Railroad station The
Boston and Providence Railroad opened through Roxbury in June 1834. Local stations were gradually added; trains began serving
Heath Street around the 1850s. In 1867, the
Massachusetts legislature ordered the railroad to build a new station building at New Heath Street, slightly to the north. The new station was completed in 1872. It was a one-story wood building located on the west side of the tracks north of Heath Street (rather than at New Heath Street). Starting in 1891, the
Old Colony Railroad (acquired in 1893 by the
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad) raised the section of its main line through Jamaica Plain (extending from
Massachusetts Avenue to ) onto a 4-track stone embankment to eliminate dangerous grade crossings. The project involved the replacement of the five NYNH&H stations in
Roxbury and Jamaica Plain; the new elevated stations opened on June 1, 1897. On November 22, 1909, the
Washington Street Elevated was extended south from (now Nubian Square) to Forest Hills. Although the five NYNH&H stations in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain continued to operate, they were ultimately unable to compete with the Elevated. Additional murals were added in December 2007. The entire Orange Line, including Jackson Square station, was closed from August 19 to September 18, 2022, during maintenance work.
Renovations In the late 2010s, the MBTA began planning to add a second platform elevator, rebuild the existing elevator, and make other repairs to the station. A $4.7 million design contract for Jackson Square and was awarded in April 2020. Design was completed in 2023, and bidding for a $19.4 million construction contract was opened in November 2023. Construction was expected to last from March 2024 to spring 2026. However, bidding was unsuccessful. The project was re-bid in January 2025 with an estimated $25.3 million cost. Bids were higher than the estimate, in part due to increased risk associated with raising the platform to reduce the vertical gap to train cars. A $33.1 million construction contract was awarded in May 2025. Construction began in June 2025 and is expected to finish in 2027. The MBTA also plans to convert the currently-southbound-only busway to bidirectional bus traffic as part of construction of bus lanes on Columbus Avenue, which is planned for 2026. ==References==