Cost increases triggered a wholesale reevaluation of the GLX project in 2015, and a scaled-down station design was released in 2016.

[4][5] Winter Hill opened as a stop at Gilman Square in Somerville on January 1, 1863, with a station building added soon after.

[7]) The original station building was a long wooden structure north of the tracks just west of Medford Street.

[16] The inner suburban stations lost much of their ridership to streetcars, especially after the Lechmere Viaduct sped travel times to downtown beginning in 1912.

[22] The stone base of the former station was used to house electric equipment until Green Line Extension construction began in 2018.

[9] During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the newly formed MBTA reopened several inner-suburb commuter rail stations in response to community desire for service that was faster if less frequent than buses.

In 1976, Winter Hill station was considered for reactivation, but ridership was expected to be negligible due to the nearby route 80, 88, 90, and 94 buses.

[23] The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) opened Lechmere station in 1922 as a terminal for streetcar service in the Tremont Street subway.

[28][29] In 1945, a preliminary report from the state Coolidge Commission recommended nine suburban rapid transit extensions – most similar to the 1926 plan – along existing railroad lines.

[34] The 1966 Program for Mass Transportation, the MBTA's first long-range plan, listed a short extension from Lechmere to Washington Street as an immediate priority, with a second phase reaching to Mystic Valley Parkway (Route 16) or West Medford.

[26][36] In 1980, the MBTA began a study of the "Green Line Northwest Corridor" (from Haymarket to Medford), with extension past Lechmere one of its three topic areas.

[37]: 308 [38] A 1991 agreement between the state and the Conservation Law Foundation, which settled a lawsuit over auto emissions from the Big Dig, committed to the construction of a "Green Line Extension To Ball Square/Tufts University".

The highest-rated alternatives all included an extension to West Medford with Gilman Square as one of the intermediate stations.

The EENF identified a Green Line extension with Medford and Union Square branches as the preferred alternative.

[45][46][47] The DEIR, released in October 2009, did not recommend the construction of a commuter rail platform at Gilman Square or Tufts University.

[50] Plans presented in February 2012 added a second level to the headhouse, with the footbridge replaced by a direct entrance from the Community Path.

The bike cage was relocated to the southwest side of the tracks, and a traction power substation was added near School Street.

[51][52] A further update in June 2013, with design 60% complete, reduced the size of the Medford Street headhouse and enlarged the Community Path entrance.

[53][54] Design was then paused while Phase 2/2A stations (Lechmere, Union Square, and East Somerville) were prioritized, as they were scheduled to open sooner than the rest of the GLX.

[55] By 2012, the portion of the Medford Branch from Gilman Square station to College Avenue was expected to be completed by June 2019.

[59] At that time, cancellation of the project was considered possible, as were elimination of the Union Square Branch and other cost reduction measures.

[55][76][77][78] Both bridges were subsequently modified to add an additional span behind the existing south abutment to provide space for the southbound Green Line track.

[83][84] The "structurally compromised" Homans Building, a former food distribution facility on the north side of the station site, was demolished to make room for the traction power substation and construction access.

A concrete carving of a lion's head – the logo of grocery merchandiser Monarch Foods, for whom the art deco building was constructed in 1929 – was selected for preservation and display near the new station.