29 Facts About Ellis Island

Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the US states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States.

Ellis Island is in Upper New York Bay, east of Liberty State Park and north of Liberty Island.

Ellis Island was one of three "Oyster Islands, " the other two being Liberty Island and the now-destroyed Black Tom Island.

Present-day Ellis Island was created by retreating glaciers at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation about 15,000 years ago.

The present-day Ellis Island was thus called "Little Oyster Island", a name that persisted through at least the early 1700s.

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Little Oyster Island was acquired by Samuel Ellis, a colonial New Yorker and merchant possibly from Wales, in 1774.

Ellis Island unsuccessfully attempted to sell the island nine years later.

Ellis died in 1794, and as per his will, the ownership of Ellis Island passed to his daughter Catherine Westervelt's unborn son, who was named Samuel.

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.

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.

The ferryboat Ellis Island, which had operated since 1904, stopped operating two weeks later.

Ellis Island was added to the Statue of Liberty National Monument on May 11,1965, and that August, President Lyndon B Johnson approved the redevelopment of the island as a museum and park.

The plan for Ellis Island was to cost $128 million, and by the time work commenced in 1984, about $40 million had been raised.

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.

Southern side of Ellis Island, located across the ferry basin from the northern side, is composed of island 2 and island 3.

The peak year for immigration at Ellis Island was 1907, with 1,004,756 immigrants processed, and the all-time daily high occurred on April 17 of that year, when 11,747 immigrants arrived.

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.

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.

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.

Ellis Island was sometimes known as the "Island of Tears" or "Heartbreak Island" for these deportees.

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.

Ellis Island saw detention peak at 1,500, but by 1952, after changes to immigration laws and policies, only 30 to 40 detainees remained.

When immigration through Ellis Island peaked, eugenic ideals gained broad popularity and made heavy impact on immigration to the United States by way of exclusion of disabled and "morally defective" people.

Ellis Island is administered by the National Park Service, though fire protection and medical services are provided by the Jersey City Fire Department.

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation requires potential honorees to pay a fee for inscription.

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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.

Ellis Island Medal of Honor is awarded annually to American citizens, both native-born and naturalized.

Ellis Island has been part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, which includes the Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island, since 1965.

Ellis Island has been on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places since 1971, and the main building was made a New York City designated landmark in 1993.