The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is unusual both for straddling the Canada-United States boundary and for combining a library with a theatre. Built between 1901 and 1904 as a gift of the Haskell family of Vermont, it reflects the late Victorian belief in the intellectual and moral benefits of education and the arts. Its Queen Anne Revival style, designed by James Ball, is typical of public libraries of the period. The second-storey opera house follows accepted principles of 19th-century theatre design, and its ornate interior seats 500 people.