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New York City is a popular place, receiving nearly 50 million tourists annually. People travel from around the world to visit the unofficial capital of North America, resplendent in cosmopolitan lifestyle and a culture as equally diverse as its rich social and political history.
Whether for world renowned cuisine, hip counter culture or iconic sightseeing, tourists flock to New York year after year. Two million of whom go on to visit one of New York Harbour's most recognisable sites - Ellis Island.
Ellis Island, situated on the Hudson River, operated as an immigration station from 1892 until 1954. Its first immigrant was Annie Moore - a 15-year-old from Cork - who first walked through its gates on January 1; its last was Arne Peterssen, a Norwegian mariner, in 1954.
Now owned by the Federal Government, Ellis Island was first privately owned by Samuel Ellis in the 1770s. Prior to becoming a federal immigration station, for which it is more commonly known, Ellis Island had a number of titles and served a number of different purposes. It was previously called Oyster Island for its rich oyster beds, Kioshk by native Indian tribes meaning 'Gull Island', Anderson's Island and Dyre. The island served as a colonial outpost, a wartime stronghold and an ammunition depot until, in 1892, it was converted into a receiving station for the country's immigrant population.
Immigrants who were typically processed by Castle Garden Immigration Department, which operated from 1855 until 1890, in Manhattan, were now to be transitioned through Ellis, which was a larger compound.
Ellis was created predominantly by means of artificial landfill, which constitutes nine tenths of the modern island. As the island grew over the years from 3.3 acres to 27.5 acres, contention arose over its jurisdiction. As more than 83 per cent of the island falls within the New Jersey City district, and the remaining portion within that of New York City, numerous legal wranglings ensued to identify direct ownership. Although an 1834 edict declared that the two states would share ownership of the island, a 1998 Supreme Court resolution declared that New Jersey held responsibility for all parts of the island created after the 1834 conclusion. Today, New Jersey and New York share ownership of the Island, which, following a declaration by Lyndon Johnson in 1965, was handed over to the US National Park Service, who tends to it along with the New York Harbour's other famous landmark as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
The Immigration Station itself was designed by Edward Lippincott Tilton and William Alciphron Boring, both of whom received recognition for their design at the Paris Exposition in 1900. Over the years its iconic Grand Hall and cramped immigrant sleeping quarters held 12 million men, women and children. During the peak of immigration into North America in 1907, nearly 1.5 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island.
Of the hopeful millions, two per cent were denied immigrant status, their rejection earning Ellis its nickname, The Island of Tears. Rejections were made predominantly on health bounds, whether for obvious reasons of disease or insanity or if they had held a criminal past. Of those who were successful, however, 3,000 died on Ellis Island in hospital detention.
Immigration procedures enabled health officials to determine who was suitable to enter the United States and a 20-second medical examination was deemed sufficient to raise queries over the health of individuals, whether for reasons of the heart, hernia or conjunctivitis, which was then chalked on their blazer or jacket, sending them on for isolation, detention or dismissal. All in all, the process only took some two to five hours, leaving many free to enter America in relatively little time compared to that of their arduous journey from the corners of the globe.
Immigrants came from Asia, Europe and Russia, mixing faiths, religions and cultures interminably. As a result, almost half of all Americans can trace their family back to a relative who entered via the Port of New York Authority on Ellis Island. Famous names that passed through the Grand Hall include opera tenor Enrico Caruso, entertainer Bob Hope, film maker Frank Capra, actress Claudette Colbert, cosmetologist Max Factor and physicist Albert Einstein.
While millions of immigrants were shipped to the States through Ellis every year, nowadays, millions of tourists choose to take flights to New York and continue to visit Ellis Island, every year.
The information contained within this article is the opinion of the author and is intended purely for information and interest purposes only. It should not be used to make any decisions or take any actions. Any links are included for information purposes only.
Adam Singleton writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
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