Why Dont We Open Ellis Island Again
Ellis Island Welcoming Visitors Once Again, only Repairs Proceed
Some of the buildings bear plywood scars from the tempest, and a meg artifacts are all the same in storage in Maryland. But on the eve of the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, Ellis Island, the American gateway for millions of immigrants, reopened to the public on Monday, one of the last major parks or monuments damaged by the storm to do so.
"It feels wonderful to be able to welcome visitors over again," said David Luchsinger, superintendent of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, which includes Ellis Island. "It'due south overwhelming."
Mr. Luchsinger said he was determined to reopen the Ellis Island Immigration Museum earlier the anniversary of the hurricane, even though the site has non fully recovered. And he chose Monday, in part, considering it was the 127th birthday of the Statue of Liberty.
Epitome
By midday, hundreds of visitors, many of them international tourists, had disembarked from ferries to gaze at the Great Hall on the second floor of the primary immigration edifice. The isle was where 12 meg immigrants arrived for processing betwixt 1892 and 1954, when the federal venture closed for good. (It reopened as a historic site in 1990.)
Stephane Leroy of Paris was there with his son Simeon, 12. Mr. Leroy, 41, had visited Ellis Island 20 years ago and wanted to share information technology with his wife and son, only worried that information technology might not reopen in time for their vacation to New York City.
"Nosotros are flying dorsum to France tomorrow morning, then we merely fabricated information technology," Mr. Leroy said.
The brick-and-limestone French Renaissance Revival edifice that serves every bit the centerpiece of Ellis Isle was spared major structural damage during the hurricane. But the storm surge sent eight feet of water pouring into the basement, destroying the site'due south electrical, computing, phone, rut, water and sewage systems. Concerned about humidity levels and temperatures, officials moved 2-thirds of the museum'southward collection into storage.
Permanent fixes are still being worked on. The goal, Mr. Luchsinger said, is to make all time to come systems resilient "in case, God forestall, another Sandy comes rolling through." By side by side May, a new electrical system should be placed out of impairment's way on the 2nd floor of the incinerator building, while a new heating and air-conditioning organisation able to withstand flooding will exist installed in the basement.
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Until that new heating system is in place, Ellis Island is using the building'south radiators, which had sat silent and cold for years. Temporarily reviving the steam heat allowed the National Park Service, which runs the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, to reopen the site. Liberty Island reopened on July 4.
Mr. Luchsinger could take opened Ellis Isle this summertime, except for the absenteeism of air-conditioning. During the next few months, he said, the million artifacts volition exist brought back from Maryland and placed in dozens of galleries, however closed, on either side of the Great Hall. On Monday, one gallery labeled "Peak Immigration Years" displayed a sign that read: "Expanse Closed. Do Not Enter."
Right before Hurricane Sandy hit, Ellis Isle had opened a new permanent exhibition, chosen "Journeys: The Peopling of America 1550-1890." That exhibit is now dorsum, and another installment, capturing the mail-Ellis Isle immigrant experience, volition open up side by side fall.
Jean Hart, of Newport Embankment, Calif., was at that place for opening day with her son Andrew, a old New Yorker likewise from California. Ms. Hart's paternal grandparents, who were from Eastern Europe, had come through Ellis Isle upon arriving in New York, and she was hoping to observe some tape of their brief visit.
"I had no idea what Ellis Island looked like," she said, taking in the 28,000 tiles that make up the vaulted ceiling. "It's actually something."
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/nyregion/ellis-island-welcoming-visitors-once-again-but-repairs-continue.html
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