This location became a transportation center on August 30, 1851, when the Cocheco Railroad was completed from Dover to Alton Bay. The first Mount Washington steamboat was built here in 1872. For forty years, as a railroad terminus, northbound travelers changed to a steamer for the trip up Lake Winnipesaukee. In 1890 the Lake Shore Railroad opened its line from Alton Bay to Lakeport, but it shut down in 1935. On June 17, 1990, the site regained its historic name, Railroad Square, marking the centennial of the Lake Shore Railroad, when seven of the line's ten original stations still stood.