The pride of Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont, the Haskell Free Library and Opera House was constructed deliberately astride the boundary line separating Canada from the United States. This remarkable institution has attracted visitors from around the world. The subject of an ongoing fascination on the part of the media, the Haskell has been featured on network news around the world and in publications such as Life Magazine, Canadian Geographic, the New York Times, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and countless others. The Haskell has been classified a historic site by the governments of Canada, the United States, and the Province of Quebec.
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House was the gift of Martha Stewart Haskell and her son, Colonel Horace Stewart Haskell. It was dedicated to Mrs. Haskell’s late husband, Carlos, a prominent merchant. The family’s aim was to provide the border communities with a centre for learning and cultural enrichment. The opera house, located on the second floor of the building, also had a practical purpose. According to the original charter, dated 1908, it was to be “forever managed and used for the support and maintenance” of the library, located downstairs.The Haskell was long said to be a scale replica of the Boston Opera House. This, however, has proven to be quite untrue. The building is, in fact, unique. Nowhere else in the world can one sit in an opera house that is literally split in two by an international border, where most of the audience sits in the U.S. to watch a show on a stage in Canada. Nowhere else can one find such an unusual library. The front door is in the U.S., the circulation desk and all of the books are in Canada, and the reading room is international.
