America's first
immigration center
CastleGarden.org offers free access to an extraordinary database of
information on 10 million immigrants from 1830 through 1892, the year
Ellis Island opened. Over 73 million Americans can trace their ancestors
to this early immigration period.
Castle Garden, today known as Castle Clinton National Monument, is
the major landmark within The Battery, the 23 acre waterfront park at
the tip of Manhattan. From 1855 to 1890, the Castle was America's first
official immigration center, a pioneering collaboration of New York
State and New York City.
CastleGarden.org is an invaluable resource for educators, scholars,
students, family historians, and the interested public. Currently the
site hosts 10 million records, and support
is needed to complete the digitization of the remaining 2 million
records, beginning in 1820, from
the original ship manifests.
The Battery remains one of the oldest public open spaces in
continuous use in New York City. American Indians fished from its banks,
and the first Dutch settlers built a low, stone wall with cannons, a
battery to protect the harbor and New Amsterdam. The transformations of
The Battery and that of the Castle tell the history of New York and, by
association, the growth and development of our nation.