Today, it is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and is accessible to the public only by ferry. The north side of the island is the site of the main building, now a national museum of immigration. The south side of the island, including the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is open to the public only through guided tours.
In the 19th century, Ellis Island was the site of Fort Gibson and later became a naval magazine. The first inspection station opened in 1892 and was destroyed by fire in 1897. The second station opened in 1900 and housed facilities for medical quarantines and processing immigrants.
After 1924, Ellis Island was used primarily as a detention centre for migrants. During both World War I and World War II, its facilities were also used by the US military to detain prisoners of war. After the immigration station's closure, the buildings languished for several years until they were partially reopened in 1976. The main building and adjacent structures were completely renovated in 1990.
More information: Statue of Liberty
The 11.1 ha island was greatly expanded by land reclamation between the late 1890s and the 1930s. Jurisdictional disputes between New Jersey and New York State persisted until the 1998 US Supreme Court ruling in New Jersey v. New York.
Ellis Island is in Upper New York Bay, east of Liberty State Park and north of Liberty Island. While most of the island is in Jersey City, New Jersey, a small section is an exclave of New York City.
The island has a land area of 11.1 ha, much of which is from land reclamation. The natural island and contiguous areas comprise 1.89 ha within New York, and are located on the northern portion of the present-day island. The artificial land is part of New Jersey.
The island has been owned and administered by the federal government of the United States since 1808 and operated by the National Park Service since 1965.
Ellis Island was also used by the military for almost 80 years. By the mid-1790s, as a result of the United States' increased military tensions with Britain and France, a U.S. congressional committee drew a map of possible locations for the First System of fortifications to protect major American urban centres such as New York Harbor.
More information: History
The Army had unsuccessfully attempted to use Ellis Island for the convalescence of immigrants as early as 1847.
The new immigration station opened on December 17, 1900, without ceremony. On that day, 2,251 immigrants were processed.
By 1947, shortly after the end of World War II, there were proposals to close Ellis Island due to the massive expenses needed for the upkeep of a relatively small detention centre.
The hospital was closed in 1950–1951 by the United States Public Health Service, and by the early 1950s, there were only 30 to 40 detainees left on the island.
The island's closure was announced in mid-1954, when the federal government announced that it would construct a replacement facility on Manhattan.
Ellis Island closed on November 12, 1954, with the departure of its last detainee, Norwegian merchant seaman Arne Peterssen. At the time, it was estimated that the government would save $900,000 a year from closing the island. The ferryboat Ellis Island, which had operated since 1904, stopped operating two weeks later.
More information: National Park Service
because it's the most amazing view of New York.
And it's free! You see Ellis Island,
and it conjures up something of that great moment:
you know, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
It's staggering.
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