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.