[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 93 (Tuesday, June 2, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S2492]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HASKELL FREE LIBRARY AND OPERA HOUSE

  Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, on June 10, Vermont and Canada will come 
together to celebrate the inauguration of a new entryway on the 
Canadian side of the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, a building 
that straddles the U.S.-Canada border. For 200 years, Derby Line, 
Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec, have functioned as one community. 
Citizens of the United States and Canada--but born in the same 
hospital, colleagues in the same factory, and teammates on the same 
sports teams. They even drink the same water.
  They also shared the same cultural center, the Haskell Free Library 
and Opera House.
  A surveyor's error in 1771 mistakenly mapped the border between 
Quebec and Vermont roughly \3/4\ mile north of the 45th parallel, and 
the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 finalized the physical 
coordinates, cementing the original surveying error in place, somewhat 
arbitrarily dividing properties and roads between the U.S. and Canada.
  For over a century, the Haskell Free Library and Opera House has 
stood as a symbol of lasting goodwill and mutual friendship. Since 
1903, this small but mighty beacon of bi-nationalism has been welcoming 
people in from both sides of the border with nothing more than a strip 
of black tape on the floor to demarcate the international border, 
allowing both Canadian and U.S. citizens to enter the library through 
the U.S. door in Derby Line, VT. Where else can you see a theater 
production in which much of the audience is seated in one country, 
while the performers onstage are in another?
  While it has been a challenging period of shared history that brought 
us to this moment, we celebrate the continuation of the library's 
commitment to continue sharing municipal services and resources such as 
this one, just as Martha Stewart Haskell had originally envisioned. The 
municipalities of Stanstead and Derby Line, located in Quebec and 
Vermont, are committed to community collaboration in all of its forms.
  June 10 will be a celebration of what we here in the Northeast do 
best: embrace community, and embrace collaboration--especially between 
neighbors.
  Thank you to all of the members of this very special bilateral 
community who are working together to help make this happen.

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