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12 million immigrants entered the U.S. through Ellis Island
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As the ferry enters the slip at Ellis Island, it dips to the starboard side as hundreds of passengers strain to look at the immigration station they are about to enter. The year is 2004, but the scene could easily be mistaken for a century-old image of immigrants arriving in New York on crowded steamships.
For many New Yorkers, Ellis Island is more of a concept than a physical destination. People who have never visited nonetheless recognize the tall cupolas of its main building marking the island's majesty in New York Harbor, where it is sandwiched between Liberty Island, Battery Park, and Governors Island.
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| Ferries from Battery Park each deliver 800 people |
Ellis Island began as a 3.5-acre land mass that barely rose above the bay's high tides. Originally called "Kioshk," or "Gull Island," by Native Americans, the Dutch branded it "Little Oyster Island" in 1630. In fact, it has held more than half a dozen names, some based on owner, others on purpose. Also in the mix were "Bucking Island," "Dyre Island," and "Gibbets Island." (Gibbets, also known as gallows, were the wooden structures from which criminals were hanged -- the main execution method used on the island in the 18th century for pirates.)
The land became part of the New York settlement in 1691 and was purchased by merchant Samuel Ellis in November 1774, one year before the American Revolution's official start. After only a decade, Ellis tried unsuccessfully to sell the land. When he died in 1794, the city deeded part of the island to the state to fortify harbor defense. The city took control of the entire island in 1808, but, with defense still a concern, sold it to the federal government the same year.
For the next 80 years, Ellis Island was a military base, home to full-scale stronghold Fort Gibson. Though the U.S. government built the fort just before the War of 1812 began, it was never needed to protect the new nation and wound up an ammunition storage facility until the 1880s.
The legend of Ellis Island as most know it today began in 1890, when the House Committee on Immigration -- then using Castle Garden (now called Castle Clinton) to process more than 1,000 new immigrants daily -- chose it as the site of the new Port of New York Immigration Station.
With an investment of $150,000, the island started to grow, literally, as acres of landfill were added from subway tunnels and the Grand Central Terminal excavations. Several wooden buildings were erected, including the main building, whose four-corner rooftop peaks gave Ellis Island a unique identity in the harbor. The land was also home to an electric plant, a small hospital, and a bathhouse, as well as dormitories and offices converted from Fort Gibson's brick structures.
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| The museum welcomes two million visitors annually |
When the station opened its doors on January 1, 1892, building costs had reached $500,000. It was quickly operating at full capacity, with 445,987 immigrants arriving in its first year. However, more stringent immigration laws -- prompted by the 1885 Contract Labor Law, the 1892 cholera scare, and the 1893 financial panic -- reduced that figure to 178,748 by the end of the century.
But the island still had more changes ahead. At midnight on June 14, 1897, the station's Georgia pine buildings caught fire and were almost completely flattened. Though 200 people were on the island that night, not one life was lost.
Nearly three years and $1.5 million later, the immigration station was rebuilt in red brick, limestone, and cast iron, topped with the four bronze cupolas now recognizable from miles away. The island expanded again with landfill brought in from new Brooklyn and Manhattan subway tunnels, and several new buildings were added, including a new hospital facility for isolating immigrants with contagious diseases.
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| Registry room houses original benches from 1905 |
The new station opened on December 17, 1900, with more governmental relief than fanfare, processing 2,251 immigrants that first day alone. They were the first people treated to the splendid architectural details of William Boring and Edward Tilton's design, which featured a grand, central registry room -- decorated with a vaulted ceiling and Guastavino tiles -- and large open windows to capture more air and natural light.
Waves of primarily European immigrants passed through Ellis Island; among them were Bob Hope (from England in 1908), director Frank Capra (from Italy in 1903), songwriter Irving Berlin (from Russia in 1893), and Baron von Trapp and family (from Austria in 1938). Its single busiest day, April 17, 1907, logged more than 11,000 weary travelers.
Welcome to America
After first landing and going through inspection at the Barge Office in Battery Park, immigrants would arrive by ferry at Ellis Island for further examination. They were subject to medical tests and a standard set of questions -- and, should they fail those, to further scrutiny resulting in classification as either acceptable or "undesirable."
Once through the maze of lines, exams, and paperwork, immigrants would reach the "Stairs of Separation," which would lead them to one of three places: New York City, New Jersey train stations, or back to their native countries. Of the more than 12 million who faced that fate, only two percent were turned away, deemed "LPC," or "likely to become a public charge."
The result of the astronomically high number of Ellis Island immigrants has had reverberations nationwide, many quite personal: 40 to 45 percent of all Americans are related to someone who came here through the island.
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| Renovations restored, preserved original structure |
The immigration station closed in 1954. Today, it is a National Historic Monument under the charge of the National Parks Service (NPS), like neighboring Liberty Island, hosting more than two million visitors each year and ranking as the third-largest museum in the city. In the 1980s, it underwent a $156 million renovation that restored part of the space to its 1918 to 1924 appearance and created an extensive national immigration library.
The restoration also preserved and organized countless historical artifacts, both from the building itself and from the millions of immigrants who passed through its doors. Left behind were some of today's museum treasures -- from worn leather shoes to battered luggage to children's toys. The exhibits also draw on the diverse and storied tales of Ellis Island's immigrant visitors, including that of native Irish woman Annie Moore, its very first arrival.
And because most Americans have personal ties and even direct memories of their ancestors' experiences on the island, the NPS has created the Immigration History Center, where visitors can look up family names and access the steamship manifests that logged details about each passenger aboard.
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| A serene, green park surrounds the museum |
For the price of a ferry ticket from Battery Park, visitors can visit both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. On the island, the NPS offers free guided ranger tours, a 45-minute film about the immigrant experience there, and a live performance called "A Taste of Freedom." There's also the option of lunch outdoors in the surrounding park space, which provides stunning views of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty and access to a memorial wall commemorating more than 500,000 people and family names.
In other words, it is easy to spend an entire day on Ellis Island -- and well worth it.
For details about how to get to Ellis Island, and to learn how to volunteer, click here.
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