Historic cross-border library opens new Canadian entrance

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House has officially opened a new entrance on the Canadian side, giving visitors in Stanstead, Que., a way to enter without going through a U.S. border checkpoint. The door was inaugurated at a ceremony on Wednesday. The project was completed after U.S. authorities ended a longstanding arrangement that had allowed Canadians to access the building from the American side without a passport or customs screening. Library officials said the new access point, along with a sidewalk, parking area and wheelchairaccessible features, cost about $700,000. The building, which sits directly on the CanadaU.S. border with part of it in Derby Line, Vt., was designed more than a century ago as a shared space for people in both countries.