[3] The Boston and Providence Railroad (B&P) was chartered on June 22, 1831, to build a rail line between its two namesake cities.

[5]: 8  (However, there was also an early flag stop at Tollgate where the line crossed the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike adjacent to one of its toll gates.

[8][4]: 29  Commuter traffic on the B&P – which had numbered just 320 daily passengers from the eight stations north of Readville in 1849 – was rapidly expanding.

It was immediately acquired by the Metropolitan Railroad and connected to its existing trackage, providing service from Jamaica Plain to downtown Boston.

[15]: 60  After the former Turnpike (soon renamed Washington Street) became a free public road in 1857, a horsecar line was constructed on it between Tollgate and existing tracks at Dudley Square.

[5]: 11 Between 1891 and 1897, the New Haven Railroad raised its main line from just south of Back Bay to Forest Hills onto a 4-track stone embankment to eliminate dangerous grade crossings.

The Forest Hills viaduct was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted as an important element of the Emerald Necklace.

Designed by Edmund M. Wheelwright, the station was called "the chef-d'œuvre of rapid transit development in Boston".

[19] The New Haven Railroad briefly operated high-frequency local service from Forest Hills to South Station, but it failed to compete with the El and was cut back.

[16] The Forest Hills stop alone was revived in June 1973 for Needham Line service, although by 1976 it was used by less than 50 riders a day, versus 15,000 at the Elevated station.

[18][20] From 1979 to 1987, Forest Hills was completely rebuilt as an intermodal transfer station as part of the Southwest Corridor project.

[18] The Forest Hills viaduct was destroyed with a controlled explosion on November 12, 1983; work on the new station began on June 1, 1984.

[21] The $38 million station, designed by Cambridge Seven Associates, was constructed of brick, steel and glass; it was meant to resemble a greenhouse to fit in with the surrounding parks.

[18] However, service was never restored to Forest Hills due to the MBTA's objection to running streetcars in mixed traffic.

[25] Work performed as part of the Casey Overpass removal, which began in 2015, involved a rebuilt upper busway and a second Orange Line headhouse.

[27] The never-used Green Line loops and waiting area near the north entrance to Forest Hills were demolished.