Ellis Island

Ellis Island, island in Upper New York Bay, formerly the United States’ principal immigration reception center. Often referred to as the Gateway to the New World, the federal facility processed more than 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1954, most of them from Europe. An estimated 40 percent of Americans are descended from people who passed through Ellis Island.

The island is located about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Manhattan Island, New York City, and about 1,300 feet (400 meters) east of the New Jersey shore. Originally only 3 acres (1.2 hectares) in area, it grew to 27 acres (11 hectares) through extensive land reclamation projects; much of the island’s current area consists of landfill. Today Ellis Island is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and is home to the National Museum of Immigration.

Early history

Before European colonization Algonquian-speaking Indigenous peoples used the island and its surrounding waters for fishing and gathering shellfish. An early Indigenous name for the island was Kioshk (“Gull Island”). During the colonial period it was one of several small islands in New York Harbor known as the Oyster Islands and was called “Little Oyster Island.” It was later known as Dyre’s Island, for Capt. William Dyre, collector of customs, who went on to serve as mayor of New York City from 1680–82. In 1730 it was renamed Bucking Island. In the latter half of the 18th century, several pirates were hanged there, and the island came to be known as “Gibbet Island,” after the wooden structures from which their bodies were displayed, or “Anderson’s Island” for a particularly notorious pirate.

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The island eventually came into the possession of New York merchant Samuel Ellis, from whom its present name derives. Ellis advertised the island for sale in 1785 but failed to find a buyer, and it remained within his family after his death in 1794; in 1806 ownership passed to John A. Berry. New York State acquired the island in 1808 and conveyed it to the federal government.

Because of its position in New York Harbor, the island was considered strategically useful for coastal defense. Fortifications were constructed there in the years preceding the War of 1812. The installation, later named Fort Gibson, included a battery, barracks, and a powder magazine. Although the fort saw no combat during the war, the island remained under military control for much of the 19th century and was later used by the U.S. Navy for storing ammunition.

The immigration facility

During the 19th century the number of immigrants arriving in the United States increased dramatically, and New York became the country’s leading port of entry. From 1855 to 1890 immigrants arriving in New York were processed at Castle Garden, at the southern end of Manhattan. In 1891 the federal government took responsibility for regulating immigration and began developing a new processing station on Ellis Island. The facility formally opened on January 1, 1892. Its first immigrant was Annie Moore, a 17-year-old girl from County Cork, Ireland, who arrived with two younger brothers to join their parents in New York. More than 400,000 immigrants were processed at Ellis Island during its first fiscal year.

The original immigration station consisted largely of wooden buildings. On June 15, 1897, a fire destroyed the complex, although no one was killed. While a replacement station was being built, arriving immigrants were processed at the Barge Office in Manhattan. A new fireproof Main Building, constructed of brick, limestone, and iron, opened on December 17, 1900. Additional structures followed, including kitchens, dormitories, a power plant, and an extensive hospital complex. During this period the island was enlarged with landfill to accommodate the growing facilities.

Activity at Ellis Island peaked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries during a wave of mass migration to the United States from Europe—particularly southern and eastern Europe, in a departure from earlier trends. In 1907, the station’s busiest year, more than one million immigrants were processed.

Processing immigrants

Before the introduction of immigrant visas in the 1920s, most European immigrants did not obtain permission from the U.S. government before departing for the United States. Instead, they generally purchased passage on a steamship and were examined for admission upon arrival. Only about 2 percent of arrivals were ultimately denied entry and deported back across the Atlantic at the expense of the steamship companies.

First- and second-class passengers typically underwent brief inspections aboard their ships and proceeded directly into New York City, while third-class and steerage passengers were taken to Ellis Island for medical and legal examinations because wealthier passengers were generally presumed able to support themselves. The process normally lasted three to five hours and included examinations for disease and questioning about such matters as occupation, destination, and financial means. The area where families and friends greeted new arrivals became known as the “Kissing Post.”

Immigration restrictions and decline

Growing restrictions on immigration gradually reduced Ellis Island’s importance. The Immigration Act of 1917 imposed new limits, and arrivals fell sharply during World War I. After the war quota laws enacted in 1921 and 1924 further curtailed immigration, while a new visa system shifted much of the screening process to U.S. consulates abroad. Ellis Island consequently ceased to function as the country’s principal immigration center and was increasingly used to detain people whose legal status was in question or who were awaiting deportation; parts of the island were also used by the U.S. military during both world wars. Routine immigration reception was moved to Manhattan in 1943, and the facility closed in 1954. Ellis Island became part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, and after extensive restoration, the Main Building reopened as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in 1990. In 2015 it was expanded and renamed the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration.

New York-New Jersey jurisdiction

Although Ellis Island lies on the New Jersey side of the main channel of New York Harbor, its political status has a complicated history. An interstate compact approved in 1834 placed the original island within New York. During the development of the immigration station, however, the federal government greatly enlarged Ellis Island with landfill, expanding it into waters within New Jersey’s boundaries.

The resulting jurisdictional dispute eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In New Jersey v. New York (1998), the Court ruled that New York retained sovereignty over the portion corresponding to the original island but that the land created by later filling belonged to New Jersey. Because the great majority of modern Ellis Island consists of landfill, most of its present territory is therefore within New Jersey, while the historic core containing the Main Building remains within New York. The entire island remains federal property.