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Ellis Island
 ELLIS ISLAND
Ellis Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor, was at one time the main immigration port for immigrants entering the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Ellis Island is within the boundaries of Jersey City, New Jersey, but is within both the states of New Jersey and New York.
It is wholly in the possession of the Federal government as a part of Statue of Liberty National Monument, and is under the jurisdiction of the US National Park Service. According to the United States Census Bureau, the island, which was largely artificially created through the landfill process, has an official land area of 129,619 square meters, or 32.03 acres, more than 83 percent of which lies in the city of Jersey City.
The natural portion of the island, lying in New York City, is 21,458 square meters (5.302 acres), and is completely surrounded by the artificially created New Jersey portion. The Ellis Island Immigrant Station was designed by architects Edward Lippincott Tilton and William Boring. They received a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exposition for the buildings' design. They were later hired to design and construct the magnificent Tome School for Boys in Port Deposit Maryland.
Ellis Island takes its name from Samuel Ellis, a Welsh immigrant who owned the island during the late 1700s and kept a tavern, serving sailors and local fishermen.
 HISTORY OF ELLIS ISLAND
The federal immigration station opened on January 1, 1892 and was closed in November 1954 but not before processing more than 12 million immigrants. For more than 40 years prior to this over 8 million immigrants were processed locally by New York State officials at Castle Garden Immigration Depot in Manhattan. At Ellis Island, only about 2 percent were denied admission to the U.S. and sent back to their countries of origin for reasons such as chronic disease, criminal background, or insanity.
Immigrants were examined by doctors and questioned by government officials. Many who were allowed entry settled in New York and northern New Jersey for at least their first few years in America. During this time period, Angel Island ( between Alcatraz and the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco Bay) served a similar purpose on the West Coast, processing mostly Chinese immigrants.
Ellis Island was the first stop for most immigrants from Europe. There, they were processed before they could enter the United States. First, they had to pass a physical examination. Those with serious health problems or diseases were sent home or were held in the island's hospital facilities for long periods of time. Next, they were asked a series of questions, including name, occupation, work experience, and the amount of money they carried with them. Generally, those immigrants who were approved spent from hours up to a day at Ellis Island. However, more than three thousand would-be immigrants died on Ellis Island while being held in the hospital facilities. Some unskilled workers and immigrants were rejected outright because they were considered "likely to become a public charge."
Writer Louis Adamic came to America from Slovenia, in southeastern Europe, in 1913. Adamic described the night he spent on Ellis Island. 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."
Aside from Adamic, other Ellis Island immigrants that achieved some measure of status in their newly adopted country included Isaac Asimov, Charles Atlas, Irving Berlin, Ettore Boiardi ("Chef Boyardee"), Irene Bordoni, Nigel Bruce, Frank Capra, Cipriano Castro, Samuel Chotzinoff, Claudette Colbert, George Christopher, Edward Corsi, Ricardo Cortez, Frank Costello, Xavier Cugat, Vernon Duke, Max Factor, Father Edward Flanagan, Felix Frankfurter, Marcus Garvey, Kahlil Gibran, Arshile Gorky, Bob Hope, Sol Hurok, Tor Johnson, Al Jolson, Col. Hubert Julian, John Kluge, J. Krishnamurti, Meyer Lansky, John Londos (The Golden Greek), Lucky Luciano, Bela Lugosi, Owney Madden, Mike Mazurki, Antonio Moreno, Alan Mowbray, Pola Negri, Joe Penner, Pearl Primus, James Reston, Hyman G. Rickover, Edward G. Robinson, Knute Rockne, Ole Rolvaag, Ben Shahn, Igor Sikorsky, Spyros Skouras, Arthur Tracy, Pauline Trigere, Anzia Yezierska, and Henny Youngman.
After 1924, Ellis Island was only used for detainees and refugees. Ordinary immigrants were processed through other facilities.
As with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, Ellis Island, along with Statue of Liberty, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
Today, Ellis Island houses a museum, reachable by ferry from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey and from the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City. The Statue of Liberty, sometimes thought to be on Ellis Island because of its symbolism as a welcome to immigrants, is actually on nearby Liberty Island.
Ellis island was also known as "The Isle of Tears" or "Heartbreak island." About 2% of the millions of immigrants were sent back to their countries and did not become U.S. citizens after a long travel to Ellis island
LEGACY OF ELLIS ISLAND
Ellis Island is also known as a place where people changed their names; however, this is largely legend. It is said that if the immigration officer could not spell the original name, they would come up with an approximation, or something shorter or simpler, such as "Ellen Pollock" for "Helena Polonowycz". This is said to have been especially common when the newcomer couldn't read and write English. However, immigrants' identities were backed by their travel documents and ship lists, and they were often assisted by immigration societies of fellow countrymen.
Very few cases of name changes can be traced to immigration processing while "Americanization" of ethnic names was a common occurrence as immigrants blended into everyday existence among friends and coworkers in their new country. Still, such events were not unheard of; author Herman Raucher has stated that his grandfather, an Austrian Jew who spoke no English, had his name, which was difficult to pronounce for English speakers, changed at Ellis Island to "Raucher," the German word for "smoker."
Ellis Island mainly consisted of two types of immigrants: old immigrants and new immigrants. Old immigrants came prior to 1890, mostly from northern and western Europe. New immigrants came after 1890 from the Eastern and Southern parts of Europe. It is said that newer immigrants were not accepted as easily for cultural reasons as well as physical reasons (some were not as white as the old immigrants; white peoples were seen as superior).
Many immigrants were tested for mental problems, physical problems and other illnesses. Those who were wealthy did not have to take these exams.
More than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. Many Americans can trace their immigrant ancestors through Ellis Island.
Retrieved from Wikipedia.org, the Free Encyclopedia
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Landing at Ellis Island, 1902. Emigrants coming up the board-walk from the barge, which has taken them off the steamship company's docks, and transported them to Ellis Island. The big building in the background is the new hospital just opened. The ferry-boat seen in the middle of the picture, runs from New York to Ellis Island.
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