[1] Border Stations are associated with four important events in United States history: the imposition of Prohibition between 1919 and 1933; enactment of the Elliott-Fernald Public Buildings Act in 1926 which was followed closely by the Great Depression; and the growth of the automobile whose price was increasingly affordable thanks to Henry Ford's creation of the industrial assembly line.

The stations were constructed as part of the government's program to improve its public buildings and to control casual smuggling of alcohol which most often took place in cars crossing the border.

[3] The building was designed by the Office of the Supervising Architect under James A. Wetmore, during the tenure of Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon, and constructed from 1931 to 1932.

Trout River shares with the others a residential scale, a Neo-colonial style, and an organization to accommodate functions of both customs and immigration services.

[3] The era of Prohibition begun in 1919 with the Volstead Act and extended nationwide by the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920, resulted in massive bootlegging along the Canada–US border.

In many cases New York Custom Houses were a mile or so south of the border and travelers were expected to stop in and report their purchases.

[3] Trout River was west of the so-called Rum Trail which made Route 9 the chief path of entry for bootlegged liquor in upstate New York.

[3] The station is associated with three events which converged to make a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history: Prohibition, the Public Buildings Act of 1926 and the mass-production of automobiles.

This station at Trout River is an excellent example of the choice of the Georgian Revival style which was considered appropriate for the upstate New York region.

[3] The Trout River Border Inspection Station in located on the north east corner of the intersection of New York State Route 30 and the Westville Road in a small cluster of buildings which date c.1850 to 1900.

From the north, pavement markings and signage divert cars to the station's three lane inspection bays via an oval, concrete drive.

The east facing building is set on a flat, grass covered lot, 57,270 square feet in area, flanked by two mature hemlock trees which appear to be over fifty years old.

The center block is five bays wide with five clapboard-sided, front gable dormers placed on the slate-covered gambrel roof on both east and west elevations.

On the south wing, the inspection shed, one bay has been converted to a handicapped bathroom which is entered beneath a small wooden hood.

The flat-roofed inspection canopy which extends to the east in three lanes is topped by a wrought iron railing on three sides and supported by a combination of five original paneled wooden piers and seven replacement metal columns.

[3] On the interior of the main block the first floor is divided into a public vestibule and office space by two L-shaped, panelled counters.