Center Pumping Station

Framingham, MA, 1966

As one of 43 sewer pumping stations in the city, this small yellow brick building off of Route 9 plays an important role in keeping Framingham healthy and clean. At these sites throughout the city sewage is collected and actively pumped to higher ground so it can flow by gravity to the Commonwealth’s sewage system which will take the wastewater all the way out to the Deer Island Treatment Facility in Boston Harbor.

Because of its purely utilitarian program, the building’s design is notably reserved. Still the roman yellow brick and a slight tilt of the roof combined with the all caps Futura signage give this stalwart building a uniquely modern feel. 

Unfortunately its days are numbered. In 2023, the city began installing a temporary pump station in preparation for the demolition and replacement of the Center Pumping Station by 2025. The need for this replacement was made clear when earlier this year a pipe flowing out of the station burst, sending over 600,000 gallons of raw sewage into the nearby Sudbury River. The acidic water of its wetland setting had eaten through the mid century iron piping.