Constructed in the late nineteenth century as a significant part of the city water supply system, it was used for its original purpose for only a few decades.

When built, the station was able to move 16 million US gallons (61 Ml) of water with Snyder and Holly pumps, but only for a few years did the network operate as designed.

A new station in the East End opened in 1907 to replace the stations in Eden Park and on Front Street downtown; contamination in the nearby Deer Creek,[2]: 593  which by this time had been converted into a sewer,[3] was severe to the point that the nearby waters of the Ohio River were polluted to an unsafe extent.

[1] By 1889, Hannaford was the city's premier architect: he had designed the grand Music Hall near downtown in the 1870s,[4]: 11  he was favored as a residential architect by the metropolitan area's elites,[4]: 10  and he had produced structures far from the Cincinnati metropolitan area, including the tall Vigo County Courthouse in Terre Haute, Indiana and the smaller Perry County Jail in faraway Pinckneyville, Illinois.

[4]: 12  The Eden Park Station is typical of these, exhibiting features of the Neoclassical, the Queen Anne, and the Romanesque Revival styles.