venue The fort was leased to the New York City government as an entertainment venue in June 1824; the city originally paid $1,400 a year for five years. The city government subleased the fort to Francis Fitch, Arthur Roorbach, and J. Rathbone. Fort Clinton became Castle Garden, which served as a beer garden, exhibition hall, and theater. The venue contained 50 boxes, each with a table and eight seats. Atop Castle Garden was a circular promenade with a canopy above it. Castle Garden was surrounded by a gravel promenade and shrubbery atop a seawall. The New-York Daily Tribune wrote that the fort "afterward became associated with scenes of peace and popular amusement". One critic described Castle Garden in 1828 as "a favored place of public resort". The fort reopened as Castle Garden on July 3, 1824. One of the fort's first events was in September 1824, when 6,000 people attended an event honoring General Lafayette. Over the years, the fort hosted other political figures such as U.S. presidents Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, and James K. Polk, as well as Hungarian governor-president Lajos Kossuth. In addition, Samuel Morse hosted a demonstration of a telegraph machine at Castle Garden in 1835. Around 1845, Castle Garden was converted into a theater when a roof was built above the fort's interior. The structure contained 6,000 seats. Officials were planning to expand the nearby Battery Park by 1848, adding landfill around Castle Garden to bring the park to . In 1850, Swedish soprano Jenny Lind gave her first performances in the United States with two concerts at Castle Gardens; tickets for these concerts cost up to $225 (). A year later, Castle Garden started selling concert tickets at "popular prices" of up to 50 cents (). In the early 1850s, European dancing star Lola Montez performed her "tarantula dance", and Louis-Antoine Jullien, who gave dozens of successful concerts mixing classical and light music. The Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company also staged the New York premieres of Gaetano Donizetti's Marino Faliero on June 17, 1851, and Giuseppe Verdi's Luisa Miller on July 20, 1854, at Castle Garden. The fort was leased to Theodore J. Allen for five years on May 1, 1854. Under the terms of the lease, Allen could expand the island around Castle Garden, but he could not infill the channel between Castle Garden and Battery Park. Immigrant landing and registration depot Castle Garden