Ellis Island 1892-1954

THINKING OF ALL THOSE BRAVE MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN FROM AFRICA WHO TRIED AND TRY TO COME TO EUROPE BY ALL MEANS, AS IT WAS A PROMISE LAND, WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK!!!

A virtual trip to Ellis island

Ellis Island, in Upper New York Bay, 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 theStatue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, and has hosted a museum of immigration since 1990. A 1998 United States Supreme Court decision found most of the island to be part of New Jersey. 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. The island has been closed to the public since Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 with re-opening date projected for 2014.

On the first day of January,

Eighteen Ninety-Two,

They opened Ellis Island and they let

the people through.

and the first to cross the threshold

of that Isle Of Hope And Tears,

was Annie Moore from Ireland

who was only fifteen years.

Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears,
Isle of Freedom, Isle of Fears,
but it's not the Isle you left behind.
that Isle of Hunger, Isle of Pain,
Isle you'll never see again
but the Isle of Home is always on your mind.

In a little bag she carried
all her past and history,
and her dreams for the future
in the Land of Liberty.
And courage is the passport
when your old world disappears
but there's no future in the past
when you're fifteen years

Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears,

Isle of Freedom, Isle of Fears,

but it's not the Isle you left behind.

that Isle of Hunger, Isle of Pain,

Isle you'll never see again

but the Isle of Home is always on your mind.

When they closed Down Ellis Island

in Nineteen Forty-Three,

Seventeen Million people

had come there for sanctuary.

And in springtime when I came here

and I stepped onto its piers,

I thought of how it must have been

when you're fifteen years.

Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears,
Isle of Freedom, Isle of Fears,
but it's not the Isle you left behind.
that Isle of Hunger, Isle of Pain,
Isle you'll never see again
but the Isle of Home is always on your mind.

Ellis Island, now a 27.5-acre site located just minutes off the southern tip of Manhattan Island, New York, is likely to connect with more of the American population than any other spot in the country. It has been estimated that nearly half of all Americans today can trace their family history to at least one person who passed through the Port of New York at Ellis Island. Now, nearly a century since the peak years of immigration, Ellis Island is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the National Park Service.