Historic US-Canada border library opens new Quebec-only entrance
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House, built across the border in 1904, has opened a new entrance on the Canadian side after US security rules barred Canadians from using the historic main entrance in Vermont.
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House, a landmark community institution deliberately built across the Canada–US border in 1904 so neighbours could share books and performances, has opened a new Canada-only entrance. For more than a century, visitors from both countries moved freely through the building, crossing the international border marked by a strip of black tape on the floor.
But tighter US security rules effectively closed the historic shared entrance to Canadian visitors in October 2025, as the Trump administration limited access for individuals entering from Canada, barring them from using the library's original main entrance situated in Vermont on the US side. The new entrance, created from a former emergency exit on the Canadian side, was a costly project funded in part through community fundraising.
Video by Eloise Alanna captures the change. While the library's original purpose of uniting communities remains, it now operates with separate entrances for each country, adapting to evolving border regulations.
