Magoun Square station is a light rail station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line located at Lowell Street south of Magoun Square in Somerville, Massachusetts.

The Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) opened Taylor's Ledge station at Central Street by the early 1850s.

Construction of Magoun Square station began in early 2020 and was largely completed by late 2021.

[4] The Somerville Community Path crosses under Lowell Street and joins the Medford Branch southeast of the station.

[2] The Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) opened between its namesake cities in 1835; local stops were added after several years.

[28][29] A pair of bridges carrying Lowell Street over the Southern Division mainline and the cutoff were built in 1910.

[33] The Somerville Junction station building was abandoned by the early 1930s, though some Southern Division trains still stopped.

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

[50][51] 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.

These included an extension from Lechmere to Woburn over the Southern Division, again with Somerville Junction as an intermediate stop, though without use of the Fitchburg Cutoff.

[55] The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was formed in 1964 as an expansion of the Metropolitan Transit Authority to subsidize suburban commuter rail service, as well as to construct rapid transit extensions to replace some commuter rail lines.

[56] 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.

[46][58] 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.

[59]: 308 [60] 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 Lowell Street as one of the intermediate stations.

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

[64] That December, the Secretary of Environmental Affairs issued a certificate that required analysis of Lowell Line stations at Tufts University and Gilman Square in the draft environmental impact report (DEIR) for the Green Line Extension (GLX).

[1]: 48 [70] Construction of the Maxwell's Green transit oriented development on a former industrial site next to the planned station began in 2011.

[71] Updated plans shown in June 2011 expanded the street-level entrance plaza and added an emergency exit from the northwest end of the platform.

[73][74] By late 2012, the portion of the Medford Branch from Gilman Square station to College Avenue was expected to be completed by June 2019.

[76][77] 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.

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

[81][82] In May 2016, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and MBTA boards approved a modified project that had undergone value engineering to reduce its cost.