of H. H. Richardson, “one of the most innovative architects of his day responsible for the revival of the Romanesque style in the United States.”

The Last Train Stop

On March 30th, 1960, the last commuter train stopped at the East Brookfield Depot for a very special trip. At 7:45am, Eighteen 5 and 6 year olds from Joan Bedard’s Happy Days Nursery School boarded the Boston & Albany train for a trip into Worcester for the day. The engineer waved at the excited youngsters as the train pulled in. A conductor lifted the children and they took over one of the two passenger cars. Ironically, their first train ride ended up being the last for the East Brookfield stop. It was surely something to be remembered.

The East Brookfield Depot burned down on September 18th, 2010. There is a local group trying to one day rebuild the depot. Please visit www.eastbrookfielddepot.com for more information. Below is a photo taken in 2003 by railroad photographer, Brian Solomon. This is how we would like to remember the depot in recent years.

East Brookfield Depot trackside ca. 2003. Photo by Brian Solomon.

Additional details below sourced from "Architecture for the Boston & Albany Railroad: 1881-1894" by Jeffrey Karl Ochsner (Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians):

Boston & Albany Railroad Station, East Brookfield, Mass.

Architect: Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge (inspired by H.H. Richardson)

Contractor: Norcross Brothers (“The Master Builder”)

Construction: 1893 - May 1894

Cost: $9778

The last four B&A stations by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge were evidently commissioned as a group about mid-1893 and were finished by 9 May 1894. For all of these stations, including East Brookfield, Wellesley Farms, Saxonville and East Chatham, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge received reduced fees, indicating reuse of earlier designs. The first station of this group, at East Brookfield on the main-line west of Worcester, was a simple rectangle with one round end, duplicating the design of the Brookline Hills (Brookline, MA) station. The Brookline Hills station was also the inspiration to two additional stations (Hinsdale, MA and Canaan, NY), besides the East Brookfield Station, featuring the architecturally significant rounded roof on one end. The East Brookfield commuter station design featured a rectangular plan with a single round end. The hipped roof of slate, with broad overhanging eaves, was supported by wood brackets. The body of the station was executed in granite with Kibbe brownstone trim from the Norcross Kibbe Quarry in East Longmeadow, MA. A single eyelid dormer broke the roof surface on the trackside directly above the projecting round bay window at the ticket office. A single chimney was located at the end of the roof ridge toward the rectangular end of the station.

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