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Home / About CBP / History / Did You Know…? / Did You Know... How the Border Crossing at Morses Line, Vt., Got Its Name? /

Photo Gallery: Morses Line, Vt.

Vintage postcard - franked in 1909 - shows the U.S. Custom House on Main Street in Franklin, Vt., with Customs Deputy Collector and Inspector Adolphus Dewing Whitney and the U.S. Customs Service flag displayed.

View of the U.S. Custom House (at left) on Main Street in Franklin, Vermont, with Customs flag flying and Deputy Collector & Inspector Adolphus Dewing Whitney standing on the town scale. Mr. Whitney and his family lived in the house standing next to the general store on the right. Vintage postcard photo franked in 1909.

The second J. Morse line store when under the proprietorship of J.M. Hill, Jr. The store, which gave the hamlet the name Morses Line, straddled the international boundary. Boundary marker no. 621 is positioned in-between the two sets of steps, while the store sign overhead indicates the quot;Canadaquot; side and quot;U. S. A.quot; side of the building. This postcard view is from quot;A History of Franklin, 1789-1989,quot; p.108 (photograph provided by Wilfred Rainville, of Morses Line.)

1940's photograph of the U.S. border inspection station at Morses Line, Vt. The border station was built in 1935 on the west side of Morses Line Road (State Route 235.) A small office for the Customs and Immigration inspectors stationed at the port is accessed from door opening off the canopied driveway. Residential quarters for the officers and their families consisted of living rooms and kitchens at the rear of the first floor, which were accessed by enclosed private entrances on both sides of the building; bedrooms and bathrooms were located on the second floor An identical size border inspection station was constructed in Alburgh Springs, Vt. in 1937, and it too is still in operation today.

Morses Line today – looking from the U.S. border inspection station northward on Morses Line Road (Vt. Route 235.) The one-story white building on the right side of the road with blue sign on the roof is the Morses Line, Province Québec border inspection station, constructed in 1952. The farm complex on the near right side of Morses Line Road, the border station, and the Rainville farm survive. There is little else left of the once thriving hamlet of Morses Line – except the name.

Cropped view of Franklin County, Vt. map in 1871, showing location of quot;store J. Morsequot; on the Vermont/Quebec international border and the relationship of the line store to the town of Franklin. Credit: F.W. Beers & Co. Atlas of Franklin and Grand Isle Counties, Vermont, 1871. New York, N.Y.

Cropped view of map of Vermont in 1895, showing the location of quot;Morses Linequot; on the Vermont/Quebec international border, and the relationship of the hamlet to the town of Franklin. Rand McNally & Co. Atlas of the World (Vermont), 1895

A view of the Morses Line Hamlet

The establishment of a port of entry in Derby Line, Vt., is the result of the relocation of the Customs officer from the town of Derby northward to the international border – quite similar to the movement of the port of entry from the town of Franklin to Morses Line. In this postcard photo, Customs Inspector Ray Phelps (right) stands on the U.S. side of the boundary marker and his Canadian counterpart stands on the Rock Island, P.Q. side. In the background is the famous Haskell Free Library and Opera House that was specifically built straddling the line in order to promote cross-border friendship and community between the Vermonters and Quebecers.

Beebe Plain, Vt. and Beebe Plain, Que. are unique in that the international border runs down the center of Canusa St. separating American residents on the south side of the street from their Canadian neighbors across the street on the north side. In the above postcard photo, the American and Canadian postmasters stand outside their respective post offices. The boundary marker stands to the right of the center steps leading to the U.S. post office – a similar situation found in the Morses Line store, where the marker was in the center of the two sets of entry steps.

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Photo Gallery: Morses Line, Vt.


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	Did You Know... How the Border Crossing at Morses Line, Vt., Got Its Name?



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