immigrants stopped going through ellis island on november 12, 1954.
when did immigrants stop going through ellis island?
november 12 , 1954
by 1947, shortly after the end of world war ii, there were proposals to close ellis island due to the massive expenses needed for the upkeep of a relatively small detention center. the hospital was closed in 1950-1951 by the united states public health service, and by the early 1950s, there were only 30 to 40 detainees left on the island. the island's closure was announced in mid-1954, when the federal government announced that it would construct a replacement facility on manhattan. ellis island closed on november 12, 1954, with the departure of its last detainee, norwegian merchant seaman arne peterssen. at the time, it was estimated that the government would save $900,000 a year from closing the island. the ferryboat "ellis island", which had operated since 1904, stopped operating two weeks later.
ellis island
immigration commissioner william williams made substantial changes to ellis island's operations, and during his tenure from 1902-1905 and 1909-1913, ellis island processed its peak number of immigrants. williams also made changes to the island's appearance, adding plants and grading paths upon the once-barren landscape of ellis island. under williams's supervision, a third island was built to accommodate a proposed contagious-diseases ward, separated from existing facilities by of water. island 3, as it was called, was located to the south of island 2 and separated from that island by a now-infilled ferry basin. the government bought the underwater area for island 3 from new jersey in 1904, and a contract was awarded in april 1905. the islands were all connected via a cribwalk on their western sides (later covered with wood canopy), giving ellis island an overall "e"-shape. upon the completion of island 3 in 1906, ellis island covered . a baggage and dormitory building was completed , and alterations were made to the registry building and dormitories as well, but even this was insufficient to accommodate the high volume of immigrants. in 1911, williams alleged that congress had allocated too little for improvements to ellis island, even though the improvement budget that year was $868,000.
ellis island