Ellis Island
Before Ellis Island opened, over 8 million immigrants were processed at the Castle Garden Immigration Center in lower Manhattan. Congress gave $75,000 to construct America's first Federal immigration station at Ellis Island in 1890. Landfill from the subway station that they were building at the time was hauled in using the ship's ballasts and Ellis Island doubled in size to over 6 acres. During the construction of the immigration center, the Barge Office was used to process immigrants. After the building was built, it had 3 floors and was made out of Georgia Pine. The building opened of January 1st, 1892, and over 700 people were processed that day. Over 450,000 people were processed that year.
On June 15th, 1897, a fire of unknown cause burned down the immigration building. Some people believe that it was due to faulty wiring but no one is sure. Most of the immigration records were destroyed due to the fire. Edward Tilton and William Boring won the competition of who could make the best design of the new building. Along with their plans, the building was built with a French Renaissance Revival style. After opening, Ellis Island was expanded using landfill and more structures were built. When Ellis Island closes in 1954, it had processed over 12 million immigrants. After 1924 though, it was used as a detention and deportation center for the war.
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