Ellis Island is an island that is located in Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey, United States. It was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with land reclamation between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the site of Fort Gibson and later a naval magazine. The island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, and has hosted a museum of immigration since 1990. Long considered part of New York, a 1998 United States Supreme Court decision found that most of the island is in New Jersey.[4] The south side of the island, home to the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is closed to the general public and the object of restoration efforts spearheaded by Save Ellis Island.
Ellis Island is located in the Upper New York Bay, east of Liberty State Park and north of Liberty Island, in Jersey City, New Jersey with a small section that is territory of New York City enclaved within it.[5][6] Largely created through land reclamation, the island covers a land area of 27.5 acres (11.1 ha), most of which is part of New Jersey. The 2.74-acre (1.11 ha) natural island and contiguous areas comprise the 3.3 acres (1.3 ha) that are part of New York.[6][7]
The entire island, much of which is closed to the general public, has been owned and administered by the U.S. federal government since 1808 and has been operated by the National Park Service since 1965.[8]
Since September 11, 2001, the island is guarded by patrols of the United States Park Police Marine Patrol Unit. Public access is by ferry from either Communipaw Terminal in Liberty State Park or from Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan. The ferry operator, Hornblower Cruises and Events, also provides service to the nearby Statue of Liberty.[9] A bridge built for transporting materials and personnel during restoration projects connects Ellis Island with Liberty State Park, but is not open to the public. Proposals made in 1995 to use it or replace it with a new bridge for pedestrians were opposed by the city of New York and the private ferry operator at that time.[10]
The island was closed to the public after Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.[11] The island was re-opened to the public and the museum partially re-opened on October 28, 2013, after major renovations.[12][13] While additional floors and areas of the museum were re-opened in 2014, it is not expected to be fully re-opened until the end of 2015 at the earliest due to continuing repairs.[14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island
