Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Portland Railroad opened to , across the Merrimack River from Haverhill, on October 26, 1837. A bridge across the river was built in 1839, with service extended to
East Kingston, New Hampshire via Haverhill on January 1, 1840. The railroad was renamed as the
Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) in 1843. A larger wooden freight house replaced the brick freight house several years later. A 1904–06 project eliminated crossings at Washington, Essex, Winter, and Elm streets by raising the railroad through Bradford and Haverhill. Although the city requested new station buildings on both sides of the tracks, the B&M instead added another story to the existing station and removed the clock tower. A pedestrian tunnel led to a waiting room on the west side of the tracks. The B&M used a temporary station at Essex Street while construction was in progress. The final cost of the project was $750,000 (). The existing freight house was not raised, while the former brick freight house was cut in half and moved away from the tracks for reuse. All three structures are still extant, though the newer freight house was partially destroyed by a fire. On January 18, 1965, the B&M discontinued almost all remaining intrastate service outside the MBTA district, including the Boston–Haverhill trains. This left only the Dover round trip serving Haverhill. It was cut to Haverhill on June 30, 1967, with Haverhill and the other towns outside the district subsidizing the train.
North Andover stopped funding service in 1974, followed by
Andover in 1976. The single Haverhill round trip ended on June 30, 1976, due to a loss of state subsidies, ending service to Lawrence. The MBTA purchased most of the B&M commuter assets, including the Western Route, on December 27, 1976.
Haverhill Line service returned on December 17, 1979. The $4 million project was projected to take 18 months. The
Downeaster began service, with a stop at the newly renovated Haverhill station, on December 14, 2001. Haverhill station was temporarily closed for MBTA service from July 15, 2024, to June 30, 2025, for replacement of the South Elm Street bridge in Bradford. Bradford station was the outer terminal of the line during that time, though Amtrak service continued to serve Haverhill. ==References==