ELLIS ISLAND

is located in the Upper New York Bay, and it is formerly the United States' principal immigration center. Ellis Island is located about one mile southwest of Manhattan Island, New York City, and about 1,300 feet east of the New Jersey shoreline. Ellis Island has an area of about 27 acres. It was named for Samuel Ellis who was a Manhattan merchant. In the 1770's Samuel Ellis owned the land.

Much of the current island was at one time a landfill. The state of New York sold the land to the federal government in 1808, and it being used as a fort and power magazine.

The years it served as the United States major immigration station was from 1892 to 1924. After 1924 its roll was reduced. During the years of operation an estimated 17 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island, and was procrssed by immigration authorities and obtained their permission to enter the United States.

The immigration reception was moved to New York City proper in 1943, Ellis Island continued to serve as a detention station for aliens and deportees until 1954.

Ellis Island became part of Statue of Liberty National Monument (along with Liberty Island) in 1965 and it was reopened to sightseers in 1976 by the National Park Service. Restoration of the main building and other structures on the island was in the 1980's and then opened in 1990 as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.

The jurisdiction of Ellis Island has traditionally been considered as part of New York City. It became a source of a long dispute between New Jersey and New York.

Agreement between the two states in 1834 gave sovereignty of what was then a 3.3 acre island to New York. In 1998 the U.S.Supreme Court allowed New York to retain this area but awarded sovereignty of the remainder of the which composed of the landfill added after 1842, to New Jersey.

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