A History Lover's Guide to New York City

The monuments to the arts, sciences and education built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries contributed to New York’s stature in the world. But like many cities of the era, New York was a place of stark contrasts. Not only the rich came to New York. The poor, often more amply equipped with hope than with the skills to make their way in the rough city streets, also came. Many were from other countries. One characteristic these immigrants had in common was a fearless commitment to a new way of life. It was not the timid who embarked on the challenging journey to an unfamiliar land.

Immigration to the United States changed dramatically as the nineteenth century progressed. The numbers of immigrants grew significantly, and the principal countries of origin changed. Five million people immigrated to the United States in the forty-five years between 1815 and 1860; ten million came in the thirty years between 1860 and 1890. In the fifty years between 1870 and 1920, twenty-three million people immigrated to this country. Until the 1880s, immigrants to the United States were most likely to be from Northern Europe. They were English, Scot, Irish, German and Scandinavian. After 1880, immigrants were predominantly from Southern and Eastern Europe. They were Italian, Greek, Armenian, Polish, Romanian, Hungarian and Russian.

Immigrants came for many reasons. Opportunity in the United States attracted them. Events in their homeland triggered their departures: Irish potato famines, German Revolutions and economic and political upheaval in Italy and Greece sent many to our shores. The Russians who came were mostly Jews fleeing the anti-Semitism of late nineteenth-century Eastern Europe. Between 1881 and 1910, over 1.5 million Jews came to America.

While differing motivations inspired people to come to the United States, technology in the form of the steamship facilitated immigration. Americans Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston partnered to create the first steamboat passenger line from New York City to Albany on the Hudson River in 1807. As the steam engine became more reliable and efficient, transatlantic service began in 1838. After 1868, the great Cunard Line initiated the golden age of transatlantic ocean travel that lasted well into the twentieth century. It was not until the 1950s that airplanes provided most transatlantic transport.

With the advent of the steamship, sailing time across the Atlantic Ocean took two weeks instead of two months. Accordingly, it became cheaper and safer. Before the introduction of the steamship, long months in the hold of a ship would leave passengers sick and weakened by the time they disembarked in the United States. With the steamship, entire families—including children—could easily make the passage across the Atlantic.

By the mid-nineteenth century, the large numbers of immigrants arriving at the port of New York clearly required more than the existing ad hoc approach to admitting the new arrivals. New York State, therefore, opened in 1855 the Main Immigrant Landing Depot at Castle Garden at the lower tip of Manhattan. Castle Garden was part of a system of fortifications built around New York City Harbor after the Revolutionary War and before the War of 1812 to defend against the anticipated British attack. Castle Garden never saw action. Demilitarized, the fort was named Castle Clinton in 1817 in honor of DeWitt Clinton, the mayor of New York who oversaw the city’s fortifications during the War of 1812. Renamed Castle Garden in 1823, it served as the Main Immigrant Landing Depot in New York beginning in 1855. Castle Garden processed more than eight million immigrants entering the United States between 1855 and 1890, or two out of every three people who immigrated to this country during that time period.

In 1892, a new, larger and significantly different immigration depot opened: Ellis Island. Ellis Island was much more than an entry point into the United States; it was a screening center operated not by New York but by the United States federal government. It was clear to the immigrants arriving at Ellis Island that admittance into the United States was no longer automatic. There were tests for contagious disease and suitability tests to screen out those deemed “morally corrupt” or totally indigent. After 1917, there were even literacy tests. Failure to pass these tests could mean a forced return to the country of origin.

Ellis Island was not, however, a required rite of passage for everyone. Passengers who could afford to book their Atlantic Ocean transit in first or second class on one of the great seagoing lines of the day, such as Cunard, could step off the boat in New York and only pass through customs before going about their business. If you had the money to travel by first or second class, presumably you would not be a burden when you arrived in the United States. It was the passengers in third class who, after their ship arrived at a New York City pier, went to Ellis Island for processing. By barge or ferry, these would-be immigrants made the short trip over to Ellis Island. Ellis Island became “the Island of Hope.” For others, Ellis Island was “the Island of Tears.” So many had come so far only to face rejection.

In fact, few were denied entrance to this country. In the peak year of 1907, 1.3 million people entered the United States through Ellis Island. From 1892 to 1954, when Ellis Island closed as an immigration center, more than 12 million immigrants to the United States were processed at the Main Building, making it by far the largest entry point in the country.

Immigration slowed dramatically during World War I, the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II. When immigration picked up again in the 1950s, the ship was no longer the dominant mode of intercontinental transportation. Immigrants came by airplane or by automobile. Admission to the United States through Ellis Island had dwindled to a few thousand a year before the Main Building doors closed in 1954. Still, 40 percent of Americans have an ancestor who entered this country through Ellis Island.

No matter their country of origin, after 1886, new arrivals to the United States shared one similar experience as they approached the Port of New York: the Statue of Liberty greeted them. There are few symbols of American freedom more stirring than the Statue of Liberty. The statue stands 305 feet tall on Liberty Island in New York Harbor at the tip of Manhattan. For 130 years, the statue has served as a visible and revered symbol of welcome to newcomers and to those returning home.

The statue was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States. The intent was to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the 1776 American Revolution. Structural issues in the statue and fundraising problems on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, however, caused a ten-year delay beyond the one hundred years. The people of France felt an affinity for Americans. They had embraced the young country in the Revolutionary War by sending ships, money, guns and the Marquis de LaFayette to help the colonists fight their common enemy, England.

France’s own experience with freedom in the nineteenth century had been mixed. The 1789 French Revolution had given way to the bloodbaths of the Reign of Terror and then to the authoritarian empire of Napoleon. After Napoleon came the Restoration of the French monarchy, two further revolutions in 1830 and 1848 and then the Empire of Napoleon III. By 1871, however, France had established the democratic Third Republic. In this environment, a French historian Édouard René de Laboulaye conceived of the idea of a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States to commemorate their friendship and the French role in the American Revolution. Laboulaye was joined in his project by the French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. Bartholdi created a statue of a woman, representing liberty, holding high a torch that symbolizes the burning flame of freedom. Liberty’s left hand holds a tablet marked July 4, 1776, to signify the Declaration of Independence. On Liberty’s head is a crown with seven rays for the seven continents and the seven seas.

Bartholdi made the statue his life’s work. It took him over twenty years to complete it. Bartholdi himself, after traveling all around the United States, chose Bedloe Island in New York Harbor as the site for the statue. The island was named for its first seventeenth-century colonial owner, Isaac Bedloe. Today, the island is called Liberty Island. To help with concerns about the statue’s stability in windy New York Harbor, Bartholdi enlisted the help of Gustave Eiffel, who would, a few years later, craft the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Eiffel devised a flexible steel frame for the statue to which Bartholdi riveted sheets of copper. In the weather, the copper sheeting has turned a soft green.

Inspired by Bartholdi’s vision for this gift of “liberty” to the United States, thousands of French men and women contributed to a statue-building fund. The hand and head of Liberty soon rose over the Paris rooftops. She became a familiar and cherished sight that many Frenchmen and women were reluctant to see leave. But go she would. On July 4, 1884, in a formal ceremony in Paris, the people of France presented the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States. Like the millions of others who came to this country in the nineteenth century, Liberty arrived by ship in New York Harbor.

For her 1885 trip, all 225 tons of her were packed into 214 boxes. The statue, however, did not immediately find a home. There was a delay due to a lack of a pedestal on which to place Liberty. The American contribution to build the pedestal had fallen short. Then, just as many ordinary French people had contributed to build the statue, thousands of Americans contributed to the pedestal. They were inspired—or rather shamed into it—by Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World, New York’s largest-circulation newspaper. Pulitzer recognized the Statue of Liberty for the powerful symbol she would become. Pulitzer himself had immigrated to the United States from Hungary as a teenager. He fought in the Civil War and then took a job working as a newspaper reporter in St. Louis, Missouri. Soon, he owned a newspaper in St. Louis. Pulitzer left St. Louis for New York and for the newspaper with which he became most associated: the New York World.

Each day, Pulitzer wrote an editorial on the statue in the New York World. Thousands responded to his message, sending their pennies and dollars to ensure that the pedestal would be built. The pedestal was completed and the statue emplaced. On October 28, 1886, the president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, led throngs of thousands in officially welcoming the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World to her home in New York Harbor. Bands played, and military ships saluted with blazing cannons. Fireworks illuminated the sky.

On a plaque on the pedestal is a poem, “The New Colossus,” written in 1883 by a young woman named Emma Lazarus. Emma Lazarus found inspiration for her poem in the immigration of Jews seeking refuge from the murderous pogroms in Russia. Her own family, also Jewish, had immigrated to the United States from Portugal during colonial times. Sadly, Emma Lazarus died young, not living to see the plaque with her poem engraved on it placed on Liberty’s pedestal in 1903. In the poem, donated to raise funds for the pedestal, Emma referred to the Statue of Liberty as the “Mother of Exiles.” She wrote:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teaming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

The Statue of Liberty invoked an immediate response in the hearts of the American people. Liberty Enlightening the World has become one of the most endearing and recognizable American images. The statue became an important American symbol not only of liberty but also of welcome to the many who, like the statue, came to this country for refuge and a future.

YOUR GUIDE TO HISTORY

Images

New York Harbor with the Statue of Liberty. Courtesy of James Maher.

Castle Clinton, operated by the National Park Service, offers ranger-guided tours and a small museum with displays on the history of the fort. It is also the location to purchase tickets for the ferry that departs from here to the Statue of Liberty and to Ellis Island. Once an island, landfill has joined Castle Clinton to Manhattan. Built after the Revolutionary War, as part of the fortifications for New York City in anticipation of renewed fighting with the English, the fort became Castle Clinton in 1817. It was named for DeWitt Clinton, former mayor of New York City and, later, governor of New York State. In 1823, the fort became Castle Garden. There were theaters and restaurants on the site. Castle Garden also became an official welcome site for distinguished visitors to the city. New York greeted the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero and supporter of the American Revolutionary War, at Castle Garden on the occasion of his 1824 visit to the United States. In 1855, Castle Garden became the immigrant depot for New York. After it stopped serving in this capacity, it housed the beloved New York City Aquarium. When the aquarium moved to Coney Island in 1941, Castle Garden closed and faced the prospect of demolition. Preservationists fought to save it. It reopened as Castle Clinton in 1975. It is a National Monument.

Advance reservations are advisable as this is one of the most popular attractions in New York City. Departures are from the Battery near Castle Clinton. There are three approaches to touring the statue: grounds only, the pedestal and the crown. Grounds-only tickets bring you onto Liberty Island for a walk around the exterior, where you may admire the statue up close and see the Emma Lazarus poem. It is possible to obtain same-day tickets for the cruise and grounds at Castle Clinton.

Pedestal tickets permit you access inside the pedestal for a visit to the museum with items of great interest related to the many immigrants who passed the Statue of Liberty on their voyage into New York Harbor. Access to the pedestal interior is by elevator or a walk up 215 steps. Access to the crown offers an unparalleled experience that is inspiring but also strenuous, as it involves ascending 377 steps up a circular staircase. Access to the crown is best secured in advance. Cautionary notes are on the statue cruise’s website. Administered by the National Park Service, the Statue of Liberty, together with Ellis Island, is a National Monument.

The website www.statuecruises.com provides information on the ship departures from the Battery near Castle Clinton to Ellis Island, as well as to the Statue of Liberty

As you ride the ferry to Ellis Island, imagine the experience of those who approached the island by ship over one hundred years ago. Excitement, trepidation, fear and hope mingled in the hearts and minds of many as they neared the final hurdle to making a new home in the United States. More than twelve million of our grandparents and great-grandparents passed this way.

After the ship docks at Ellis Island, the visit to the Main Building that is operated by the National Park Service is free. There is an introductory film Island of Hope, Island of Tears. The tour of the museum is self-guided, although there are National Park Service Rangers around to answer questions and to give specialized tours and talks. There are many individual stories told exceptionally well in this museum, which opened in 1990, thirty-six years after the last of the millions of immigrants to this country entered through these doors. To discover whether one of your ancestors came to the United States through Ellis Island, visit the American Family Immigration History Center on the first floor of the museum. It is also possible to access this information online at www.ellisisland.org. Ellis Island is named for Samuel Ellis, who owned this land in the eighteenth century. Together with the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island is a National Monument.

This is now a privately owned event space. Should you have the opportunity to enter the building, the sight will be spectacular. Open House New York, in the month of October, has included the Cunard Line Building in its tours. The lobby once housed the offices of the Cunard Steamship Lines New York. The Italian Renaissance–style architecture of this enormous building is equaled by the grandeur of the booking hall, with its sixty-five-foot-high ceiling, where tickets for the great transatlantic ocean liners were purchased. There are ceiling paintings by Ezra Winter of the sailing ships of Christopher Columbus, Leif Eriksson, John Cabot and Sir Francis Drake. The flags of the empires they helped build also adorn the ceiling. The intention was to impress and awe potential passengers with the magnificence of it all. The Cunard Building was as overwhelming as Ellis Island but in a very different way. Completed in 1921, the design is by architects Benjamin Wister Morris and Carrere & Hastings.

Battery Place to West 59^th Street along the Hudson River • Lower to Midtown Manhattan
www.hudsonriverpark.org

The Hudson River Park is 550 acres, of which more than 400 acres are actually the Hudson River itself. With the focus on water, recreational opportunities include kayaking, rowing, outrigger canoe paddling, sailing and swimming. Multiple piers once used for ocean liners are now home to water cruise ships and yachts and to the popular water taxi. Other piers house dog parks and large playing fields. The busiest bike path in the world is the Hudson River Park Bikeway, dedicated to bicyclists, rollerbladers and skateboarders. It runs the five-mile length of the park. You may use your own bicycle or rent one. The website has a long list of events and activities and their location in the Hudson River Park.

62 Chelsea Piers at West 23^rd Street • Manhattan/Chelsea
212-336-6666 • www.chelseapiers.com • Admission Fee

Today, this is a modern commercial complex of sports clubs, restaurants and amusements that forms one of the larger attractions in the Hudson River Park. Formerly, it was a large pier to dock cruise ships. It was the intended destination of the Titanic when it sank in 1912. Within the pier buildings are photographs of the historic Chelsea Pier on display. Walking the pier and seeing the photographs will give you an idea of the vastness and importance of the cruise ships in their golden age.

In a very exciting development, New York City has plans underway to build a new 2.7-acre public park on concrete poles in the Hudson River on the current site of Pier 54. Pier 55, within the Hudson River Park, will feature an amphitheater for performances and grassy slopes for relaxation. A nonprofit group will plan events and activities for the site after its anticipated completion in 2018. The park will include the historic Cunard Arch from Pier 54. A grant of $100 million from the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation is the principal funding source for Pier 55. It will also receive city funding.

Images

St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Courtesy of James Maher..