A History Of Ellis Island

By Author: Matt Woodward
Total Articles: 223
Comment this article

Ellis Island is an island that is located in the upper part of the New York Bay. It is a very short distance from the New Jersey shoreline. When this island first came about, it was simply known to the American Indians as Gull Island. However, on July 12, 1630, the island was purchased from the American Indians by the colonial governors of Nieuw Amsterdam (which is now called New York). At this point, the Island then was called the little oyster island, because of all the oysters that could be found on it. Of course, the island, at the time, did not seem to be good for much more than getting oysters, thus, it changed ownership many times over the next century. It was never officially documented, but at some point, the island was said to belong to a Mr. Samuel Ellis. It was actually said to be his about the time the American Revolution came about. For many years, Ellis tried to sell this island, but when he died in 1794, he was still the owner of it.

Later on, as the threat of war grew ever closer with Britain, people saw a need to build a fort on Ellis Island. This was going to be done, because it was in a great spot ...
... to defend New York. Of course, not much could be put on this island; only a few wooden buildings where placed there. Later on, recruits were trained out on the island. However, during all of this, the island was still publicly owned. Thus, New York sent out a person to estimate the island's value. They came up with the sum of $10,000, which at the time was a lot of money for pretty much unusable land. Of course, in 1808, New York bought the island for that price and was actually immediately reimbursed by the federal government who took possession of that island on the same day. It was at this time that Fort Gibson was made there, just in time for the outbreak of the war in 1812.

After the war was over, $150,000 was put into the island to make the small muddy island finally usable. Many buildings went up, and soon Ellis Island was a city all by itself, having everything from docks to hospitals. In the end, however, $500,000 was spent turning this island around. Then with the changing of the immigration laws of 1891, the island became an immigration center. It was only a few years later, in 1897, that there was a great fire on this island. At the time the fire happened, there were only 200 people out on the island. The cause of the fire was never known, but after the fire, congress gave $600,000 to replace the buildings with fireproof buildings.

Over the next few years, Ellis Island would see its share of corruption. People soon found out that a lot of the people who worked on Ellis Island would let immigrants in, who should have not been allowed in, if they paid a high sum of money. Also, a lot of people were letting young women in if they agreed to meet with them in a hotel later on, thus, allowing the immigrants to sell their bodies to enter into the country. When it was brought up to the President of the United States, he put an end to it right away. During the Great War, or World War I, all of the immigration into America ceased, as many nations closed off their borders. After the war, the island was pretty much abandoned for about 20 years. Later on, the island was to be made a National Monument, since the Statue of liberty was there.

As you can guess, hiring a New York limo or even a New Jersey limo company to take you to Ellis Island is a good idea. This is a place that has a lot of history to it, and people like to go see it. In fact, you can usually see a wedding limousine riding by it, or a Range Rover limo rolling past it for a special treat. After all, this is a very famous place, and people like to stop by to see it. It is an island, so getting your Connecticut limo out there would be hard. However, as you can guess, getting your New York limo to take you to the fairy to go out and see the island is no problem.