The Boston and Providence Railroad (BPRR) was incorporated on 21 June 1831, less than one year after the opening of the Baltimore and Ohio (the first American railroad chartered specifically for public use), The line's first board of directors included Thomas B. Wales, P. T. Jackson, Joseph W. Revere, William W. Woolsey, and John F. Loring. The BPRR was chartered to carry passengers and freight between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island. Construction began in late 1832; the first section, from Boston to Canton, Massachusetts (with a branch line to Dedham) opened in 1834. The track to Providence opened on 28 July 1835 with the completion of the Canton viaduct, the longest railroad viaduct in the world at the time. The original Boston terminal was at Park Square; the Providence terminal was at Fox Point. An 11.5 mile branch to Taunton, the seat of Bristol County, Massachusetts, opened in 1836. This was extended to New Bedford in 1840, as the New Bedford and Taunton. In 1847 the Boston and Providence built a connection west from its main line in Attleboro to Central Falls, and the newly opened Providence and Worcester Railroad.

In 1888 the B and P was leased by the Old Colony Railroad. Five years later this lease was assumed by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which used the B and P as part of its main line from Boston to New York City.