View source for Ellis Island

{{Short description|Island in New York Harbor in the US}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2026}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2026}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Ellis Island
| image = Aerial view of Ellis Island, Jersey City, New Jersey LCCN2011635626 - cropped balance.jpg
| caption = Aerial view of Ellis Island
| elevation = {{cvt|7|ft}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Ellis Island – Hudson County, New Jersey |url=http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=150:3:1417806468087358::NO::P3_FID,P3_TITLE:876159,Ellis%20Island |publisher=USGS |access-date=January 1, 2011 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329140058/https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names |url-status=live }}</ref>
| location =[[Upper New York Bay]]<br />[[Jersey City, New Jersey]], and [[New York City]], New York<br />United States
| coordinates = {{Coord|40|41|58|N|74|02|23|W|region:US-NY_type:isle_scale:5000|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = USA New Jersey Hudson County#New Jersey#New York City#New York#United States
| map_caption =
| built = {{Start date and age|1900}} (main building)<br />{{Start date and age|1911}} (hospital)
| architect= {{Plainlist|
* [[William Alciphron Boring]]
* [[Edward Lippincott Tilton]]
* [[James Knox Taylor]]
}}
| architecture= [[Renaissance Revival architecture|Renaissance Revival]]
| area = {{convert|27.5|acre|ha}}
| visitation_num =
| visitation_year =
| governing_body = [[National Park Service]]
| website = {{official URL|https://www.nps.gov/elis/index.htm}}
| designation2 = NMON
| designation2_date = {{Start date and age|May 11, 1965}}<ref name="Proclamation 3656">{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=75266 |title=Proclamation 3656 – Adding Ellis Island to the Statue of Liberty National Monument |date=April 5, 2010 |access-date=April 3, 2010 |archive-date=September 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926235818/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=75266 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| designation2_offname = [[Statue of Liberty National Monument]]
| designation3_free1value =
| designation3 = NRHP
| designation3_offname = [[Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island]]
| designation3_date = {{Start date and age|October 15, 1966}}<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>
| designation3_number = 66000058
| designation4 = New Jersey Register of Historic Places
| designation4_offname = [[Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island]]
| designation4_date = {{Start date and age|May 27, 1971}}
| designation4_number = 1535<ref name="NJRHP">{{cite web |title=New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Hudson County |url=http://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/1identify/nrsr_lists.htm |publisher=[[New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection]] – Historic Preservation Office |access-date=August 2, 2014 |archive-date=October 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009221342/http://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/1identify/nrsr_lists.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
| designation5 = New York City Landmark
| designation5_date = {{Start date and age|November 16, 1993}}<ref name="NYCL">{{harvnb|ps=.|Ellis Island Main Building Interior Designation Report|1993}}</ref>
| designation5_type = District/Individual interior
| designation5_number = 1902 (district), 1903 (main building interior)
}}

'''Ellis Island''' is an island in [[New York Harbor]], within the U.S. states of [[New Jersey]] and [[New York (state)|New York]]. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, about 12 million [[immigration to the United States|immigrants]] arriving at the [[Port of New York and New Jersey]] were processed there;<ref name="NPS-places_immigration" /> according to one estimate, two-fifths of Americans may be descended from these immigrants.<ref name="Reason 2025"/> It has been part of the [[Statue of Liberty National Monument]] since 1965 and is accessible to the public only by ferry. The north side of the island is a national museum of immigration, while the south side of the island, including the [[Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital]], is open to the public through guided tours.

The name derives from Samuel Ellis, a Welshman who bought the island in 1774. In the 19th century, Ellis Island was the site of Fort Gibson and later became a [[Magazine (artillery)#Naval magazines|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 center for migrants. During both [[World War I]] and [[World War II]], its facilities were also used by the [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]] to detain [[Prisoner of war|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 into a museum in 1990.

The {{cvt|27.5|acre|ha|adj=on}} island was expanded by [[land reclamation]] between the late 1890s and the 1930s and, at one point, consisted of three islands numbered 1, 2, and 3. Jurisdictional disputes between the states of New Jersey and New York persisted until the 1998 [[U.S. Supreme Court]] ruling ''[[New Jersey v. New York]]''. The Supreme Court ruled that, while most of the island is in New Jersey, the natural portion of the island (on the northern end) is an [[exclave]] of New York. The northern half of Ellis Island comprises the former Island 1 and includes the main building, several ancillary structures, and the Wall of Honor. The hospital structures on the island's southern half occupy the former sites of islands 2 and 3, and there is a ferry building between Ellis Island's northern and southern halves. Historically, immigrants were subjected to medical and primary inspections, and they could be detained or deported. The island is commemorated through the [[Ellis Island Medal of Honor]], and it has received several federal, state, and municipal landmark designations.

==Geography and access==
[[File:Ellis island air photo.jpg|thumb|Aerial view (1976, before renovations)]]
Ellis Island is in [[New York Harbor]], east of [[Liberty State Park]] and north of [[Liberty Island]].<ref>{{Cite book |publisher=Hagstrom Map Company, Inc |isbn=978-0-88097-763-0 |title=Hudson County New Jersey Street Map |year=2010}}</ref> The island has a land area of {{cvt|27.5|acre|ha}}, most of which was created through [[land reclamation]] that is part of [[Jersey City, New Jersey]]. The natural island and small section of landfill comprises {{cvt|4.68|acre}} that is an [[exclave]] of [[New York City]].<ref name="ERIS">{{cite web |first1=Richard G. |last1=Castagna |first2=Lawrence L. |last2=Thornton |first3=John M. |last3=Tyrawski |publisher=ESRI |url=http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc99/proceed/papers/pap138/p138.htm |access-date=November 17, 2013 |title=GIS and Coastal Boundary Disputes: Where is Ellis Island? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018003341/http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc99/proceed/papers/pap138/p138.htm |archive-date=October 18, 2014 |quote=The New York portion of Ellis Island is landlocked, enclaved within New Jersey's territory.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606074806/https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-island-history |archive-date=June 6, 2020 |title=Ellis Island History |website=The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island |url=https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-island-history |access-date=February 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author-link=Joan Biskupic |first=Joan |last=Biskupic |title=N.J. Wins Claim to Most of Ellis Island |date=May 27, 1998 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/supcourt/stories/wpellis052798.htm |access-date=July 12, 2014 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |archive-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208125927/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/supcourt/stories/wpellis052798.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Frequently asked questions |work=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=National Park Service |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/faqs.htm |access-date=November 18, 2013 |archive-date=December 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203094502/http://www.nps.gov/elis/faqs.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-timeline |title=Ellis Island – A Brief History of Events |website=The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606144747/https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-timeline |archive-date=June 6, 2020 |access-date=February 7, 2020}}</ref>

===Land expansion===
[[File:Ellis Island and Manhattan as seen from New Jersey shore 2020-06-29.jpg|thumb|left|Ellis Island and Manhattan as seen from New Jersey shore in 2020]]

Initially, much of the Upper New York Bay's western shore consisted of large [[Mudflat|tidal flats]] with vast [[Oyster|oyster beds]], which were a major source of food for the [[Lenape]]. Ellis Island was one of three "Oyster Islands", the other two being [[Liberty Island]] and the now-subsumed [[Black Tom explosion#Black Tom Island|Black Tom Island]].<ref>{{cite book |author=New Jersey. Legislature. Senate |title=Journal of the ... Senate of the State of New Jersey: Being the ... Session of the Legislature |year=1860 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wm1MAAAAYAAJ |access-date=June 11, 2019 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130324/https://books.google.com/books?id=wm1MAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Kurlansky 2007 p. 35">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nwYl-7DhMvcC&pg=PA35 |title=The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell |last=Kurlansky |first=Mark |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-58836-591-0 |page=35 |access-date=June 4, 2019 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130050/https://books.google.com/books?id=nwYl-7DhMvcC&pg=PA35#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nyt20060301">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/books/before-there-were-bagels-new-york-had-the-oyster.html |title=Before There Were Bagels, New York Had the Oyster |last=Grimes |first=William |date=February 1, 2006 |website=The New York Times |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=April 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410034849/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/books/before-there-were-bagels-new-york-had-the-oyster.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the late 19th century, the federal government began expanding the island by [[land reclamation]] to accommodate its immigration station, and the expansions continued until 1934.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ellis Island, New Jersey, in Upper New York Bay, was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station for over sixty years from 1892 until 1954 |date=August 24, 2017 |website=Library of Congress |url=http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017882211/ |access-date=July 14, 2019 |archive-date=July 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714141530/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017882211/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[National Park Service]] cites the fill as supposedly having been acquired from the ballast of ships, as well as material excavated from the [[Early history of the IRT subway|first line]] of the [[New York City Subway]];<ref name="NPS-Fact-Sheet">{{cite web |title=Fact Sheet: Statue of Liberty NM – Ellis Island |website=National Parks of New York Harbor |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |date=May 11, 1965 |url=https://www.nps.gov/npnh/learn/news/fact-sheet-elis.htm |access-date=May 1, 2019 |archive-date=June 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601032120/https://www.nps.gov/npnh/learn/news/fact-sheet-elis.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> however, ''The New York Times'' writes that there is no evidence of subway fill being transported to the island.<ref>{{Cite news |last=MacFarquhar |first=Neil |date=December 31, 1995 |title=Ellis Island May Have Been Made for You and Me, but Who Owns It? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/31/nyregion/ellis-island-may-have-been-made-for-you-and-me-but-who-owns-it.html |access-date=October 13, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> It also may have come from the [[Rail yard|railyards]] of the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]] and the [[Central Railroad of New Jersey]]. It eventually obliterated the oyster beds, engulfed one of the Oyster Islands, and brought the shoreline much closer to the others.<ref name="Justia209473">{{cite court |url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/209/473/case.html |litigants=Central R. Co. of New Jersey v. Jersey City |vol=209 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=473 |year=1908 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212122745/http://supreme.justia.com/us/209/473/case.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The current island is shaped like a "C", with two landmasses of equal size on the northeastern and southwestern sides, separated by what was formerly a ferry pier.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="NPS-Map" /> It was originally three separate islands. The current north side, formerly called island 1, contains the original island and the fill around it. The current south side was composed of island 2, created in 1899, and island 3, created in 1906. Two eastward-facing ferry docks separated the three numbered landmasses.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="NPS-Map">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/education/upload/9-12-Ellis-Island-Map.pdf |title=Structural Development of Ellis Island, 1890–1935 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=December 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212173214/https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/education/upload/9-12-Ellis-Island-Map.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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 was placed atop either wood piles, cribbing, or submerged bags of concrete. In the 1920s, the second ferry basin between islands 2 and 3 was infilled to create the great lawn, forming the current south side of Ellis Island. As part of the project, a concrete and granite seawall was built to connect the tip of these landmasses.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=73}}</ref>

===State sovereignty dispute===
[[File:Ellis Island 1890 - 1935 NPS map.jpg|thumb|left|State border after ''New Jersey v. New York'', 1998]]

The circumstances which led to an exclave of New York being located within New Jersey began in the colonial era, after the British takeover of [[New Netherland]] in 1664. A clause in the colonial land grant outlined the territory that the proprietors of New Jersey would receive as being "westward of Long Island, and Manhitas Island and bounded on the east part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's river."<ref>See: *{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nj01.asp |title=The Federal and State constitutions, colonial charters, and other organic laws of the state[s], territories, and colonies now or heretofore forming the United States of America /compiled and edited under the Act of Congress of June 30, 1906 |date=December 18, 1998 |access-date=April 4, 2010 |archive-date=September 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906103925/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nj01.asp |url-status=live }} *{{cite book |title=American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States |publisher=Gales and Seaton |series=Issue 20 |year=1832 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rvA1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA479 479] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvA1AQAAMAAJ |access-date=February 12, 2020 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130050/https://books.google.com/books?id=rvA1AQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }} *{{cite book |title=Historical Magazine: And Notes and Queries Concerning the Antiquities, History, and Biography of America |publisher=H. B. Dawson |year=1867 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JW4-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA136 136] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JW4-AQAAMAAJ |access-date=February 12, 2020 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130051/https://books.google.com/books?id=JW4-AQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Gannett|1900|p=82}}

As early as 1804, attempts were made to resolve the status of the state line.<ref name="NPS-Legal-Status">{{Cite web |title=Ellis Island: Its Legal Status |publisher=General Services Administration Office of General Counsel |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/stli/ellis_island_legal.pdf |access-date=September 25, 2010 |date=February 11, 1963 |archive-date=August 31, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831182303/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/stli/ellis_island_legal.pdf}}</ref> The [[government of New York City]] claimed the right to regulate trade on all waters. This was contested in ''[[Gibbons v. Ogden]]'', which decided that the regulation of interstate commerce fell under the authority of the federal government, thus influencing competition in the newly developing steam ferry service in [[New York Harbor]].<ref>{{ussc|name=Gibbons v. Ogden|link= |volume=22|page=1|pin= |year=1824 |reporter=Wheat.|reporter-volume=9}}</ref> In 1830, New Jersey planned to bring suit to clarify the border, but the case was never heard.<ref name="nyt19980527">{{Cite news |last=Greenhouse |first=Linda |date=May 27, 1998 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/27/nyregion/ellis-island-verdict-ruling-high-court-gives-new-jersey-most-ellis-island.html |title=The Ellis Island Verdict: The Ruling; High Court Gives New Jersey Most of Ellis Island |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=January 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113042835/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/27/nyregion/ellis-island-verdict-ruling-high-court-gives-new-jersey-most-ellis-island.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The matter was resolved with a compact between the states, ratified by [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] in 1834.<ref name="nyt19980527" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 11" /><ref name="Stakely p. 18" /> This set the boundary line at the middle of the Hudson River and New York Harbor; however, New York was guaranteed "exclusive jurisdiction of and over all the waters of Hudson River lying west of Manhattan and to the south of the mouth of [[Spuyten Duyvil Creek|Spuytenduyvil Creek]]; and of and over the lands covered by the said waters, to the low-water mark on the New Jersey shore."{{sfn|Gannett|1900|pp=78–79}} This was later confirmed in other cases by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]].<ref name="Justia209473" /><ref name="NPS-Legal-Status" /><ref>{{cite court |litigants=Application of Devoe Manufacturing Company for a Writ of Prohibition/Opinion of the Court |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Application_of_Devoe_Manufacuring_Company_for_a_Writ_of_Prohibition/Opinion_of_the_Court |vol=108 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=401 |year=1882 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714141529/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Application_of_Devoe_Manufacuring_Company_for_a_Writ_of_Prohibition/Opinion_of_the_Court |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenhouse |first=Linda |title=Skeptical High Court Hears Case Over Pride and Acreage on Ellis I. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/13/nyregion/skeptical-high-court-hears-case-over-pride-and-acreage-on-ellis-i.html |date=January 13, 1998 |work=The New York Times |access-date=February 11, 2020 |archive-date=September 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907234255/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/13/nyregion/skeptical-high-court-hears-case-over-pride-and-acreage-on-ellis-i.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

New Jersey contended that the artificial portions of the island were part of New Jersey, since they were outside New York's border. In 1956, after the closure of the U.S. immigration station two years prior, the [[Mayor of Jersey City]] [[Bernard J. Berry]] commandeered a U.S. Coast Guard cutter and led a contingent of New Jersey officials on an expedition to claim the island.<ref name="Logan-McCarten">{{cite magazine |last1=Logan |first1=Andy |last2=McCarten |first2=John |title=Invasion from Jersey |magazine=The New Yorker |date=January 14, 1956 |page=19 |access-date=February 14, 2011 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1956/01/14/1956_01_14_019_TNY_CARDS_000252353 |archive-date=January 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106090152/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1956/01/14/1956_01_14_019_TNY_CARDS_000252353 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Jurisdictional disputes reemerged in the 1980s with the renovation of Ellis Island,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32504422/ |title=A tale of two cities: Both claim Ellis Island |last=Moritz |first=Owen |date=June 20, 1982 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=75 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130055/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-a-tale-of-two-cities-both-cl/32504422/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and then again in the 1990s with the proposed redevelopment of the south side.<ref name="n32246752">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32246752/ |title=Ellis Island mostly in N.J. |last=Seitz |first=Sharon |date=April 2, 1997 |work=Central New Jersey Home News |access-date=October 7, 2022 |pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32246787/ 6] |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130102/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-central-new-jersey-home-news-ellis-i/32246752/ |url-status=live }}</ref> New Jersey sued in 1997.<ref name="n32246752" /> The lawsuit was escalated to the Supreme Court, which ruled in ''[[New Jersey v. New York]]''.<ref name="nyt19980527" /><ref name="Justia523767">{{Cite court |litigants=New Jersey v. New York |reporter=U.S. |vol=523 |opinion=767 |year=1998 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/523/767/ |quote=New Jersey has sovereign authority over the filled land added to the original Island. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104110500/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/523/767/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Court rules Ellis Island is mostly in New Jersey |last1=Brogan |first1=Pamela |date=May 27, 1998 |work=Courier-Post |agency=Gannett News Service |location=Camden, NJ |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32518085/ |access-date=October 7, 2022 |pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32518184/ 4] |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> The border was redrawn using [[geographic information science]] data:<ref>{{cite book |last=Cho |first=G. |title=Geographic Information Science: Mastering the Legal Issues |publisher=Wiley |series=Mastering GIS: Technol, Applications & Mgmnt |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-470-01355-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-nGK3Lr-DqQC&pg=PA37 |access-date=June 11, 2019 |page=37}}</ref> It was decided that {{cvt|22.80|acre}} of the [[Land reclamation|land fill]] area are territory of New Jersey and that {{cvt|4.68|acre}}, including the original island, are territory of New York.<ref name="ERIS" /> This caused some initial confusion, as some buildings straddled the interstate border.<ref name="nyt19980527" /> The ruling had no effect on the status of [[Liberty Island]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Historic Fill Of The Jersey City Quadrangle Historic Fill Map HFM-53 |publisher=New State Department of Environmental Protection |year=2004 |url=http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/geodata/historicfill/jersey.pdf |access-date=August 31, 2014 |archive-date=September 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906133806/http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/geodata/historicfill/jersey.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although the island remained under federal ownership after the lawsuit, New Jersey and New York agreed to share jurisdiction over the land itself. Neither state took any fiscal or physical responsibility for the maintenance, preservation, or improvement of any of the historic properties, and each state has jurisdiction over its respective land areas. Jersey City and New York City then gave separate tax lot numbers to their respective claims.<ref name="Justia523767" />{{efn|The boundaries remain the same as today.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |website=Maps |date=March 9, 2016 |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/maps.htm |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=June 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190612041421/https://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/maps.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The New York side of the island is [[Tax assessment|assessed]] as Manhattan Block 1, Lot 201,<ref>{{cite web |title=An inaugural choice: Will N.J. governor's gala really be in New York? |url=https://www.silive.com/opinion/2013/12/an_inaugural_choice_will_nj_go.html |access-date=June 3, 2019 |website=silive.com |date=December 21, 2013 |quote=After the 1998 court event, both states agreed to share jurisdiction, even though the islands remain a wholly federal property. To cement those claims, New York assigned Ellis Island the tax designation of Block 1, Lot 201. The state of New Jersey gave the place its own tax number. |archive-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603022755/https://www.silive.com/opinion/2013/12/an_inaugural_choice_will_nj_go.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=6}}</ref> while the portion of the island in New Jersey is assessed as Jersey City Block 21603, Lot 1.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.njspls.org/?130 |title=Is Liberty a Jersey Girl |date=February 4, 2014 |access-date=February 10, 2020 |publisher=New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors |archive-date=April 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421232806/http://www.njspls.org/?130 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tax Map Viewer – Jersey City |at=Sheet 216 |website=hostedfiles.civilsolutions.biz |url=http://hostedfiles.civilsolutions.biz/jerseycity/taxmaps/index.htm |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603022758/http://hostedfiles.civilsolutions.biz/jerseycity/taxmaps/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

===Public access===
Two ferry slips are located on the northern side of the basin that bisects Ellis Island. No charge is made for entrance to the Statue of Liberty National Monument, but there is a cost for the ferry service.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/fees.htm |title=Fees & Passes |date=May 20, 2019 |website=Statue Of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |access-date=June 16, 2019 |archive-date=October 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004115929/https://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/fees.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> A concession was granted in 2007 to [[Statue City Cruises]] to operate the transportation and ticketing facilities, replacing [[Circle Line Downtown|Circle Line]], which had operated the service since 1953.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ramirez |first=Anthony |title=Circle Line Loses Pact for Ferries to Liberty Island |website=The New York Times |date=June 29, 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/nyregion/29ferry.html |access-date=June 16, 2019 |archive-date=June 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616152059/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/nyregion/29ferry.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The ferries travel from [[Liberty State Park]] in [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]] and [[The Battery (Manhattan)|the Battery]] in [[Lower Manhattan]].<ref>{{cite web |title=NPS: Liberty and Ellis Island ferry map |work=Ferry Map |publisher=National Park Service |url=https://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/ferry-system-map.htm |access-date=October 20, 2011 |archive-date=June 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629071103/http://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/ferry-system-map.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Save Ellis Island offers guided public tours of the south side as part of the "Hard Hat Tour".<ref name="NPS-south-side-tours-begin">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/news/south-side-tours-begin.htm |title=Unrestored Ellis Island Buildings Opening for the First Time in 60 Years – Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |date=September 15, 2014 |website=nps.gov |access-date=June 16, 2019 |archive-date=July 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706014004/https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/news/south-side-tours-begin.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.saveellisisland.org/tour/hard-hat-tours.html |title=Hard Hat Tours |website=saveellisisland.org |access-date=June 16, 2019 |archive-date=April 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416224554/https://saveellisisland.org/tour/hard-hat-tours.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Ellis Island Bridge south jeh.JPG|thumb|The bridge to Liberty State Park]]
A bridge to Liberty State Park was built in 1986 for transporting materials and personnel during the island's late-1980s restoration. Originally slated to be torn down in 1992,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/29/nyregion/linking-jersey-city-to-ellis-i-bridge-with-a-brief-life-span.html |title=Linking Jersey City to Ellis I., Bridge with a Brief Life Span |last=Norman |first=Michael |date=April 29, 1986 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608204648/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/29/nyregion/linking-jersey-city-to-ellis-i-bridge-with-a-brief-life-span.html |url-status=live }}</ref> it remained after construction was complete.<ref name="nyt19950512">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/12/nyregion/house-action-dooms-plan-for-a-bridge-to-ellis-island.html |title=House Action Dooms Plan For a Bridge to Ellis Island |last=MacFarquhar |first=Neil |date=May 12, 1995 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608223218/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/12/nyregion/house-action-dooms-plan-for-a-bridge-to-ellis-island.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It is not open to the public. The city of New York and the island's private ferry operator have opposed proposals to use it or replace it with a pedestrian bridge,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Low |first1=Setha |last2=Taplin |first2=Dana |last3=Scheld |first3=Suzanne |title=Rethinking Urban Parks: Public Space and Cultural Diversity |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-292-77821-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cUhYBCSAYIEC |access-date=June 3, 2019 |at=chapter 4}}</ref> and a 1995 proposal for a new pedestrian bridge to New Jersey was voted down in the [[United States House of Representatives]].<ref name="nyt19950512" /> The bridge is not strong enough to be classified as a permanent bridge, and any action to convert it into a pedestrian passageway would require renovations.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/27/nyregion/on-the-waterfront-a-bridge-to-ellis-island-what-about-one-that-s-there.html |title=On the Waterfront; A Bridge to Ellis Island? What About One That's There? |last=Stemer |first=Rosalie |date=August 27, 1995 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608223231/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/27/nyregion/on-the-waterfront-a-bridge-to-ellis-island-what-about-one-that-s-there.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History==

===Precolonial and colonial use===
The present-day Ellis Island was created by retreating glaciers at the end of the [[Wisconsin glaciation]] about 15,000 years ago. The island was described as a "hummock along a plain fronting the west side of the Hudson River estuary,"<ref name="Stakely p. 13">{{harvnb|Stakely|2003|ps=.|p=13}}</ref> and when the glaciers melted, the water of the [[Upper New York Bay]] surrounded the mass.<ref name="Stakely p. 13" /> The native [[Mohegan]] name for the island was "Kioshk", meaning "Gull Island",<ref name="Stakely p. 21">{{harvnb|Stakely|2003|ps=.|p=21}}</ref><ref name="JSTOR Daily 2017">{{cite web |url=https://daily.jstor.org/the-curious-history-of-ellis-island/ |title=The Curious History of Ellis Island |date=December 1, 2016 |website=JSTOR Daily |access-date=June 4, 2019 |archive-date=June 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604180931/https://daily.jstor.org/the-curious-history-of-ellis-island/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="AMNY-Facts">{{Cite web |url=https://www.amny.com/news/ellis-island-facts-about-the-immigration-center-and-beyond-1.12781876 |title=Fascinating facts about Ellis Island |date=December 20, 2016 |website=am New York |access-date=June 4, 2019 |archive-date=June 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604180932/https://www.amny.com/news/ellis-island-facts-about-the-immigration-center-and-beyond-1.12781876 |url-status=live }}</ref> in reference to Ellis Island's former large population of [[seagull]]s.<ref name="Stakely p. 21" /> Kioshk was composed mostly of marshy, brackish lowlands that disappeared underwater at [[Tide|high tide]].<ref name="Stakely p. 13" /> The Native American tribes who lived nearby are presumed to have been [[hunter-gatherer]]s who used the island to hunt for fish and oysters, as well as to build transient hunting and fishing communities there.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island EIS|2005|p=67}}</ref><ref name="Stakely p. 14">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=14}}</ref> It is unlikely that the Native Americans established permanent settlements on Kioshk, since the island would have been submerged at high tide.<ref name="Stakely p. 14" />

In 1630, the Dutch bought Kioshk as a gift for [[Michael Reyniersz Pauw]],{{efn|Also Paaw or Paauw<ref name="Stakely p. 14" /><ref name="EI-EIS p. 3" />}} who had helped found [[New Netherland]].<ref name="Stakely p. 14" /><ref name="EI-EIS p. 3">{{harvnb|Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island EIS|2005|ps=.|p=3}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Belle|Finegold|1988|ps=.|p=10}}</ref> When the Dutch settled the area as part of [[New Netherland]], the three islands in Upper New York Bay—Liberty, Black Tom, and Ellis Islands—were given the name [[Oyster]] Islands, alluding to the large oyster population nearby. The present-day Ellis Island was thus called "Little Oyster Island",<ref name="Kurlansky 2007 p. 35" /><ref name="nyt20060301" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 10">{{harvnb|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|ps=.|p=10}}</ref> a name that persisted through at least the early 1700s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stainsby |first=W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NGI9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA5 |title=The Oyster Industry of New Jersey |publisher=Unionist-Gazette Association, State Printers |location=Somerville, NJ |year=1902 |series=Monographs on New Jersey's industries |page=5 |access-date=June 4, 2019}}</ref>{{efn|The name "Little Oyster Island" persisted even though Ellis Island was larger than the former Black Tom Island.<ref name="Kurlansky 2007 p. 35" /><ref name="nyt20060301" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 10" /> By comparison, the comparatively large Liberty Island was called "Great Oyster Island".<ref name="Kurlansky 2007 p. 35" /><ref name="Stakely p. 13" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Levine |first=Alexandra S. |date=May 10, 2016 |title=New York Today: The Big Oyster |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/10/nyregion/new-york-today-the-big-oyster.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/10/nyregion/new-york-today-the-big-oyster.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited |access-date=June 4, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>}} During the early colonial period a sometime Maryland merchant named Isaac Bedloe purchased the island.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Daniels | first=Roger | title=No Lamps Were Lit for Them: Angel Island and the Historiography of Asian American Immigration | journal=Journal of American Ethnic History | publisher=University of Illinois Press | volume=17 | issue=1 | year=1997 | issn=02785927 | jstor=27502236 | pages=3–18 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/27502236 | access-date=July 14, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Proceedings of the Provincial Court, 1666–1670 | website=Archives of Maryland, Volume 0057, Preface 0058 | date=June 27, 2025 | url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000057/html/am57p--58.html | access-date=July 14, 2025}}</ref> Little Oyster Island was then sold to Captain William Dyre {{Circa|1674}},{{efn|The sale may have happened as late as 1680.<ref name="Stakely p. 14" />}} then to Thomas Lloyd on April 23, 1686.<ref name="Moreno (2004) p. xii">{{harvnb|ps=.|Moreno|2004|p=xii}}</ref><ref name="Stakely p. 14" /> The island was then sold several more times,<ref name="Moreno (2004) p. xii" /> including to Enoch and Mary Story.<ref name="Stakely p. 14" /> During colonial times, Little Oyster Island became a popular spot for hosting oyster roasts, picnics, and clambakes because of its rich oyster beds. Evidence of recreational uses on the island was visible by the mid-18th century with the addition of commercial buildings to the northeast shore.<ref name="Stakely p. 14" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=Ellis Island Coming to the Land of Liberty |last=Bial |first=Raymond |location=New York |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-618-99943-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ellisislandcomin0000bial/page/12 12] |url=https://archive.org/details/ellisislandcomin0000bial}}</ref>

By the 1760s, Little Oyster Island became a public execution site for pirates, with executions occurring at one tree in particular, the "Gibbet Tree".<ref name="AMNY-Facts" /><ref name="Ellis Island Foundation, 2000">{{cite web |url=http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-timeline#1900 |title=Ellis Island Timeline |date=May 20, 2015 |website=The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Foundation |access-date=December 11, 2019 |archive-date=December 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213021047/https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-timeline#1900 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="JSTOR Daily 2017" /> However, there is scant evidence that this was common practice.<ref name="Stakely p. 14" /> Little Oyster Island was acquired by Samuel Ellis, a colonial New Yorker and merchant from [[Wrexham]], Wales, in 1774; the island was ultimately named for him.<ref name="Moreno (2004) p. 72">{{harvnb|ps=.|Moreno|2004|p=72}}</ref> He unsuccessfully attempted to sell the island nine years later.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Market Book. Containing a Historical Account of the Public Markets in the Cities of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn. With a Brief Description of Every Article of Human Food Sold Therein |url=https://archive.org/details/marketbookconta00voegoog |publisher=Author |last=De Voe |first=T.F. |year=1862 |page=[https://archive.org/details/marketbookconta00voegoog/page/n321 315] |access-date=June 4, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Stakely p. 16">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=16}}</ref> Ellis died in 1794,<ref name="Moreno (2004) p. 72" /><ref name="Stakely p. 16" /><ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/ellis-island-chronology.htm |title=Ellis Island Chronology |website=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |access-date=June 4, 2019 |archive-date=June 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190615144909/https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/ellis-island-chronology.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and as per his will, the ownership of Ellis Island passed to his daughter Catherine Westervelt's unborn son, who was also named Samuel. When the junior Samuel died shortly after birth, ownership passed to the senior Samuel's other two daughters, Elizabeth Ryerson and Rachel Cooder.<ref name="Stakely p. 16" /><ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" />

===Military use and Fort Gibson===
Ellis Island was also used by the military for almost 80 years.<ref name="NPS-places_colonial_early_american">{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/places_colonial_early_american.htm |title=Colonial and Early American New York |date=February 26, 2015 |website=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |access-date=June 4, 2019 |archive-date=June 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614215632/https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/places_colonial_early_american.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 centers such as New York Harbor.<ref>{{cite book |last=Novak |first=Liza |date=July 21, 2010 |url=https://archive.org/stream/culturallandscap10nati#page/n1/mode/2up |title=Cultural Landscape Report for Governors Island National Monument |publisher=[[United States Department of the Interior]], [[National Park Service]] |page=30 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{sfn|Smith|1913|p=54}}A small part of Ellis Island from "the soil from high to low waters mark around Ellis's Island" was owned by the city. On April 21, 1794, the city deeded that land to the state for public defense purposes.<ref name="Stakely p. 16" /><ref name="GPO-1963">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XapGAQAAIAAJ |title=United States Congressional serial set |author=United States Congress |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1963 |access-date=June 4, 2019 |issue=v. 12532}}</ref> The following year, the state allotted $100,000 for fortifications on Bedloe's, Ellis, and [[Governors Island]]s,<ref name="Stakely p. 16" /> as well as the construction of [[Castle Clinton|Castle Garden]] (now Castle Clinton<ref>{{cite web |title=History & Culture |website=Castle Clinton National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |date=March 24, 2010 |url=https://www.nps.gov/cacl/learn/historyculture/index.htm |access-date=January 6, 2020 |archive-date=August 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815012434/https://www.nps.gov/cacl/learn/historyculture/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>) along [[The Battery (Manhattan)|the Battery]] on Manhattan island.<ref name="Stakely p. 16" /> Batteries and magazines were built on Ellis Island in preparation for a war.<ref>{{cite book |title=American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States |publisher=Gales and Seaton |year=1832 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanstatepap_e01unit |series=Volume 1, Military Affairs |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanstatepap_e01unit/page/193 193] |access-date=June 4, 2019}}</ref> A [[jetty]] was added to the northwestern extremity of the island, possibly from soil excavated from an inlet at the northeastern corner; the inlet was infilled by 1813.<ref name="Stakely p. 16" /> Though the military threat never materialized, further preparations were made in the late 1790s, when the [[Quasi War]] sparked fears of war with France;<ref name="Stakely p. 16" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 11">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=11}}</ref> these new preparations were supervised by [[Ebenezer Stevens]].<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" />{{sfn|Smith|1913|pp=153–154}} The military conflict also failed to occur, and by 1805, the fort had become run down.<ref name="Stakely p. 18">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=18}}</ref>

Stevens, who observed that the Ellis family still owned most of the island, suggested selling off the land to the federal government.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /> Samuel Ryerson, one of Samuel Ellis's grandsons, deeded the island to John A. Berry in 1806.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Moreno|2004|p=xxii}}</ref><ref name="GPO-1963" /> The remaining portion of the island was acquired by condemnation the next year, and it was ceded to the United States on June 30, 1808, for $10,000.<ref name="NPS-places_colonial_early_american" /><ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 11" /><ref name="Logan-McCarten" /> Lieutenant Colonel [[Jonathan Williams (engineer)|Jonathan Williams]], placed in charge of New York Harbor defenses in the early 1800s, proposed several new fortifications around the harbor as part of the [[Seacoast defense in the United States#Second system|Second System]] of fortifications. The new fortifications included increased firepower and improved weaponry.{{sfn|Smith|1913|pp=55–56}}<ref name="HSR Main p. 11" /> The [[United States Department of War|War Department]] established a circular stone 14-gun [[Artillery battery|battery]], a mortar battery (possibly of six mortars), [[Magazine (artillery)|magazine]], and [[barracks]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wade |first1=Arthur P. |title=Artillerists and Engineers: The Beginnings of American Seacoast Fortifications, 1794–1815 |publisher=CDSG Press |year=2011 |page=243 |isbn=978-0-9748167-2-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Fort Gibson |website=New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs |url=http://dmna.state.ny.us/forts/fortsE_L/gibsonFort.htm |access-date=June 3, 2019 |date=October 1, 2002 |archive-date=October 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019190829/http://dmna.state.ny.us/forts/fortsE_L/gibsonFort.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=New York Forts: page 6 |website=North American Forts |url=http://www.northamericanforts.com/East/nycity2.html#gibson |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=April 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402070314/https://www.northamericanforts.com/East/nycity2.html#gibson |url-status=live }}</ref> The fort was initially called Crown Fort, but by the end of the [[War of 1812]] the battery was named Fort Gibson, in honor of Colonel James Gibson of the 4th Regiment of Riflemen, who was killed in the war during the [[Siege of Fort Erie]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Robert B. |title=Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States |publisher=Macmillan |year=1988 |pages=554–555 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-02-926880-3}}</ref><ref name="NPS-places_colonial_early_american" /> The fort was not used in combat during the war, and instead served as a barracks for the [[11th Infantry Regiment (United States)#War of 1812|11th Regiment]], as well as a jail for British prisoners of war.<ref name="Stakely p. 18" />
[[File:(King1893NYC) pg087 ELLIS-ISLAND IMMIGRANT STATION.jpg|thumb|right|Ellis Island buildings circa 1893]]

Immediately after the end of the War of 1812, Fort Gibson was largely used as a recruiting depot. The fort went into decline due to under-use, and it was being jointly administered by the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] and [[United States Navy|Navy]] by the mid-1830s.<ref name="Stakely p. 18" /> Around this time, in 1834, the extant portions of Ellis Island was declared to be an exclave of New York within the waters of New Jersey.<ref name="nyt19980527" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 11" /><ref name="Stakely p. 18" /> The era of joint administration was short-lived: the Army took over the fort's administration in 1841, demoted the fort to an artillery battery, and stopped [[garrison]]ing the fort, leaving a small Navy guard outside the magazine. By 1854, Battery Gibson contained an 11-gun battery, three naval magazines, a short railroad line, and several auxiliary structures such as a [[cookhouse]], gun carriage house, and officers' quarters.<ref name="Stakely p. 19">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=19}}</ref> The Army continued to maintain the fort until 1860, when it abandoned the weapons at Battery Gibson.<ref name="HSR Main p. 11" /><ref name="nyt18860509" /> The artillery magazine was expanded in 1861, during the [[American Civil War]], and part of the parapet was removed.<ref name="Stakely p. 19" />

At the end of the Civil War, the fort declined again, this time to an extent that the weaponry was rendered unusable.<ref name="Stakely p. 19" /> Through the 1870s, the Navy built additional buildings for its artillery magazine on Ellis Island,<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=20}}</ref> eventually constructing 11 buildings in total.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1889/10/20/archives/an-island-of-explosives-where-the-navy-stores-its-gunpowder-big.html |title=An Island of Explosives; Where the Navy Stores Its Gunpowder. Big Magazines on Ellis Island in New-York Bay—Precautions Against Accidental Explosions. |date=October 20, 1889 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605150016/https://www.nytimes.com/1889/10/20/archives/an-island-of-explosives-where-the-navy-stores-its-gunpowder-big.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Complaints about the island's magazines started to form, and by the 1870s, ''The New York Sun'' was publishing "alarming reports" about the magazines.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /> The guns were ordered removed in 1881, and the island passed under the complete control of the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance.<ref name="nyt18860509">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1886/05/09/archives/the-story-of-ellis-island-interesting-incidents-of-life-in-a.html |title=The Story of Ellis Island.; Interesting Incidents of Life in a Government Powder Magazine. |date=May 9, 1886 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605150022/https://www.nytimes.com/1886/05/09/archives/the-story-of-ellis-island-interesting-incidents-of-life-in-a.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===First immigration station===
[[File:JudgeMagazine22Mar1890.jpg|thumb|right|upright|190px|Anti-immigrant cartoon expressing opposition to the construction of Ellis Island (''[[Judge (magazine)|Judge]]'', March 22, 1890)<br />''"Mr. Windom, if you are going to make this island a garbage heap, I am returning to France"'']]
The Army had unsuccessfully attempted to use Ellis Island "for the convalescence for immigrants" as early as 1847.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /> Across New York Harbor, [[Castle Clinton]] had been used as an immigration station since 1855, processing more than eight million immigrants during that time.<ref name="NPS-places_immigration">{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/places_immigration.htm |title=Immigration |date=December 17, 1900 |website=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |access-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-date=May 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501173252/https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/places_immigration.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/battery-park/history |title=The Battery Highlights: NYC Parks |date=June 26, 1939 |website=New York City Department of Parks & Recreation |access-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-date=November 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091129170108/http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=7712 |url-status=live }}</ref> The individual states had their own varying immigration laws until 1875, but the federal government regarded Castle Clinton as having "varied charges of mismanagement, abuse of immigrants, and evasion of the laws", and as such, wanted it to be completely replaced.<ref name="Stakely p. 27">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=27}}</ref> The federal government assumed control of immigration in early 1890 and commissioned a study to determine the best place for the new immigration station in New York Harbor.<ref name="Stakely p. 27" /> Among members of the [[United States Congress]], there were disputes about whether to build the station on Ellis, Governors, or Liberty Islands. Initially, Liberty Island was selected as the site for the immigration station,<ref name="Stakely p. 27" /> but due to opposition for immigration stations on both Liberty and Governors Islands, the committee eventually decided to build the station on Ellis Island.{{Efn|The opposition to an immigration station on Liberty Island stemmed from the fact that the [[Statue of Liberty]] would be built there, while Governors Island was still an active military fort.<ref name="Stakely p. 28" />}}<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1890/03/25/archives/in-favor-of-ellis-island-uncle-sam-and-the-immigration-problem-the.html |title=In Favor of Ellis Island; Uncle Sam and the Immigration Problem |date=March 25, 1890 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605150023/https://www.nytimes.com/1890/03/25/archives/in-favor-of-ellis-island-uncle-sam-and-the-immigration-problem-the.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Since Castle Clinton's lease was about to expire, Congress approved a bill to build an immigration station on Ellis Island.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1187989/ |title=Ellis Island for the Immigrants |date=April 6, 1890 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=1 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref>

On April 11, 1890, the federal government ordered the magazine at Ellis Island be torn down to make way for the U.S.'s first federal immigration station at the site.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 3" /> The [[United States Department of the Treasury|Department of the Treasury]], which was in charge of constructing federal buildings in the U.S.,<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 142">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=14}}</ref> officially took control of the island that May 24.<ref name="Stakely p. 28">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=28}}</ref> Congress initially allotted $75,000 ({{inflation|index=US|value=75000|start_year=1890|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) to construct the station and later doubled that appropriation.<ref name="NPS-Fact-Sheet" /><ref name="Stakely p. 28" /> While the building was under construction, the Barge Office at the Battery was used for immigrant processing.<ref name="HSR Main p. 12">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=12}}</ref> During construction, most of the old Battery Gibson buildings were demolished, and Ellis Island's land size was almost doubled to {{cvt|6|acre|ha}}.<ref name="Ralph1891">{{cite magazine |last=Ralph |first=Julian |year=1891 |title=Landing the Immigrant |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zkJaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA821 |magazine=Harper's Weekly |series=Library of American civilization |volume=35 |page=821 |access-date=June 5, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 142" /> The main structure was a two-story structure of [[Pinus palustris|Georgia Pine]],<ref name="HSR Main p. 12" /><ref name="EI-EIS p. 5">{{harvnb|ps=.|Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island EIS|2005|p=5}}</ref> which was described in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' as "a latterday watering place hotel" measuring {{cvt|400|by|150|ft|m}}.<ref name="Ralph1891" /> Its outbuildings included a hospital, detention building, laundry building, and utility plant that were all made of wood. Some of the former stone magazine structures were reused for utilities and offices. Additionally, a [[ferry slip]] with [[Breakwater (structure)|breakwater]] was built to the south of Ellis Island.<ref name="HSR Main p. 12" /><ref name="Ralph1891" /><ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /> Following further expansion, the island measured {{cvt|11|acre|ha}} by the end of 1892.<ref name="Stakely p. 28" />
[[File:Ellis Island First Bldg Burnt 15-June-1897.jpg|thumb|left|First Ellis Island Immigrant Station, built in 1892 and destroyed 1897]]

The station opened on January 1, 1892,<ref name="Ellis Island Foundation, 2000" /><ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="nyt18920102">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1892/01/02/archives/landed-on-ellis-island-new-immigration-buildings-opened-yesterday-a.html |title=Landed on Ellis Island; New Immigration Buildings Opened Yesterday |date=January 2, 1892 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605150021/https://www.nytimes.com/1892/01/02/archives/landed-on-ellis-island-new-immigration-buildings-opened-yesterday-a.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The First to Land |date=January 2, 1892 |work=Democrat and Chronicle |location=Rochester, NY |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24069185/newspaper_article_about_the_first_group/ |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=1 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607003611/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24069185/newspaper_article_about_the_first_group/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and its first immigrant was [[Annie Moore (immigrant)|Annie Moore]], a 17-year-old girl from [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Ireland, who was traveling with her two brothers to meet their parents in the U.S.<ref name="AMNY-Facts" /><ref name="nyt18920102" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passRecord.asp?pID=604534030002&MID=02806987110023700416& |title=Passenger Record: Annie Moore |work=The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation |access-date=April 24, 2013 |archive-date=May 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521072930/http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passRecord.asp?pID=604534030002&MID=02806987110023700416& |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5194366/ |title=First Foot on Ellis Island |date=January 2, 1892 |work=New York Sun |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=2 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> On the first day, almost 700 immigrants passed over the docks.<ref name="Stakely p. 28" /> Over the next year, over 400,000 immigrants were processed at the station.{{Efn|The cited figures may run as high as 480,000.<ref name="NYTimes-Stats-1893" />}}<ref name="HSR Main p. 13">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=13}}</ref><ref name="NYTimes-Stats-1893">{{Cite news |title=Immigrants of a Year.; Some Statistics from Landing Agent Moore of Ellis Island |date=January 1, 1893 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1893/01/01/archives/immigrants-of-a-year-some-statistics-from-landing-agent-moore-of.html |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606001109/https://www.nytimes.com/1893/01/01/archives/immigrants-of-a-year-some-statistics-from-landing-agent-moore-of.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The processing procedure included a [[#Inspection lines|series of medical and mental inspection lines]], and through this process, some 1% of potential immigrants were deported.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gateway of the Continent |date=January 5, 1896 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20781025/ |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=9 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> Additional building improvements took place throughout the mid-1890s,<ref name="Stakely p. 29">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=29}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32294070/ |title=Ellis Island's Crowds |date=April 17, 1896 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=7 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1896/08/20/archives/improvements-at-ellis-island.html |title=Improvements at Ellis Island |date=August 20, 1896 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606001108/https://www.nytimes.com/1896/08/20/archives/improvements-at-ellis-island.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and Ellis Island was expanded to {{cvt|14|acre|ha}} by 1896. The last improvements, which entailed the installation of underwater telephone and telegraph cables to Governors Island, were completed in early June 1897.<ref name="Stakely p. 29" /> On June 15, 1897, the wooden structures on Ellis Island were razed in a fire of unknown origin. While there were no casualties, the wooden buildings had completely burned down after two hours, and all immigration records from 1855 had been destroyed.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 13" /><ref name="Stakely p. 29" /><ref>{{Cite news |title=Fire on Ellis Island; It Broke Out Shortly After Midnight in the Furnace of the Main Building |date=June 15, 1897 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1897/06/15/archives/fire-on-ellis-island-it-broke-out-shortly-after-midnight-in-the.html |access-date=March 22, 2018 |archive-date=March 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322082149/https://www.nytimes.com/1897/06/15/archives/fire-on-ellis-island-it-broke-out-shortly-after-midnight-in-the.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Over five years of operation, the station had processed 1.5&nbsp;million immigrants.<ref name="HSR Main p. 13" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 142" />

===Second immigration station===
====Design and construction====
Following the fire, passenger arrivals were again processed at the Barge Office, which was soon unable to handle the large volume of immigrants.<ref name="NPS-places_immigration" /><ref name="Stakely p. 322" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984b|pp=215–216}}</ref> Within three days of the fire, the federal government made plans to build a new, fireproof immigration station.<ref name="NPS-places_immigration" /><ref name="Stakely p. 322">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=32}}</ref> Legislation to rebuild the station was approved on June 30, 1897,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1897/06/30/archives/to-restore-ellis-island-action-taken-by-the-treasury-department-and.html |title=To Restore Ellis Island; Action Taken by The Treasury Department and Congress. |date=June 30, 1897 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606004124/https://www.nytimes.com/1897/06/30/archives/to-restore-ellis-island-action-taken-by-the-treasury-department-and.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and appropriations were made in mid-July.<ref name="Stakely p. 37">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=37}}</ref> By September, the Treasury's [[Office of the Supervising Architect for the U.S. Treasury|Supervising Architect]], [[James Knox Taylor]], opened an architecture competition to rebuild the immigration station.<ref name="Stakely p. 37" /> The competition was the second to be conducted under the [[Tarsney Act]] of 1893, which had permitted private architects to design federal buildings, rather than government architects in the Supervising Architect's office.<ref name="HSR Main p. 13" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 15">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=15}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Antoinette J. |title=Architects to the Nation: The Rise and Decline of the Supervising Architect's Office |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-19-535186-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjDZz87NF8AC&pg=PA197 |access-date=December 11, 2019 |page=197}}</ref> The contest rules specified that a "main building with annexes" and a "hospital building", both made of fireproof materials, should be part of each nomination.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 15" /> Furthermore, the buildings had to be able to host a daily average of 1,000 and maximum of 4,000 immigrants.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 16">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=16}}</ref>[[File:Ellis Island in 1905.jpg|thumb|Second Ellis Island Immigration Station (opened 1900) as seen in 1905|alt= |left]]Several prominent architectural firms filed proposals,<ref name="Stakely p. 37" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 16" /><ref name="n32307207">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32307207/ |title=New Landing Station |date=March 6, 1898 |work=New York World |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=11 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> and by December, it was announced that [[Edward Lippincott Tilton]] and [[William A. Boring]] had won the competition.<ref name="HSR Main p. 13" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1897/12/08/archives/ellis-island-plans-accepted.html |title=Ellis Island Plans Accepted |date=December 8, 1897 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606004122/https://www.nytimes.com/1897/12/08/archives/ellis-island-plans-accepted.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Tilton and Boring's plan called for four new structures: a main building in the [[French Renaissance architecture|French Renaissance]] style, as well as the kitchen/laundry building, powerhouse, and the [[Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital|main hospital building]].<ref name="Stakely p. 37" /><ref name="n32307207" /><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Mausolf |first1=Lisa B. |title=Edward Lippincott Tilton: A Monograph on His Architectural Practice |url=https://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/documents/etilton_monograph.pdf |year=2007 |access-date=September 28, 2011 |last2=Hengen |first2=Elizabeth Durfee |archive-date=June 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609173440/https://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/documents/etilton_monograph.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nyt18980128">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1898/01/28/archives/a-palace-for-immigrants-new-york-design-for-the-new-buildings-of.html |title=A Palace for Immigrants; New York Design for the New Buildings of the Ellis Island Station Accepted |date=January 28, 1898 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606142650/https://www.nytimes.com/1898/01/28/archives/a-palace-for-immigrants-new-york-design-for-the-new-buildings-of.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The plan also included the creation of a new island called island 2, upon which the hospital would be built, south of the existing island (now Ellis Island's north side).<ref name="Stakely p. 37" /><ref name="n32307207" /> A construction contract was awarded to the R. H. Hood Company in August 1898, with the expectation that construction would be completed within a year,<ref name="Stakely pp. 38-39">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|pp=38–39}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y4_xrl_Y4h8C&pg=PA787-IA1 |title=Bulletin of the Department of Labor |author=United States. Department of Labor |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1899 |page=787–IA1 |access-date=June 6, 2019 |issue=v. 14–19 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133235/https://books.google.com/books?id=y4_xrl_Y4h8C&pg=PA787-IA1#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32307907/ |title=Contract Let To R.H. Hood |date=August 13, 1898 |work=Brooklyn Standard-Union |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=1 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133208/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-standard-union-contract-let-to-rh/32307907/ |url-status=live }}</ref> but the project encountered delays because of various obstacles and disagreements between the federal government and the Hood Company.<ref name="Stakely pp. 38-39" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32307857/ |title=Queer Management |date=June 5, 1899 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=16 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133237/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle-queer-managemen/32307857/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A separate contract to build the {{cvt|3.33|acre|ha|adj=on}} island 2 had to be approved by the War Department because it was in New Jersey's waters; that contract was completed in December 1898.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=42}}</ref> The construction costs ultimately totaled $1.5&nbsp;million.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" />

====Early expansions====
[[File:Arriving at Ellis Island LCCN2014710704.jpg|thumb|[[European emigration|European immigrants]] arriving at Ellis Island, 1915]]
The new immigration station opened on December 17, 1900, without ceremony. On that day, 2,251 immigrants were processed.<ref name="HSR Main p. 13" /><ref name="n32308238">{{cite news |title=Again at Ellis Island |date=December 17, 1900 |work=New-York Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32308238/ |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=3 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133319/https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-again-at-ellis-island/32308238/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Stakely p. 40">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=40}}</ref> Almost immediately, additional projects commenced to improve the main structure, including an entrance canopy, baggage conveyor, and railroad ticket office. The kitchen/laundry and powerhouse started construction in May 1900 and were completed by the end of 1901.<ref name="Stakely p. 40" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 37">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=37}}</ref> A ferry house was also built between islands 1 and 2 {{Circa|1901}}.<ref name="Stakely p. 44" /> The hospital, originally slated to be opened in 1899, was not completed until November 1901, mainly due to various funding delays and construction disputes.<ref name="Stakely p. 43">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=43}}</ref> The facilities proved barely able to handle the flood of immigrants that arrived, and as early as 1903, immigrants had to remain in their transatlantic boats for several days due to inspection backlogs.<ref name="HSR Main p. 15">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=15}}</ref><ref name="Stakely p. 41" /> Several wooden buildings were erected by 1903, including waiting rooms and a 700-bed barracks,<ref name="Stakely p. 41">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=41}}</ref> and by 1904, over a million dollars' worth of improvements were proposed.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1904/01/16/archives/million-for-ellis-island-secretary-of-commerce-asks-that-sum-for.html |title=Million for Ellis Island; Secretary of Commerce Asks That Sum for Extensive Improvements. |date=January 16, 1904 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=August 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818064501/https://www.nytimes.com/1904/01/16/archives/million-for-ellis-island-secretary-of-commerce-asks-that-sum-for.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The hospital was expanded from 125 to 250 beds in February 1907, and a new psychopathic ward debuted in November of the same year. Also constructed was an administration building adjacent to the hospital.<ref name="Stakely p. 44">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=44}}</ref><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 25">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=25}}</ref>

Immigration commissioner [[William Williams (commissioner)|William Williams]] made substantial changes to Ellis Island's operations, and during his tenure from 1902 to 1905 and 1909–1913, Ellis Island processed its peak number of immigrants.<ref name="HSR Main p. 15" /> Williams also made changes to the island's appearance, adding plants and grading paths upon the once-barren landscape of Ellis Island.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|pp=45–46}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Ellis Island Improved; Commissioner Williams's Pleasing Landscape Gardening |date=July 12, 1903 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1903/07/12/archives/ellis-island-improved-commissioner-williamss-pleasing-landscape.html |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607023943/https://www.nytimes.com/1903/07/12/archives/ellis-island-improved-commissioner-williamss-pleasing-landscape.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Under Williams's supervision, a {{cvt|4.75|acre|ha|adj=on}} third island was built to accommodate a proposed contagious-diseases ward, separated from existing facilities by {{cvt|200|ft|m}} of water.<ref name="Stakely pp. 48–49">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|pp=48–49}}</ref><ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 25" /> Island 3, as it was called, was located to the south of island 2 and separated from that island by a now-infilled ferry basin.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /> The government bought the underwater area for island 3 from New Jersey in 1904,<ref name="Stakely pp. 48–49" /><ref>{{Cite news |title=New Island in the Bay; Government Buys Plot Under Water Adjoining Ellis Island |date=December 18, 1904 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1904/12/18/archives/new-island-in-the-bay-government-buys-plot-under-water-adjoining.html |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607013657/https://www.nytimes.com/1904/12/18/archives/new-island-in-the-bay-government-buys-plot-under-water-adjoining.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and a contract was awarded in April 1905.<ref name="Stakely pp. 48–49" /> The islands were all connected via a cribwalk on their western sides (later covered with wood canopy), giving Ellis Island an overall "E"-shape.<ref name="NPS-Map" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=24}}</ref> Upon the completion of island 3 in 1906, Ellis Island covered {{cvt|20.25|acre|ha}}.<ref name="Stakely p. 51">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=51}}</ref> A baggage and dormitory building was completed {{Circa|1908–1909}},<ref name="HSR Main p. 15" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 25" /><ref name="Stakely p. 57">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=57|pp=57–58}}</ref> and the main hospital was expanded in 1909.<ref name="Stakely pp. 62-63">{{harvnb|Stakely|2003|ps=.|pp=62–63}}</ref> Alterations were made to the registry building and dormitories as well, but even this was insufficient to accommodate the high volume of immigrants.<ref name="HSR Main p. 162">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=16}}</ref> In 1911, Williams alleged that Congress had allocated too little for improvements to Ellis Island,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/07/11/archives/needs-of-ellis-island-commissioner-williams-says-congress-gives-too.html |title=Needs of Ellis Island; Commissioner Williams Says Congress Gives Too Little Money for Improvements |date=July 11, 1911 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607023846/https://www.nytimes.com/1911/07/11/archives/needs-of-ellis-island-commissioner-williams-says-congress-gives-too.html |url-status=live }}</ref> even though the improvement budget that year was $868,000.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2764047/ |title=14,500 Aliens Sent From Ellis Island |date=November 13, 1911 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=7 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133342/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle-baggage-and-dor/2764047/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:(Inspection room, Ellis Island, New York, N.Y.) (LOC).jpg|thumb|The main building's registry room]]

Additional improvements and routine maintenance work were completed in the early 1910s.<ref name="Stakely p. 57" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 162" /> A greenhouse was built in 1910,<ref name="Stakely p. 57" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 702">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=70}}</ref> and the contagious-diseases ward on island 3 opened the following June.<ref name="Stakely p. 65">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=65}}</ref><ref name="HSR Main p. 162" /> In addition, the incinerator was replaced in 1911,<ref name="Stakely pp. 62-63" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 25" /> and a recreation center operated by the [[American Red Cross]] was also built on island 2 by 1915.<ref name="Stakely pp. 62-63" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 702" /> These facilities generally followed the design set by Tilton and Boring.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 25" /> When the [[Black Tom explosion]] occurred on Black Tom Island in 1916, the complex suffered moderate damage; though all immigrants were evacuated safely, the main building's roof collapsed, and windows were broken. The main building's roof was replaced with a [[Guastavino tile|Guastavino-tiled]] arched ceiling by 1918.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/black-tom-wwi.htm |title=Domestic Sabotage: The Explosion at Black Tom Island |date=July 30, 1916 |website=NPS.gov Homepage |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607144540/https://www.nps.gov/articles/black-tom-wwi.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=$45,000,000 Loss From Explosion In Wide Radius |date=July 31, 1916 |work=New-York Tribune |page=3 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24361048/ |access-date=June 5, 2019 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133245/https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune/24361048/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="HSR Main p. 17">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=17}}</ref> The immigration station was temporarily closed during [[World War I]] in 1917–1919, during which the facilities were used as a jail for suspected enemy combatants, and later as a treatment center for wounded American soldiers. Immigration inspections were conducted aboard ships or at docks.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="Stakely pp. 62-63" /><ref name="nyt19180224">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1918/02/24/archives/ellis-island-war-hospital.html |title=Ellis Island War Hospital |date=February 24, 1918 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607023648/https://www.nytimes.com/1918/02/24/archives/ellis-island-war-hospital.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="HSR Main p. 17" /> During the war, immigration processing at Ellis Island declined by 97%, from 878,000 immigrants per year in 1914 to 26,000 per year in 1919.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|pp=734–735}}</ref>

Ellis Island's immigration station was reopened in 1920, and processing had rebounded to 560,000 immigrants per year by 1921.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 18">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=18}}</ref> There were still ample complaints about the inadequate condition of Ellis Island's facilities.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1920/12/06/archives/plea-to-cure-evils-at-ellis-island-enlarged-buildings-and-larger.html |title=Plea To Cure Evils At Ellis Island; Enlarged Buildings and Larger Staff Asked to Handle Immigrants |date=December 6, 1920 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607144544/https://www.nytimes.com/1920/12/06/archives/plea-to-cure-evils-at-ellis-island-enlarged-buildings-and-larger.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Getting the Right Start on the Road to Citizenship; Americanization's First Opportunity Is At Ellis Island |last=Pitney |first=Fred B. |date=August 15, 1920 |work=New-York Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32376856/ |access-date=October 7, 2022 |pages=51, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32376971/ 52] |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133213/https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-tribune-getting-the-right-start/32376856/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, despite a request for $5.6&nbsp;million in appropriations in 1921,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1921/01/15/archives/asks-5600000-for-ellis-island.html |title=Asks $5,600,000 for Ellis Island. |date=January 15, 1921 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607144536/https://www.nytimes.com/1921/01/15/archives/asks-5600000-for-ellis-island.html |url-status=live }}</ref> aid was slow to materialize, and initial improvement work was restricted to smaller projects such as the infilling of the basin between islands 2 and 3.<ref name="Stakely p. 75">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=75}}</ref><ref name="HSR Main p. 18" /> Other improvements included rearranging features such as staircases to improve pedestrian flow.<ref name="Stakely p. 75" /> These projects were supported by president [[Calvin Coolidge]], who in 1924 requested that Congress approve $300,000 in appropriations for the island.<ref name="Stakely p. 75" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/01/23/archives/300000-asked-for-ellis-island-president-transmits-to-congress-the.html |title=$300,000 Asked for Ellis Island; President Transmits to Congress the Budget Director's Items to Remedy Conditions. |date=January 23, 1924 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607144539/https://www.nytimes.com/1924/01/23/archives/300000-asked-for-ellis-island-president-transmits-to-congress-the.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The allocations were not received until the late 1920s.<ref name="Stakely p. 75" />

====Conversion to detention center====
[[File:Radicals awaiting deportation.jpg|thumb|right|''"[[Communism|Reds]], anarchists, [[Political radicalism|radicals]]"'' awaiting deportation, 1920]]
With the passing of the [[Emergency Quota Act]] of 1921, the number of immigrants being allowed into the United States declined greatly, ending the era of mass immigration.<ref name="history.com">{{Cite web |url=http://www.history.com/topics/ellis-island |title=Ellis Island – Facts & Summary |website=History.com |access-date=November 17, 2016 |archive-date=June 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623222038/https://www.history.com/topics/ellis-island |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 19" /> Following the [[Immigration Act of 1924]], strict immigration quotas were enacted, and Ellis Island was downgraded from a primary inspection center to an immigrant-detention center, hosting only those that were to be detained or deported (see {{Section link||Mass detentions and deportations}}).<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 19">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=19}}</ref><ref name="Jaynes1985">{{Cite magazine |last=Jaynes |first=Gregory |title=American Scene: From Ellis Island to Lax |magazine=Time |date=July 8, 1985 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959576-4,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629024607/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959576-4,00.html  |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |access-date=June 11, 2019}}</ref> Final inspections were now instead conducted on board ships in New York Harbor. The [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]] further decreased immigration, as people were now discouraged from immigrating to the U.S.<ref name="HSR Main p. 19" /> Because of the resulting decline in patient counts, the hospital closed in 1930.<ref name="Forgotten">{{cite news |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/ellis-islands-forgotten-hospital/ |title=Ellis Island's Forgotten Hospital |last=Chan |first=Sewell |date=October 26, 2011 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=December 27, 2011 |archive-date=January 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118072451/http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/ellis-islands-forgotten-hospital/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nyt19980322">{{cite web |last=Haberman |first=Clyde |title=The Other Ellis Island |website=The New York Times |date=March 22, 1998 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/22/magazine/the-other-ellis-island.html |access-date=June 11, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608221116/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/22/magazine/the-other-ellis-island.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Johnson 2007">{{cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remembering-the-dark-side-of-ellis-island/ |title=Remembering The Dark Side Of Ellis Island |last=Johnson |first=Caitlin |date=June 1, 2007 |work=CBS News |access-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606001058/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/remembering-the-dark-side-of-ellis-island/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Edward Corsi, who himself was an immigrant, became Ellis Island commissioner in 1931 and commenced an improvement program for the island. The initial improvements were utilitarian, focusing on such aspects as sewage, incineration, and power generation.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|pp=78–79}}</ref><ref name="HSR Main pp. 20-21">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|pp=20–21}}</ref> In 1933, a federal committee led by the [[United States Secretary of Labor|Secretary of Labor]], [[Frances Perkins]], was established to determine what operations and facilities needed improvement.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/06/23/archives/committee-named-on-ellis-island-miss-perkins-appoints-42-to.html |title=Committee Named on Ellis Island; Miss Perkins Appoints 42 to Investigate Conditions Facing Immigrants |date=June 23, 1933 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607144537/https://www.nytimes.com/1933/06/23/archives/committee-named-on-ellis-island-miss-perkins-appoints-42-to.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The committee's report, released in 1934, suggested the construction of a new class-segregated immigration building, recreation center, ferry house, verandas, and doctors/nurses' quarters, as well as the installation of a new seawall around the island.<ref name="Stakely p. 80">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=80}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32378881/ |title=3 New Buildings To Be Erected For Ellis Island Aliens |date=April 1, 1934 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=36 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref><ref name="Robins Urbanelli pp. 26–272">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|pp=26–27}}</ref> These works were undertaken using [[Public Works Administration]] funding and [[Works Progress Administration]] labor, and were completed by the late 1930s. As part of the project, the surgeon's house and recreation center were demolished,<ref name="Stakely p. 43" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 702" /> and [[Edward Laning]] commissioned some murals for the island's buildings.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|pp=952–953}}</ref> Other improvements included the demolition of the greenhouse, the completion of the infilling of the basin between islands 2 and 3, and various landscaping activities such as the installation of walkways and plants.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|pp=87–88}}</ref><ref name="Robins Urbanelli pp. 26–272" /> However, because of the steep decline in immigration, the immigration building went underused for several years, and it started to deteriorate.<ref name="Stakely p. 80" /><ref name="HSR Main pp. 20-21" />

With the start of [[World War II]] in 1939, Ellis Island was again used by the military, this time being used as a [[United States Coast Guard]] base.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|pp=822–824}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/10/31/archives/ellis-island-to-get-coast-guard.html |title=Ellis Island to Get Coast Guard |date=October 31, 1939 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607144541/https://www.nytimes.com/1939/10/31/archives/ellis-island-to-get-coast-guard.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Stakely p. 83">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=83}}</ref> As during World War I, the facilities were used to detain enemy soldiers in addition to immigrants, and the hospital was used for treating injured American soldiers.<ref name="Stakely p. 83" /> So many combatants were detained at Ellis Island that administrative offices were moved to mainland Manhattan in 1943, and Ellis Island was used solely for detainment.<ref name="HSR Main pp. 20-21" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/04/11/archives/immigration-work-is-consolidated-here-ellis-island-solely-for.html |title=Immigration Work Is Consolidated Here; Ellis Island Solely for Custody of Aliens |date=April 11, 1943 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607150050/https://www.nytimes.com/1943/04/11/archives/immigration-work-is-consolidated-here-ellis-island-solely-for.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:ArnePettersenEllisIsland.jpg|thumb|Mug shot of Arne Pettersen, taken June 16, 1944{{efn|In this photograph, Pettersen's middle name is misspelled as having the initial "O", when it is actually "P".}}|190px]]

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 center.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32379183/ |title=Economy Plan May Close Ellis Island |date=June 16, 1947 |work=Ithaca Journal |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=9 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> 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.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=92}}</ref><ref name="n32421643">{{cite news |title=U.S. Will Move All Ellis Island Immigration Facilities to Manhattan |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32421643/ |date=July 29, 1954 |work=Press and Sun-Bulletin |access-date=June 5, 2019 |location=Binghamton, NY |page=4 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> The island's closure was announced in mid-1954, when the federal government announced that it would construct a replacement facility on Manhattan.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Ellis Island to Go as Alien Station; Service Now Needs Smaller Quarters |date=June 3, 1954 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/06/03/archives/ellis-island-to-go-as-alien-station-service-now-needs-smaller.html |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607235747/https://www.nytimes.com/1954/06/03/archives/ellis-island-to-go-as-alien-station-service-now-needs-smaller.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="n32421643" /> Ellis Island closed on November 12, 1954, with the departure of its last detainee, Norwegian merchant seaman [[Arne Pettersen]], who had been arrested for overstaying his shore leave.<ref name="nyt19541113">{{Cite news |title=Ellis Island Ends Alien Processing; Last Detained Person Leaves |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/11/13/archives/ellis-island-ends-alien-processing-last-detained-person-leaves.html |date=November 13, 1954 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607235745/https://www.nytimes.com/1954/11/13/archives/ellis-island-ends-alien-processing-last-detained-person-leaves.html |url-status=live }}</ref> At the time, it was estimated that the government would save $900,000 a year from closing the island.<ref name="nyt19541113" /> The ferryboat ''Ellis Island'', which had operated since 1904, stopped operating two weeks later.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/11/30/archives/ellis-island-boat-makes-last-trip-after-million-miles-on-harbor-run.html |title=Ellis Island Boat Makes Last Trip After Million Miles on Harbor Run |date=November 30, 1954 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608164052/https://www.nytimes.com/1954/11/30/archives/ellis-island-boat-makes-last-trip-after-million-miles-on-harbor-run.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Post-closure===
====Initial redevelopment plans====
[[File:Ellis Island Complex.jpg|thumb|left|Seen from east. From left to right: contagious diseases ward; lawn; hospital; ferry basin; main building, kitchen, dormitory, and immigration building]]
After the immigration station closed, the buildings fell into disrepair and were abandoned,<ref name="nyt19640716">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/07/16/archives/once-teeming-ellis-island-bleak-and-crumbling-is-now-the-home-of-a.html |title=Once Teeming Ellis Island, Bleak and Crumbling, Is Now the Home of a Lone Black Dog |date=July 16, 1964 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607235746/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/07/16/archives/once-teeming-ellis-island-bleak-and-crumbling-is-now-the-home-of-a.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[General Services Administration]] (GSA) took over the island in March 1955.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /> The GSA wanted to sell off the island as "surplus property"<ref>{{cite news |title=Shrine for Sale |date=December 2, 1962 |work=Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/27461272/ |location=New York |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=204 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133902/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-wwp-key-project/27461272/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and contemplated several options, including selling the island back to the city of New York<ref>{{Cite news |title=Gift of Ellis Island To City Now Hinted |date=November 17, 1957 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/17/archives/gift-of-ellis-island-to-city-now-hinted-ellis-island-gift-to-city.html |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607235749/https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/17/archives/gift-of-ellis-island-to-city-now-hinted-ellis-island-gift-to-city.html |url-status=live }}</ref> or auctioning it to a private buyer.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/09/14/archives/ellis-island-will-be-sold-at-auction-u-s-selling-haven-of-migration.html |title=Ellis Island Will Be Sold at Auction; U. S. Selling Haven of Migration Days for Private Use |last=Lawn |first=Victor H. |date=September 14, 1956 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607235750/https://www.nytimes.com/1956/09/14/archives/ellis-island-will-be-sold-at-auction-u-s-selling-haven-of-migration.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1959, real estate developer [[Sol Atlas]] unsuccessfully bid for the island, with plans to turn it into a $55&nbsp;million resort with a hotel, marina, music shell, tennis courts, swimming pools, and skating rinks.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-1958-plan-to-turn-ellis-island-into-a-vacation-resort-124287872/ |title=The 1958 Plan to Turn Ellis Island Into a Vacation Resort |last=Novak |first=Matt |date=June 18, 2012 |website=Smithsonian |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608222347/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-1958-plan-to-turn-ellis-island-into-a-vacation-resort-124287872/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Sol Atlas Dies; Builder Was 66 |date=July 31, 1973 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/31/archives/sol-atlas-dies-builder-was-66-expert-on-shopping-centers-also.html |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=March 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329170501/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/31/archives/sol-atlas-dies-builder-was-66-expert-on-shopping-centers-also.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The same year, [[Frank Lloyd Wright]] designed the $100&nbsp;million "Key Project",{{Efn|The name "Key Project" is a reference to how "the island represented the key to freedom and opportunity for so many."<ref name="Key Project 1" /><ref name="Key Project 2" />|name= |group= }} which included housing, hotels, and large domes along the edges. However, Wright died before presenting the project.<ref name="Key Project 1">{{cite web |url=https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/how-frank-lloyd-wright-would-have-transformed-ellis-island/ |title=How Frank Lloyd Wright Would Have Transformed Ellis Island |date=July 11, 2017 |website=Metropolis |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603022758/https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/how-frank-lloyd-wright-would-have-transformed-ellis-island/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Key Project 2">{{cite news |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/lady-liberty-meets-the-jetsons-frank-lloyd-wrights-futurist-dream-for-ellis-island |title=Lady Liberty Meets The Jetsons: Frank Lloyd Wright's Futurist Dream For Ellis Island |date=August 19, 2017 |work=The Daily Beast |access-date=June 3, 2019 |last1=McNearney |first1=Allison |archive-date=July 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731010757/https://www.thedailybeast.com/lady-liberty-meets-the-jetsons-frank-lloyd-wrights-futurist-dream-for-ellis-island |url-status=live }}</ref> Other attempts at redeveloping the site, including a college,<ref>{{Cite news |title=College Visioned for Ellis Island |last=Hechinger |first=Fred M. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/08/29/archives/college-visioned-for-ellis-island-noted-educators-plan-calls-for.html |date=August 29, 1960 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607235741/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/08/29/archives/college-visioned-for-ellis-island-noted-educators-plan-calls-for.html |url-status=live }}</ref> a [[retirement home]],<ref name="nyt19640716" /> an [[Alcoholism|alcoholics']] rehabilitation center,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/03/06/archives/ellis-island-bill-offered.html |title=Ellis Island Bill Offered |date=March 6, 1956 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607235741/https://www.nytimes.com/1956/03/06/archives/ellis-island-bill-offered.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and a [[List of World Trade Centers|world trade center]]<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/03/16/archives/ellis-island-trade-fair-urged-1000000-yearly-to-us-seen.html |title=Ellis Island Trade Fair Urged; $1,000,000 Yearly to U.S. Seen |date=March 16, 1955 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-date=June 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607235747/https://www.nytimes.com/1955/03/16/archives/ellis-island-trade-fair-urged-1000000-yearly-to-us-seen.html |url-status=live }}</ref> were all unsuccessful.<ref name="nyt19640716" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32471127/ |title=Ellis Island to Become National Historical Site |date=November 11, 1965 |work=The News |access-date=June 5, 2019 |location=Paterson, NJ |page=10 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=October 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010070116/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32471127/ellis-island-to-become-national/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1963, the Jersey City Council voted to [[Zoning|rezone]] the island's area within New Jersey for high-rise residential, monument/museum, or recreational use, though the new zoning ordinance banned "[[Coney Island]]"-style amusement parks.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Jersey City Votes Ellis Island Zoning |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/08/07/archives/jersey-city-votes-ellis-island-zoning.html |date=August 7, 1963 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608164103/https://www.nytimes.com/1963/08/07/archives/jersey-city-votes-ellis-island-zoning.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32471127/ |title=Bill Restricts Ellis Island |agency=Associated Press |date=August 17, 1963 |work=The Record |access-date=June 5, 2019 |location=Hackensack, NJ |page=36 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=October 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010070116/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32471127/ellis-island-to-become-national/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In June 1964, the [[National Park Service]] published a report that proposed making Ellis Island part of a [[National monument (United States)|national monument]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Ellis Island Plan Due |date=June 13, 1964 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/06/13/archives/ellis-island-plan-due.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608164056/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/06/13/archives/ellis-island-plan-due.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This idea was approved by [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] [[Stewart Udall]] in October 1964.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 22, 1964 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/22/archives/udall-approves-us-park-on-ellis-island.html |title=Udall Approves U.S. Park on Ellis Island |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608164053/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/22/archives/udall-approves-us-park-on-ellis-island.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Ellis Island was added to the [[Statue of Liberty National Monument]] on May 11, 1965,<ref name="Proclamation 3656" /><ref name="n32471127">{{cite news |title=Ellis Island Finds Shelter With Miss Liberty |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32471127/ |last=Healy |first=Paul |date=May 12, 1965 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=3 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=October 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010070116/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32471127/ellis-island-to-become-national/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Unrau pp. 1165-1169">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|pp=1165–1169}}</ref> and that August, President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] approved the redevelopment of the island as a museum and park.<ref name="Unrau pp. 1165-1169" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=August 19, 1965 |title=Johnson Signs Measure To Develop Ellis Island |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/08/19/archives/johnson-signs-measure-to-develop-ellis-island.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608164052/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/08/19/archives/johnson-signs-measure-to-develop-ellis-island.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The initial master plan for the redevelopment of Ellis Island, designed by [[Philip Johnson]], called for the construction of the Wall, a large "stadium"-shaped monument to replace the structures on the island's northwest side, while preserving the main building and hospital.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/02/25/archives/design-unveiled-for-national-shrine-on-ellis-island-design-unveiled.html |title=Design Unveiled for National Shrine on Ellis Island |last=Friendly |first=Alfred Jr. |date=February 25, 1966 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608165648/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/02/25/archives/design-unveiled-for-national-shrine-on-ellis-island-design-unveiled.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Stakely p. 103">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=103}}</ref> However, no appropriations were immediately made, other than a $250,000 allocation for emergency repairs in 1967. By the late 1960s, the abandoned buildings were deteriorating severely.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/03/05/archives/ellis-island-at-low-point-in-its-history.html |title=Ellis Island at Low Point in Its History |last=Stevens |first=William K. |date=March 5, 1968 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608164102/https://www.nytimes.com/1968/03/05/archives/ellis-island-at-low-point-in-its-history.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32473434/ |title=Ellis Island, Once Hope for Millions, Is Now Waiting for a Handout |last=Fleysher |first=Ellen |date=July 27, 1969 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=128 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133740/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-ellis-island-once-hope-for-m/32473434/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Stakely p. 103" /> Johnson's plan was never implemented due to public opposition and a lack of funds.<ref name="Stakely p. 103" /> Another master plan was proposed in 1968, which called for the rehabilitation of the island's northern side and the demolition of all buildings, including the hospital, on the southern side.<ref name="Stakely pp. 105, 107">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|pp=105, 107}}</ref> The Jersey City Jobs Corpsmen started rehabilitating part of Ellis Island the same year, in accordance with this plan.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32475699/ |title=Ellis Island National Park May Become Reality in 1969 |date=February 6, 1968 |work=The News |access-date=June 5, 2019 |location=Paterson, NJ |page=17 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133908/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-ellis-island-national-park-may/32475699/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Stakely pp. 105, 107" /> This was soon halted indefinitely because of a lack of funding.<ref name="Stakely pp. 105, 107" /> In 1970, a [[squatters]]' club called the National Economic Growth and Reconstruction Organization (NEGRO) started refurbishing buildings as part of a plan to turn the island into an addiction rehabilitation center,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/25/archives/squatters-put-life-in-to-ellis-island-ellis-island-is-given-new.html |title=Squatters Put Life Into Ellis Island |last=Carmody |first=Deirdre |date=July 25, 1970 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608164053/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/25/archives/squatters-put-life-in-to-ellis-island-ellis-island-is-given-new.html |url-status=live }}</ref> but were evicted after less than two weeks.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/02/archives/black-squatters-quit-ellis-island-groups-leader-still-hopes-for.html |title=Black Squatters Quit Ellis Island |last=Fraser |first=C. Gerald |date=August 2, 1970 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608164054/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/02/archives/black-squatters-quit-ellis-island-groups-leader-still-hopes-for.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Unrau pp. 1185-1186">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|pp=1185–1186}}</ref> NEGRO's permit to renovate the island were ultimately terminated in 1973.<ref name="Unrau pp. 1185-1186" />

====Restoration and reopening of north side====
[[File:Things Are Prettier Up Here.jpg|left|thumb|Detail of ceiling of registry room]]
In the 1970s, the NPS started restoring the island by repairing seawalls, eliminating weeds, and building a new ferry dock.<ref name="Stakely p. 109">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=109}}</ref> Simultaneously, Peter Sammartino launched the Restore Ellis Island Committee to raise awareness and money for repairs.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/11/06/archives/200-people-gather-on-ellis-island-to-open-a-drive-for-funds-to.html |title=200 People Gather on Ellis Island to Open a Drive for Funds to Restore and Refurbish |date=November 6, 1975 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608164055/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/11/06/archives/200-people-gather-on-ellis-island-to-open-a-drive-for-funds-to.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|pp=1188–1189}}</ref> The north side of the island, comprising the main building and surrounding structures, was rehabilitated and partially reopened for public tours in May 1976.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Stakely p. 109" /><ref>{{Cite news |title=Ellis Island Reopened, Evoking Memories |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/29/archives/ellis-island-reopened-evoking-memories-ellis-island-is-reopened.html |last=Schumach |first=Murray |date=May 29, 1976 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608164057/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/29/archives/ellis-island-reopened-evoking-memories-ellis-island-is-reopened.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="n32477397">{{cite news |title=Ellis Island set for visitors |last=Pollak |first=Michael C. |date=May 28, 1976 |work=The Record |location=Hackensack, NJ |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32477397/ |access-date=October 7, 2022 |pages=7, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32477662/ 12] |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133912/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-record-ellis-island-set-for-visitors/32477397/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The plant was left unrepaired to show the visitors the extent of the deterioration.<ref name="n32477397" /> The NPS limited visits to 130 visitors per boat, or less than 75,000 visitors a year.<ref name="Stakely p. 109" /> Initially, only parts of three buildings were open to visitors. Further repairs were stymied by a lack of funding, and by 1982, the NPS was turning to private sources for funds.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32478989/ |title=Ellis Island attracting prospective developers |last=Morehouse |first=Ward III |date=February 6, 1968 |work=Central New Jersey Home News |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=5 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133919/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-central-new-jersey-home-news-ellis-i/32478989/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In May 1982, President [[Ronald Reagan]] announced the formation of the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Centennial Commission, led by [[Chrysler Corporation]] chair [[Lee Iacocca]] with former President [[Gerald Ford]] as honorary chairman, to raise the funds needed to complete the work.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32502432/ |title=Repairs due for Miss Liberty |agency=Associated Press |date=June 20, 1982 |work=Asbury Park Press |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=3 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=October 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010070242/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32502432/repairs-due-for-miss-liberty/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/19/nyregion/notes-on-people-iacocca-to-head-drive-to-restore-landmarks.html |title=Notes on People; Iacocca to Head Drive to Restore Landmarks |last1=Krebs |first1=Albin |date=May 19, 1982 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |last2=Thomas |first2=Robert McG. Jr. |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608200935/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/19/nyregion/notes-on-people-iacocca-to-head-drive-to-restore-landmarks.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The plan for Ellis Island was to cost $128&nbsp;million,<ref name="nyt19860223">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/23/nyregion/restoring-ellis-island-bitter-dispute-over-the-future-of-a-national-shrine.html |title=Restoring Ellis Island: Bitter Dispute Over the Future of a National Shrine |last=Gottlieb |first=Martin |date=February 23, 1986 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608204650/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/23/nyregion/restoring-ellis-island-bitter-dispute-over-the-future-of-a-national-shrine.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and by the time work commenced in 1984, about $40&nbsp;million had been raised.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/24/nyregion/renovation-for-ellis-i-is-outlined.html |title=Renovation for Ellis I. Is Outlined |last=Rangel |first=Jesus |date=May 24, 1984 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608204650/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/24/nyregion/renovation-for-ellis-i-is-outlined.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Through its fundraising arm, the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., the group eventually raised more than $350&nbsp;million in donations for the renovations of both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.{{sfn|Moreno|2000|pp=216–218}} Initial restoration plans included renovating the main building, baggage and dormitory building, and the hospital, as well as possibly adding a bandshell, restaurant, and exhibits.<ref>{{Cite news |title=For Ellis Island, a Reborn Role as a Monument |last=Bernstein |first=Richard |date=December 9, 1982 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/09/nyregion/for-ellis-island-a-reborn-role-as-a-monument.html |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608204650/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/09/nyregion/for-ellis-island-a-reborn-role-as-a-monument.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Two firms, [[Notter Finegold & Alexander]] and [[Beyer Blinder Belle]], designed the renovation.<ref>{{cite news |title=Once-neglected Ellis Island shines again |agency=Associated Press |date=July 29, 1990 |work=The Journal-News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32504963/ |access-date=June 5, 2019 |location=White Plains, NY |page=94 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133743/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-journal-news-once-neglected-ellis-is/32504963/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In advance of the renovation, public tours ceased in 1984, and work started the following year.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="n32809399">{{cite news |title=Ellis Island: An immigrant past, a tattered present |last=Waga |first=Phil |date=May 25, 1986 |work=The Journal News |location=White Plains, NY |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32809399/ |access-date=October 7, 2022 |pages=95, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32809340/ 99] |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133906/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-journal-news-ellis-island-an-immigr/32809399/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As part of the restoration, the powerhouse was renovated, while the incinerator, greenhouse, and water towers were removed.<ref name="Stakely p. 111">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=111}}</ref><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 702" /> The kitchen/laundry and baggage/dormitory buildings were restored to their original condition while the main building was restored to its 1918–1924 appearance.<ref name="n32809399" /><ref>{{cite news |title=A monument to all who passed through |last=Stuart |first=Mark |date=June 29, 1986 |work=The Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32809525/ |access-date=June 5, 2019 |location=Hackensack, NJ |page=266 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref>

The main building opened as a museum on September 10, 1990.<ref name="nyt19900910">{{Cite news |title=Ellis Island Doors Reopening, This Time as Haven to Tourists |last=Golden |first=Tim |date=September 10, 1990 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/10/nyregion/ellis-island-doors-reopening-this-time-as-haven-to-tourists.html |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608222343/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/10/nyregion/ellis-island-doors-reopening-this-time-as-haven-to-tourists.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="n32514428">{{cite news |title=Ellis Island, 1892–1900 |last=Hosmer |first=Philip |date=September 9, 1990 |work=The Courier-News |location=Bridgewater, NJ |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32514428/ |access-date=October 7, 2022 |pages=21, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32514544/ 25] |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=October 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012004215/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32514428/ellis-island-1892-1900/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island EIS|2005|p=6}}</ref> Further improvements were made after the north side's renovation was completed. The Wall of Honor, a monument to raise money for the restoration, was completed in 1990 and reconstructed starting in 1993.<ref name="nyt20190116">{{Cite news |title=N.Y. Today: A Wall That Honors Immigrants |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/nyregion/newyorktoday/new-york-news-wall-ellis-island.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/nyregion/newyorktoday/new-york-news-wall-ellis-island.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited |last=Paybarah |first=Azi |date=January 16, 2019 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="Stakely p. 111" /> A research facility with online database, the American Family Immigration History Center, was opened in April 2001.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Sachs |first=Susan |date=April 17, 2001 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/17/nyregion/ellis-island-opens-its-web-door-passenger-lists-let-families-trace-immigrant.html |title=Ellis Island Opens Its Web Door; Passenger Lists Let Families Trace Immigrant Roots |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608230640/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/17/nyregion/ellis-island-opens-its-web-door-passenger-lists-let-families-trace-immigrant.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Subsequently, the ferry building was restored for $6.4&nbsp;million and reopened in 2007.<ref name="nyt20070402">{{Cite news |last=McGeehan |first=Patrick |date=April 2, 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/nyregion/02ellis.html |title=Immigrants' Final Stop on Ellis Island to Reopen |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608230641/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/nyregion/02ellis.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The north side was temporarily closed after being damaged in [[Hurricane Sandy]] in October 2012,<ref>{{cite web |title=Statue of Liberty National Monument |url=http://www.nps.gov/stli/after-hurricane-sandy.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=April 25, 2013 |archive-date=August 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807183213/http://www.nps.gov/stli/after-hurricane-sandy.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> though the island and part of the museum reopened exactly a year later, after major renovations.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/storm-damaged_ellis_island_reopens_a_day_shy_of_sandy_anniversary.html |title=Storm-damaged Ellis Island reopens a day shy of Sandy anniversary |last=O'Brien |first=Kathleen |date=October 28, 2013 |newspaper=The Star-Ledger |access-date=November 1, 2013 |archive-date=November 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105093408/http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/storm-damaged_ellis_island_reopens_a_day_shy_of_sandy_anniversary.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/hurricane-sandy/ellis-island-reopens-year-sandy-article-1.1499214 |title=Ellis Island reopens one year after Sandy |last=Chinese |first=Vera |date=October 28, 2013 |newspaper=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=November 14, 2013 |archive-date=November 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110040734/http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/hurricane-sandy/ellis-island-reopens-year-sandy-article-1.1499214 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/index.htm |title=Ellis Island: Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument NJ, NY – Plan Your Visit |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=September 25, 2014 |archive-date=October 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007224750/http://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

In March 2020, the island was closed temporarily due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]];<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kim|first=Allen|date=March 16, 2020|title=Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island close due to coronavirus outbreak|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/us/statue-liberty-ellis-island-coronavirus-trnd/index.html|access-date=August 3, 2020|website=CNN|archive-date=March 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317050151/https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/us/statue-liberty-ellis-island-coronavirus-trnd/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> it reopened in August 2020, initially with strict capacity limits.<ref name="News 12 - The Bronx 2020 x935">{{cite web | title=Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island partially reopen | website=News 12 – The Bronx | date=August 24, 2020 | url=https://bronx.news12.com/statue-of-liberty-ellis-island-partially-reopen-42536051 | access-date=July 8, 2023 | archive-date=July 8, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230708210226/https://bronx.news12.com/statue-of-liberty-ellis-island-partially-reopen-42536051 | url-status=live }}</ref> A$100&nbsp;million renovation of the Ellis Island museum began in early 2024; the changes included a three-story exhibition space and a new "discovery center".<ref name="Rahhal 2024 c545">{{cite web | last=Rahhal | first=Emily | title=Ellis Island museum doubles immigration database in $100M renovation | website=PIX11 | date=March 28, 2024 | url=https://pix11.com/news/local-news/ellis-island-museum-doubles-family-history-database-in-100m-renovation/amp/ | access-date=March 29, 2024 | archive-date=March 29, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329134311/https://pix11.com/news/local-news/ellis-island-museum-doubles-family-history-database-in-100m-renovation/amp/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Rahmanan 2024 d845">{{cite web | last=Rahmanan | first=Anna | title=The Ellis Island Museum is getting a major 21st century upgrade | website=Time Out New York | date=March 28, 2024 | url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/the-ellis-island-museum-is-getting-a-major-21st-century-upgrade-032824 | access-date=March 29, 2024 | archive-date=March 29, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329134313/https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/the-ellis-island-museum-is-getting-a-major-21st-century-upgrade-032824 | url-status=live }}</ref> The NPS also announced plans to spend $17.7&nbsp;million on renovating the museum buildings.<ref name="Barron 2024 x008">{{cite web | last=Barron | first=James | title=The Ellis Island Museum Gets a Face-Lift | website=The New York Times | date=March 28, 2024 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/nyregion/ellis-island-museum-renovation.html | access-date=March 29, 2024 | archive-date=March 29, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329134456/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/nyregion/ellis-island-museum-renovation.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Save Ellis Island, a nonprofit organization based in New Jersey, concurrently advocated for the preservation of the hospital buildings on the island's southern end. By 2023, Save Ellis Island had raised $70&nbsp;million toward the buildings' renovation.<ref name="Martin 2023 m525">{{cite web | last=Martin | first=Julia | title=Group Works to Save the Oft-Forgotten Jersey Side of Ellis Island | website=New Jersey Monthly | date=September 20, 2023 | url=https://njmonthly.com/articles/news/group-works-to-save-the-oft-forgotten-jersey-side-of-ellis-island/ | access-date=April 13, 2024}}</ref>

==Structures==
{{Ellis Island}}
The current complex was designed by [[Edward Lippincott Tilton]] and [[William A. Boring]], who performed the commission under the direction of the [[Office of the Supervising Architect for the U.S. Treasury|Supervising Architect for the U.S. Treasury]], [[James Knox Taylor]].<ref name="Stakely pp. 38-39" /><ref name="EI Main Designation p. 1">{{harvnb|ps=.|Ellis Island Main Building Interior Designation Report|1993|p=1}}</ref> Boring was responsible for the majority of the buildings.<ref name="The New York Times 1937 g840">{{cite web | title=William A. Boring of Columbia Dies; Arabean Emeritus of School of Architecture Had Headed Faculty From 1915 | website=The New York Times | date=May 6, 1937 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/05/06/archives/william-a-boring-of-columbia-dies-arabean-emeritus-of-school-of.html | access-date=February 6, 2024 | archive-date=February 6, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206010309/https://www.nytimes.com/1937/05/06/archives/william-a-boring-of-columbia-dies-arabean-emeritus-of-school-of.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Tilton and Boring's plan, submitted in 1898, called for structures to be located on both the northern and southern portions of Ellis Island. The plan stipulated a large main building, a powerhouse, and a new baggage/dormitory and kitchen building on the north side of Ellis Island; a hospital on the south side; and a ferry dock with covered walkways at the head of the ferry basin, on the west side of the island.<ref name="nyt18980128" /><ref name="Unrau pp. 1219-1220">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|pp=1219–1220}}</ref> The plan roughly corresponds to what was ultimately built.<ref name="NPS-Map" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 2">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=2}}</ref>

===North side===
The northern half of Ellis Island is composed of the former island 1. Only the areas associated with the original island, including much of the main building, are in New York; the remaining area is in New Jersey.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="NPS-Map" />

====Main building====
The present three-story main structure was designed in [[French Renaissance architecture|French Renaissance]] style. It is made of a steel [[Framing (construction)|frame]], with a facade of red brick in [[Flemish bond]] ornamented with [[limestone]] trim.<ref name="n32308238" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 1082">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=108}}</ref><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 35">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=35}}</ref> The structure is located {{cvt|8|ft|m}} above the mean waterline to prevent flooding.<ref name="Stakely pp. 38-39" /> The building was initially composed of a three-story center section with two-story east and west wings, though the third stories of each wing were completed in the early 1910s. Atop the corners of the building's central section are four towers capped by [[cupola]]s of copper cladding.<ref name="HSR Main p. 111">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=111}}</ref><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 35" /> Some 160 rooms were included within the original design to separate the different functions of the building. Namely, the first floor was initially designed to handle baggage, detention, offices, storage and waiting rooms; the second floor, primary inspection; and the third floor, dormitories.<ref name="Unrau pp. 1219-1220" /> However, in practice, these spaces generally served multiple functions throughout the immigration station's operating history. At opening, it was estimated that the main building could inspect 5,000 immigrants per day.<ref name="HSR Main p. 142">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1900/12/03/archives/new-immigrant-station-will-be-ready-for-use-by-december-15-striking.html |title=New Immigrant Station; Will Be Ready for Use by December 15 |date=December 3, 1900 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606144641/https://www.nytimes.com/1900/12/03/archives/new-immigrant-station-will-be-ready-for-use-by-december-15-striking.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The main building's design was highly acclaimed; at the [[Exposition Universelle (1900)|1900 Paris Exposition]], it received a gold medal, and other architectural publications such as the ''Architectural Record'' lauded the design.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Ellis Island Main Building Interior Designation Report|1993|p=6}}</ref>
[[File:Ellis island immigration museum entrance.JPG|thumb|left|Entrance to the Main Building, seen from the south|alt=Entrance to the Main Building, seen from the south. The entrance canopy can be seen in the foreground, and the three arches of the south facade, as well as two of the ornamental towers, can be seen in the background.]]

The first floor contained detention rooms, social service offices, and waiting rooms on its west wing, a use that remained relatively unchanged.<ref name="HSR Main p. 31">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=31}}</ref> The central space was initially a baggage room until 1907, but was subsequently subdivided and later re-combined into a single records room.<ref name="HSR Main p. 31" /> The first floor's east wing also contained a railroad waiting room and medical offices, though much of the wing was later converted to record rooms.<ref name="HSR Main p. 34">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=34}}</ref> A railroad ticket office annex was added to the north side of the first floor in 1905–1906.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 35" /> The south elevation of the first floor contains the current immigration museum's main entrance, approached by a slightly sloped passageway covered by a glass canopy. Though the canopy was added in the 1980s, it evokes the design of an earlier glass canopy on the site that existed from 1902 to 1932.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 362">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=36}}</ref><ref name="HSR Main p. 1082" />
[[File:Italian family in the baggage room, Ellis Island, 1905.jpg|thumb|Italian family in the baggage room, 1905. Original caption:<br />''Lost baggage is the cause of their worried expressions. At the height of immigration the entire first floor of the administration building was used to store baggage.''<ref>{{cite web |title=Caption here |year=1905 |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ITALIAN_IMMIGRANTS_(1905)_ELLIS_ISLAND_NY.png |access-date=February 4, 2023 |archive-date=December 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215220542/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ITALIAN_IMMIGRANTS_(1905)_ELLIS_ISLAND_NY.png |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
A {{cvt|200|by|100|ft|m|adj=on}} registry room, with a {{cvt|56|ft|m|adj=on}} ceiling, is located on the central section of the second floor.<ref name="HSR Main p. 142" /><ref name="EI Main Designation p. 7">{{harvnb|ps=.|Ellis Island Main Building Interior Designation Report|1993|p=7}}</ref> The room was used for primary inspections.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/14/arts/review-architecture-gateway-to-america-is-once-again-ready-to-greet-the-masses.html |title=Review/Architecture; Gateway to America Is Once Again Ready To Greet the Masses |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=August 14, 1990 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 11, 2019 |archive-date=June 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605210621/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/14/arts/review-architecture-gateway-to-america-is-once-again-ready-to-greet-the-masses.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="HSR Main p. 34" /> Initially, there were handrails within the registry room that separated the primary inspection into several queues, but {{Circa|}} 1911 these were replaced with benches. A staircase from the first floor formerly rose into the middle of the registry room, but this was also removed around 1911.<ref name="EI Main Designation p. 1" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 162" /> When the room's roof collapsed during the Black Tom explosion of 1916, the current [[Guastavino tile|Guastavino-tiled]] arched ceiling was installed, and the asphalt floor was replaced with red [[Ludowici Roof Tile|Ludowici]] tile.<ref name="HSR Main p. 17" /><ref name="EI Main Designation p. 7" /> There are three large arched openings each on the northern and southern walls, filled-in with grilles of metal-and-glass. The southern elevation retains its original double-height arches, while the lower sections of the arches on the northern elevations were modified to make way for the railroad ticket office.<ref name="HSR Main p. 111" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 35" /> On all four sides of the room, above the level of the third floor, is a [[clerestory]] of semicircular windows.<ref name="EI Main Designation p. 7" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 111" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 35" /> The east wing of the second floor was used for administrative offices,<ref name="HSR Main p. 35">{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=35}}</ref> while the west wing housed the special inquiry and deportation divisions, as well as dormitories.<ref name="HSR Main p. 34" />

On the third floor is a balcony surrounding the entire registry room.<ref name="EI Main Designation p. 1" /><ref name="Unrau pp. 1219-1220" /> There were also dormitories for 600 people on the third floor.<ref name="HSR Main p. 142" /> Between 1914 and 1918, several rooms were added to the third floor. These rooms included offices as well as an assembly room that were later converted to detention.<ref name="HSR Main p. 35" />

The remnants of Fort Gibson still exist outside the main building. Two portions are visible to the public, including the remnants of the lower walls around the fort.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 362" />

====Kitchen and laundry====
[[File:Ellis Island National Monument ELIS8314.jpg|thumb|Undated photo of southern facade of kitchen and laundry]]
The kitchen and laundry structure is a {{frac|2|1|2}}-story structure located west of the main building.<ref name="NPS-Map" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 2" /> It is made of a steel frame and terracotta blocks, with a [[granite]] base and a facade of brick in Flemish bond.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 37" /> Originally designed as two separate structures, it was redesigned in 1899 as a single structure with kitchen-restaurant and laundry-bathhouse components,<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|pp=1221–1222}}</ref> and was subsequently completed in 1901.<ref name="Stakely p. 40" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 37" /> A {{frac|1|1|2}}-story ice plant on the northern elevation was built between 1903 and 1908, and was converted into a ticket office in 1935. It has a facade of brick in English and stretcher bond.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 37" /> Today, the kitchen and laundry contains NPS offices<ref name="EI-EIS p. 80">{{harvnb|Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island EIS|2005|ps=.|p=80}}</ref> as well as the museum's ''Peopling of America'' exhibit.<ref name="npr20150520">{{Cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/05/20/408157318/recent-immigrants-find-ellis-island-still-relevant |title=For New Immigrants To The U.S., Ellis Island Still Means A Lot |publisher=NPR |access-date=June 12, 2019 |archive-date=March 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311205831/https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/05/20/408157318/recent-immigrants-find-ellis-island-still-relevant |url-status=live }}</ref>

The building has a central portion with a narrow [[gable roof]], as well as pavilions on the western and eastern sides with [[hip roof]]s; the roof tiling was formerly of slate and currently of [[Ludowici Roof Tile|Ludowici]] terracotta. The larger eastern pavilion, which contained the laundry-bathhouse, had hipped [[dormer]]s. The exterior-facing window and door openings contain limestone features on the facade, while the top of the building has a [[modillion]]ed copper [[cornice]]. Formerly, there was also a two-story porch on the southern elevation. Multiple enclosed passageways connect the kitchen and laundry to adjacent structures.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 37" />

====Bakery and carpentry shop====
The bakery and carpentry shop is a two-story structure located west of the kitchen and laundry building. It is roughly rectangular and oriented north–south.<ref name="NPS-Map" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 2" /> It is made of a steel frame with a granite base, a flat roof, and a facade of brick in Flemish bond. The building was constructed in 1914–1915 to replace the separate wooden bakery and carpentry shop buildings, as well as two sheds and a frame waiting room. There are no exterior entrances, and the only access is via the kitchen and laundry.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=40}}</ref><ref name="Unrau p. 1247">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|p=1247}}</ref> The first floor generally contained oven rooms, baking areas and storage while the second floor contained the carpentry shop.<ref name="Unrau p. 1247" />

====Baggage and dormitory====
[[File:New York City Ellis Island 04.jpg|thumb|View from the southeast; the baggage and dormitory (right) is east of the main building (left)]]
The baggage and dormitory structure is a three-story structure located north of the main building.<ref name="NPS-Map" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 2" /> It is made of a steel frame and terracotta blocks, with a limestone base and a facade of brick in Flemish bond.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 38">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=38}}</ref> Completed as a two-story structure {{Circa|1908–1909}},<ref name="HSR Main p. 15" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 25" /><ref name="Stakely p. 57" /> the baggage and dormitory building replaced a 700-bed wooden barracks nearby that operated between 1903 and 1911.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 38" /> The baggage and dormitory initially had baggage collection on its first floor, dormitories and detention rooms on its second floor, and a tiled garden on its roof.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 38" /><ref name="Unrau pp. 1244-1245">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|pp=1244–1245}}</ref> The building received a third story, and a two-story annex to the north side, in 1913–1914.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 38" /><ref name="Unrau pp. 1244-1245" /> Initially, the third floor included additional dormitory space while the annex provided detainees with outdoor porch space.<ref name="Unrau pp. 1244-1245" /> A detainee dining room on the first floor was expanded in 1951.<ref name="Unrau p. 1247" />

The building is mostly rectangular except for its northern annex and contains an interior [[courtyard]], [[skylight]]ed at the second floor. On its facade the first story has rectangular windows in arched window openings while the second and third stories have rectangular windows and window openings. There are cornices below the second and third stories. The annex contains wide window openings with narrow brick [[Pier (architecture)|piers]] outside them. The roof's northwest corner contains a one-story extension. Multiple wings connect the baggage and laundry to its adjacent buildings.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 38" />

====Powerhouse====
The powerhouse of Ellis Island is a two-story structure located north of the kitchen and laundry building and west of the baggage and dormitory building. It is roughly rectangular and oriented north–south.<ref name="NPS-Map" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 2" /> Like the kitchen and laundry, it was completed in 1901.<ref name="Stakely p. 40" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=39}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|p=1223}}</ref> It is made of a steel frame with a granite base, a facade of brick in Flemish bond, and decorative bluestone and limestone elements. The hip roof contains dormers and is covered with terracotta tiling. A brick smokestack rises {{cvt|111|ft|m}} from ground level.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 38" />

Formerly, the powerhouse provided almost all power for Ellis Island. A [[coal trestle]] at the northwest end was used to transport coal for power generation from 1901 to 1932, when the powerhouse started using fuel oil.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 38" /> The powerhouse also generated steam for the island.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Belle|Finegold|1988|p=232}}</ref> After the immigration station closed, the powerhouse deteriorated<ref name="n32477397" /> and was left unrepaired until the 1980s renovation.<ref name="Stakely p. 111" /> The powerhouse is no longer operational; instead, the island receives power from 13,200-[[volt]] cables that lead from a [[Public Service Electric & Gas Company|Public Service Electric & Gas]] [[Electrical substation|substation]] in Liberty State Park. The powerhouse contains sewage pumps that can dispose of up to {{cvt|480|gal/min|L/min|sp=us}} to the Jersey City Sewage Authority sewage system. A central heating plant was installed during the 1980s renovation.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island EIS|2005|p=87}}</ref>

===South side===
{{see also|Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital}}

The southern side of Ellis Island, located across the ferry basin from the northern side, is composed of island 2 (created in 1899) and island 3 (created in 1906).<ref name="Stakely p. 51" /> The entire southern side of the island is in New Jersey, and the majority of the site is occupied by the hospital buildings. A central corridor runs southward from the ferry building on the west side of the island. Two additional corridors split eastward down the centers of islands 2 and 3.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="NPS-Map" />

====Island 2====
Island 2 comprises the northern part of Ellis Island's southern portion. The structures share the same design: a brick facade in Flemish bond, [[quoin]]s, and limestone ornamentation.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 502">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=50}}</ref><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 51">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=51}}</ref><ref name="Robins Urbanelli pp. 52-54">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|pp=52–54}}</ref> All structures were internally connected via covered passageways.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="NPS-Map" />[[File:Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital - Smith Drum.jpg|thumb|A Smith-Drum laundry machine in the outbuilding]]The laundry-hospital outbuilding is south of the ferry terminal, and was constructed in 1900–1901 along with the now-demolished surgeon's house.<ref name="Stakely p. 43" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 502" /> The structure is one and a half stories tall with a hip roof and skylights facing to the north and south.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 502" /> Repaired repeatedly throughout its history,<ref name="LOC-ny2078">{{Cite web |title=4. Second Floor Plan – Ellis Island, Hospital Outbuilding, New York Harbor, New York County, NY |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ny2078.sheet/?sp=4 |access-date=June 13, 2019 |archive-date=April 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414231343/https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ny2078.sheet/?sp=4 |url-status=live }}</ref> the laundry-outbuilding was last restored in 2002.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island EIS|2005|p=16}}</ref> It had linen, laundry, and disinfecting rooms; a boiler room; a morgue with autopsy room; and quarters for the laundry staff on the second floor.<ref name="LOC-ny2078" />

To the east is the psychopathic ward, a two-story building erected 1906–1907.<ref name="Stakely p. 44" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|p=1249}}</ref><ref name="LOC-ny2378">{{Cite web |title=Ellis Island, Psychopathic Ward, New York Harbor, New York County, NY |work=Historic American Buildings Survey |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny2378/ |via=loc.gov |access-date=June 13, 2019 |archive-date=June 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614235811/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny2378/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The building is the only structure in the hospital complex to have a flat roof, and formerly also had a porch to its south.<ref name="LOC-ny2378" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 51" /> It housed 25 to 30 beds and was intended for the temporary treatment of immigrants suspected of being insane or having mental disorders, pending their deportation, hospitalization, or commitment to sanatoria. Male and female patients were segregated, and there were also a dayroom, veranda, nurse's office, and small pantry on each floor. In 1952 the psychopathic ward was converted into a Coast Guard [[brig]].<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 51" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pbs.org/program/forgotten-ellis-island/ |title=Forgotten Ellis Island |last1=Conway |first1=Lorie |publisher=PBS Films |access-date=October 2, 2014 |archive-date=September 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140927024114/http://www.pbs.org/program/forgotten-ellis-island/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The main building is directly east of the psychopathic ward. It is composed of three similarly designed structures: from west to east, they are Hospital Building No. 1 (built 1900–1901), the Administration Building (1905–1907), and Hospital Building No. 2 (1908–1909).<ref name="Stakely p. 43" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli pp. 52-54" /> The 3.5-story building no. 1 is shaped like an inverted "C" with two 2.5-story rectangular wings facing southward; the wings contain two-story-tall porches. The administration building is smaller but also 3.5 stories. The 3.5-story building no. 2 is similar to building no. 1, but also has a three-story porch at the south elevation of the central pavilion. All three buildings have stone-stoop entrances on their north facades and courtyards on their south.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli pp. 52-54" />

====Recreation hall====
The recreation hall and one of the island's two recreation shelters are located between islands 2 and 3 on the western side of Ellis Island, at the head of the former ferry basin between the two landmasses.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="NPS-Map" /> Built in 1937 in the [[Colonial Revival architecture|Colonial Revival]] style, the structures replaced an earlier recreation building at the northeast corner of island 2.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=84}}</ref><ref name="LOC-ny2379">{{Cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/ny2379/ |title=Ellis Island, Recreation Building, New York Harbor, New York County, NY |website=Library of Congress |access-date=June 14, 2019 |archive-date=November 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126140824/https://www.loc.gov/item/ny2379/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 55">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=55}}</ref>

The recreation hall is a two-story building with a limestone base, a facade of brick in Flemish bond, a gable roof, and terracotta ornamentation. The first floor contained recreational facilities, while the second floor was used mostly for offices. It contains wings on the north, south, and west. The recreation shelter, a one-story brick pavilion, is located directly to the east.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 55" /><ref name="Unrau p. 1259">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|p=1259}}</ref> A second shelter of similar design was located adjacent to the power plant on the island's north side.<ref name="LOC-ny2379" /><ref name="Unrau p. 1259" />

====Island 3====
[[File:Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital - Isolation Ward.jpg|thumb|Isolation ward on island 3]]
As part of the [[Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital]], the contagious disease hospital comprised 17 pavilions, connected with a central connecting corridor. Each pavilion contained separate hospital functions that could be sealed off from each other.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="NPS-Map" /> Most of the structures were completed in 1911.<ref name="Stakely p. 65" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 162" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 58">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=58}}</ref> The pavilions included eight measles wards, three isolation wards, a power house/sterilizer/autopsy theater, mortuary, laboratory, administration building, kitchen, and staff house. All structures were designed by James Knox Taylor in the [[Renaissance architecture|Italian Renaissance]] style and are distinguished by red-tiled [[Ludowici Roof Tile|Ludowici]] hip roofs, [[roughcast]] walls of [[stucco]], and ornamentation of brick and limestone.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 58" />

The office building and laboratory is a 2.5-story structure located at the west end of island 3.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 59">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=59}}</ref> It housed doctors' offices and a [[dispensary]] on the first floor, along with a laboratory and pharmacists' quarters on the second floor.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 59" /><ref name="Unrau p. 1254">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|p=1254}}</ref> In 1924, the first floor offices were converted into male nurses' quarters.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ny2080.sheet/?sp=7 |title=7. Window Details – Ellis Island, Contagious Disease Hospital Office Building, New York Harbor, New York County, NY |website=Library of Congress |access-date=June 14, 2019 |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415000448/https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ny2080.sheet/?sp=7 |url-status=live }}</ref> A one-story [[morgue]] is located east of the office building, and was converted to the "Animal House" circa 1919.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=60}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ellis Island, Contagious Disease Hospital Mortuary, New York Harbor, New York County, NY |work=Historic American Buildings Survey |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny2081/ |via=loc.gov |access-date=June 14, 2019 |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415000433/https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny2081/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

An L-shaped powerhouse and laundry building, built in 1908, is also located on the west side of island 3. It has a square north wing with boiler, coal, and pump rooms, as well as a rectangular south wing with laundry and disinfection rooms, staff kitchen, and staff pantry.<ref name="Unrau p. 1254" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 61">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=61}}</ref> The powerhouse and laundry also had a distinctive yellow-brick smokestack. Part of the building was converted into a morgue and autopsy room in the 1930s.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 61" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ny2383.photos/?sp=5 |title=5. Interior view of Powerhouse – Ellis Island, Island 3 Powerhouse, New York Harbor, New York County, NY |website=Library of Congress |access-date=June 14, 2019 |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415002040/https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ny2383.photos/?sp=5 |url-status=live }}</ref>

To the east are the eight [[measles]] pavilions (also known as wards A-H), built in phases from 1906 to 1909 and located near the center of island 3. There are four pavilions each to the west and east of island 3's administration building. All of the pavilions are identical, two-story rectangular structures.<ref name="Unrau p. 1254" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=62}}</ref><ref name="LOC-ny2377">{{Cite web |title=Ellis Island, Contagious Disease Hospital Measles Ward A, New York Harbor, New York County, NY |work=Historic American Buildings Survey |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny2377/ |via=loc.gov |access-date=June 14, 2019 |archive-date=October 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181016113214/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny2377/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Each pavilion floor had a spacious open ward with large windows on three sides and independent ventilation ducts. A hall leading to the connecting corridor was flanked by bathrooms, nurses' duty room, offices, and a serving kitchen.<ref name="LOC-ny2377" />

[[File:Photograph of Immigrants on a Ferry Boat Near Ellis Island.png|thumb|Immigrants on a ferry, c. 1910s]]

The administration building is a 3.5-story structure located on the north side of island 3's connecting corridor, in the center of the landmass.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=63}}</ref> It included reception rooms, offices, and a staff kitchen on the first floor; nurses' quarters and operating rooms on the second floor; and additional staff quarters on the third floor.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|p=1253}}</ref> A one-story kitchen with a smokestack is located opposite the administration building to the south.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=64}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ellis Island, Contagious Disease Hospital Kitchen, New York Harbor, New York County, NY |work=Historic American Buildings Survey |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny2376/ |via=loc.gov |access-date=June 14, 2019 |archive-date=April 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414231353/https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny2376/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The eastern end of island 3 contained three isolation pavilions (wards I-K) and a staff building.<ref name="Unrau p. 1254" /> The isolation pavilions were intended for patients for more serious diseases, including [[scarlet fever]], [[diphtheria]], and a combination of either of these diseases with measles and [[whooping cough]]. Each pavilion is a 1.5-story rectangular structure. Wards I and K are located to the south of the connecting corridor while ward J is located to the north; originally, all three pavilions were freestanding structures, but covered ways were built between wards I and K and the center corridor in 1914. There were also nurses' quarters in each attic.<ref name="Unrau p. 1254" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=65}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ellis Island, Contagious Disease Hospital Isolation Ward I, New York Harbor, New York County, NY |work=Historic American Buildings Survey |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny2438/ |via=loc.gov |access-date=June 14, 2019 |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415000441/https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ny2438/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The staff building. located at the extreme east end of island 3's connecting corridor, is a 2.5-story building for high-ranking hospital staff. Living and dining rooms, a kitchen, and a library were located on the first floor while bedrooms were located on the second floor.<ref name="Unrau p. 1254" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=66}}</ref>

===Ferry building===
[[File:Ellis Island Ferry Building.jpg|thumb|Ellis Island Ferry Building]]
The ferry building is at the western end of the ferry basin, within New Jersey.<ref name="NPS-Map" /><ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 49">{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=49}}</ref> The current structure was built in 1936<ref name="Stakely p. 81">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=81}}</ref> and is the third ferry landing to occupy the site.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 49" /> It is made of a steel-and-concrete frame with a facade of red brick in Flemish bond, and limestone and terracotta ornamentation, in the [[Moderne architecture|Moderne]] architectural style. The building's central pavilion is mostly one story tall, except for a two-story central section that is covered by a hip roof with cupola. Two rectangular wings are located to the north and south and are oriented east–west.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 49" /><ref name="Stakely p. 81" /><ref name="Unrau p. 1258">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|p=1258}}</ref> The south wing was originally reserved for U.S. Customs while the north wing contained a lunchroom and restrooms. A wooden dock extends east from the ferry building.<ref name="Unrau p. 1258" /> The ferry building is connected to the kitchen and laundry to the north, and the hospital to the south, via covered walkways.<ref name="Robins Urbanelli p. 49" /><ref name="Unrau p. 1258" /> The structure was completely restored in 2007.<ref name="nyt20070402" />

==<span class="anchor" id="Immigration center"></span>Immigration procedures==
[[File:Ellis Island photo D Ramey Logan.jpg|thumb|left|December 2014 aerial view of the area; in the foreground is Ellis Island, and behind it is [[Liberty State Park]] and [[Downtown Jersey City]]]]
[[File:Slavic immigrant at Ellis Island, 1907.jpg|thumb|Exhausted Slavic immigrant, 1907.]]
By the time Ellis Island's immigration station closed, almost 12 million immigrants had been processed by the [[Immigration and Naturalization Service|U.S. Bureau of Immigration]].<ref name="NPS-places_immigration" /> It is estimated that 10.5&nbsp;million immigrants departed for points across the United States from the [[Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal]] nearby.<ref>{{cite web |title=Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal |date=January 1, 2010 |url=http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/C_Pages/Central_Railroad_of_New_Jersey.html |access-date=December 11, 2019 |website=njcu.edu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100201224707/http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/C_Pages/Central_Railroad_of_New_Jersey.html |archive-date=February 1, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/parks/liberty_state_park/liberty_crrnj.html|title=Department of Environmental Protection|website=www.nj.gov|access-date=January 23, 2024|archive-date=January 23, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123170445/https://www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/parks/liberty_state_park/liberty_crrnj.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Others would have used one of the other terminals along the [[North River (Hudson River)|North River]]/[[Hudson River]] at that time.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OyL6JatN5KwC&q=Island+of+Hope,+Island+of+Tears |title=Ellis Island: Immigration's Shining Center |last=Cunningham |first=John T. |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7385-2428-3 |access-date=October 3, 2020 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329134532/https://books.google.com/books?id=OyL6JatN5KwC&q=Island+of+Hope,+Island+of+Tears#v=snippet&q=Island%20of%20Hope%2C%20Island%20of%20Tears&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> At the time of closure, it was estimated that closer to 20 million immigrants had been processed or detained at Ellis Island.<ref>{{cite news |date=November 12, 1954 |title=Ellis Island Becomes Lonely Way Station for the Seagulls |page=7 |work=The Herald-News |location=Passaic, NJ |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32422249/ |access-date=June 5, 2019 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329134517/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-news-ellis-island-becomes-lon/32422249/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nyt19541113" />

Immigrants did not need a passport, visa, or any other document to enter the country. Transportation companies were in charge of all checks; if the entry was denied, the company was fined $100 per each deported passenger, and covered the costs of their deportation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/ellis-island-millions-immigrants-united-states-america|title=How Ellis Island shepherded millions of immigrants into America|date=November 13, 2019|website=History|access-date=January 23, 2024|archive-date=January 23, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123170410/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/ellis-island-millions-immigrants-united-states-america|url-status=live}}</ref> Initial immigration policy provided for the admission of most immigrants to the United States, other than those with mental or physical disabilities, or a moral, racial, religious, or economic reason for exclusion.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984a|pp=106–107}}</ref> At first, the majority of immigrants arriving were [[Northern Europe|Northern]] and Western Europeans, with the largest numbers coming from the [[German Empire]], the [[Russian Empire]] and Finland, the United Kingdom, and Italy.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984a|p=192}}</ref> Eventually, these groups of peoples slowed in the rates that they were coming in, and immigrants came in from Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, [[The Middle East]], and North Africa, including Jews. These people immigrated for a variety of reasons including escaping political and economic oppression, as well as persecution, destitution, and violence. Often among these groups were [[Swedish people|Swedes]], [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Hungarians]], [[Czechs]], [[Croats]], [[Serbs]], [[Slovaks]], Italians, [[Greeks]], [[Turkish people|Turks]], [[Armenians]], [[Syrians]], [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]], [[Egyptians]], and [[Persians]].<ref name="history.com" />
[[File:Albanian woman at Ellis Island 1905.jpg|thumb|200px|left|[[Italo-Albanian]] woman at Ellis Island, 1905. Original caption:<br />''This woman is wearing her native costume. At times the Island looked like a costume ball with the multicolored, many-styled national costumes.''<ref>{{cite web |title=An Albanian woman from Italy at Ellis Island, 1905 |url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-4e7f-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 |publisher=[[New York Public Library]] |access-date=February 4, 2023 |archive-date=February 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204174746/https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-4e7f-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
Immigration through Ellis Island peaked in the first decade of the 20th century.<ref name="HSR Main p. 15" /><ref name="Unrau pp. 185-186">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984a|pp=185–186}}</ref> Between 1905 and 1914, an average of one million immigrants per year arrived in the United States.<ref name="Unrau pp. 185-186" /> Immigration officials reviewed about 5,000 immigrants per day during peak times at Ellis Island.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984a|p=6}}</ref> Two-thirds of those individuals emigrated from Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Central Europe, The Middle East, and North Africa.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lerner |first=K. |title=Immigration and multiculturalism: essential primary sources |publisher=Thomson Gale |location=Detroit, MI |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4144-1265-8 |oclc=77517876 |at=Introduction}}</ref> The peak year for immigration at Ellis Island was 1907, with 1,004,756 immigrants processed,<ref name="Ellis Island Foundation, 2000" /> and the all-time daily high occurred on April 17 of that year, when 11,747 immigrants arrived.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/spring-day-1907-record-immigration-still-stands/ |title=Ellis Island Still Holds the Single-Day Record for Immigration — Here's Why |publisher=WNYC |access-date=June 6, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/ellis-island-a-gateway-to-america-marks-125-years/2017/01/03/a5246c2e-c6c9-11e6-bf4b-2c064d32a4bf_story.html |title=Ellis Island, a gateway to America, marks 125 years |date=January 3, 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 6, 2019}}</ref> Following the [[Immigration Act of 1924]], which both greatly reduced immigration and allowed processing overseas, Ellis Island was only used by those who had problems with their immigration paperwork, as well as displaced persons and war refugees.<ref name="HSR Main p. 19" /><ref name="Jaynes1985" /><ref>{{cite journal |journal=The Brown Quarterly |url=http://brownvboard.org/sites/default/files/BQ_Vol4No1.pdf |volume=4 |number=1 |date=Fall 2000 |title=Ellis Island/Immigration Issue}}</ref> This affected both nationwide and regional immigration processing: only 2.34 million immigrants passed through the Port of New York from 1925 to 1954, compared to the 12 million immigrants processed from 1900 to 1924.{{Efn|From 1892 to 1924, about 14.28&nbsp;million people passed through the Port of New York. This includes about 2.28&nbsp;million processed between 1892 and 1900 at the first Ellis Island immigration station and the Battery Park Barge Office.
* These numbers also include immigrants who did not pass through Ellis Island.<ref name="Unrau pp. 185-186" />|name= |group= }}<ref name="Unrau pp. 185-186" /> Average annual immigration through the Port of New York from 1892 to 1924 typically numbered in the hundreds of thousands, though after 1924, annual immigration through the port was usually in the tens of thousands.<ref name="Unrau pp. 185-186" />

According to a 2025 estimate from ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'' magazine, two out of every five Americans may be descended from someone who passed through Ellis Island.<ref name="Reason 2025">{{Cite web |date=February 7, 2025 |title=Today's migrants are just like your immigrant great-grandparents |url=https://reason.com/video/2025/02/07/todays-migrants-are-just-like-your-immigrant-great-grandparents/ |access-date=February 10, 2025 |website=Reason.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Other estimates posit that as many as 100 million Americans, as of 2019, are descendants of an immigrant who passed through Ellis Island moving to the United States from another country.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ellis Island Database, History, Immigrants and Lists |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/ellis-island-immigration-center-1422289 |access-date=February 10, 2025 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

===Inspections===

====Medical inspection====
{{Multiple images
| total_width = 340
| perrow      = 2
| image1      = Physicians examining a group of Jewish immigrants (cropped).jpg
| caption1    = Physicians examining a group of Jewish immigrants, eye chart written in Hebrew hangs on wall (c. 1907)
| image2      = Immigrant children being examined by city health officer upon arrival at the battery from Ellis Island during Typhus Scare.jpg
| caption2    = Immigrant children being examined by city health officer upon arrival at the battery from Ellis Island during Typhus Scare
}}
[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Climbing into the Promised Land Ellis Island - Lewis Wickes Hine.jpg|thumb|''"1905. Here is a Slavic group waiting to get through entrance gate. Many lines like these were prevalent in the early days. There was no room to keep personal belongings, so the immigrants had to carry their baggage with them all the time."'' (photo by [[Lewis Hine]])<ref name="captions">{{cite web |title=Legend from Hine's study |date=February 18, 2014 |url=https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/02/18/almost-in-america-portraits-from-ellis-island/ |access-date=February 3, 2023}}</ref>]]

Beginning in the 1890s, initial medical inspections were conducted by steamship companies at the European ports of embarkation; further examinations and vaccinations occurred on board ship during the voyage to New York.<ref name="gothamist20181128">{{Cite web |url=https://gothamist.com/2018/11/28/nyc_abandoned_island_history.php |title=Photos: The Strange History of NYC's Swinburne and Hoffman Islands |date=November 28, 2018 |website=Gothamist |access-date=June 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128172038/http://gothamist.com/2018/11/28/nyc_abandoned_island_history.php |archive-date=November 28, 2018 }}</ref> On arrival at the port of New York, ships halted at the New York state quarantine station near [[the Narrows]]. Those with serious contagious diseases (such as cholera and typhus) were quarantined at [[Hoffman Island]] or [[Swinburne Island]], two artificial islands off the shore of [[Staten Island]] to the south.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.silive.com/eastshore/2011/03/man-made_hoffman_island_just_o.html |title=Man-made Hoffman Island, just off South Beach, had many uses, among them a quarantine station for immigrants |last=N |first=Virginia |date=March 3, 2011 |website=silive.com |access-date=June 15, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1910/07/04/archives/new-state-hospital-on-hoffman-island-the-island-has-been-enlarged.html |title=New State Hospital On Hoffman Island; The Island Has Been Enlarged to Care for Contagious Disease Patients Entering the Port. |date=July 4, 1910 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 15, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/05/21/quarantine-island/63e18826-bca5-4e1c-ad22-63996a34677b/ |title=Quarantine Island |last=Span |first=Paula |date=May 21, 2003 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 15, 2019}}</ref> The islands ceased to be used for quarantine by the 1920s due to the decline in inspections at Ellis Island.<ref name="gothamist20181128" /> For the vast majority of passengers, since most transatlantic ships could not dock at Ellis Island due to shallow water, the ships unloaded at Manhattan first, and steerage passengers were then taken to Ellis Island for processing. First- and second-class passengers, and American passengers of any class, typically bypassed the Ellis Island processing altogether.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-ellis-island |title=9 Things You May Not Know About Ellis Island |last=Andrews |first=Evan |website=History.com |date=February 7, 2019 |access-date=June 15, 2019}}</ref>

To support the activities of the United States Bureau of Immigration, the [[United States Public Health Service]] operated an extensive medical service. The medical force at Ellis Island started operating when the first immigration station opened in 1892, and was suspended when the station burned down in 1897.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984b|pp=576–579}}</ref> Between 1897 and 1902, medical inspections took place both at other facilities in New York City and on ships in the New York Harbor.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984b|pp=580–583}}</ref> A second hospital called U.S. Marine Hospital Number 43 or the [[Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital]] was built in 1902 and operated through 1930.<ref name="Forgotten" /><ref name="nyt19980322" /><ref name="Johnson 2007" /> Uniformed military surgeons staffed the medical division, which was active in the hospital wards, the Battery's Barge Office, and Ellis Island's Main Building.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Reed |first=Alfred C. |year=1913 |title=Going Through Ellis Island |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LK8VAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA5 |journal=Popular Science Monthly and World's Advance |publisher=McClure, Phillips and Company |issue=v. 82 |page=11 |access-date=June 4, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 142-144">{{harvnb|ps=.|Moreno|2004|pp=142–144}}</ref> Immigrants were brought to the island via barge from their transatlantic ships.<ref name="Mullan 1917 p. 733">{{cite journal |last=Mullan |first=E. H. |year=1917 |title=Mental Examination of Immigrants: Administration and Line Inspection at Ellis Island |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_public-health-reports_1917-05-18_32_20/page/732 |journal=Public Health Reports |volume=32 |issue=20 |pages=733–746 |doi=10.2307/4574515 |issn=0094-6214 |jstor=4574515}}</ref><ref name="(AMA) pp. 235–241">{{cite journal |date=April 2008 |title=Medical Examination of Immigrants at Ellis Island |journal=Virtual Mentor |publisher=American Medical Association (AMA) |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=235–241 |doi=10.1001/virtualmentor.2008.10.4.mhst1-0804 |pmid=23206915 |issn=1937-7010 |last1=Bateman-House |first1=A. |last2=Fairchild |first2=A. |author-link2=Amy Fairchild|doi-access=free }}</ref>

A "line inspection" was conducted in the main building. In the line inspection, the immigrants were split into several single-file lines, and inspectors first checked for any visible physical disabilities.<ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 142-144" /><ref name="(AMA) pp. 235–241" /><ref name="Unrau pp. 715-7192">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984b|pp=715–719}}</ref> Each immigrant was inspected by two inspectors: one to catch any initial physical disabilities, and another to check for any other ailments that the first inspector did not notice.<ref name="Unrau pp. 715-7192" /> The doctors then observed immigrants as they walked, to determine any irregularities in their gait. Immigrants were asked to drop their baggage and walk up the stairs to the second floor.<ref name="Houghton2003">{{cite book |last=Houghton |first=Gillian |year=2003 |title=Ellis Island: A Primary Source History of an Immigrant's Arrival in America |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8239-4003-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/ellisislandprima0000houg |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="(AMA) pp. 235–241" /><ref name="Unrau pp. 715-7192" />

The line inspection at Ellis Island was unique because of the volume of people it processed, and as such, used several unconventional methods of medical examination.<ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 142-144" /><ref name="Reed1912">{{cite magazine |last=Reed |first=Alfred C. |year=1912 |title=The Medical Side of Immigration |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCkKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA386 |publisher=McClure, Phillips and Company |volume=80 |access-date=June 4, 2019 |magazine=The Popular Science Monthly}}</ref> For example, after an initial check for physical disabilities, inspectors used special [[forceps]] or the [[wikt:buttonhook|buttonhook]] to examine immigrants for signs of eye diseases such as [[trachoma]].<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Moreno|2004|p=79}}</ref> Following each examination, inspectors used chalk to draw symbols on immigrants who were suspected to be sick.<ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 33-34">{{harvnb|ps=.|Moreno|2004|pp=33–34}}</ref><ref name="Mullan 1917 p. 733" /><ref name="Reed1912" /> Some immigrants supposedly wiped the chalk marks off surreptitiously or inverted their clothes to avoid medical detention.<ref name="Houghton2003" /> Chalk-marked immigrants and those with suspected mental disabilities were then sent to rooms for further inspection, according to a 1917 account.<ref name="Mullan 1917 p. 733" />

The symbols used for chalk markings were:<ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 33-34" /><ref name="Mullan 1917 p. 733" />
{{clear}}
{{div col|colwidth=20em|small=yes}}
* '''B''' – [[Back]]
* '''C''' – [[Conjunctivitis]]
* '''TC''' – [[Trachoma]]
* '''E''' – [[Human eye|Eyes]]
* '''F''' – Face
* '''FT''' – Feet
* '''G''' – [[Goiter]]
* '''H''' – [[Human heart|Heart]]
* '''K''' – [[Hernia]]
* '''L''' – [[Lameness]]
* '''N''' – [[Neck]]
* '''P''' – [[Physical examination|Physical]] and [[Lungs]]
* '''PG''' – Pregnancy
* '''S''' – [[Senility]]
* '''SC''' – [[Scalp]] ([[favus]])
* '''X''' – Suspected [[Mental disorder|mental defect]]
* '''ⓧ''' – Definite signs of mental defect
{{div col end}}

====Primary inspection====
[[File:Hine Finnish Stowaway Ellis Island 1926.jpg|thumb|205px|A Finnish [[stowaway]], 1926. Original caption: ''The desire to come to America must have been very strong for this young man to face all sorts of uncertainties''.<ref name="captions"/>]]Once immigrants had completed and passed the medical examination, they were sent to the Registry Room to undergo what was called primary inspection. This consisted of interrogations conducted by U.S. Immigrant Inspectors to determine if each newcomer was eligible for admission. In addition, any medical certificates issued by physicians were taken into account. Aside from the U.S. immigrant inspectors, the Bureau of Immigration work force included interpreters, watchmen, matrons, clerks and stenographers.<ref name="Unrau pp. 84-85">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984a|pp=84–85}}</ref> According to a reconstruction of immigration processes in 1907, immigrants who passed the initial inspections spent two to five hours at Ellis Island to do these interviews. Arrivals were asked a couple dozen questions, including name, occupation, and the amount of money they carried. The government wanted to determine whether new arrivals would be self-sufficient upon arrival, and on average, wanted the immigrants to have between $18 and $25 (worth between ${{Inflation|index=US|value=18|start_year=1907|fmt=c}} and ${{Inflation|index=US|value=25|start_year=1907|fmt=c}} as of {{Inflation-year|index=US}}{{Inflation-fn|US|group=lower-alpha}}).<ref name="PBS-immigration-and-deportation" /> Some immigrants were also given literacy tests in their native languages, though children under 16 were exempt. The determination of admissibility was relatively arbitrary and determined by the individual inspector.<ref name="Unrau pp. 84-85" />

U.S. Immigrant Inspectors used some other symbols or marks as they interrogated immigrants in the Registry Room to determine whether to admit or detain them, including:<ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 33-34" />
{{div col|colwidth=24em|small=yes}}
* '''SI''' – Special [[Inquiry]]
* '''IV''' – Immigrant [[Visa (document)|Visa]]
* '''LPC''' – [[Liable to become a Public Charge|Likely or Liable to become a Public Charge]]
* '''Med. Cert.''' – [[Medical certificate]] issued
{{div col end}}

Those who were cleared were given a medical certificate or an affidavit.<ref name="(AMA) pp. 235–241" /> According to a 1912 account by physician Alfred C. Reed, immigrants were medically cleared only after three on-duty physicians signed an affidavit.<ref name="Reed1912" /> Those with visible illnesses were deported or held in the island's hospital.<ref name="PBS-immigration-and-deportation">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldman-immigration-and-deportation-ellis-island/ |title=Immigration and Deportation at Ellis Island – American Experience |publisher=PBS |access-date=June 3, 2019}}</ref> Those who were admitted often met with relatives and friends at the Kissing Post, a wooden column outside the registry room.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Moreno|2004|p=133}}</ref>

Between 1891 and 1930, Ellis Island reviewed over 25 million attempted immigrants, of which 700,000 were given certificates of disability or disease and of these 79,000 were barred from entry. Approximately 4.4% of immigrants between 1909 and 1930 were classified as disabled or diseased, and one percent of immigrants were deported yearly due to medical causes. The proportion of "diseased" increased to 8.0% during the [[Spanish flu]] of 1918–1919.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wilson |first=D. J. |date=June 1, 2009 |title='No Defectives Need Apply': Disability and Immigration |journal=OAH Magazine of History |publisher=Oxford University Press (OUP) |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=35–40 |doi=10.1093/maghis/23.3.35 |issn=0882-228X}}</ref> More than 3,000 attempted immigrants died in the island's hospital.<ref name="PBS-immigration-and-deportation" /> Some unskilled workers were deemed "likely to become a public charge" and so were rejected; about 2% of immigrants were deported.<ref name="PBS-immigration-and-deportation" /> Immigrants could also be excluded if they were disabled and previously rejected; if they were Chinese, regardless of their citizenship status; or if they were contract laborers, stowaways, and workaways.<ref name="Unrau pp. 84-85" /> However, immigrants were exempt from deportation if they had close family ties to a U.S. permanent resident or citizen, or if they were seamen.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984a|pp=79–80}}</ref> Ellis Island was sometimes known as the "Island of Tears" or "Heartbreak Island" for these deportees.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kraut |first=A.M. |title=The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society, 1880–1921 |publisher=Harlan Davidson |series=American history series |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-88295-811-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/huddledmassesimm00krau |url-access=registration |access-date=February 12, 2020 |page=[https://archive.org/details/huddledmassesimm00krau/page/55 55]}}</ref> If immigrants were rejected, appeals could be made to a three-member board of inquiry.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984a|pp=88–90}}</ref>

===Mass detentions and deportations===
[[File:Ellis Island arrivals.jpg|thumb|right|Immigrants being inspected, 1904]]
Ellis Island's use as a detention center dates from World War I, when it was used to house those who were suspected of being enemy soldiers.<ref name="Stakely pp. 62-63" /><ref name="nyt19180224" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 17" /><ref name="Unrau p. 773">{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|p=773}}</ref> During the war, six classes of "enemy aliens" were established, including officers and crewmen from interned ships; three classes of Germans; and suspected spies.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|p=776}}</ref> After the [[American entry into World War I]], about 1,100 German and Austrian naval officers and crewmen in the Ports of New York and [[New London, Connecticut|New London]] were seized and held in Ellis Island's baggage and dormitory building.<ref name="Unrau p. 773" /> A commodious [[stockade]] was built for the seized officers.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/04/12/archives/stockade-at-ellis-island-to-be-built-that-interned-germans-may-have.html |title=Stockade at Ellis Island; To Be Built That Interned Germans May Have Exercise. |date=April 12, 1917 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 10, 2019}}</ref> A 1917 ''New York Times'' article depicted the conditions of the detention center as being relatively hospitable.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/04/15/archives/ellis-island-life-easy-for-germans-idleness-and-lack-of-beer-chief.html |title=Ellis Island Life Easy For Germans; Idleness and Lack of Beer Chief Drawbacks to Happiness of Interned Seamen |date=April 15, 1917 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 10, 2019}}</ref>

Anti-immigrant sentiments developed in the U.S. during and after World War I, especially toward Southern and Eastern Europeans who were entering the country in large numbers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Closing the Door on Immigration |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/closing-the-door-on-immigration.htm |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |website=nps.gov |access-date=June 10, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984a|pp=110–113}}</ref> Following the Immigration Act of 1924, primary inspection was moved to New York Harbor, and Ellis Island only hosted immigrants that were to be detained or deported.<ref name="HSR Main p. 19" /><ref name="Jaynes1985" /> After the passage of the 1924 act, the Immigration Service established multiple classes of people who were said to be "deportable". This included immigrants who entered in violation of previous exclusion acts; Chinese immigrants in violation of the 1924 act; those convicted of felonies or other "crimes of moral turpitude"; and those involved in prostitution.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984a|pp=90–92}}</ref>

During and immediately following World War II, Ellis Island was used to hold German merchant mariners and "enemy aliens"—[[Axis powers|Axis]] nationals detained for fear of spying, sabotage, and other [[fifth column]] activity.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984c|pp=833–834}}</ref> When the U.S. entered the war in December 1941, Ellis Island held 279 [[Internment of Japanese Americans|Japanese]], 248 [[Internment of German Americans|Germans]], and 81 [[Internment of Italian Americans|Italians]] removed from the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Burton |first1=J. |last2=Farrell |first2=M. |last3=Lord |first3=F. |last4=Lord |first4=R. |title=National Park Service: Confinement and Ethnicity (Chapter 17) |website=cr.nps.gov |date=November 6, 2014 |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/anthropology74/ce17a.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106045425/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/anthropology74/ce17a.htm |archive-date=November 6, 2014 |access-date=December 11, 2019}}</ref> Unlike other wartime immigration detention stations, Ellis Island was designated as a permanent holding facility and was used to hold foreign nationals throughout the war.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ellis Island (detention facility) |url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Ellis%20Island%20%28detention%20facility%29/ |access-date=June 11, 2019 |website=Densho Encyclopedia}}</ref> A total of 7,000 Germans, Italians and Japanese were ultimately detained at Ellis Island.<ref name="Ellis Island Foundation, 2000" />

The [[Internal Security Act of 1950]] barred members of [[Communism|communist]] or fascist organizations from immigrating to the United States. Two notable communists known to have been imprisoned on Ellis Island include [[Billy Strachan]], a pioneer of black civil rights in Britain, and [[Ferdinand Smith]] who co-founded the first desegregated union in the history of the United States.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Horsley |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hew9zQEACAAJ |title=Billy Strachan 1921–1988 RAF Officer, Communist, Civil Rights Pioneer, Legal Administrator, Internationalist and Above All Caribbean Man |publisher=[[Caribbean Labour Solidarity]] |year=2019 |location=London |page=20 |language=en |issn=2055-7035 |access-date=May 8, 2023}}</ref> Ellis Island saw detention peak at 1,500, but by 1952, after changes to [[List of United States immigration laws|immigration laws and policies]], only 30 to 40 detainees remained.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="Ellis Island Foundation, 2000" /> One of the last detainees was the Indonesian [[Aceh]] separatist [[Hasan di Tiro]] who declared himself the leader of the rebellious [[Darul Islam (Indonesia)|Darul Islam]] movement, lost his Indonesian citizenship, and was held on Ellis Island for [[illegal immigration]].<ref>{{cite web | last=Marks | first=Kathy | title=Hasan di Tiro: Founder of Acehnese independence movement who helped end three decades of war | website=The Independent | date=June 18, 2010 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/hasan-di-tiro-founder-of-acehnese-independence-movement-who-helped-end-three-decades-of-war-2004818.html | access-date=July 14, 2025}}</ref>

===Eugenic influence===
[[File:Emigrants (i.e. immigrants) landing at Ellis Island -.webm|thumb|Film by [[Edison Studios]] showing immigrants disembarking from the steam ferryboat ''William Myers'', July 9, 1903]]
[[File:Ellis Island dormitory room.JPG|thumb|Dormitory room for detained immigrants]]
When immigration through Ellis Island peaked, [[Eugenics|eugenic]] ideals gained broad popularity, making a heavy impact on [[immigration to the United States]] by way of exclusion of [[Disability|disabled]] and "morally defective" people. Eugenicists of the late 19th and early 20th century believed human [[Selective breeding|reproductive selection]] should be carried out by the state as a collective decision.<ref name="Baynton2016">{{Cite book |title=Defectives in the Land: Disability and Immigration in the Age of Eugenics |last=Baynton |first=Douglas C. |date=August 12, 2016 |publisher=Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-36433-9}}</ref> For many eugenicists, this was considered a patriotic duty as they held an interest in creating a greater national race. [[Henry Fairfield Osborn]]'s opening words to the ''[[New York Journal-American|New York Evening Journal]]'' in 1911 were, "As a biologist as well as a patriot...," on the subject on advocating for tighter inspections of immigrants of the United States.<ref name="Goddard 1911">{{Cite journal |last=Goddard |first=Henry Herbert |year=1911 |title=Heredity of Feeble-mindedness |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_x_TAAAAMAAJ&q=feeblemindedness |journal=The Eugenics Review |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=46–60 |publisher=Eugenics Record Office |pmid=21259511 |pmc=2986754}}</ref>

Eugenic selection occurred on two distinguishable levels:
* State/Local levels which handles [[institutionalization]] and [[Sterilization (microbiology)|sterilization]] of those considered defective as well as the education of the public; marriage laws; and social pressures such as fitter-family and better-baby contests.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/science/haunted-files-the-eugenics-record-office-recreates-a-dark-time-in-a-laboratorys-past.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/science/haunted-files-the-eugenics-record-office-recreates-a-dark-time-in-a-laboratorys-past.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited |title=When Racism Was a Science |last=Krisch |first=Joshua A. |date=October 13, 2014 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 11, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* Immigration control, the screening of immigrants for defects, was notably supported by [[Harry H. Laughlin|Harry Laughlin]], superintendent of the [[Eugenics Record Office]] from 1910 to 1939, who stated that this was where the "federal government must cooperate."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Biology and Ideology from Descartes to Dawkins |last1=Alexander |first1=Denis R. |last2=Numbers |first2=Ronald L. |date=May 15, 2010 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-60842-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQui2N4VxDkC&q=%22federal+government+must+cooperate.%22+laughlin&pg=PA183}}</ref>

At the time, it was a broadly popular idea that immigration policies had ought to be based on eugenics principles in order to help create a "superior race" in America. To do this, defective persons needed to be screened by immigration officials and denied entry on the basis of their disability.<ref name="(AMA) pp. 235–241" />

During the line inspection process, ailments were [[#Chalk|marked using chalk]].<ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 33-34" /><ref name="Mullan 1917 p. 733" /> There were three types of illness that were screened for:
* Physical&nbsp;– people who had hereditary or acquired physical disability. These included sickness and disease, deformity, lack of limbs, being abnormally tall or short, [[Feminization (biology)|feminization]], and so forth.<ref name="(AMA) pp. 235–241" /><ref name="Goddard 1911" /> This was covered by most of the chalk indications.<ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 33-34" /><ref name="Mullan 1917 p. 733" />
* Mental&nbsp;– people who showed signs or history of mental illness and [[intellectual disability]]. These included "[[feeble-minded]]ness", "imbecility", [[Depression (differential diagnoses)|depression]], and other illnesses that stemmed from the brain such as [[epilepsy]] and [[cerebral palsy]].<ref name="(AMA) pp. 235–241" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Before Ebola, Ellis Island's terrifying medical inspections |date=October 15, 2014 |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/october-15-1965-remembering-ellis-island |website=PBS NewsHour |access-date=January 19, 2019}}</ref>
* Moral&nbsp;– people who had "moral defects". These included homosexuals, [[paraphilia]]cs, criminals, and the poor or destitute.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://statesofincarceration.org/story/ellis-island |title=Ellis Island {{!}} States of Incarceration |website=statesofincarceration.org |access-date=January 19, 2019}}</ref>

[[File:(German stowaway.) (3110164364).jpg|thumb|190px|A tattooed German stowaway who was later deported. May 1, 1911.]]
[[File:Gypsies Ellis Island 1905 Sherman.jpg|thumb|A [[Romani people in Serbia|Serbian Gypsy]] family who were later deported. 1905.]]

The people with moral or mental disability, who were of higher concern to officials and under the law, were required to be excluded from entry to the United States. Persons with a physical disability were under higher inspection and could be turned away on the basis of their defect. This exclusionary practice of admission came in part from the eugenicist belief that defects are hereditary, especially those of a moral and mental nature, though these are often outwardly signified by physical deformity as well.<ref name="Baynton2016" /> As Chicago surgeon [[Eugene S. Talbot]] wrote in 1898, "crime is hereditary, a tendency which is, in most cases, associated with bodily defects."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Talbot |first=Eugene S. |year=1898 |title=Degeneracy: Its Causes, Signs, and Results |url=https://archive.org/details/degeneracyitscau00talb |location=London |publisher=Walter Scott, Ltd.}}</ref> Likewise, [[George Lydston]], a medicine and [[Anthropological criminology|criminal anthropology]] professor, wrote in 1906 that people with "defective physique" were not just criminally associated but that defectiveness was a primary factor "in the causation of crime."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lydston |first=G. Frank |year=1906 |title=The Diseases of Society: The Vice and Crime Problem |location=Philadelphia; London |publisher=J. B. Lippincott Company}} [https://archive.org/details/diseasesofsociet00lyds/mode/2up 1905 ed.]</ref>

===Leadership===
Within the U.S. Bureau of Immigration, there were fifteen commissioners assigned to oversee immigration procedures at the Port of New York, and thus, operations at Ellis Island. The twelve commissioners through 1940 were political appointees selected by the U.S. president; the political parties listed are those of the president who appointed each commissioner. One man, [[William Williams (commissioner)|William Williams]], served as commissioner twice.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40">{{harvnb|ps=.|Moreno|2004|pp=39–40}}</ref>

# 1890–1893 [[John B. Weber]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]])<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" /><ref>{{CongBio|inline=yes|name=WEBER, John Baptiste|id=W000236}}</ref>
# 1893–1897 Joseph H. Senner ([[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]])<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" />
# 1898–1902 Thomas Fitchie (Republican)<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" />
# 1902–1905 [[William Williams (commissioner)|William Williams]] (Republican)<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" /><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984b|pages=218, 233}}</ref>
# 1905–1909 [[Robert Watchorn]] (Republican)<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" />
# 1909–1913 William Williams (Republican)<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" />
# 1914–1919 [[Frederic C. Howe]] (Democrat)<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" />
# 1920–1921 Frederick A. Wallis (Democrat)<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" />
# 1921–1923 Robert E. Tod (Republican)<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" />
# 1923–1926 Henry H. Curran (Republican)<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" />
# 1926–1931 Benjamin M. Day (Republican)<ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/05/16/archives/new-chief-of-ellis-island-finds-higher-type-of-aliens.html |title=New Chief of Ellis Island Finds Higher Type of Aliens |date=May 16, 1926 |work=The New York Times |access-date=February 12, 2020}}</ref>
# 1931–1934 Edward Corsi (Republican)<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" />
# 1934–1940 Rudolph Reimer (Democrat)<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) pp. 39-40" />

The final three commissioners held a non-partisan position of "district director". The district directors were:<ref name="Moreno (2004) p. 40" />

# 1933–1942 Byron H. Uhl<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Unrau|1984b|page=274}}</ref><ref name="Moreno (2004) p. 40">{{harvnb|ps=.|Moreno|2004|p=40}}</ref>
# 1942–1949 W. Frank Watkins<ref>{{cite book |title=Information Digest |date=August 6, 1942 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qo5IAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA27-PA6 |access-date=February 12, 2020 |page=10}}</ref><ref name="Stern Gressman 1950 p. 341">{{cite book |last1=Stern |first1=R.L. |last2=Gressman |first2=E. |title=Supreme Court Practice: Jurisdiction, Procedure, Arguing and Briefing Techniques, Forms, Statutes, Rules for Practice in the Supreme Court of the United States |publisher=Bureau of National Affairs |series=A BNA book |year=1950 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IcglAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA341 |access-date=February 12, 2020 |page=341}}</ref><ref name="Moreno (2004) p. 40" />
# 1949–1954 Edward J. Shaughnessy<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="Moreno (2004) p. 40" /><ref name="Stern Gressman 1950 p. 341" />

===Name-change myth===
{{See also|Ellis Island Special}}
[[File:Ellis Island immigration footage.ogg|thumb|right|Scenes at the Immigration Depot and a nearby dock on Ellis Island, 1906]]

According to popular legend, immigrants were unwillingly or unknowingly given new names (especially last names or surnames), though this claim is not supported by substantive evidence.<ref name="NYPL-Names" /><ref name="Ault-Names">{{Cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/ask-smithsonian-did-ellis-island-officials-really-change-names-immigrants-180961544/ |title=Did Ellis Island Officials Really Change the Names of Immigrants? |last=Ault |first=Alicia |website=Smithsonian |access-date=June 15, 2019}}</ref> Rather, immigration officials simply used the names from the [[Manifest (transportation)|manifests]] of [[steamship]] companies, which served as the only immigration records for those entering the United States. Records show that immigration officials often actually corrected mistakes in immigrants' names, since inspectors knew three languages on average and each worker was usually assigned to process immigrants who spoke the same languages.<ref name="NYPL-Names">{{cite web |title=Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island (and One That Was) |website=The New York Public Library |date=July 2, 2013 |url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/07/02/name-changes-ellis-island |access-date=June 11, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Ault-Names" /><ref name="USCIS-Names">{{Cite web |url=https://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/genealogy/genealogy-notebook/immigrant-name-changes |title=Immigrant Name Changes |date=February 11, 2016 |website=USCIS |access-date=June 15, 2019}}</ref><ref name=DttP>{{cite journal |last1=Meszaros |first1=Rosemary |last2=Pennavaria |first2=Katherine |title=GovDocs to the Rescue! Debunking an Immigration Myth |url=https://journals.ala.org/index.php/dttp/article/view/6655/8939 |journal=DTTP: Documents to the People |access-date=January 21, 2024 |pages=7–12 |date=April 9, 2018|volume=46 |issue=1 |doi=10.5860/dttp.v46i1.6655 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Many immigrant families Americanized their surnames afterward, either immediately following the immigration process or gradually after assimilating into [[Culture of the United States|American culture]].<ref name="Ault-Names" /> Because the average family changed their surname five years after immigration, the [[Naturalization Act of 1906]] required documentation of name changes.<ref name="Ault-Names" /><ref name="USCIS-Names" /> The myth of name changes at Ellis Island still persists, likely because of the perception of the immigration center as a formidable port of arrival,<ref name="Ault-Names" /> and because it is used in popular books and movies such as ''[[The Godfather Part II]]''.<ref name=DttP/>

==Current use==
The island is administered by the National Park Service,<ref>{{cite web |title=Management |date=March 30, 2019 |website=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/management/index.htm |access-date=June 4, 2019}}</ref> though fire protection and medical services are also provided by the [[Jersey City Fire Department]].<ref name="EI-EIS p. 80" /> In extreme medical emergencies, there is also a helicopter for [[medical evacuation]]s.<ref>{{harvnb|Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island EIS|2005|ps=.|p=81}}</ref>

===<span class="anchor" id="Immigration museum"></span><span class="anchor" id="Ellis Island Immigration Museum"></span>Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration===
[[File:Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration.jpg|thumb|Entrance to the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration]]
The Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration opened on September 10, 1990,<ref name="nyt19900910" /> replacing the [[American Museum of Immigration]] on Liberty Island, which closed in 1991.{{sfn|Moreno|2000|p=19}} The museum contains several exhibits across three floors of the main building, with a first-floor expansion into the kitchen-laundry building.<ref name="Shepard 1990">{{cite web |last=Shepard |first=Richard F. |title=Inside, Reliving the Immigrant's Experience |website=The New York Times |date=September 7, 1990 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/07/arts/inside-reliving-the-immigrant-s-experience.html |access-date=June 11, 2019}}</ref> The first floor houses the main lobby within the baggage room, the Family Immigration History Center, ''Peopling of America'', and ''New Eras of Immigration''.<ref name="NPS Ground Floor">{{cite web |title=Ground Floor |website=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/ground-floor.htm |access-date=July 6, 2019 |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |date=January 1, 2018}}</ref> The second floor includes the registry room, the hearing room, ''Through America's Gate'', and ''Peak Immigration Years''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Second Floor |website=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |date=November 14, 2013 |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/second-floor.htm |access-date=July 6, 2019}}</ref> The third floor contains a dormitory room, ''Restoring a Landmark'', ''Silent Voices'', ''Treasures from Home'', and ''Ellis Island Chronicles'', as well as rotating exhibits.<ref>{{cite web |title=Exploring the Ellis Island Museum |website=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |date=September 5, 2018 |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/exploring-the-ellis-island-museum.htm |access-date=July 6, 2019}}</ref> There are also three theaters used for film and live performances.<ref name="Shepard 1990" /> The third floor contains a library, reading room, and "oral history center", while the theaters are located on the first and second floors. There are auditoriums on all floors.<ref name="n32514428" /><ref name="Villamor 1986">{{cite news |title=Ellis Island to be 'monument to common man' |last=Villamor |first=Erlinda |date=June 29, 1986 |work=Asbury Park Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32510138/ |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=210 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> On the ground floor is a gift shop and bookstore, as well as a booth for audio tours.<ref name="n32514428" /><ref name="NPS Ground Floor" /><ref name="Villamor 1986" />

In 2008, by act of Congress and despite opposition from the NPS, the museum's library was officially renamed the Bob Hope Memorial Library in honor of one of the station's most famous immigrants, comedian [[Bob Hope]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/ellis-island-library-is-named-for-bob-hope/ |title=Thanks for the Ellis Island Memories ... Bob Hope? |last=Chan |first=Sewell |date=November 24, 2008 |website=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref> On May 20, 2015, the Ellis Island Immigration Museum was officially renamed the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, coinciding with the opening of the new Peopling of America galleries in the first floor of the kitchen-laundry building.<ref name="nyt20150427">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/27/nyregion/ellis-island-museum-to-update-the-story-of-immigration-in-america.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/27/nyregion/ellis-island-museum-to-update-the-story-of-immigration-in-america.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited |title=Ellis Island Museum to Update the Story of Immigration in America |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=April 26, 2015 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 12, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The expansion tells the entire story of American immigration, including before and after the periods that Ellis Island processed immigrants.<ref name="nyt20150427" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/peopling-of-america-center |title=Peopling Of America Center – The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island |date=April 24, 2020}}</ref><ref name="npr20150520" />

====Wall of Honor====
[[File:Ellis Island Jul 2019 22.jpg|thumb|Wall of Honor]]
The Wall of Honor outside the main building contains a list of 775,000 names inscribed on 770 panels, including slaves, Native Americans, and immigrants that were not processed on the island.<ref name="Taylor 2019">{{cite web |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/on-ellis-island-a-wall-honors-immigrants-old-and-new/4872743.html |title=On Ellis Island, a Wall Honors Immigrants Old and New |last=Taylor |first=Ramon |date=April 12, 2019 |website=VOA |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref><ref name="nyt20190116" /> The Wall of Honor originated in the late 1980s as a means to pay for Ellis Island's renovation, and initially included 75,000 names.<ref name="Taylor 2019" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-11-20-8802180178-story.html |title=BUILDING A WALL OF HONOR |last=Dubin |first=Murray |date=November 20, 1988 |website=Chicago Tribune |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref> The wall originally opened in 1990 and consisted of copper panels.<ref name="nyt20190116" /><ref name="Stakely p. 111" /> Shortly afterward it was reconstructed in two phases: a circular portion that started in 1993, and a linear portion that was built between 1998 and 2001.<ref name="Stakely p. 111" /> The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation requires potential honorees to pay a fee for inscription.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/about-the-wall-of-honor |title=About the Wall of Honor |website=The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref> By 2019, the wall was mostly full and only five panels remained to be inscribed.<ref name="nyt20190116" />

NPS provides several educational opportunities, including self-guided tours and immersive, role-playing activities.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/school-groups.htm |title=Field Trips |website=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |access-date=August 5, 2019}}</ref><ref name="New Learning Times">{{Cite episode |title=Ellis Island |series=Seen in NY |series-link=Seen in NY |network=[[New Learning Times]] |date=February 22, 2017 |number=209 |url=https://newlearningtimes.com/cms/article/4167/ellis-island |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805230438/https://newlearningtimes.com/cms/article/4167/ellis-island |archive-date=August 5, 2019 }}</ref> These educational programs and resources cater to over 650,000 students per year and aim to promote discussion while fostering a climate of tolerance and understanding.<ref name="New Learning Times" />

===South side===
[[File:Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital building.jpg|thumb|left|Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital]]

The south side of the island, home to the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is abandoned and remains unrenovated.<ref>{{cite web |title=Public gets first look in decades of long-neglected Ellis Island hospital |last=O'Neill |first=Erin |date=September 26, 2014 |website=The Star-Ledger |url=https://www.nj.com/news/2014/09/a_look_inside_ellis_island_hospital_complex_that_opens_to_public_next_week.html |access-date=June 3, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=At Statue of Liberty National Monument, Save Ellis Island, Inc., Works to Restore Ellis Island's Time-Ravaged Buildings |url=http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread.asp?fid=3&threadid=89568 |last=Janiskee |first=Bob |date=September 26, 2008 |publisher=National Parks Traveller}}</ref> Disagreements over its proposed use have precluded any development on the south side for several decades.<ref name="n32809399" /> The NPS held a competition for proposals to redevelop the south side in 1981 and ultimately selected a plan for a conference center and a 250-to-300-room [[Sheraton Hotels and Resorts|Sheraton]] hotel on the site of the hospital.<ref name="nyt19860223" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32505757/ |title=Ellis Island rebirth |last=Moritz |first=Owen |date=February 26, 1984 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=96 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> In 1985, while restoration of the north side of Ellis Island was underway, Interior Secretary [[Donald P. Hodel]] convened a long-inactive federal commission to determine how the south side of Ellis Island should be used.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gottlieb |first=Martin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/23/nyregion/advisory-panel-asked-to-help-settle-ellis-i-plans.html |title=Advisory Panel Asked to Help Settle Ellis I. Plans |date=November 23, 1985 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref> Though the hotel proposal was dropped in 1986 for lack of funds,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/11/nyregion/ellis-i-proposal-is-seen-as-faulty.html |title=Ellis I. Proposal Is Seen as Faulty |last=Gottlieb |first=Martin |date=May 11, 1986 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref> the NPS allowed developer William Hubbard to redevelop the south side as a convention center, though Hubbard was not able to find investors.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 2, 1990 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/02/nyregion/redone-ellis-island-burnished-but-not-brash.html |title=Redone Ellis Island: Burnished but Not Brash |last=Stanley |first=Alessandra |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref> The south side was proposed for possible future development even through the late 1990s.<ref name="n32246752" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/29/nyregion/rescue-plan-for-neglected-south-side-of-ellis-island.html |title=Rescue Plan for Neglected South Side of Ellis Island |last=Halbfinger |first=David M. |date=October 29, 1997 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref>

[[Save Ellis Island]] led preservation efforts of the south side of the island. The ferry building remains only partially accessible to the general public.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=49291 |title=New Ferry Building Ellis Island |last=Coughlin |first=Bill |date=November 2011 |publisher=Historical Marker Database |access-date=February 25, 2012}}</ref> As part of the National Park Service's Centennial Initiative, the south side of the island was to be the target of a project to restore the 28 buildings that have not yet been rehabilitated.<ref>{{cite web |title=Summary of Park Centennial Strategies |last=Bomar |first=Mary A. |author-link=Mary A. Bomar |date=August 2007 |publisher=National Park Service |url=http://www.nps.gov/2016/assets/files/Summary-of-Park-Centennial-Strategies.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080215085712/http://www.nps.gov/2016/assets/files/Summary-of-Park-Centennial-Strategies.pdf |archive-date=February 15, 2008 |access-date=February 15, 2008}}</ref>

In 2014, Save Ellis Island started offering guided public tours of the south side as part of the "Hard Hat Tour", which charges an additional fee that is used to support the organization's preservation efforts.<ref name="NPS-south-side-tours-begin" /> The south side also includes "Unframed – Ellis Island", an art installation by the French street artist [[JR (artist)|JR]], which includes murals of figures who would have occupied each of the respective hospital buildings.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/arts/design/jr-brings-ellis-islands-abandoned-hospital-to-life.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/arts/design/jr-brings-ellis-islands-abandoned-hospital-to-life.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited |title=Shadows Return to Ellis Island |last=Ryzik |first=Melena |date=September 24, 2014 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 16, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/artist-jr-hidden-message-on-ellis-island/ |title=Artist's hidden message on Ellis Island |work=CBS News |date=February 25, 2018 |access-date=June 16, 2019}}</ref>

==Cultural impact==
<!--===In media===
The book ''Ellis Island: Gateway to America'' (1986)<ref>{{cite news |title=Book on Ellis Island details hopes, tears of immigrants |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32514149/ |work=Asbury Park Press |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |date=June 30, 1986 |page=3 |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref> -->

===Commemorations===
[[File:Ellis island 1902.jpg|thumb|right|Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, 1902]]

The [[Ellis Island Medal of Honor]] is awarded annually to American citizens, both native-born and naturalized. According to the award's sponsors, the medal is given to those who "have distinguished themselves within their own ethnic groups while exemplifying the values of the American way of life."<ref name="AboutUs">{{cite web |url=http://www.neco.org/mission |title=About Us |publisher=Ellis Island Honors Society |access-date=July 21, 2018 |archive-date=July 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721013234/http://neco.org/mission }}</ref> Past medalists include seven U.S. presidents, several world leaders,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://observer.com/2018/05/prince-albert-of-monaco-honored-at-ellis-island-with-rita-moreno-and-larry-gagosian/ |title=Prince Albert of Monaco Honored at Ellis Island, With Rita Moreno and Larry Gagosian |date=May 14, 2018 |website=Observer |access-date=June 14, 2019}}</ref> several Nobel Prize winners, and other leaders and pioneers.<ref name="AboutUs" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://pix11.com/2015/04/17/sandra-day-oconnor-presented-ellis-island-medal-of-honor-by-pix11/ |title=Sandra Day O'Connor presented Ellis Island Medal of Honor |access-date=April 21, 2015 |publisher=PIX 11 TV News|postscript=none}}; {{cite news |url=http://asbarez.com/133456/7-armenians-to-receive-ellis-island-medal-of-honor/ |title=7 Armenians to Receive Ellis Island Medal of Honor |access-date=April 21, 2015 |work=Asbarez Post|postscript=none}}; {{cite web |url=http://www.neco.org/ |title=Ellis Island Medals of Honor |publisher=Ellis Island Honors Society |access-date=July 21, 2018 |archive-date=July 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722041149/http://www.neco.org/ |postscript=none}}; {{cite book |title=United States of America Congressional Record Proceedings and Debates |date=June 22, 1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9KK9qT9TQMC&q=Ellis+Island+Medal+of+Honor++by+NECO&pg=PA13907 |publisher=US Government Printing Office |page=13907 |access-date=April 21, 2015}}</ref> The [[USPS]] issued an Ellis Island commemorative stamp on February 3, 1998, as part of the [[Celebrate the Century]] stamp sheet series.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1998-01-11-9801080360-story.html |title=Postal Service Plans At Least 150 Releases For 1998: Part 1 |last=Carr |first=Richard |date=January 11, 1998 |website=Sun-Sentinel |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref>

===Historical designations===
Ellis Island has been part of the [[Statue of Liberty National Monument]], which also includes the [[Statue of Liberty]] and [[Liberty Island]], since 1965.<ref name="NPS-ellis-island-chronology" /><ref name="n32471127" /><ref name="Proclamation 3656" /> It has been listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] since 1966.<ref name="nris" /> Ellis Island has also been on the [[New Jersey Register of Historic Places]] since 1971.<ref name="NJRHP" /> The main building's interior was made a [[New York City designated landmark]] in 1993,<ref name="NYCL" /> and the entire island was made a New York City historic district at the same time.<ref name="The New York Times 1993 u856">{{cite web | title=Panel Seeks Stronger Role in Future of Ellis Island | website=The New York Times | date=November 17, 1993 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/17/nyregion/panel-seeks-stronger-role-in-future-of-ellis-island.html | access-date=April 26, 2024}}</ref> In addition, it was placed on [[UNESCO]]'s list of tentative [[World Heritage Site]]s in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ellis Island |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |date=October 11, 2017 |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6233/ |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|New York City|New Jersey|Islands}}
* [[Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal]], in Jersey City, the departure point for immigrants heading to points west and south after processing through Ellis Island
* [[Geography of New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary]]
* [[List of Ellis Island immigrants]] – (Notable persons)
* [[List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan on smaller islands]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Hudson County, New Jersey]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan on islands]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{Notelist}}

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Belle |first1=Beyer Blinder |last2=Finegold |first2=Anderson Notter |url=https://archive.org/details/historicstructur00beye |title=Historic Structure Report: The Main Building, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty National Monument |year=1988}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gannett |first=H. |title=Boundaries of the United States and of the Several States and Territories: With an Outline of the History of All Important Changes of Territory |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |series=Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey |year=1900 |url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_16885 |access-date=February 12, 2020}} Reprint: {{ISBN|978-0-665-16885-7}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Moreno |first=Barry |title=The Statue of Liberty Encyclopedia |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7385-3689-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/statueoflibertye00more |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Moreno |first=Barry |title=Encyclopedia of Ellis Island |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-313-32682-0 |oclc=55671941 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mRgWAQAAIAAJ}}
* {{Cite web |author={{Text|New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission}} |author-mask=[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission] |title=Ellis Island Main Building Interior Designation Report |date=November 16, 1993 |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |ref={{harvid|Ellis Island Main Building Interior Designation Report|1993}} |url=http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/Ellis-Island--Main-Building--Interior-.pdf |access-date=March 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185932/http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/Ellis-Island--Main-Building--Interior-.pdf |archive-date=March 3, 2016 }}
* {{Cite web |last1=Robins |first1=Anthony |last2=Urbanelli |first2=Elisa |date=November 16, 1993 |title=Ellis Island Historic District |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1902.pdf}}
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Edmund Banks |date=1913 |title=Governors Island, its military history under three flags, 1637–1913 |publisher=Valentine's Manual New York |url=https://archive.org/details/governorsisland00smitgoog}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stakely |first=Tracy |title=Cultural Landscape Report for Ellis Island |date=May 2003 |publisher=Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/elis/clr.pdf}}
* {{Cite book |title=Statue of Liberty National Monument (N.M.) and Ellis Island, Ellis Island Development Concept Plan: Environmental Impact Statement |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cDQ3AQAAMAAJ |ref={{harvid|Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island EIS|2005}} }}
* {{Cite book |ref=none |title=Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island – Historic Resource Study |last=Unrau |first=Harlan D. |publisher=National Park Serviceb |date=September 1984}}
** {{Cite book |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/stli1/hrs1.pdf |title=Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island – Historic Resource Study |last=Unrau |first=Harlan D. |date=September 1984a |volume=1 |pages=1–206}}
** {{Cite book |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/stli1/hrs2.pdf |title=Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island – Historic Resource Study |last=Unrau |first=Harlan D. |date=September 1984b |volume=2 |pages=207–732}}
** {{Cite book |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/stli1/hrs2.pdf |title=Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island – Historic Resource Study |last=Unrau |first=Harlan D. |date=September 1984c |volume=3 |pages=733–1354}} 
: {{LOC-general}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Baur, J. [http://www.die-exponauten.com/cms/upload/pdf/Baur_Commemorating.pdf "Commemorating Immigration in the Immigrant Society. Narratives of Transformation at Ellis Island and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040621/http://www.die-exponauten.com/cms/upload/pdf/Baur_Commemorating.pdf |date=December 1, 2017 }}, in M. König, and R. Ohliger, eds., ''Enlarging European Memory. Migration Movements in Historical Perspective'' (2006) pp.&nbsp;137–146.
* Baur, J. [http://www.die-exponauten.com/cms/upload/pdf/Baur_Ellis-Island-Inc.pdf "Ellis Island, Inc.: The Making of an American Site of Memory"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201033447/http://www.die-exponauten.com/cms/upload/pdf/Baur_Ellis-Island-Inc.pdf |date=December 1, 2017 }}, in: H. J. Grabbe and S. Schindler, (eds.), ''The Merits of Memory. Concepts, Contexts, Debates'' (2008), pp.&nbsp;185–196.
* {{cite book |last=Bayor |first=Ronald |title=Encountering Ellis Island: how European immigrants entered America |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore, Maryland |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4214-1368-6 |oclc=863043790}}
* {{cite book |last=Bolino |first=August |title=The Ellis Island source book |publisher=Kensington Historical Press |location=Washington, DC |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-939133-03-1 |oclc=23941104}}
* {{cite book |last=Cannato |first=V.J. |title=American Passage: The History of Ellis Island |publisher=HarperCollins e-books |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-06-194039-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanpassageh00cann_0 |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Coan |first=Peter M. |title=Ellis Island Interviews: In Their Own Words |publisher=Barnes & Noble |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-7607-5309-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/ellisislandinter0000coan |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Corsi |first=Edward |title=In the Shadow of Liberty: The Chronicle of Ellis Island |publisher=Ayer Company Pub |series=American Immigration Collection |year=1969 |isbn=978-0-405-00517-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kaDJvgEACAAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Fairchild |first=Amy L. |title=Science at the Borders: Immigrant Medical Inspection and the Shaping of the Modern Industrial Labor Force |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8018-7080-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SJTtOyde_QQC}}
* {{cite book |last=Kashima |first=T. |title=Personal Justice Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-295-97558-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7r3U_KuP_Q0C}}
* {{cite book |last=Lerner |first=K. |title=Immigration and multiculturalism: essential primary sources |url=https://archive.org/details/immigrationmulti00klee |url-access=registration |publisher=Thomson Gale |location=Detroit, MI |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4144-1265-8 |oclc=77517876 |page=[https://archive.org/details/immigrationmulti00klee/page/121 121]}}
* {{cite book |last=Moreno |first=Barry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4phC-hWgtzsC |title=Ellis Islandv |publisher=Arcadia |location=Charleston, SC |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7385-1304-1 |oclc=53224584}}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5QPa2k2ko8C |last=Moreno |first=Barry |title=Ellis Island: Children of Ellis Island |publisher=Arcadia |location=Charleston, SC |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7385-1304-1 |oclc=53224584}}
* {{cite book |last=Moreno |first=Barry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qIFMxmnWqBkC |title=Ellis Island's famous immigrants |publisher=Arcadia Pub |location=Charleston, SC |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7385-5533-1 |oclc=177000362}}
* {{cite web |title=National Register of Historic Inventory Nomination Form For Federal Properties: Ellis Island–Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=[[United States Department of the Interior]], [[National Park Service]] |date=August 9, 1980 |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/66000058.pdf}}
* {{cite book | last=Pitkin | first=Thomas M. | title=Keepers of the Gate: A History of Ellis Island | publisher=New York University Press | date=1975 | isbn=978-0-8147-6562-3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Stump |first=H. |title=Immigration Investigation |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |series=52d Congress, 1st Session, House. Report |year=1892 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LYITAAAAYAAJ}}
* {{cite book | last1=Yans-McLaughlin | first1=Virginia | last2=Lightman | first2=Marjorie | title=Ellis Island and the Peopling of America: The Official Guide | publisher=New Press | date=1997 }}
* {{cite journal |journal=[[Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine]] |date=June 1980 |pmc=1805119 |last1=Yew |first1=E. |title=Medical inspection of immigrants at Ellis Island, 1891–1924 |volume=56 |issue=5 |pages=488–510 |pmid=6991041}}
* [https://www.census.gov Ellis Island: Blocks 9019 thru 9023, Block Group 9, Census Tract 47, Hudson County, NJ; and Block 1000, Block Group 1, Census Tract 1], New York County, New York; United States Census Bureau.
* {{cite web |title=Ellis Island: Its Legal Status |date=February 11, 1963 |publisher=General Services Administration Offices of General Council |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/stli/ellis_island_legal.pdf  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804212618/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/stli/ellis_island_legal.pdf |archive-date=August 4, 2012}}
{{refend}}

===Videos===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite video |people=Encyclopædia Britannica Films, Inc |year=1946 |title=Immigration |url=https://archive.org/details/Immigrat1946 |medium=Documentary |publisher=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=January 20, 2009 |time=10:22 |quote=Archive film contains scenes of Ellis Island and New York City in the early 20th century.}}
* {{cite video |people=Guggenheim, Charles (director) |year=1989 |title=Island of Hope – Island of Tears |url=https://archive.org/details/gov.ntis.ava15996vnb1 |medium=Documentary |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=January 20, 2009 |time=28:24 |quote=From 1892–1954, Ellis Island was the port of entry for millions of European immigrants. Fascinating archival footage tells the moving story of families with dreams of opportunity, leaving their homes with what they could carry.}}
* [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/87 ''Emigrants Landing at Ellis Island''], a film from 1903 by [[Alfred C. Abadie]] from the [[World Digital Library]]
* {{YouTube|WRNT4EaEqXc|Ellis Island: Faces of America}}, video celebrating immigrants at Ellis Island, c. 1900–1926
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.ntis.ava15996vnb1|name=Island of Hope – Island of Tears (1989)}}
{{refend}}

===Other archives===
{{refbegin}}
* [https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/archive-ellis-island-records Complete Archive of Ellis Island Records] at FamilySearch.org. Users must register for a free account.
* [http://www.ggarchives.com/Immigration/EllisIsland/index.html The Ellis Island Experience – Articles, Documents, and Images] at Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives
* [https://www.newspapers.com/topics/industrial-gilded-ages/ellis-island/ Newspaper articles and clippings about Ellis Island] at Newspapers.com
{{refend}}

===Children's books===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Bial |first=Raymond |title=Ellis Island: coming to the Land of Liberty |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books for Children |location=Boston, MA |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-618-99943-9 |oclc=244481684 |url=https://archive.org/details/ellisislandcomin0000bial}}
* {{cite book |last=Demuth |first=Patricia |title=What was Ellis Island |publisher=Grosset & Dunlap an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC |location=New York |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-448-47915-6 |oclc=852221914}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ellis Island}}
* {{official website|https://www.nps.gov/elis/index.htm}}
* [http://nyharborparks.org/visit/elis.html Ellis Island] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622135424/http://nyharborparks.org/visit/elis.html |date=June 22, 2015 }} Visitor information
* [https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org Liberty Ellis Foundation]

===Images===
* [https://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/08/20/129320788/ellis-island-then-and-now Eerie Ellis Island, Then and Now] – slideshow by [[NPR]]

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