Longwood station is a light rail station on the MBTA Green Line D branch, located on Chapel Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, on the border with Boston, just north of Longwood Avenue. It serves the western half of the Longwood Medical Area, the Colleges of the Fenway, and residential areas of Brookline. The station opened with the rest of the line on July 4, 1959. After renovation work completed in 2009, Longwood station is accessible from both Chapel Street and Riverway Park. History Original stations The Boston and Worcester Railroad opened a branch from Brookline Junction to Brookline on April 10, 1848. There was one intermediate station on the branch – Longwood just south of Longwood Avenue. The Charles River Branch Railroad extended the Brookline branch to Newton Upper Falls in November 1852 and to Needham in June 1853, keeping the original B&W station for its service. The Sears Chapel was built in 1861 and the Church of Our Savior in 1868; sometime that decade Chapel station was opened as a flag stop located at Carlton Street. The Boston and Albany Railroad bought back the line, then part of the New York and New England Railroad, in February 1883. It was double-tracked and extended to the B&A main at Riverside; "Newton Circuit" service via the Highland branch and the main line began on May 16, 1886. Station consolidation As part of a general improvement program, the railroad replaced many of its original wooden stations with new stone buildings designed by H.H. Richardson and Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge and landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted. All stations on the Highland branch save for Longwood, Chapel, and Brookline were thus rebuilt between 1883 and 1894. In April 1892, the B&A petitioned the Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners to allow them to combine the two old stations into a single new station between their location. The railroad cited the closeness of the two stations, their poor locations, and traffic losses due to the electrified trolley line opened on nearby Beacon Street in 1889. The board referenced the railroad's arguments, the assent of the Brookline selectmen, and an overwhelming majority of residents and passengers in favor of the consolidation when giving their assent. In early 1893, the B&A commissioned Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge to build new stations at Longwood and Riverside. The new Longwood station was a "very simple rectangular design" with a dominant stone roof