Ellis Island

Ellis Island
Aerial view of Ellis Island
Location	Upper New York Bay Jersey City, New Jersey and New York City, New York United States
Coordinates	40°41′58″N 74°02′23″W / 40.69944°N 74.03972°W / 40.69944; -74.03972
Area	27.5 acres (11.1 ha)
Elevation	7 ft (2.1 m)[1]
Built	1900 (Main Building) 1911 (Hospital)
Architect	William Alciphron Boring Edward Lippincott Tilton James Knox Taylor
Architectural style(s)	Renaissance Revival
Governing body	National Park Service
Website	www.nps.gov/elis/index.htm
U.S. National Monument
Official name	Statue of Liberty National Monument
Designated	May 11, 1965[2]
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Official name	Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island
Designated	October 15, 1966[3]
Reference no.	66000058
New Jersey Register of Historic Places
Official name	Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island
Designated	May 27, 1971
Reference no.	1535[4]
New York City Landmark
Type	District/Individual Interior
Designated	November 16, 1993[5]
Reference no.	1902 (district), 1903 (main building interior)
Location of Ellis Island in Hudson County, New Jersey Show map of Hudson County, New Jersey Ellis Island (New Jersey) Show map of New Jersey Ellis Island (New York City) Show map of New York City Ellis Island (New York) Show map of New York Ellis Island (the United States) Show map of the United States

Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 million immigrants arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey were processed there under federal law.^[6] It has been part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument since 1965 and is accessible to the public only by ferry. The north side of the island is a national museum of immigration, while the south side of the island, including the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is open to the public only through guided tours.

The name derives from Samuel Ellis, a Welshman who bought the island in 1774. In the 19th century, Ellis Island was the site of Fort Gibson and later became a naval magazine. The first inspection station opened in 1892 and was destroyed by fire in 1897. The second station opened in 1900 and housed facilities for medical quarantines and processing immigrants. After 1924, Ellis Island was used primarily as a detention center for migrants. During both World War I and World War II, its facilities were also used by the US military to detain prisoners of war. After the immigration station's closure, the buildings languished for several years until they were partially reopened in 1976. The main building and adjacent structures were completely renovated into a museum in 1990.

The 27.5-acre (11.1 ha) island was greatly expanded by land reclamation between the late 1890s and the 1930s and, at one point, consisted of three islands numbered 1, 2, and 3. Jurisdictional disputes between New Jersey and New York State persisted until the 1998 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in New Jersey v. New York. The northern half of Ellis Island comprises the former Island 1 and includes the main building, several ancillary structures, and the Wall of Honor. The hospital structures on the island's southern half occupy the former sites of islands 2 and 3, and there is a ferry building between Ellis Island's northern and southern halves. Immigrants were subjected to medical and primary inspections, and they could be detained or deported. The island has been commemorated through the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and it has received several federal, state, and municipal landmark designations.