Location: 19 St Johns Hwy, Rouses Point, NY 12979
The Rouses Point-St. Johns Highway Border Inspection Station in Rouses Point, New York is one of seven existing border inspection stations built between 1931 and 1934 along the New York and Canadian border. It is also one of two stations in Rouses Point. Georgian Revival in style, the building was designed by the Office of the Acting Supervising Architect of the Treasury, James A. Wetmore, during tenure of the Secretary of the Treasury, William H. Woodin, and constructed in 1933. By the time of its completion, Louis A. Simon had become Supervising Architect. Border stations were constructed by the federal government in both New York and Vermont during the 1930s and several common plans and elevations can be discerned among the remaining nineteen stations. Rouses Point-St. Johns shares with the others a residential scale, a Neo-colonial style, and an organization to accommodate functions of both customs and immigration services.
Border Stations are associated with four important events in United States history: the imposition of Prohibition between 1919 and 1933; enactment of the Elliot-Fernald public buildings act in 1926 which was followed closely by the Depression; and the popularity of the automobile whose price was increasingly affordable thanks to Henry Ford’s creation of the industrial assembly line. The stations were constructed as part of the government’s program to improve its public buildings and to control casual smuggling of alcohol which most often took place in cars crossing the border. Their construction was also seen as a means of giving work to the many locally unemployed.
The Rouses Point-St. Johns border station is the most elaborate of the New York stations and is among the best preserved. While the buildings have all sustained systematic alterations, they have retained, in varying degrees, most of their original fabric. This station is on both exterior and interior a fine example of the building type, its character defining features well-maintained and intact.
Facts
- Architect: James A. Wetmore
- Construction Dates: 1931
- GSA Building Number: NY0197ZZ
- Landmark Status: Listed in the National Register of Historic Places
U.S. General Services Administration
