Kaylee

Stop! All of you take a minute to think! When you hear the word "island" you may think of Alcatraz or Hawaii. When I hear that simple word "island" I think of the one right in the middle of New York Harbor. The building on this island was opened in 1892 and closed in 1954. You could say this American monument is next to the Statue of Liberty. I can say it is part of this monument. If you haven't gotten it yet, then you just aren't going to. If you said the Bahamas then **Baaaa,** you are way off. If you said Ellis Island, then "ding, ding, ding!" We have a winner! When I think of monuments the first things that pop into my head are the Washington monument, Lincoln Memorial, and Statue of Librety. Well right next to the Statue of Liberty is Ellis Island. So many people in America now had ancestors that had entered through Ellis Island until it closed. It was known to all immigrants as **hope**. Not only hope, but **horror**. They had names for it like "Island of Tears" because if you had a problem like a sickness or issues with crime, you couldn't pass. American officials didn't want any bad things like malaria to come into the United States and spread.

Speaking of names, it was originally called "Kioshk." It sounds odd but this name was given to it by the Gull Island tribe. Later in the 1770's Samuel Ellis bought it and it became Ellis Island. The first person to enter it was a young Irish girl named Annie Moore with her 2 brothers. She came through on the second day it opened, Jan. 2, 1892. 12 million more people came in the next 2 years. If you were lucky and a first or second class passenger, then you would not have to go through Ellis Island. You would have gotten checked on the boat. If they weren't that lucky, then the process at Ellis Island would take 3-5 hours, if it ran smoothly. If you were **not** able to pass, then you were sent back to where you came from. But don't worry! Only about 2% ever got sent back to their home land. They would go though the process by briefly being checked by a doctor for health issues. They would check your personal files for criminal backround. If you were one of the ladies traveling completely alone, then you're out of luck. You can't get by without a husband, parent, or brother to claim you. If that just happened, they would either turn around and go back or marry somebody they didn't even know. The priest were on the the island waiting. Once they were out and officially a citizen of the U.S., then they would probably leave each other or, inotherwords, get a divorce.

The amount of land for Ellis Island went from 3.3 acres when it first opened to 27.5 when it closed. Why? garbage happened. 25.2 acres where built on it. So It was also partly man made. Unfortunately, the main building had burned down in 1897. Luckily, no lives were lost, but they had to start building a new one. The new building opened on Dec. 17, 1900. That day, 2,251 people came and went. They learned after that experience and made the rest of the buildings fireproof. 1907 was the busiest year they ever had. 1.25 million people passed by that year. Seven years later, World War one brought fewer and fewer people to our country. That lasted for 4 years. Anybody with a backround of possibly working for the other side was sent back. They were called "enemy aliens." In 1954 after that long journey of being there, it was officially closed. The last person to go through was Arne Peterson. After that it was all over. Because of all of its achievements, Lyndon B. Johnson declared it part of the Statue of Liberty Memorial. It is now owned by the federal government and open to the public to go see. This is what brought us our famous people of today. It plays such a big part in our society and is not appreciated enough as it should be. But when I think about it, this is the making of America. It brought all these different religions, people, and beliefs toghether in one place. We are all in a big, big stewing pot called the United States of America. So **STOP**! Take a minute to think about our beautiful American landmarks of today, especially **Ellis Island**.