It was established by the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) as the sole stop on the Wildcat Branch, in the wake of a restructuring brought on by service cuts.

In 1965, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority started funding MBTA Commuter Rail service on the B&M routes, but closed Salem Street in 1967.

On June 14, 1959, the Boston and Maine Railroad introduced a series of service cutbacks, including the abandonment of the north half of the Woburn Loop.

[2] When Haverhill service resumed as part of the MBTA Commuter Rail system in December 1979, it ran on the pre-1959 routing via Reading.

[2] Although several daily Haverhill trains running over the Wildcat Branch were soon added, to be joined by Amtrak Downeaster service beginning in 2001, the Salem Street stop was not reactivated.