Ellis Island: The Immigration Station

Ellis Island: The Immigration Station

              In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s there was a large migration of immigrants to the United States. When coming to the United States immigrants had to pass through immigration stations for citizenship and to enter into the country. One of the most well-known and used immigration stations was Ellis Island. Over 12 million immigrants passed through the doors at this Island. With the boom in immigration and the creation of Ellis Island to accommodate the growth urbanization and industrialization began to emerge.

              The original immigration station of New York between the years of 1855-1890 was Castle Garden (aka Clinton Castle). Over 8 million immigrants passed through here, but because of the over whelming numbers of immigrants coming through Clinton Castle it had begun to become ill equipped. There had also been the problem of “corruption” and “incompetence” with the walls of the Castle. For theses reason the Federal government began to look for a new station. In a New York magazine titled “The Evening World” dated back to March 12, 1890 there was an article titled Ellis Island, Mr. Windom that had talked about choosing between Liberty Island and Ellis Island as the new immigration center. The senator of New York at the time, Senator McPharson,  had argued that he did not want to have to do drastic changes to Liberty Island to accommodate the changes need to make into a center, and that lead him to suggestion and choosing of Ellis Island to become the new center of immigration for New York. This Island was the federally owned and operated by the US government and was open on January 1, 1892. That same day Annie Moore, an Irish immigrant, became the first to pass through the new doors.

Clinton Castle (Garden Castle)

Ellis Island

              Sadly on June 15, 1897 Ellis Island’s main center for immigrants to become citizens was burnt to the ground losing all document that dated back to 1855. The federal government then issued for all building on the island to become fire proof so that the incident would not occur again. On December 17, 1900 the “New Main Building” was opened and around 2,251 immigrants passed through. The island denied citizenship to those of mental and physical disabilities, and children without of an adult. In the “The Sun” another New York paper dated back to February 29, 1904 an article titled Conditions at Ellis Island stated that over 6,839 immigrants so far that year had been denied for the reasons such as: medical certification, liable public charges, insane, convicts, deported once on land. In1907 a law was passed that stated that no one with disabilities were allowed citizenship. Later in 1906 a new island was constructed beside the existing island to help accommodated even more immigrant migration. All together there was of 27 acres of land. The island then housed the station, a hospital, and a psychiatric ward.

Ellis Island Expanded

              The process from a country onto a ship then to the USA was a lengthy. The tickets back then costed upwards from $12-$60 (today $500-$1000). The voyage could take 1-4 weeks depending where you came from. When arriving at the Island you get checked immediately by doctors for mental and physical deformities and also literacy. Then they were sent to get their luggage and then went to the Great Hall to get documented. If you were 1^st or 2^nd class you were already checked by doctors and officials and were ready to leave te island once you were there. For those who were 3^rd class had to go through the whole process on the Island. One interesting story from the “New York Tribune” dated back to July 6, 1913 and article called Fugitive Wife Sent to Ellis Island talked about the journey of a women from England to America. It stated that she left her husband and then in the middle of the voyage (when she realized that she was broke) repented and wanted to go back to her husband who was significantly older than her. To keep the story short the husband rejected her request to come back and she was taken by the immigration police to barge on Ellis Island.

Doctors Inspecting Immigrants for Health Issues

              Many immigrants left their countries to avoid economic down poor, religious restraints, and poverty. Since there was a boom of industrialization many immigrants came from jobs. Around 80% of the jobs taken were taken by immigrants. This then boosted industrialization. Because of the overwhelming population growth urbanization. Many of the cities could not keep up the population so them many moved to urban area around the city and lived in the “ghettos”. The “ghettos” were a community of immigrants that lived together that were from the country, culture, and spoke the same language. The conditions of the communities were horrible. Many did not have plumbing, electricity, and had tiny rooms. Because of Ellis Island the United States were able to prosper and grow economically and socially.

Annie Moore (First Immigrant to go Through Ellis Island

cites:

Fort Wood (Liberty Island) and Fort Gibson (Ellis Island)
 1. I used this website to find background history of Ellis Island before it was an immigration station.

Ellis Island History
 2. This website gave me information on the basic history of Ellis Island and the procedure of what immigrants went through.

America's First Immigration Center
 3. I used this website to obtain information on Garden Castle (Clinton Castle) as the original immigration station.

Ellis Island
 4. This website helped gave me specific/ important events of Ellis Island in chronological order.

Mental Examination of Immigrants: Administration and Line Inspection at Ellis Island
 5. I used this website to help give me information on what the medical examination was, what they did during it, and what it was for.

The Public Health Service on Ellis Island
 6. This website also gave me another source of information on medical examination and the type of hospitals Ellis Island had and what their use was.

Assimilation
7. This was a website that gave me a definition of assimilation.

Urban Political Machines
 8. I used this website to help give me information and statistics of urbanization.

Immigration
 9. This website gave me information on immigration and its restrictions (medical, physical, and literacy tests).

Ellis Island, Mr. Windom
 10. This website helped me find the reasoning behind the choosing of Ellis Island for the new immigration station.

Conditions at Ellis Island
 11. This website had an article on the conditions of Ellis Island and some statistics of people being rejected from the island.

Fugitive Wife Sent to Ellis Island
 12. I used this website to obtain primary resource which was a old New York newspaper that had a story about Ellis Island that involved a crazy wife.

Ellis Island (2)
 13. I used this website to give me specific information about the process and journey of immigrants coming from different countries to Ellis Island.

ELLIS ISLAND First Stop for Immigrants, Last Stop for Deportees
 14. This website I used helped me get basic information if Ellis Island such as: who had to get checked at the island and what did they get checked for.