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. In addition, the library has two different phone numbers (+1-802-873-3022 and +1-819-876-2471) in its two respective countries.

OverviewEdit

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

There is an entrance on the Canadian side of the building, which was used as an emergency exit prior to 2025.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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 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>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Lofaro">Template:Cite news</ref>

LibraryEdit

The library, located on the first floor, has a collection of more than 20,000 books in French and English and is open to the public 38 hours a week. French and English books are co-filed. Because of different language conventions in the direction of printing titles on spines—English books have titles written top-to-bottom, and French books bottom-to-top—the language of a book can be immediately determined.

A thick black line runs diagonally across the center of the library's reading room to mark the Canada–United States border.<ref name="clui">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Opera houseEdit

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 scenes 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 opera house 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.

HistoryEdit

File:HaskellLibraryBorderLine.jpg

The international boundary is marked as a black line on the floor of the reading 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.

File:The Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Derby Line, Vermont and Stanstead, Quebec.jpg

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 stones.

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 border. Construction began in 1901; the Opera House opened in 1904 and the Library in 1905.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Haskell family later donated the building to the towns of Derby Line and Rock Island in Haskell's memory; it is run by a private international 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>

Following 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 take place at the library.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Officially, family reunions and cross-border visits are no longer allowed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Library staff imposed other security restrictions and gave U.S. and Canadian officials advance notice of large gatherings.<ref name=nyt-2025-05-30/>

In January 2018, a man from Montreal pleaded guilty to charges related to the smuggling of handguns from Vermont into Quebec in 2010 and 2011. He and accomplices had illegally brought handguns, which had been purchased in the United States, into Canada via a scheme that involved hiding the handguns in the bathroom of the library.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

The library was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and did not fully reopen until spring 2022.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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, unless they first passed through customs.<ref name="Tabachnick r007" /><ref name="Overland z113">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Until then, the only Canadians who could access the library via the main entrance were library card holders and staff.<ref name="Lofaro" /><ref name=nyt-2025-05-30/><ref name="Shingler Watts 2025">Template:Cite news</ref> U.S. officials cited security concerns as a reason for the change, though library trustees claimed that there had been very few security issues<ref name="Overland z113" /> and that they could not recall any instances of drug smuggling.<ref name="Tabachnick r007" /> In response, the library announced plans to renovate an entrance on the Canadian side,<ref name="Tabachnick r007" /><ref name="Shingler Watts 2025" /> and an emergency door was reopened so non-member Canadians could visit the library.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=nyt-2025-05-30/> The library also launched a fundraiser for a permanent, accessible entrance on the Canadian side, with author Louise Penny making a major donation;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the library initially planned to raise CA$100,000 but was able to raise CA$170,000 within a week.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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Template:NRHP in Orleans County, Vermont Template:NHSC Template:Authority control