Haskell Free Library and Opera House

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House (French: Bibliothèque et salle d' opéra Haskell ) is a public library and opera house, which stands on the international boundary in Canada's Stanstead, Province of Québec, and the American Derby Line, Vermont. The building was opened on 7 June 1904 and built in the neoclassical style.

The library and the opera stage located in Stanstead, but the entrance and most opera seats are in Derby Line. For this reason, the house is sometimes called as " the only library in the United States without books " and " the only opera house in the United States without a stage." Due to its location, the house has both a Canadian and an American address. A thick black line that runs under the seats of the Opera House and across the middle of the reading room of the library, marks the state border.

The library has a collection of more than 20,000 books in French and English. It 36 hours a week access for the public. Since 1976, the building is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been declared a historic site of the Canadian province of Quebec.

History

The building was created by the American sawyer Carlos Haskell and his Canadian wife Martha Stewart Haskell for use by people from both countries. The profits from the opera business were destined for the maintenance of the free library.

Later Haskell family dedicated the building the communities Derby Line and Stanstead in memory of the installer. Currently, the House is managed by an international board of four American and three Canadian directors.