FALMOUTH – State and local officials gathered on Thursday to celebrate the completion of the project to renovate and rehabilitate the Falmouth Depot Bus Station.
Work began in November and included structural, maintenance and aesthetic repairs to the historic building.
Work also included repairs to the existing roof, repairing steel beams and replacing the HVAC system.
There was also improvements made to the parking area and adjacent parcel of land.
“Originally built in 1911, this is our South Station, our Grand Central, our Union Station,” said Falmouth Economic Development Industrial Corporation executive director Michael Galasso.
MassDOT Rail and Transit Administrator Astrid Glynn also attended the project ceremony.
The Falmouth Economic Development Corporation has entered into a lease for 99 years with MassDOT to operate and manage the building.
The Falmouth Depot houses the Peter Pan Bus Line, including ticket sales and a newly renovated waiting area.
“This is not only the doorway to Falmouth but it’s a gateway to Cape Cod and folks come from all over the world to Boston and to Providence, Rhode Island and they get on a bus and then they come to Cape Cod and they stop here first,” said Third Barnstable State Representative David Vieira.
The station, which was originally named the Falmouth Railroad Station, began service in 1872 when the Old Colony Railroad inaugurated service on the Woods Hole Branch.
The original station was sold in 1912 to the Swift family, who moved the wood depot across the tracks.
The New Haven Railroad built a replacement brick depot which has remained through today.
Rail service at the facility halted in 1989. Since that time the building was renamed the Falmouth Station and has been used by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority and Peter Pan Bus Lines as a bus depot.
Future improvements planned for the station include a café and historic rail cars.
The majority of the rail lines once used to carry trains to the station has been converted into the Shining Sea Bikeway which extends from Woods Hole to North Falmouth.
By JUSTIN SAUNDERS and MATT PITTA, CapeCod.com Newscenter
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