Genealogy?What was the name of the first immigration port in N Y ?

Question:

Genealogy?What was the name of the first immigration port in N Y ?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Genevieve gave a great answer about Castle Garden at Fort Clinton on the south tip of NY's Manhattan Island. From 1 Aug 1855, the site was home to the first immigration processing center in the country to be operated by state and city government agencies in a collective effort. Before that Castle Garden was still used as international shipping would dock off the coast and immigrants would come ashore by boat at Castle Garden, so it was a terminal from 1830. Before 1830, immigrants debarked where the ships let them off in NY. Mostly in the city docks if small enough or anchored and they came ashore by small boat to main piers. I believe at that time some small ships were involved in international passenger shipping and actually debarked passengers up in White Plains (Yonkers). The island where the statue of liberty is on, google that. Ellis Island Before Ellis Island opened, immigrants were required to be processed by the State not the federal government. Castle Garden, a previous fort built for the War of 1812 and located in Battery Park, NY. processed immigrants between 1855 and 1890.

http://www.nps.gov/elis/faqs.htm... Is this what you are referring too,
http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/ell... It was Castle Clinton on the southern tip of Manhattan. It was operated by the State of New York, even after the opening of Ellis Island. It processed all immigrants through 1891, then continued by processing first and second class passengers for another 30+ years. Only steerage-class passengers went through Ellis Island.

The facility is now in the care of the Battery Conservancy and its records are online at http://www.castlegarden.org