It is oriented roughly north-south, with its east facade originally facing the railroad tracks, an area now overlaid by parking for the building.

The arrival of the Norwich and Worcester Railroad in 1840 spurred the development of downtown Putnam as an economic center, which was accelerated by the construction of additional rail lines in the following decades.

One of its earliest stations to serve all of these lines, operated jointly by the Norwich and Worcester and the New York and New England Railroad, was located nearer Front Street.

The station was used for passenger service until April 30, 1971, when Penn Central dropped the sole round trip from New London to Worcester since it was not included in the initial Amtrak system.

[2] Service from Hartford to Boston via Putnam on the former NY&NE ended in 1955 when the Flood of 1955 washed out the bridge just south of downtown.