Chinatown (MBTA-Station)

Chinatown is a rapid transit station on the MBTA Orange Line, located at the intersection of Washington Street with Essex and Boylston Streets in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. The station is located on the edge of the Chinatown neighborhood, within the Washington Street Theatre District.Like all Orange Line stations, both the subway platforms and all bus connections are fully wheelchair accessible.HistoryThe station originally opened on November 30, 1908 along with the rest of the Washington Street Tunnel. At this time, the Boston Elevated Railway's Main Line (which later became the Orange Line) was moved from the Tremont Street Subway into this new subway. As in other stations of the Washington Street Tunnel, the platforms were largely separated and given different names - Boylston for the southbound platform, and Essex for the northbound side.On February 11, 1967, as part of a larger renaming of Orange Line stations, the entire station became Essex. On May 4, 1987, the station was renamed Chinatown concurrent with the opening of the Southwest Corridor. There are additional entrance/exit stairs and passages leading to Lagrange Street and Hayward Place that were closed off in 1972, though they are still used as emergency exits. A long sub-passage connecting the inbound and outbound platforms exists, but was sealed off before the station was opened in 1908.