The Museum De Cruquius (or Cruquiusmuseum) occupies the old Cruquius steam pumping station in Cruquius, the Netherlands. It derives its name from Nicolaas Kruik (1678–1754), a Dutch land-surveyor and one of many promoters of a plan to pump the Haarlemmermeer (Haarlem lake) dry. Like many well-educated men of his time, he Latinized his name to Nicolaus Samuel Cruquius. During his lifetime the issue of the Haarlem Lake and how to pump it dry was international news, as the following excerpt from the Virginia Gazette on 31 May 1751 illustrates:
Even 50 machines proved too expensive, so it was not until successful experiments with steam pumping stations, such as at nearby Groenendaal park in 1781, that serious plans resulted in three steam-driven pumping stations being established. As a tribute to former planners, the pumping stations of the Haarlemmermeer were named after them: Leeghwater, Lynden and Cruquius.