The Annapolis Water Company was chartered in 1865 by the Maryland General Assembly after a fire at the State House in 1863. Its waterworks began operation in 1866 and were designed by noted civil engineer William Rich Hutton, who had recently completed the Washington Aqueduct. Innovative concrete pipes carried water to Annapolis. The property includes a late 19th century engineer's residence, two settling basins, a reservoir and dam, and a 1907 pump house by Baltimore architects Baldwin & Pennington.