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Originally called Little Oyster Island, Ellis Island acquired its name from Samuel Ellis, a colonial New Yorker.

The federal immigration station opened on January 1, 1892 and was closed on November 12, 1954, but not before 12 million immigrants were inspected there by the US Bureau of Immigration (Immigration and Naturalization Service). There are unsubstantiated estimates for immigrants processed there as high as 20 million. In the 35 years before Ellis Island opened, over 8 million immigrants had been processed locally by New York State officials at Castle Garden Immigration Depot in Manhattan.

Those with visible health problems or diseases were sent home or held in the island's hospital facilities for long periods of time. Then they were asked 29 questions including name, occupation, and the amount of money they carried with them. Generally those immigrants who were approved spent from three to five hours at Ellis Island. However more than 3 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." About 2 percent were denied admission to the U.S. and sent back to their countries of origin for reasons such as chronic contagious disease, criminal background, or insanity.

 

Medical inspections

The symbols below were chalked on the clothing of potentially sick immigrants following the six-second medical examination. The doctors would look at them as they climbed the stairs from the baggage area up to the Great Hall. Immigrants' behaviour would be studied for difficulties in getting up the staircase in any way. Some only entered the country by surreptitiously wiping the chalk marks off or by turning their clothes inside out.

 

1 B - Back

 

2   C - Conjunctivitis

 

3   CT - Trachoma

 

4   E - Eyes

 

5   F - Face

 

6   FT - Feet

 

7   G - Goiter

 

8   H - Heart

 

9   K - Hernia

 

10 L - Lameness

 

11 N - Neck

 

12 P - Physical and Lungs

 

13 PG - Pregnancy

 

14 S - Senility

 

15 SC - Scalp (Favus)

 

16 SI - Special Inquiry

 

17 X - Suspected Mental Defect

 

18 X (circled) - Definite signs of Mental Defect

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".

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, which is about 1/2 mile to the south.

Ellis island was also known as "The Island of Tears" or "Heartbreak Island"because of the 2% who were not admitted after the long transatlantic voyage.

 

The entire South Side of Ellis Island (know as island 2 & 3) is of course not accessible to the general public. I received permission well in advance & many thanks to the US National Park Service for arranging this visit.