Station Street

Station Street is the short street at North Billerica that runs east from Faulkner Street, at the corner of Letchworth Avenue, to the railroad station and Ruggles Street. It began as the way to the depot of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, which opened through Billerica in 1835 and soon made a flag stop at "Billerica Mills." Access to the tracks was formalized by an 1842 deed from Faulkner to the railroad corporation, which bought a small parcel beside the tracks and established rights of way from the highway "for those parties having business with the railroad." The present depot was built on land bought from the Talbots in 1866, probably in 1867. Union Hall, the town's hall and schoolhouse for the north village, stood on the street, and the Thomas Talbot Memorial Hall was built east of the depot in 1888.

The street has had four names. The street naming committee chosen in 1896 (Martin Conway, John E. Rowell and Coburn S. Smith) called it "School street, running east from Faulkner street to railroad station, No. Billerica," and the Billerica Historical Society's list, accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899, named it for the hall: "Union Hall street, from Faulkner street running east to railroad station, No. Billerica." At the annual town meeting of March 24, 1902, on motion of Charles H. Kohlrausch Jr., the town voted "to change the name of Union Hall Street to Carleton Street," and at the same time renamed Railroad Street, which ran south from the station, Ruggles Street. The report does not say why the name Carleton was chosen. The street kept it, often spelled Carlton, for nearly ninety years, and in 1939 the town named the junction of Faulkner Street, Carleton Street and Letchworth Avenue William Collins Square, in memory of William Collins, a member of the Board of Assessors, who died in 1938. The Pines development of 1912 had a Carlton Street of its own, and when the Street Renaming Committee of 1988 to 1990 removed duplicate street names throughout the town, Carleton Street became Station Street; the new name was in use by 1992, when the historic district was extended to the depot "(3 Ruggles Street and 11 Station Street)."

The town's list of streets accepted, printed in 1956, gives "Carleton St., Faulkner St. east to RR Station N. B." with no date, the wording of the 1899 list. It was not on the official map of 1831. In 1996 the town leased a parcel on Station Street to the Lowell Regional Transit Authority and the MBTA for the station parking, and the depot, restored in 1998, still stands at the east end of the street.

Historic Buildings

Name	Alternate	Address	Built	Moved	Demolished
Mill Worker Housing (Station Street)		6 Station St	1852		1980
North Billerica Railroad Depot		Station St	1867
Union Hall		Station Street	1871		1966
Hiram C. Brown Postmaster's House	North Billerica Post Office	11 Station St	1878
Residence		6 Station St	1982

References

1. Annual report 1897: street naming committee, "School street, running east from Faulkner street to railroad station, No. Billerica"
2. Annual report 1899: Historical Society list, "10. Union Hall street, from Faulkner street running east to railroad station, No. Billerica"
3. Annual report 1900: street list accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899
4. Annual report 1903: town meeting of March 24, 1902 votes "to change the name of Union Hall Street to Carleton Street; Railroad Street to Ruggles Street"
5. Annual report 1939: town votes to name the junction of Faulkner Street, Carleton Street and Letchworth Avenue William Collins Square
6. Annual report 1938: death of William Collins, member of the Board of Assessors
7. Annual report 1956: list of streets accepted, "Carleton St., Faulkner St. east to RR Station N. B."
8. Annual report 1992: Billerica Mills district extended to the depot, "3 Ruggles Street and 11 Station Street"