Ellis Island

More than twelve million immigrants passed through this island between 1892 and 1954

Local name: Ellis Island

Collection: New York · USA · Open in OpenStreetMap

The main building on Ellis Island by Boring and Tilton · David Brossard, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The story

Before you is the main building of Ellis Island. The island is named for the merchant Samuel Ellis, who bought it in 1774. The immigration station opened here on the first of January 1892. The first person processed was seventeen-year-old Annie Moore from County Cork, Ireland. Back then the buildings were made of pine. On the fifteenth of June 1897 they burned down. No one died, but the fire destroyed the records. The new buildings had to be fireproof. The architects Boring and Tilton won the competition. The main building opened on the seventeenth of December 1900, and 2,251 people were received on the very first day. The busiest year was 1907, with more than a million arrivals. First- and second-class passengers were inspected on board the ship. The island was for those who had crossed in third class. People climbed the stairs to the great Registry Room. Doctors watched how each person walked and chalked a mark on the clothes of anyone they suspected was sick. Then an inspector checked each person’s answers against the ship’s passenger list. That list held twenty-nine questions: name, trade, how much money you carried. If your papers and health were in order, it all took three to five hours. Only about two percent were turned away. The vaulted Guastavino tile ceiling of the hall came after the 1916 explosion on nearby Black Tom Island, which brought down the roof. In the 1920s new laws nearly shut off the flow, and in November 1954 the island closed. Since 1965 it has been part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, and in 1990 the immigration museum opened here.

Visiting

Ellis Island. The only way there is the Statue City Cruises ferry, from The Battery in Manhattan or from Liberty State Park in New Jersey; the same ferry also stops at Liberty Island. Ferry tickets are paid; buy them only from Statue City Cruises. Open every day except Thanksgiving and December 25. To see both islands, board a ferry before 1:00 p.m. Two to three hours is enough for the main building. The other buildings can only be seen on a reserved hard hat tour. Pets are not allowed on the ferry, except service animals.