Franklin/Dean College

Franklin/Dean College is a commuter rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Franklin Line, located in downtown Franklin, Massachusetts, near Dean College. The station has a mid-sized park and ride lot to serve town residents; Forge Park/495 is intended to serve commuters from other nearby towns. The 1912-built station building still serves as a waiting hall and café, open during morning commute hours on weekdays.HistoryThe Norfolk County Railroad opened through Franklin to Blackstone in spring 1849. The line went through several short-lived holding companies before ending up as part of the New York and New England Railroad, under which service ran to Putnam, Hartford, and Waterbury. The original wooden station was replaced with the present stucco-and-brick depot by the New Haven Railroad in 1912. It was heavily modeled after Needham Junction station, built 6 years before.Two branch lines diverged just south of Franklin. The Milford and Woonsocket Railroad was extended from Bellingham Junction to Franklin in 1882. The line was never particularly successful; passenger service was gone by 1920, though some Franklin trains ran to Boston via the branch and the Charles River Branch Railroad from 1926 to 1938 and in 1940. The NY&NE's Valley Falls branch operated from Franklin to Valley Falls, Rhode Island beginning in 1877. It provided the NY&NE an entrance to Providence to compete with the Boston and Providence Railroad mainline. Always a slower route than the B&P, it was abandoned by the New Haven in 1941.