Ellis Island

 

We began the day walking from South Street Seaport to Battery Park so we could ride the ferry to Ellis Island. Along the way we passed the Vietnam War Memorial and the Shrine to St.  Elizabeth Ann Seton, first American born saint.

Before boarding the ferry to Ellis Island you are required to pass through the same kind of security check as at an airport. Unfortunately for me, I hadn't considered that fact before choosing to carry my backpack today. It was unfortunate because the small 5 in 1 tool which I had forgotten was in the backpack set off the security alarm. So a security officer had to go through all the contents of my backpack to find it. This took several minutes. I was standing there thinking, "I am not a terrorist." The official eventually found the "man tool" and it was confiscated. I will ask about security checkpoints when touring from now on.

Once on the ferry, we went to Liberty Island. Many shutterbugs were able to get some nice photos of the Statue of Liberty on a beautiful sunny morning. One I took is posted below.

Ellis Island is where steerage class passengers were processed before entering the United States from 1880 to 1924. This period is known as the Peak Immigration Period. Many of the immigrants during this period were from Italy, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. Since steerage class passengers were assumed to be impoverished and perhaps not able-bodied the Great Hall on Ellis Island was used as a place to determine if each immigrant was worthy of entering the country. These trans-Atlantic passengers were taken to this location from their ship by barges or ferries. After arriving they were asked to climb stairs and enter the Great Hall while inspectors from a balcony above watched them from afar to determine if they appeared able-bodied and healthy. The Great Hall was the Registry Room were each person was questioned. Some of the questions included "What kind of work can you do?" and "How much money do you have?" While at least 98% of the people coming through Ellis Island made it into the U.S., those who weren't had to be taken back to the ship they came into New York Harbor on to be returned to their mother country. For more information, visit the Ellis Island web site. www.statueofliberty.org/Ellis_Museum.html

The Main Building (with the towers) was built after a fire destroyed the original wooden building in 1897.

This view of the Main Building/Immigration Museum was taken from the ferry as it approached the dock.

The Great Hall on the second floor of the Main Building was filled with corrals during immigration days to keep people organized during processing. Inspectors would look down from the balconies on either side, checking immigrants for signs of ill-health.

These post cards displayed in array fashion at the Peak Migration Exhibit show some of the steamships that brought Europeans to America.

This photo of a photo may be found in the Peak Immigration Exhibit. It a shows an Irish farming family. Many immigrants came to the U.S. seeking a life better than these folks experienced.

This photo of a photo shows how people were kept organized in corrals as they were questioning from inspectors in the Registry Room.