The station owed its existence to rivalry between the first railway companies in Preston.

This site, which was behind the Victoria Hotel in Fishergate and was then occupied by Maxwell House, was near the planned southern end of the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway (L&PJR).

[1] On 1 January 1844, the NUR bought the B&PR, thus gaining possession of the station at Maxwell House which the L&PJR was then banned from using.

The station at Maxwell House was used only for occasional excursion trains for several months afterwards.

[1] This article on a railway station in North West England is a stub.