The stairway....
The stairway....Ellis island....
With all the immigration disputing going on in our nation right now, I was reminded of Ellis Island in the New York City Harbor...
The island is near the Statue of Liberty... and stands as a reminder of immigration of the millions of people who have come Into the United States in times past..the processes they had to face to be admitted into the country...
At one time there were quotas on countries of origin for the amount of people admitted to the United States.
http://www.ehow.com/list_6301999_american-immigration-quota-laws.html
Two years ago, a friend and I visited the island as well as the Statue of Liberty. The buildings were beautiful, brick and tile work, red and white standing out in the blue harbor....
We walked into this huge room filled with pictures, items from the era of its use as a first step of coming into a new country..black and white pictures of lines of people, their worldly possessions in trunks, baskets, bags.....children sullen, waiting...waiting ...some smiling, most serious...this was another deciding point.....what was next on their lives In this new country...new language...new lives...
The most memorable sight for me was a divided staircase through double doors. If a person was on one side, they were free to take the train on to New York City. But, if they were on the other side of the railed stairway, they were being held for some issue, health or what ever until they were deemed okay to enter this new land...
Looking at those steps, worn down in the center of each side...was a reminder of the millions who had passed that way, Elated or distraught...
I have a trunk matching one in the pile on display...I think some of my ancestors came through that building, carrying their dreams and family heirlooms with them...they were allowed to go down that stairway leading to freedom and on to the Midwest farming grounds...
I am thankful God has no quota on the amount of people who people who pass through the gates of heaven....He desires that none should perish...anyone who believes and receives His Son as Saviour can enter that heavenly realm...
But, there is a dividing point...belief or non belief...those who believe enter...those who don't, won't...
Thank YOU for Your Word...Your patience...Your grace in accepting all who desire to come to You....welcoming us with open arms of freedom in You....
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Hebrews 4:11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
With all the immigration disputing going on in our nation right now, I was reminded of Ellis Island in the New York City Harbor...
The island is near the Statue of Liberty... and stands as a reminder of immigration of the millions of people who have come Into the United States in times past..the processes they had to face to be admitted into the country...
At one time there were quotas on countries of origin for the amount of people admitted to the United States.
http://www.ehow.com/list_6301999_american-immigration-quota-laws.html
Two years ago, a friend and I visited the island as well as the Statue of Liberty. The buildings were beautiful, brick and tile work, red and white standing out in the blue harbor....
We walked into this huge room filled with pictures, items from the era of its use as a first step of coming into a new country..black and white pictures of lines of people, their worldly possessions in trunks, baskets, bags.....children sullen, waiting...waiting ...some smiling, most serious...this was another deciding point.....what was next on their lives In this new country...new language...new lives...
The most memorable sight for me was a divided staircase through double doors. If a person was on one side, they were free to take the train on to New York City. But, if they were on the other side of the railed stairway, they were being held for some issue, health or what ever until they were deemed okay to enter this new land...
Looking at those steps, worn down in the center of each side...was a reminder of the millions who had passed that way, Elated or distraught...
I have a trunk matching one in the pile on display...I think some of my ancestors came through that building, carrying their dreams and family heirlooms with them...they were allowed to go down that stairway leading to freedom and on to the Midwest farming grounds...
I am thankful God has no quota on the amount of people who people who pass through the gates of heaven....He desires that none should perish...anyone who believes and receives His Son as Saviour can enter that heavenly realm...
But, there is a dividing point...belief or non belief...those who believe enter...those who don't, won't...
Thank YOU for Your Word...Your patience...Your grace in accepting all who desire to come to You....welcoming us with open arms of freedom in You....
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Hebrews 4:11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
Ellis Island, in Upper New York Bay, was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United Statesas the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with land reclamationbetween 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the site of Fort Gibson and later a naval magazine. The island was made part of theStatue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, and has hosted a museum of immigration since 1990. Long considered part of New York, a 1998 United States Supreme Court decision found that most of the island is in New Jersey.[4] The south side of the island, home to the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is closed to the general public and the object of restoration efforts spearheaded by Save Ellis Island.
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Immigrant Inspection Station
Brooklyn Museum - Climbing into the Promised Land Ellis Island - Lewis Wickes Hine
First Ellis Island Immigrant Station, opened on January 1, 1892. Built of wood, it was completely destroyed by fire on June 15, 1897.
In the 35 years before Ellis Island opened, over eight million immigrants arriving inNew York had been processed by New York State officials at Castle Garden Immigration Depot in lower Manhattan, just across the bay.[37] The federal government assumed control of immigration on April 18, 1890, and Congress appropriated $75,000 to construct America’s first Federal immigration station on Ellis Island. Artesian wells were dug, and landfillwas hauled in from incoming ships’ ballast and from construction of New York City’s subwaytunnels, which doubled the size of Ellis Island to over six acres. While the building was under construction, the Barge Office nearby at the Battery was used for immigrant processing.
The first federal immigrant inspection station was an enormous three-story-tall structure, with outbuildings, built of Georgia pine, containing all of the amenities that were thought to be necessary. It opened with celebration on January 1, 1892.[33] Three large ships landed on the first day and 700 immigrants passed over the docks. Almost 450,000 immigrants were processed at the station during its first year. On June 15, 1897, a fire of unknown origin, possibly caused by faulty wiring, turned the wooden structures on Ellis Island into ashes. No loss of life was reported, but most of the immigration records dating back to 1855 were destroyed. About 1.5 million immigrants had been processed at the first building during its five years of use. Plans were immediately made to build a new, fireproof immigration station on Ellis Island. During the construction period, passenger arrivals were again processed at the Barge Office.[33]
Film by Edison Studios showing immigrants disembarking from the steam ferryboat William Myers, July 9, 1903
Second Ellis Island Immigration Station, opened on December 17, 1900 (photo 1905)
Edward Lippincott Tilton and William A. Boring won the 1897 competition to design the first phase, including the Main Building (1897–1900), Kitchen and Laundry Building (1900–01), Main Powerhouse (1900–01), and the Main Hospital Building (1900–01).[38]
The present main structure was designed in French Renaissance Revival style and built of red brick with limestone trim. When it opened on December 17, 1900, officials estimated 5,000 immigrants per day would be processed. However, the facilities proved to be able to barely handle the flood of immigrants that arrived in the years just before World War I. WriterLouis Adamic came to America from Slovenia in southeastern Europe in 1913 and described the night he and many other immigrants slept on bunk beds in a huge hall. Lacking a warm blanket, the young man "shivered, sleepless, all night, listening to snores" and dreams "in perhaps a dozen different languages". The facility was so large that the dining room could seat 1,000 people.
After its opening, Ellis Island was expanded with landfill and additional structures were built. By the time it closed on November 12, 1954, twelve million immigrants had been processed by the U.S. Bureau of Immigration.[37] It is estimated that 10.5 million immigrants departed for points across the United States from the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, located just across a narrow strait.[39][40] Others would have used one of the other terminals along the North River (Hudson River) at that time.[41] The peak year for immigration at Ellis Island was 1907, with 1,004,756 immigrants processed. The all-time daily high occurred on April 17, 1907, when 11,747 immigrants arrived.[33] After the Immigration Act of 1924 was passed, which greatly restricted immigration and allowed processing at overseas embassies, the only immigrants to pass through the station were those who had problems with their immigration paperwork, displaced persons, and war refugees.[42] Today, over 100 million Americans—one third of the population—can trace their ancestry to the immigrants who first arrived in America at Ellis Island before dispersing to points all over the country.
Generally, those immigrants who were approved spent from two to five hours at Ellis Island. Arrivals were asked 29 questions including name, occupation, and the amount of money carried. It was important to the American government that the new arrivals could support themselves and have money to get started. The average the government wanted the immigrants to have was between 18 and 25 dollars. Those with visible health problems or diseases were sent home or held in the island's hospital facilities for long periods of time. More than three thousand would-be immigrants died on Ellis Island while being held in the hospital facilities. Some unskilled workers were rejected because they were considered “likely to become a public charge.” About 2 percent were denied admission to the U.S. and sent back to their countries of origin for reasons such as having a chronic contagious disease, criminal background, or insanity.[43] Ellis Island was sometimes known as “The Island of Tears” or “Heartbreak Island”[44] because of those 2% who were not admitted after the long transatlantic voyage. The Kissing Post is a wooden column outside the Registry Room, where new arrivals were greeted by their relatives and friends, typically with tears, hugs and kisses.[45][46]
During World War I, the German sabotage of the Black Tom Wharf ammunition depot damaged buildings on Ellis Island. The repairs included the current barrel-vaulted ceiling of the Main Hall.
Detention and deportation station
During and immediately following World War II, Ellis Island was used to intern German merchant mariners and “enemy aliens”—American civilians and immigrants detained for fear of spying, sabotage, and other fifth column activity. In December 1941, Ellis Island held 279Japanese, 248 Germans, and 81 Italians removed from the East Coast.[48] 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.[49] A total of 7,000 Germans, Italians and Japanese would be ultimately detained at Ellis Island.[33] It was also a processing center for returning sick or wounded U.S. soldiers, and a Coast Guard training base. Ellis Island still managed to process tens of thousands of immigrants a year during this time, but many fewer than the hundreds of thousands a year who arrived before the war. After the war, immigration rapidly returned to earlier levels.[33] Noted entertainers who performed for detained aliens and for U.S. and allied servicemen at the island included Rudy Vallee, Jimmy Durante, Bob Hope, and Lionel Hampton and his orchestra.
The Internal Security Act of 1950 barred members of communist or fascist organizations from immigrating to the United States. Ellis Island saw detention peak at 1,500, but by 1952, after changes to immigration law and policies, only 30 detainees remained.[33]
One of the last detainees was the Aceh separatist Hasan di Tiro who, while a student in New York in 1953, declared himself the “foreign minister” of the rebellious Darul Islammovement.[50] Due to this action, he was immediately stripped of his Indonesian citizenship, causing him to be imprisoned for a few months on Ellis Island as “"an illegal alien.”[50]
Prominent amongst the missionaries and immigrant aid workers were Rev. Michael J. Henry and Rev. Anthony J. Grogan (Irish Catholic), Rev. Gaspare Moretto (Italian Catholic), Alma E. Mathews (Methodist), Rev. Georg Doring (German Lutheran), Rev. Joseph L'Etauche (Polish Catholic), Rev. Reuben Breed (Episcopal), Michael Lodsin (Baptist), Brigadier Thomas Johnson (Salvation Army), Ludmila K. Foxlee (YWCA), Athena Marmaroff (Woman's Christian Temperance Union), Alexander Harkavy (HIAS), and Cecilia Greenstone and Cecilia Razovsky (National Council of Jewish Women).
Scenes at the Immigration Depot and a nearby dock on Ellis Island
Records
Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, 1902
See also: Ellis Island Special
A myth persists that government officials on Ellis Island compelled immigrants to take new names against their wishes.[51] In fact, no historical records bear this out. Federal immigration inspectors were under strict supervision and were more interested in preventing inadmissible aliens from entering the country (for which they were held accountable) than in assisting them in trivial personal matters such as altering their names. The inspectors used the passenger lists given to them by the steamship companies to process each foreigner. These were the sole immigration records for entering the country and were prepared not by the U.S. Bureau of Immigration but by steamship companies such as the Cunard Line, the White Star Line, the North German Lloyd Line, the Hamburg-Amerika Line, the Italian Steam Navigation Company, the Red Star Line, the Holland America Line, and the Austro-American Line.[52][53] The Americanization of many immigrant families' surnames was for the most part adopted by the family after the immigration process, or by the second or third generation of the family after some assimilation into American culture. However, many last names were altered slightly due to the disparity between English and other languages in the pronunciation of certain letters of the alphabet.[54]
Medical inspections
Dormitory room for detained immigrants
The Great Hall in the early 1900s.
Ellis Island Hospital
To support the activities of the United States Bureau of Immigration, the United States Public Health Serviceoperated an extensive medical service at the immigrant station, called U.S. Marine Hospital Number 43, more widely known as the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital. It was the largest marine hospital in the nation. The medical division, which was active both in the hospital and the Great Hall, was staffed by uniformed military surgeons. They are best known for the role they played during the line inspection, in which they employed unusual techniques such as the use of the buttonhook to examine aliens for signs of eye diseases (particularly, trachoma) and the use of a chalk mark code. Symbols were chalkedon the clothing of potentially sick immigrants following the six-second medical examination. The doctors would look at the immigrants as they climbed the stairs from the baggage area to the Great Hall. Immigrants’ behavior would be studied for difficulties in getting up the staircase. Some immigrants entered the country only by surreptitiously wiping the chalk marks off, or by turning their clothes inside out.[55]
The symbols used were:
Notable immigrants
Further information: List of notable Ellis Island immigrants
The first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island was Annie Moore, a 15-year-old girl fromCork, Ireland, who arrived on the ship Nevada on January 1, 1892.[56] She and her two brothers were coming to America to meet their parents, who had moved to New York two years prior. She received a greeting from officials and a $10 gold piece.[57] It was the largest sum of money she had ever owned. The last person to pass through Ellis Island was a Norwegian merchant seaman by the name of Arne Peterssen in 1954.
Immigration museum
The wooden structure built in 1892 to house the immigration station burned down after five years. The station's new Main Building, which now houses the Immigration Museum, was opened in 1900.[58] Architects Edward Lippincott Tilton and William Alciphron Boringreceived a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exposition for the building's design and constructed the building at a cost of $1.5 million.[59] The architecture competition was the second under the Tarsney Act, which had permitted private architects rather than government architects in the Office of the Supervising Architect to design federal buildings.[60]
Main Building, which now houses the Immigration Museum
Great Hall, where immigrants were processed (note the 48-star US flags still hanging)
After the immigration station closed in November 1954, the buildings fell into disrepair and were all but abandoned. Attempts at redeveloping the site were unsuccessful until its landmark status was established. On October 15, 1965, Ellis Island was proclaimed a part of Statue of Liberty National Monument. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
Boston-based architecture firm Finegold Alexander + Associates Inc, together with the New York architectural firm Beyer Blinder Belle, designed the restoration and adaptive use of theBeaux-Arts Main Building, one of the most symbolically important structures in American history. A construction budget of $150 million was required for this significant restoration. This money was raised by a campaign organized by the political fundraiser Wyatt A. Stewart.[61] The building reopened on September 10, 1990.[62] Exhibits include Hearing Room, Peak Immigration Years, the Peopling of America, Restoring a Landmark, Silent Voices, Treasures from Home, and Ellis Island Chronicles. There are also three theaters used for film and live performances.[63]
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.[64]
The Wall of Honor outside of the main building contains a partial list of immigrants processed on the island.[65] Inclusion on the list is made possible by a donation to support the facility. In 2008 the museum’s library was officially named the Bob Hope Memorial Library in honor of one the station’s most famous immigrants.
The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is awarded annually at ceremonies on the island.
South Side
The New Ferry Building was built in 1936 in Art Deco style and is located in the so-called "hyphen" at the foot of the ferry basin, connecting the north and south sides of the island.
Many of the facilities at Ellis Island were abandoned and remain unrenovated.[66] The entire south side, called by some the "sad side" of the island, is off-limits to the general public. The Ellis Island Immigrant Hospitaloperated from early 1902 to 1930.[67][68] The foundationSave Ellis Island is spearheading preservation efforts. The New Ferry Building, built in the Art Deco style to replace an earlier one, was renovated in 2008, but remains only partially accessible to the general public.[69]
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