U.S. Route 11, which connects to the crossing, was among only a few paved roads at that time, and the US Customs office was not located at the border as it is today.

Those involved in smuggling rarely reported, so the United States Customs Service moved to construct a border station.

[4] The Border station has a five-part plan with a two-story central block which faces east, and two single-story wings on the north and south.

There is a three-lane canopy extending from the central block on the east, and cars coming across the border from Canada are directed into the inspection lanes via an oval, asphalt-covered drive.

As with most of the other stations, there are symmetrically placed spruce trees over thirty years old at each side of the building, with hedges filling in for a border effect.

[4] The red brick central block is two stories in height beneath a slate-covered, truncated hipped roof.

Perpendicular to the south wing and extending to the west is a single-story garage ell, eight arched vehicle bays long.

[4] The unaltered, three-lane canopy has a flat, copper-covered roof bordered by a wrought iron railing and is supported on wood-paneled piers.

Georgian Revival in style, the building was designed by the Office of the Supervising Architect under James A. Wetmore, during tenure of the Secretary of the Treasury, William H. Woodin, and constructed in 1931.

The Rouses Point facility shares with the others a residential scale, a Neo-colonial style, and an organization to accommodate functions of both customs and immigration services.

[4] Border stations are associated with four important events in United States history: the imposition of Prohibition between 1919 and 1933; enactment of the Elliott-Fernald public buildings act in 1926 which was followed closely by the Depression; and the growth 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.

[4] The era of Prohibition begun in 1919 with the Volstead Act and extended nationwide by the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920, resulted in massive bootlegging along the Canada–US border.

In many cases, New York Custom Houses were a mile or so south of the border and travelers were expected to stop in and report their purchases.

Bootlegging alcohol along St. John's Highway from Rouses Point to Plattsburgh was so active that the road came to be known as the Rum Trail and ran right in front of the old Custom House in the town center over a mile away from the border.

Control of Rouses Point was understood to be critical, so it received two border inspection stations; one here and a second at Overtons Corner where the only paved road from Canada passed.

[4] The station is associated with three events which converged to make a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history: Prohibition, the Public Buildings Act of 1926 and the mass-production of automobiles.

Once provided with an adequate number of automobiles to meet their adversaries on equal footing, their enforcement success improved.

Simon was unwavering in his defense of what he considered a "conservative-progressive" approach to design in which he saw "art, beauty, symmetry, harmony and rhythm".