Preservation and Reuse of Ellis Island
Over 12 million immigrants entered our nation through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. Nearly2/3 of these setting foot on mainland soil for the first time at the Central Railroad Terminal. About 40% of today’s Americans have ancestors who came through this “Gateway to America”‘. Immigrants ate, slept and were cared for in Ellis Island’s buildings while awaiting the process of their citizenship documents.The U.S. Government gave sick immigrants free, high quality care in Ellis Island’s hospital complex in order to cure them and enable them to enter the country.
The federal government closed Ellis Island in 1954 and the majority of its structures have been abandoned and decaying ever since. In 1990 the Ellis Island Immigration Museum opened in one of three restored buildings on the island. The other 30 buildings continued to crumble
A 1998 U.S. Supreme Court ruling awarded the State of NewJersey sovereignty over 22.5 of Ellis Island’s 27.5 acres. New Jersey’s portion of the island contains all 30 abandoned buildings. The U.S. National Park Service, that owns and operates Ellis Island as a national historic monument, estimates that the cost tostabilize the buildings is $8.6 million. The estimated cost to rehabilitate them for reuse is over $200 million.
Former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, recognizing that New Jersey now holds this historic treasure intrust for the nation, appointed an Advisory Committee to develop a plan for how best to preserve and put to beneficial reuse these structures. The Advisory Committee plan calls for the creation of a Center for Immigrant Contributions and Ethnic Learning, where the contributions of all immigrant cultures which have joined to make up our one national culture are highlighted and celebrated. It establishes a Learning Center for Public health that traces the contributions made to health and medicine on Ellis Island. An International Conference Center would convene world leaders to develop policies on global issues consistent with the island’s history.
A national Conservation and Preservation Center would educate the public on the importance of preserving our nations past and Regional HeritageTourism Centers will highlight the Hudson River Valley’s rich history and historic monuments. The Ellis Island New Jersey Foundation, a 501(c)3, non-profit corporation has been created to pursue implementation of the Advisory Committee recommendations and to raise the necessary funds to rehabilitate all of the island’s abandoned buildings. Stabilization of the buildings is underway and due to be completed within two years. This will only keep them standing however for another decade. Time is running out for this global and national icon and the funds for rehabilitating its historic structures must be raised quickly.