Ellis Island ~ Feb 12th

Since my last blog was on my husband and family immigrating to America, I thought I would follow up with a little piece about Ellis Island.


The first Ellis Island Immigration Station officially opened on January 1, 1892, three large ships waited in the harbor to dock. Over 700 immigrants passed through Ellis Island that day, and nearly 450,000 followed through the course of that first year.

The first passenger to set foot on Ellis Island was a 15-year-old from County Cork, Ireland named Annie Moore, she had travelled from Ireland with her younger brothers, and landed on Ellis Island January 1, 1892. She was greeted with much fanfare and was given a $10 gold coin. She then headed out into her new life in America.


In 1897 there was a fire on the island which destroyed almost every building. It also destroyed many records of those who immigrated earlier to America. The island was forced to shut down while an architect was chosen to come up with the plan for the new building. On Dec 17, 1900 the doors opened for the public once again. The new reception hall was better than ever. On one day it was recorded that "6,500 immigrants, entered, passed, and 'cleared' in nine hours." This was widely attributed to the building's amazing architectural likeness to train stations of the time, which were accustomed to dealing with thousands of people and tons of cargo in a single day.


Due to harsher and harsher legislation, immigration through Ellis Island began to decrease. Finally, in 1954, Ellis Island was shut down by the Immigration Services and transferred its activities back to Manhattan. Over over 12 million immigrant steamship passengers passed through Ellis.


For more than 20 years, Ellis Island was abandoned. Attempts to sell the property were made, but many bitterly opposed the idea claiming: "To sell the island would be cheap and tawdry." A study by the National Park Service was conducted during 1963—1964, outlining the reasons why the island should become a national monument, a reminder of part of our American heritage. The recommendation was accepted and President Lyndon Johnson officially pro-claimed Ellis Island part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument on May 11, 1965.


In 1982, President Ronald Reagan asked Lee Iacocca, chairman of the board of Chrysler Corporation of America, to help restore both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

The Statue of Liberty--Ellis Island Foundation was formed to raise the $230 million needed for the restoration of these two important national monuments. In the largest restoration project of its kind in Ameri-can history, $170 million in individual and corporate donations were devoted to the Ellis Island main building project alone. To date, more than 20 million Americans have contributed to the restoration plans of the foundation.

Ellis Island was reopened and dedicated on September 10, 1990, as a unit of the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Park Service, administered by the super-intendent of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island.


OVER 40% of Americas population can trace their families heritage through Ellis Island. That is pretty amazing!


For a christmas gift a few years back my daughter had my husband's name engraved on the Wall of Honor on Ellis island. The American Immigrant Wall of Honor is a permanent exhibit of individual or family names featured at Ellis Island. It is the only place in the United States where an individual can honor his or her family heritage at a National Monument.