A Library and Opera House Bridging Two Nations Faces New Border Restrictions

At the turn of the 20th century, a wealthy widow with ties to both Canada and the United States commissioned the construction of an elegant building crafted from gray granite and adorned with stained glass. Inside, the library’s reading rooms were furnished with the finest wood, while cherubs decorated the opera house’s proscenium arch.

Her distinctive and symbolic request was that the structure be positioned precisely on the international border between the two countries. Within the building, a black line on the hardwood floors marks the dividing line—not as a barrier, but as a testament to the enduring friendship between the neighbors.

However, recent political tensions have cast a shadow over this emblem of binational unity. At one point, discussions emerged about potentially annexing the northern neighbor, with a representative from the south stepping over the border line inside the building, symbolically declaring ‘51st state.’

Such rhetoric, combined with tariffs and strained diplomatic relations, has sparked uncertainty among Canadians and disrupted the intertwined lives of border communities long accustomed to seamless cross-border interactions.

Nowhere does this dynamic resonate more deeply than in the quiet region where southern Quebec meets northern Vermont. Since its opening in 1904, the Haskell Free Library and Opera House has stood astride the border, a creation of Martha Stewart Haskell, the widow who envisioned a space accessible equally to residents of both countries.