Haskell Free Library and Opera House

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox historic site The Haskell Free Library and Opera House (Template:Langx) is a Victorian building that straddles the Canada–United States border, in Rock Island (now part of Stanstead), Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont, respectively. The Opera House opened on June 7, 1904, having deliberately been built on the international border. It was declared a heritage building by both countries in the 1970s and 1980s.

The library has two different addresses and postal codes: 93 Caswell Avenue, Derby Line, Vermont, 05830 and 1 rue Church (Church Street), Stanstead, Quebec, J0B 3E2.

Overview

The building was designed by architect James Ball in the Queen Anne Revival style. The first floor houses the book collection and reading rooms and a 500-seat theater occupies the second and third floors.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The library collection and the theater stage are located in Stanstead, but the main entrance and most theater seats are located in Derby Line. Because of this, the Haskell is sometimes called "the only opera house in the U.S.A. with no stage.”

There is now an entrance on the Canadian side of the building, which was originally used as an emergency exit prior to 2025.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="nyt-2025-05-30">Template:Cite news</ref> Until 2025, patrons from Canada were permitted to enter the United States door without needing to report to US Customs by using a prescribed route through the sidewalk of rue Church (Church Street), provided that they return to Canada immediately upon leaving the building using the same route.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> United States officials restricted most Canadians from entering via the main entrance in March 2025, except for Canadian patrons with a library card.<ref name="Tabachnick r007">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Lofaro">Template:Cite news</ref>

Library

The library, located on the first floor, has a collection of more than 20,000 books in English and French and is open to the public five days a week. French and English books are organized separately. Because of different language conventions in the direction of printing titles on spines: English books have titles written top-to-bottom, and most French books bottom-to-top.

A thick black-tape line runs diagonally across the center of the library to mark the Canada–United States border.<ref name="clui">Template:Cite web</ref>

Opera house

The opera house on the second floor was rumored to be modeled after the old Boston Opera House in a somewhat scaled down fashion (it seats four hundred), but the Boston Opera house was built afterwards. A painted scene of Venice on the drop curtain and four other backdrops by Erwin Lamoss (1901) and plaster scrollwork complete with plump cherubs built in Boston ornament the opera hall and balcony in this historic building, which was constructed with Template:Convert walls built of granite from Stanstead.

A thick black line runs beneath the seats of the theater to mark the Canada–United States border.<ref name="clui" /> The stage and half of the seats are in Canada; the remainder of the opera hall is in the United States.

History

The international boundary is marked as a black-tape line on the floor of what is now used as the children’s room of the Haskell Library. In this picture, Canada is on the right side of the line and the United States is on the left.

Canada is on the left side of the line and the United States is on the right. In this picture taken in 2018 the international boundary is marked outside by granite blocks and boulders.

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House was a gift from Martha Stewart Haskell and her son Horace "Stewart" Haskell. It was built in memory of her parents Catherine and Horace Stewart and her husband Carlos Freeman Haskell. The Haskells wanted Canadians and Americans to have equal access to the Library and Opera House, and so they chose to build on the (then open) border. Construction began in 1901; the Opera House opened in 1904 and the Library in 1905.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Haskell family later donated the building to the towns of Derby Line and Rock Island (now Stanstead) in Haskell's memory; it is run by a private board of four American and three Canadian directors.

The building is recognized as a historic site in both countries. In the United States, it has been registered in the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. In Canada, it has been a provincial heritage site since 1977 and was designated a National Historic Site in 1985.<ref>Template:CRHP</ref>

After the Trump travel ban in January 2017, the library served as a site for international reunions, as it is partly in Canada and partly in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The play A Distinct Society by Kareem Fahmy is based on the family reunions that used to take place at the library.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The entrances are now monitored by both government border agencies, and family reunions and cross-border visits are no longer allowed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> Library staff have imposed other security measures and give U.S. and Canadian officials advance notice of large gatherings.<ref name=nyt-2025-05-30/>

In March 2025, at the start of the second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States government announced its intent to restrict Canadians from using the main entrance starting October 1, 2025, unless they first passed through US Customs.<ref name="Tabachnick r007" /><ref name="Overland z113">Template:Cite web</ref> Until then, the only Canadians who could access the library via the main entrance were library membership cardholders and staff.<ref name="Lofaro" /><ref name=nyt-2025-05-30/><ref name="Shingler Watts 2025">Template:Cite news</ref> US officials cited security concerns as a reason for the change, though there had been very few security or smuggling issues.<ref name="Overland z113" /><ref name="Tabachnick r007" /> In response, the Haskell announced plans to create an entrance on the Canadian side,<ref name="Tabachnick r007" /><ref name="Shingler Watts 2025" /> and an emergency door was opened to the public so visiting non-members could access the library.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=nyt-2025-05-30/> The Haskell also launched a fundraiser for a permanent, accessible entrance on the Canadian side, with author Louise Penny making a major donation;<ref name="Rowe">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the library initially planned to raise CA$100,000 but was able to raise CA$170,000 within a week.<ref name="Rowe"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Line house, a building that straddles an international boundary.
• Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog, two communities with a complicated borderline between The Netherlands and Belgium.
• Collins–Valentine line, the boundary between Quebec and the states of Vermont and New York, surveyed in the early 1770s.
• Estcourt Station, Maine (population 4) and Pohénégamook, Quebec
• La Cure, a village divided between Switzerland and France; Hotel Arbez is bisected by the boundary, as are at least two residences and a pub.
• Paul VI Audience Hall, located partially in the Vatican City, but mostly in Rome, Italy: the Italian part of the building is treated as an extraterritorial area of the Holy See and is used by the Pope as an alternative to Saint Peter's Square when conducting his Wednesday morning General Audience.
• List of historic places in Estrie
• List of National Historic Sites of Canada in Quebec
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Orleans County, Vermont
• Transnational marriage

External links

• Template:Wikinews inline
• Template:Official website
  • Visiting procedures on its official web site