Ellis Island

Ellis Island, was the main processing facility for immigrants entering the United States between the years 1892 and 1924 (when the Immigration Act of 1924 greatly restricted immigration in favor of processing at overseas embassies.) It remained open until 1954 primarily as a detention and deportation processing center. In it's time over 12 million immigrants were inspected there by the US Bureau of Immigration.

Sitting at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor, Ellis Island gets it's name from Samuel Ellis, a colonial New Yorker who first owned the property in the late 1700's. The Federal government purchased Ellis Island from New York State in 1808, and with tensions with the British escalating, constructed Fort Gibson there, making the island part of the harbor fortification system.

In the 35 years before Ellis Island started processing immigrants, Castle Garden in the Battery served as the New York State immigration station as approximately eight million immigrants, passed through its doors between the years 1855 and 1890. However, nearing the end of the 19th century, it eventually became apparent that Castle Garden was ill-equipped and unprepared to handle the growing numbers of immigrants arriving yearly. With the fortifications no longer necessary the Federal government constructed a new Federally-operated immigration station on Ellis Island. 1907 was the peak year for immigration at Ellis Island with 1,004,756 immigrants processed.

Ellis Island was sometimes known as "The Island of Tears" or "Heartbreak Island" because of the roughly 2% who were not admitted after the long transatlantic voyage due to reasons such as chronic contagious disease, criminal background or insanity . Those who were approved, generally spent from two to five hours at the facility.

On October 15, 1966, Ellis Island, along with Statue of Liberty, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Ellis Island is reachable by ferry from the southern tip of Manhattan at Battery Park.

The museum audio tour is recommended.

The restaurant at the museum features a wide selection and is reasonably priced.

The Statue of Liberty, is nearby at Liberty Island, which is about 1/2 mile to the south. There is ferry service between the two islands.

Useful Links:

http://www.ellisisland.org

http://www.nps.gov/elis/index.htm