Before Ellis Island in New York harbor, there was Castle Garden. Let’s look again:
- Castle Garden as immigrant station opened in 1855
- Certainly there were immigrant arrivals prior to that year
- What became Castle Garden was a military fort from 1808-1855
- After Castle Garden closed as an immigrant station, it became an entertainment center
New York officials realized by 1819 that “immigration was anything but organized.” There were several proposals for a solution; that solution was to use Castle Garden. Remember it was first a military fort and then entertainment venue and did not become an immigrant arrival station until 1855. It opened on 3 August 1855.
- Roughly 2 out of every 3 immigrants to the U.S. between 1855 and 1890 (approximately 8.5 million people) passed through Castle Garden.
- But the place was not really equipped to handle such crowds; “overcrowding and understaffing led to scenes of confusion and congestion that became infamous in their own right.”
- By the 1880s it was obvious that a new solution must be found.
- After much verbal wrangling among New York politicians, the Federal Government had had enough and in February 1890 New York officials were told the news.
Castle Garden officially closed its doors on 18 April 1890; in its final years, it processed 364,086 immigrants. By year’s end, the building was transferred back to the city. The Barge Office was used as the immigrant arrival center between 18 April 1890 and 31 Dec 1891 while construction on Ellis Island was complete. The new facility on Ellis Island began receiving immigrants on January 1, 1892. Over the next 62 years, more than 12 million immigrants would arrive in the U.S. via Ellis Island.
Where are the Castle Garden records?
- Unfortunately, some of the CG records were lost in a fire that burned Ellis Island to the ground in 1897 but many still exist.
- Check with FamilySearch.org
- Check with Ancestry.com
If you type: Castle Garden Immigration: A Genealogist’s Guide, by Katharine Andrew, offered free on the FamilyTree Magazine website, you’ll get all your Qs answered!
