In use until the 1940s, it provided water needed for steam engines at rail facilities elsewhere in Alburgh.

[2] The Rutland Railroad, in a bid to expand service north of Burlington, capitalized on the financial difficulties of the competing Central Vermont Railroad to acquire rights to the railway crossing between Alburgh and Ogdensburg, New York in 1897.

This pumping station was constructed about 1903 to provided water from the lake to the railyards, for use in the railroad's steam-powered locomotives.

During the first half of the 20th century, steam engines were supplanted by more efficient diesel and electric power, and the pumping station was functionally abandoned.

The town acquired the building from the railroad in 1954;[2] its modern water supply plant stands nearby.