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Overview

The Union Railroad Station in Clinton, MA, was, in 2018, one of the few, if any, remaining works by the architect Robert C. Reamer on the East Coast. It opened in 12/1914, and had two levels, serving tracks going in perpindicular directions. It served north-south and east-west railroad lines owned by the Boston and Maine (B & M) and New York, New Hampshire and Hartford (NYNH&H) Railroads that junctioned at Clinton.

Building History

In 1896, the General Court of Massachusetts approved a proposal to dam the southern branch of the Nashua River near Clinton, MA. This would assist in providing drinking water for the nearby Metropolis of Boston. The resulting Wachusett Reservoir would inundate 4,000 acres in the vicinties of Clinton, Boylston, and West Boylston, requiring railroad tracks to be re-routed, and new stations erected. Two railraod routes were proposed, the second, to create a junction in Clinton, was decided upon in 1902. By 12/1914, Clinton's new Union Station opened, serving lines on two levels, the upper serving the Worcester, Nashua, and Portland Division (WN&P) and Central Massachusetts Branches of the Boston and Maine system, and the lower, the NYNH&H line linking Worcester and Fitchburg.

The construction of Wachusett Reservoir had positive and negative impacts for Clinton. A 2012 City of Clinton Master Plan document stated: "The dam project ultimately provided one of Clinton’s great public spaces, with the parkland at the base of the Wachusett Dam based on designs by noted landscape architect Arthur Shurtleff. However, the construction of the dam had a devastating impact on the town’s riverine landscape." (See Clinton Planning Board, Clinton Master Plan Committee, Community Opportunities Group, Incorporated, Town of Clinton Master Plan, Second Printing, 04/2012, [Clinton, MA: Town of Clinton, 2009], p. 12.)

In the 2018, a used clothing store, Six 20 Six Consignment, and the Clinton Laundromat occupied the lower half of the two-level station. The upper half at this time was derelict.

PCAD id: 5008