Prior to 1855, people disembarking from ships in New York did
not have to go through any inspection process. They could go directly to the
wharfs without even being screened for contagious diseases. From 1855 to 1890,
immigrants arriving at the port of New York landed in what was called "Castle
Garden," (a former opera house) which was located at the southern tip of
Manhattan. At that time, the federal government had a contract with the State of
New York to inspect and process all those wanted to immigrate. In 1890, with a
new wave of immigration, the federal government decided that it wanted to take
control of this process, and could thus screen out all of the undesirable arrivals, e.g.
those who were sick or so poor that they would be a burden on the nation. The
state wouldn’t let the federal government use Castle Garden, so a new center was
needed. Between 1890 and 1892, while a new building was being constructed,
people were screened at the Old Barge House near the U.S. Customs Office at the
southeast end of Manhattan. Then, in 1892, Ellis Island was ready.
When Ellis Island was first built it was made of wood. It became
the primary stop to process immigrants beginning on Jan. 2, 1892. However, there
was a fire there in 1897, and it was forced to close for a
period of time. All screening of new immigrants once again had to be done at the Old Barge Office
until mid-December 1900. Ellis Island was rebuilt and ready to reopen, this time
not made of wood but of a fireproof material, and once again began to perform its
intended function.
Immigration reached its peak in 1906. Then, in 1924, with a new
immigration law, those wanting to enter the U.S. had to visit the U.S. consulate
in their own country to obtain a visa. There they would be screened, eliminating
the necessity for Ellis Island to do so. By the time Ellis Island had stopped
processing new immigrants, twelve million arrivals had passed through its doors. Eventually, in 1943, Ellis Island would be used as a
detention center for enemy aliens. In 1954, Ellis Island closed until it became
part of the National Park Service in 1965, and was eventually restored and
reopened in 1990.
INSPECTION
For first and second-class passengers, the immigration officers
would actually come on board the ship and examine the passengers on arrival. For
those in third-class, or steerage, they would often have to wait for days before
disembarking. At that time they would have to board a barge-like vessel, neither heated
in the winter, nor cooled in summer, which would take them to the Island itself.
There they would wait until groups of perhaps thirty at a time would disembark
and enter into the main building to begin the inspection process.
Most of those that arrived at Ellis Island made it through the
process successfully. As soon as they entered the Great Hall, they began to be
inspected by a line of medical examiners. They had a certificate (a "landing
card") pinned to their chest before they entered. This would act as a health
certificate (they needed to be vaccinated before leaving the ship). The number
of the certificate would also be used to cross-reference their names on the
ship’s passenger list, or manifest.
On Ellis Island, each arrival was inspected for all types of
physical and mental disabilities. They were marked with chalk if it was thought
that they needed closer inspection. The type of mark indicated what physical or
mental condition was suspected. Some defects were easy to spot; others would be
discovered on closer inspection. For instance, an arrival would have their
eyelids turned inside out to determine if they had
trachoma, a form of
conjunctivitis that was contagious. This condition was so severe that it could
cause blindness. Many of those that had emigrated from Eastern Europe had this
condition, and although it could be cured, was grounds for sending the arrival
back to their home country. Their scalps were also examined carefully to see if
they had favus, a fungal infection of the scalp and nails.
There was a hospital built on Ellis Island in 1902, where good
medical care awaited the sick arrival. Often, a person would have to stay there
for days until they got better before they would finally be admitted. Many
times, a child would have to be separated from their family until the ill person
became well again. In 1911, a contagious disease hospital was built on Ellis
Island. Of course, if the sick person did not get well, he or she had to be sent
back to where they began their journey. This must have been horrible because it
caused families to be separated. They might have thought this separation would
last forever! Others never left the Island. From 1900 to 1954, 3500 people died
on Ellis Island, 1400 of them children. However, there were over 300 babies born there!
If the immigrant successfully passed through the inspection
regimen, they would then have to speak to immigration officers. They had to
answer a series of twenty-nine questions to the satisfaction of the officers.
These questions corresponded to the information entered for them on the ship’s
manifest before they left their port of origin. The inspectors wanted to be sure
that the immigrant could find work, and not become a pauper and a
ward and burden on the state. Of course, many arrivals already knew what
questions would be asked before they got there. One had to know how to answer
certain questions. It was often not a good idea, for instance, to say that a job
was waiting for you, because that might mean to the officer that the immigrant
might be taking a job away from an American, and there was a great fear of this
already within the general populace. A person might be sent back home to Europe
for this reason alone! Also, an arrival had to have a certain amount of money on them,
or at least a ticket to some destination. The U.S. didn’t want to let in
vagrants. Sometimes, they would have to show how much money they had. A person could
have started out with money when they left from their European port, but could lose it playing cards on the ship
during the journey!
There were organizations that helped the arrivals along the
immigration process, to make sure that they were treated fairly. First there was the
Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society, and then in 1883, the United Hebrew Charities took
over. Their representative would be stationed there, either at Castle Garden or
Ellis Island, in order to help the immigrant in whatever way they could. Unfortunately,
this representative did not always speak the language that was needed to
communicate with each arrival, and often only spoke German. Many of the towns
back in Russian Poland that had "landsmanshaftn" societies formed by
people from the immigrant’s hometown, had representation in the major U.S. cities to aid
the immigrant in their new life. They aided the Yiddish speaker at Ellis Island.
Those that successfully passed through the rigors of inspection
could take another boat ride to New Jersey or to 42nd Street where, if they
wanted to, could catch a train to a different destination. The major railroad
lines ran special trains for immigrants to most major cities. For those who
wished to remain in New York (seventy percent of immigrants arriving between
1895 and 1914 did so), many were greeted by their kin, or by friends, joyously
waiting to embrace and to kiss them. From there, they could walk to the Jewish
Quarter on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where they would settle in and
prepare themselves for their new lives. At one time, this section of Manhattan,
barely a mile and a half square, encompassing an area mostly east of the Bowery
and south of 14th Street, held 520,000 people, and was considered the most
densely populated area in the world!
Also see the exhibitions::
"A Short
History of U.S. Immigration" and "Health
and Immigration."
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