Ellis Island

Ellis Island

Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor that was the United States’ busiest immigrant inspection station. From 1892 to 1924, approximately 12 million immigrants arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey were processed there under federal law. The north side of the island is the site of the main building, now a national museum of immigration. The south side, including the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is only open to thepublic through guided tours.

About Ellis Island in brief

Summary Ellis IslandEllis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor that was the United States’ busiest immigrant inspection station. From 1892 to 1924, approximately 12 million immigrants arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey were processed there under federal law. Today, it is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, 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, including the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is only open to thepublic through guided tours. 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 27. 5 acres, much of which is from land reclamation. It was originally three separate islands. The current north side, formerly called island 1, contains the original island and the fill around it. The natural island and contiguous areas comprise 4. 68 acres within New York, and are located on the northern portion of the present-day island. The artificial land ispart of New Jersey. In the late 19th century, the federal government began expanding the island to accommodate its immigration station. The fill was retained with a system of wood piles and cribbing, and later encased with more than 7,700 linear feet of concrete and granite sea wall. It eventually obliterated the oyster beds, engulfed one of the Oyster Islands, and brought the shoreline much closer to the others.

The circumstances which led to Ellis Island being located within New Jersey began in the colonial era, after the British takeover of New Netherland in 1664. A clause in the land grant outlined the territory that the proprietors would receive as part of New New York. In 1804, New York claimed the right to regulate trade on all waters of the Hudson River. In 1830, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the regulation of interstate commerce fell under the authority of the federal federal government, thus influencing competition in developing the ferry service in the newly developing ferry service. The case of Ogden v. Gibbons v. Ogden, which decided that New York could regulate trade in all waters, was contested in 1804 as early as 1804. This was contested by the state of New. York, which planned to bring the service in to the newly planned ferry service to the New York harbor in 1808. In. 1830, New. Jersey v Ogden was decided in favor of the state, and New York decided to bring it to the new ferry service, which began in 1838. This led to the formation of the New Jersey Port Authority, which later became the Port Authority of the City and State. The Port Authority took control of the ferry line in 1841. 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 as well as processing immigrants.