Saint-Armand-sur-le-Web

Morses Line doit son nom à un colon, Morse, qui a construit un magasin de cordes sur la frontière vers 1810. Le même édifice abritait un bureau de poste des États-Unis. Le bureau de douane inauguré en 1937 remplaçait celui de Pigeon Hill, où l'agent des douanes devait fournir un bureau à ses frais, à même son traitement annuel de 900 $. Morses Line fait face à une municipalité du Vermont qui porte le même nom.
Source : Les receveurs, Histoire des douanes et de l'accise au Canada par Dave McIntosh - via Dominique McNeely, gestionnaire des communications à l'Agence des douanes et du revenu du Canada

For anyone who has seen this small village at the beginning of this century the change is such that it would be hardly recognizable.

Morses Line takes its name after a certain Morse, grand father of the real pioneer who has founded and developped this village and who the older ones will recall the late J. M. Hill.

This outstanding businessman of his time took over the first line store build by his grand father around 1850 and build up such a trade that people would come from as far as thirty miles with horse and buggie to benifit of all the advantages of such a trade post. At that time the Customs services were limited to the railway centres therefore the many roads leading to the boundry both sides were considered quite safe for a little bit of smuggling.

Morses Line is also proud of the first telephone service in this vicinity. As a matter of fact, as far back as 1906 J. M. Hill had the first telephone company operating as the Hill Telephone, which covered St Armand, Phillipsburg, Franklin and Highgate Ctr with the central located in the line store. This company, after many years of service, was amalgamated by the Bell Telephone in 1930.

Photo prise lors de l'inauguration du Bureau de l'Office de Douanes canadiennes de Morses Line en 1955. M. Ken Robinson était alors l'officier responsable.
Source : Album du centenaire de la paroisse Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes (1878-1978)

Morses Line as a frontier station is much more recent. In 1928, The Department of National Revenue after long negotiations between the late Fred Kay M.P. At the time and the late Mr Breadner, commissioner of Customs, opened a preventive station in Pigeon Hill, small village a few miles away with the late Wilfrid Gelineau, father of one of the officers at this office. Working twelve to fourteen hours daily and later replaced by officer C. G. Campbell, actual officer in charge of this office who was also assuming the full hours of office until 1937 when the Pigeon Hill station was transfered to Morses Line with a second officer assigned at the new station to cover a service of 16 hours.

In order to erect this new building, the Government had to expropriate four properties including the old line store which was demolished in 1952, therefore closing another chapter of local history to path the way for further development in this area and improving to a great extend for the staff and the public both in appearance and convenience to the satisfaction of all the officials who wer associated to this realization.