Border Tensions Put New Focus on Vermont's Historic Line-Straddling Communities
The international border was supposed to follow 45 degrees north latitude, but surveyors' errors resulted in a boundary that sometimes runs nearly a mile north of where it was supposed to be.
A 200-Year-Old Border Comes Under Scrutiny
The international boundary between Vermont and Quebec has become a flashpoint in 2025, as tensions between the United States and Canada have escalated over tariffs, border security measures, and political rhetoric.
One telling example was an incident in July, when a Quebec fisherman was swamped by a U.S. Coast Guard craft claiming the man had illegally crossed the border.
These contemporary disputes have brought renewed attention to the unique history of how this border was created—and the communities that developed around its imprecise location.
The boundary line’s story begins with surveying errors and political compromises that shaped life along the border for centuries, creating communities like Morses Line where the international boundary was less a barrier than a geographic feature woven into daily life.
When the Line Wandered: Early Border Confusion
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Vermont was admitted to the Union as the fourteenth state on March 4, 1791. Just two days before admission, Congress established the Vermont customs collection district through the Act of March 2, 1791, designating Allburgh (modern-day Alburgh) as the sole customs port of entry and delivery. President George Washington appointed Stephen Keyes as the first collector of customs, who served until January 1797.
But establishing where Vermont ended and British territory began proved more difficult than expected. The international border was supposed to follow 45 degrees north latitude, but the two surveyors charged in 1771 with marking the line from Lake Champlain to the Connecticut River encountered difficulties navigating the rugged territory, according to CBP records. Their errors resulted in a boundary that sometimes runs nearly a mile north of where it was supposed to be.
This imprecise boundary wasn’t permanently resolved until 1842, when the United States and Great Britain signed the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, according to CBP. The uncertainty about the border’s exact location led to an unusual situation: farms and public streets frequently crossed the international line, and many buildings actually straddled both countries—a geographic ambiguity that residents turned into opportunity.
Life on the Line: Border-Straddling Communities
With so much uncertainty about where the border actually ran, residents developed creative solutions. “Line houses” became common along the Vermont-Quebec boundary—buildings that deliberately straddled the international border, allowing Canadians and Americans to intermingle without going through customs and immigration inspection, according to CBP historical records.
During Prohibition, line houses served as popular drinking establishments where Vermonters could avoid customs scrutiny. Other line houses operated as post offices or general stores, with separate doors on either side of the boundary markers for Americans and Canadians.
This tradition of border-straddling institutions continues to this day. The Haskell Free Library and Opera House, built in 1904-1905 between Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec, was intentionally constructed across the international boundary to celebrate cross-border connection. Black tape marks the border across the library floor, running through the children’s reading room and the 500-seat theater above, according to reporting by VTDigger.
Franklin’s Customs Port and the Birth of Morses Line
The village now known as Franklin was originally chartered as Huntsburgh in 1789, then renamed Franklin in 1817, according to CBP. By 1833, customs duties were being collected there, with the 1834 official Register of Officers and Agents listing Jerome J. Beardsley as Deputy Collector and Inspector of Customs in Franklin, earning an annual salary of $300.
Franklin’s customs port was located several miles south of the international border, requiring anyone crossing for business, trade, or personal reasons to travel to Franklin to report to U.S. Customs officers. This inconvenient arrangement was typical along the Vermont border before the 1930s and contributed to widespread avoidance of customs reporting, establishment of unofficial crossing points, and smuggling—particularly of alcoholic beverages during Prohibition, according to CBP historical accounts.
Franklin County’s economy centered on dairy farming and maple syrup production. Because transporting perishable dairy products was difficult, local farmers found it easier and more profitable to trade milk, butter, and cheese with nearby Montreal rather than ship them to distant markets like Boston.
In the late 19th century, J. Morse built a general store straddling the international boundary at border marker No. 621, according to CBP records. An 1871 atlas map shows “J. Morse store” located directly on the border, with roads leading to it from both Franklin and the Quebec side. By 1895, the location was identified on maps as “Morses Line.”
After the first store burned down, Morse rebuilt it. The store later came under the ownership of James “Jimmy” Monroe Hill, Jr., who married Mary Fuller from a local farming family and purchased J. Morse’s line store. Hill built a farmhouse on the U.S. side for his wife and a large stable on the Quebec side for his horses. When fire destroyed the store a second time, Hill rebuilt it even larger, according to CBP.
The store’s unique feature was its location across the international boundary. Canadians and Vermonters could enter through separate doors on either side of the border marker, shop throughout the store, and leave with their purchases without going through customs or immigration inspections. At various times, the building housed both the Morses Line post office and the Franklin telegraph office.
A small hamlet developed on both sides of the border, including several farmhouses, a blacksmith, a wheelwright, an apiary, and during Prohibition, the Bucket-of-Blood bar—which also straddled the line, according to CBP. Residents lived in homes that crossed the boundary, creating a truly international neighborhood.
Customs Moves to the Border
In 1913, the U.S. Customs Service underwent reorganization, according to CBP historical records. Franklin ceased to be a port of delivery, and Morses Line was designated as the port of entry in the Western Vermont customs collection district, with Burlington serving as the headquarters. However, the actual customhouse remained in Franklin until 1935, moving between various Main Street locations and even temporarily operating from the lower level of the Haston Library.
In the 1930s, the Treasury Department undertook a concerted effort to build border inspection stations at or near the international boundary. When funds became available in 1935, the federal government purchased less than an acre on the west side of Morses Line Road to construct a border station, according to CBP. The site wasn’t placed directly at the boundary because the Morses Line general store and hamlet buildings were still standing there.
Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, designed new federal border stations built during the 1930s using the Colonial Revival style popular at the time. The Morses Line building was the smallest of all stations constructed during this period, uniquely incorporating family living quarters for customs and immigration officers along with a small 150-square-foot joint-use office. The brick station with its slate roof, plus a freestanding garage, was completed in 1935 for $11,410, according to CBP.
Jimmy Hill sold the Morses Line store to Charles Bibeau in 1922, bought it back in 1934, and managed it until his death in January 1935. In 1952, the Canadian government decided to relocate their border station closer to the boundary. They purchased the store and Hill’s farmhouse complex and demolished all the buildings, ending the era of the line-straddling commercial hamlet, according to CBP records.
2025: Historic Border Friendships Under Strain
The traditionally porous and friendly Vermont-Quebec border has faced unprecedented tensions in 2025 amid disputes over tariffs, border security, and political rhetoric. These contemporary conflicts have put a spotlight on the historic institutions that embody cross-border cooperation—and raised questions about their future.
In March 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced restrictions on Canadian access to the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, the iconic border-straddling building in Derby Line, according to VTDigger. Beginning October 1, 2025, Canadian visitors would be required to present themselves at a port of entry to access the library from the United States, ending more than 120 years of Canadians being able to walk across the border via a sidewalk to reach the library’s front door.
In late January 2025, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem visited the Haskell Library and, according to library staff interviewed by the Boston Globe, stood on the Canadian side of the border tape and repeatedly referred to Canada as “the 51st state”—echoing political rhetoric that has angered Canadians.
Local officials from both sides of the border condemned the library access restrictions. Stanstead Mayor Jody Stone noted that for more than 100 years, an unwritten agreement had allowed Canadians to access the library freely, according to Al Jazeera. U.S. Senator Peter Welch of Vermont called the move troubling, stating that Vermont loves Canada and that the library celebrates a partnership between the two nations, according to his office.
The economic impact has been significant. Border crossings from Canada into the U.S. dropped 17 percent in February 2025 compared with the same month in 2024, with Canadians expressing anger over tariffs and political statements, according to Seven Days. Vermont business owners have reported sharp declines in Canadian customers, with some restaurants and ski resorts seeing dramatic drops in visitors from Quebec.
In August 2025, hundreds of people gathered at a Quebec-Vermont border crossing to form a human chain in solidarity, demonstrating against the mounting political tensions, according to Yahoo News.
The tensions have been particularly difficult for border communities with deep family and cultural ties. Many Vermonters have French-Canadian heritage, and the relationship between Vermont and Quebec communities has historically been characterized by frequent border crossings for shopping, dining, recreation, and visiting family, according to WBUR reporting.
The Broader Context: A Border Created by Error
Today’s border disputes bring new relevance to the historic survey errors that created Vermont’s wandering boundary line. The 1771 surveying mistakes resulted in a border that doesn’t follow the intended 45th parallel—sometimes running nearly a mile north of where it should be, according to CBP historical records. This imprecision created the conditions for border-straddling communities like Morses Line and Derby Line to develop in the first place.
These communities weren’t accidents of geography; they were practical solutions to an imprecise boundary. Residents on both sides recognized that rigid enforcement of an arbitrary line made little sense when farms, streets, and daily life naturally crossed back and forth. For generations, the border was something to be lived with and worked around, not a barrier to be heavily policed.
The line houses, cross-border stores, and institutions like the Haskell Library embodied a regional identity that transcended national boundaries. This pragmatic approach to border life reflected both the surveying errors that created confusion about where the line actually was, and the shared culture and economic ties that made the boundary less important than the community connections it bisected.
What Happens Next
The Morses Line border crossing continues to operate as an official port of entry between the United States and Canada. The historic 1935 brick border station, along with the Rainville family farm buildings and one remaining farmhouse, have been declared eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, according to CBP.
Despite the current tensions, leaders on both sides of the border have emphasized their commitment to maintaining cross-border relationships. Representatives from Vermont and Stanstead communities have held meetings to affirm their historically close friendship, according to reporting by VTDigger.
Some border residents express hope that the deep ties between communities will endure beyond current political disputes, noting that relationships across the border involve family connections and generations of shared history, according to WBUR.
The future of border-straddling institutions like the Haskell Library remains uncertain. The library has launched fundraising efforts to build a second entrance on the Canadian side, with estimated costs around $100,000, which would allow it to continue serving both communities under the new access restrictions, according to Al Jazeera.
The story of Morses Line—from its origins as a border-straddling commercial hamlet to its present as a quiet crossing point—reflects broader questions about how communities along the Vermont-Quebec border will navigate contemporary political tensions while preserving the cross-border connections that have defined regional life for more than two centuries. The surveying errors of 1771 created a wandering boundary line; the challenge now is whether the communities that adapted to that imprecise border can maintain their historic relationships in an era of heightened border control.