A History Of Ellis Island

A History Of Ellis Island

A History Of Ellis Island

Ellis Island in New York Harbor was once the main immigration station for people entering the United States. About a third of Americans can trace their ancestry to this entry point. Today Ellis Island is a museum accessible by ferryboat.

The island is named for Samuel Ellis, a wealthy colonial landholder. He once owned the land and used it as a picnic area.

The U.S. War Department purchased the island for $10,000 in 1808. They built defenses there in the buildup to the War of 1812. Fort Gibson was erected to house prisoners of that conflict. Fifty years later during the Civil War, the Union army used the fort as a munitions arsenal. When the Civil War ended, Ellis Island was abandoned for twenty-five years. Then, in 1890, the government wanted a new immigration processing center. (This would replace the Castle Garden Immigration Depot, the country's first immigration station, which was located on the tip of Manhattan.) Ellis Island opened in 1892 as the main processing point for newcomers; at the time, about 70% of all immigrants passed through the island facilities.

The first immigrant processed was Annie Moore, a teenager from Ireland who was meeting her parents in New York. (She received a $10 gold coin!) The Ellis Island staff continued to process immigrant steamship passengers until 1954, when the last immigrant was the Norwegian merchant seaman Arne Peterssen. In the more than six decades of operation, the immigration building on Ellis Island saw more than 12 million hopeful immigrants. After 1954, the building was not attended to for about thirty years. Many of the original residents of northwest Queens like Astoria Corona Elmhurst, came through Ellis Island.

It was eventually refurbished in the late 1980s and re-opened as a museum in 1990. It is now under jurisdiction of the US National Park Service. Ellis Island was once the subject of a border dispute between New York and New Jersey. Today the two states have divided ownership of the historic site: the main building containing the museum is part of New York, and the old hospital buildings are part of New Jersey.

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