More on Castle Garden Immigrant Database

Since my earlier posting about Castle Garden and its immigrant database, I found the following in the New England Historic Genealogy Society eNews #230 August 3, 2005:

Castle Garden Website Launches

Millions of Americans are descended from the immigrants who crowded through the gates of Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. Many people are unaware that Ellis Island opened quite late in the nineteenth century, and prior to that time immigrants were processed in other facilities. Castle Garden (formerly Castle Clinton) in the Battery was responsible for handling incoming passengers from 1855 until closing its doors in 1890. During that time, millions of immigrants entered America. In 1896, Castle Garden was converted into the New York Aquarium, one of the first public aquariums in the country.

The New York Times reports that according to an analysis of census calculations by Joseph P. Ferrie, professor of economic history at Northwestern University, about 30 percent of native-born Americans are descended from immigrants who arrived between 1820 through 1892 through the Port of New York. About 18 percent are related to immigrants who came through Castle Garden and 9 percent to arrivals at Ellis Island during its peak, from 1892 to 1924 .

The Battery Conservancy was founded as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational corporation in 1994 to rebuild and revitalize The Battery and Castle Clinton National Monument. To commemorate the sesquicentennial of the opening of Castle Garden as an immigration center on August 1, 1855, on Monday the Conservancy launched the new www.CastleGarden.org website