Castle Clinton (also known as Fort Clinton and Castle Garden) is a restored circular sandstone
fort
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...
within
Battery Park
The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan#Manhattan Island, Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. The park is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling ...
at the southern end of
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, United States. Built from 1808 to 1811, it was the first
American immigration station, predating
Ellis Island
Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...
. More than 7.5 million people arrived in the United States at Fort Clinton between 1855 and 1890. Over its active life, it has also functioned as a
beer garden
A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees.
Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain co ...
,
exhibition hall
A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...
,
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...
, and
public aquarium
A public aquarium () or public water zoo is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and aquatic plant, plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept by home aquarists, ...
. The structure is a
New York City designated landmark
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and c ...
and a
U.S. national monument, and it is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
.
Fort Clinton was originally known as the West Battery or the Southwest Battery, occupying an
artificial island
An artificial island or man-made island is an island that has been Construction, constructed by humans rather than formed through natural processes. Other definitions may suggest that artificial islands are lands with the characteristics of hum ...
off the shore of
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...
. Designed by
John McComb Jr., with
Jonathan Williams as consulting engineer, the fort was garrisoned in 1812 but was never used for warfare. In 1824, the New York City government converted Fort Clinton into a 6,000-seat entertainment venue known as Castle Garden, which operated until 1855. Castle Garden then served as an immigrant processing depot for 35 years. When the processing facilities were moved to Ellis Island in 1892, Castle Garden was converted into the first home of the
New York Aquarium
The New York Aquarium is the oldest continually operating Public aquarium, aquarium in the United States, located on the Riegelmann Boardwalk in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded at Castle Garden in Battery Park, Manhattan, i ...
, which opened in 1896 and continued operating until 1941. The fort was expanded and renovated several times during this period.
In the 1940s, New York City parks commissioner
Robert Moses
Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influentia ...
proposed demolishing Fort Clinton as part of the construction of the nearby
Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel
The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, commonly referred to as the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, Battery Tunnel or Battery Park Tunnel, is a toll road, tolled tunnel in New York City that connects Red Hook, Brooklyn, Red Hook in Brooklyn with The Battery (Ma ...
. This led to a prolonged debate over the fort's preservation, as well as the creation of the Castle Clinton National Monument in 1946. The
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
took over the fort in 1950. After several unsuccessful attempts to restore the fort, Castle Clinton reopened in 1975 following an extensive renovation. Since 1986, it has served as a visitor center and a departure point for ferries to the
Statue of Liberty National Monument
The Statue of Liberty National Monument is a United States national monument comprising Liberty Island and Ellis Island in the states of New Jersey and New York. It includes the 1886 Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World'') b ...
.
Original use
Castle Clinton stands slightly west of where
Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam, (later, Fort George among other names) was a fortification on the southern tip of Manhattan Island at the confluence of the Hudson River, Hudson and East River, East rivers in what is now New York City. The fort and the island ...
was built in 1626, when New York City was known by the Dutch name
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...
.
Fort Amsterdam was demolished by 1790 after the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
.
Proposals for a new fort were made after two separate war scares involving Britain and France in the 1790s, but neither plan was ultimately carried out.
By 1805, there were growing tensions between Britain and the U.S., marking the run-up to the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
. Late that year, Lieutenant Colonel
Jonathan Williams of the
United States Army Engineers began planning a series of fortifications in
New York Harbor
New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States.
New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...
.
Williams was part of a group of three commissioners who, in 1807, submitted a report that recommended the construction of such fortifications.
Fort Clinton, originally known as West Battery and sometimes as Southwest Battery,
was built on an
artificial island
An artificial island or man-made island is an island that has been Construction, constructed by humans rather than formed through natural processes. Other definitions may suggest that artificial islands are lands with the characteristics of hum ...
, created just off shore when the fort was built.
Construction began in 1808, and the fort was completed in 1811,
although modifications continued through the 1820s.
Designed by
John McComb Jr. with Jonathan Williams as consulting engineer,
West Battery was roughly circular with a radius of approximately . About one-eighth of the circle had a straight wall instead of a curved wall.
The walls were made of red
sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
quarried in New Jersey.
The fort had 28 thirty-two-pounder
cannon
A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...
s.
A wooden bridge led from the fort to the rest of Manhattan.
West Battery was intended to complement the three-tiered
Castle Williams, the East Battery, on
Governors Island
Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk ...
.
The fort was completed in late 1811, and it was
garrison
A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters.
A garrison is usually in a city ...
ed in 1812.
However, the fort was never used for warfare,
and British and American forces signed a peace treaty in February 1815.
By then, West Battery was renamed Fort Clinton in honor of
New York City Mayor
The mayor of New York City, officially mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, ...
DeWitt Clinton
DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and Naturalism (philosophy), naturalist. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the sixth governor of New York. ...
(who eventually became
Governor of New York
The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ...
).
The castle proper was converted to administrative headquarters for the Army. Simultaneously, at the end of the war, there was a public movement to build a park in the Battery area.
A 1816 proposal to construct two small office buildings at Fort Clinton was canceled due to public opposition, and the castle lay dormant for three years.
The
Common Council of New York proposed in May 1820 that the United States government transfer ownership of the castle to the city government, but the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
declined to pass legislation to that effect.
By 1820, Fort Clinton was being used as a paymaster's quarters and storage area.
The
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
stopped using the fort in 1821, and it was ceded to the city by an act of Congress in March 1822.
By then, the bridge leading to Fort Clinton was frequently used by fishermen who were catching fish from the bridge,
which was connected to the shore at the foot of
Broadway.
Entertainment venue

The fort was leased to the New York City government as an entertainment venue in June 1824;
the city originally paid $1,400 a year for five years.
The city government subleased the fort to Francis Fitch, Arthur Roorbach, and J. Rathbone.
Fort Clinton became Castle Garden, which served as a
beer garden
A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees.
Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain co ...
,
exhibition hall
A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...
, and
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...
. The venue contained 50
boxes, each with a table and eight seats. Atop Castle Garden was a circular promenade with a canopy above it.
Castle Garden was surrounded by a gravel promenade and shrubbery atop a seawall.
The ''
New-York Daily Tribune
The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...
'' wrote that the fort "afterward became associated with scenes of peace and popular amusement".
One critic described Castle Garden in 1828 as "a favored place of public resort".
The fort reopened as Castle Garden on July 3, 1824.
One of the fort's first events was in September 1824, when 6,000 people attended an event honoring
General Lafayette.
Over the years, the fort hosted other political figures such as U.S. presidents
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...
,
John Tyler
John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president of the United States, vice president in 1841. He was elected ...
,
and
James K. Polk
James Knox Polk (; November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. A protégé of Andrew Jackson and a member of the Democratic Party, he was an advocate of Jacksonian democracy and ...
,
as well as Hungarian governor-president
Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (; ; ; ; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and governor-president of the Kingdom of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, r ...
.
Inventor
Samuel Morse
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After establishing his reputation as a portrait painter, Morse, in his middle age, contributed to the invention of a Electrical telegraph#Morse ...
hosted a demonstration of a telegraph machine at Castle Garden in 1835.
Around 1845, Castle Garden was converted into a theater when a roof was built above the fort's interior.
The structure contained 6,000 seats.
Officials were planning to expand the nearby Battery Park by 1848, adding landfill around Castle Garden to bring the park to .
In 1850, Swedish soprano
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria Lind (Madame Goldschmidt) (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in ...
gave her first performances in the United States with two concerts at Castle Gardens;
tickets for these concerts cost up to $225 (). A year later, Castle Garden started selling concert tickets at "popular prices" of up to 50 cents ().
In the early 1850s, European dancing star
Lola Montez performed her "tarantula dance",
and
Louis-Antoine Jullien gave dozens of successful concerts mixing classical and light music.
The
Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company staged the New York premieres of two operas at Castle Garden:
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian Romantic music, Romantic composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''be ...
's ''
Marino Faliero'' on June 17, 1851, and
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...
's ''
Luisa Miller'' on July 20, 1854.
The fort was leased to Theodore J. Allen for five years on May 1, 1854. Under the terms of the lease, Allen could expand the island around Castle Garden, but he could not infill the channel between Castle Garden and Battery Park.
Immigrant landing and registration depot

Castle Garden served as the
first immigration depot in the U.S. from 1855 to 1890.
Most of the fort, except for the section along the shoreline, was surrounded by a wooden fence.
The fence, measuring high, was intended to keep out unauthorized immigrants.
At the center of the fort was the waiting area, known as the rotunda.
The immigrant registration depot included a quadrangle of desks arranged around this waiting area, as well as restrooms flanking the main entrance.
The waiting area also had wooden benches. Although there are no precise figures for the capacity of the waiting area, various sources give a capacity of between 2,000 and 4,000.
An enclosed balcony was installed around the waiting area circa 1869.
The residential outbuildings around the fort became offices.
Before being processed at Castle Garden, immigrants underwent medical inspections at the Marine Hospital on
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...
, where ill immigrants were quarantined.
Those who passed their medical inspection boarded a steamship, which traveled to a dock along the northern side of Castle Garden; the dock faced away from Battery Park, preventing immigrants from entering Manhattan before they had been processed. Immigrants were inspected a second time before entering the fort. Inside the depot, a New York state emigration clerk registered each immigrant and directed them to another desk, where a second clerk advised each immigrant about their destination. Each of the immigrants then received a bottle of bathwater and returned to the dock, where their baggage was collected.
The
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...
and the
New York and Erie Railroad sold train tickets at Castle Garden as well.
Many of Castle Garden's original immigrant passenger records were stored at
Ellis Island
Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...
, where they were destroyed in a fire in 1897. Sources cite 7.5 million
or 8 million immigrants as having been processed at Castle Garden.
These account for the vast majority of the nearly 10 million immigrants who passed through the
Port of New York between 1847 and 1890.
The majority of immigrants processed at Castle Garden were from European countries, namely Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Scotland, and Sweden.
The facility's name was pronounced by German immigrants and by Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jews. The word became a generic term for any situation that was noisy, confusing or chaotic, or where a "
babel" of languages was spoken (a reference to the multitude of languages heard spoken by the immigrants from many countries at the site).
In 2005, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' estimated that one-sixth of all Americans were descended from an immigrant who had passed through Castle Garden.
Conversion and operation
1850s and 1860s
The New York state government's Board of Emigration Commissioners had been established in 1847 to operate medical facilities and a registration center for immigrants. Although the board had acquired the Marine Hospital on Staten Island soon after its establishment, their efforts to open a registration center were unsuccessful for several years.
Prior to the establishment of the registration center, unethical ticket-booking agents for transport lines frequently approached newly arrived immigrants, only to abscond with the immigrants' savings.
The board took over Allen's lease of Castle Garden in May 1855 and made some modifications,
leasing the fort for $8,000 annually ().
Several local residents attempted to prevent the fort from being converted into an immigrant registration depot, claiming that the state government's lease was illegal and that the newly arrived immigrants would spread disease.
A judge for the state's Superior Court ruled in June 1855 that work on the immigrant-processing depot could proceed.
The Emigrant Landing Depot opened within the fort on August 1, 1855,
and the depot began processing immigrants two days later.
The identity of the first migrant processed at the fort is unknown. Of the first five ships to arrive at Castle Garden, English laborer Richard Richards was the first person on the manifest of the largest ship.
Although the New York state government endorsed Castle Garden's conversion to an immigrant-processing depot, the New York City government opposed the move and accused the Emigration Commissioners of violating the terms of their lease.
Many complaints about Castle Garden came from "runners" representing booking agents and
boarding house
A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...
operators, who could not intercept unwitting immigrants because of Castle Garden's strict policies.
The New York state government's initial four-year lease of Castle Garden expired in 1859, and state officials renewed their lease annually for the next ten years. By then, state and city officials could not agree on who owned the depot.
The city, state, and federal governments continued to fight over the depot's ownership through the 1870s.
Although Castle Garden staff often mistreated immigrants, historian George J. Svejda wrote that the depot "was still the best place for immigrants upon their landing on America's shores".
In 1864, to convince immigrants to enlist in the
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...
during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, the County Bounty Committee erected a recruitment center next to Castle Garden.
Two years later, the Board of Emigration Commissioners constructed a one-story labor exchange building, a waiting room, and an information office, and they made repairs to Castle Garden.
The fort's exterior remained largely unchanged over the years, but the interior and many of the fort's wooden outbuildings were frequently renovated.
Battery Park was expanded circa 1869 using
landfill
A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...
,
at which point the island containing Castle Garden was incorporated into the rest of Manhattan Island.
The rotunda was extensively restored at this time, and a wooden balcony was installed.
By then, ''The New York Times'' wrote that the surrounding Battery Park was "a haven for the 'runners' who approached innocent Irish and German newcomers, offering them nonexistent lodgings for their money".
1870s and 1880s
By the early 1870s, Castle Garden's information bureau employed staff members who could speak over a dozen languages.
The New York state government encouraged immigrants to use other ports of entry to reduce overcrowding, so it issued a
head tax on every immigrant who passed through Castle Garden.
This measure was largely ineffective, as ''The New York Times'' wrote in 1874: "Castle Garden is so well known in Europe that few emigrants can be induced to sail to any other destination."
By then, the immigration depot was in poor condition, with rotting floors and "tottering" offices and benches.
The Board of Emigration Commissioners lost a significant source of income in 1875, when the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
invalidated a New York state law that required steamship companies to pay a head tax or put up a bond for each immigrant. Afterward, the commissioners sought funding from the state legislature.
Due to budgetary shortfalls, the Emigration Commissioners disbanded the labor bureau in 1875,
although the German and Irish Emigrant Societies took over the labor bureau's operation.
Congress passed the
Page Act of 1875, the first restrictive federal
immigration law
Immigration law includes the national statutes, Primary and secondary legislation, regulations, and Precedent, legal precedents governing immigration into and deportation from a country. Strictly speaking, it is distinct from other matters such as ...
in the United States, during this time.
The structure was severely damaged in a fire on July 30, 1876.
Castle Garden's exterior remained intact, as did the outbuildings to the north of the fort, but the interior was completely destroyed.
In the aftermath of the fire, several city officials proposed shuttering the Castle Garden immigration center and restoring the fort as a venue for "public enjoyment".
Nonetheless, the New York state government awarded a contract for Castle Garden's reconstruction in September 1876,
and it reopened on November 27, 1876.
As part of the $30,000 project (),
officials installed windows in the embrasures along the facade, and they added two doorways.
After the nearby Barge Office was completed in 1879, immigrants disembarked at the Barge Office, where officers examined immigrants' baggage. The baggage-collection duties soon returned to Castle Garden, and the Barge Office became a storage area.
New York state officials unsuccessfully attempted to reinstate a head tax at Castle Garden in 1881.
The following year, Congress passed the
Immigration Act of 1882, which imposed a head tax on non-U.S. citizens who passed through American ports, as well as restricted certain classes of people from immigrating to America.
Under the 1882 act, the Emigration Commissioners earned 50 cents for each immigrant who passed through Castle Garden.
Later that year, the Emigration Commissioners began collecting rent from the various companies and agents with offices at Castle Garden, and it started collecting taxes from boardinghouse operators.
The Immigration Act of 1882 also prompted a jurisdictional dispute between the city, state, and federal governments.
For example, in 1885, the state government refused to allocate $10,000 for repairs to the depot's ferry dock because the city technically owned Castle Garden.
The state government finally provided money for repairs in 1887.
Closure
By the late 1880s, Castle Garden had become overcrowded and unhygienic, and there were numerous reports that Castle Garden officials were mistreating immigrants.
Robert Chesebrough, a businessman who owned several structures around Battery Park, had also advocated for the closure of the Castle Garden processing depot. The ''
Chicago Daily Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN radio and WGN tel ...
'' wrote that the structure was "a dilapidated rotunda surrounded by equally ramshackle structures for the housing of the strangers on these shores".
The Emigration Commissioners had dismissed many of Castle Garden's employees in September 1889 because of declining income, further compounding the facility's issues.
Federal and state officials also had difficulty sharing jurisdiction of Castle Garden; state officials reportedly did not enforce federal laws, as it was not part of their duties.
The federal government notified New York state officials in February 1890 that it would take over immigrant-processing duties at Castle Garden within sixty days.
Federal officials planned to construct a new immigrant-processing center at another location, ultimately selecting a site on
Ellis Island
Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...
.
Castle Garden closed on April 18, 1890,
The immigrant-processing center was temporarily relocated to the Barge Office.
The state's Commissioners of Emigration had forbidden the federal government to continue to use Castle Garden until the Ellis Island immigrant depot was completed.
The new registration office on Ellis Island was completed in 1892.
In its last year of operation, Castle Garden processed 450,394 travelers, 364,086 of whom were immigrants.
When the immigrant-registration depot closed, city officials contemplated converting Castle Garden into an "amusement resort".
The New York state government formally transferred Castle Garden to the city government on December 31, 1890.
By the next year, city officials had removed the wooden fence around Castle Garden, and they were planning to demolish the various outbuildings around the fort.
The New York Naval Reserve's First Battalion considered relocating to Castle Garden at that time,
and it subsequently used Castle Garden as a drill hall during the early 1890s.
Aquarium

Castle Garden was the site of the
New York City Aquarium from 1896 to 1941.
The structure was extensively altered and roofed over to a height of several stories, though the original masonry fort remained.
[History of The Battery](_blank)
, The Battery Conservancy. Retrieved December 1, 2014. When the fort was converted into an aquarium, the adjacent section of Battery Park was extended into the Hudson River.
The interior of Castle Garden contained two circular colonnades, which supported a roof with skylights. Above the center of the fort was a green-and-yellow dome, with a verse of Scripture (
Habakkuk 1:15) inscribed into the dome's base.
The aquarium could accommodate 10,000 fish and other species.
At the center of the ground story was a large circular pool surrounded by six smaller elliptical pools.
Fish and other marine species were loaded into the aquarium through a doorway at one end of the fort.
The perimeter of the aquarium was originally surrounded by about 100 tanks of varying sizes, placed on two levels.
The tanks were up to deep, with plate-glass panes and white-tiled surfaces.
By 1907, there were seven large tanks at the center of the ground story, 94 large tanks and 26 smaller tanks on the walls, and 30 reserve tanks.
The tanks were supplied by fresh water from the
New York City water supply system
The New York City water supply system is a combination of Aqueduct (water supply), aqueducts, reservoirs, and tunnels which supplies fresh water to New York City. With three major water systems (New Croton Aqueduct, Croton, Catskill Aqueduct, Ca ...
and salt water from the Hudson River.
Salt water passed through two bronze filters, while fresh water passed through two copper filters; the four filters could collectively process over per day.
Conversion and opening
The New York City government had proposed converting Castle Garden into an aquarium in 1891.
The following February, the
New York State Legislature
The New York State Legislature consists of the Bicameralism, two houses that act as the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York: the New York State Senate and the New York State Assem ...
passed a bill allowing the city government to create an aquarium within Castle Garden.
Julius F. Munckwitz Jr. drew up preliminary plans for an aquarium, which he presented to New York City's board of park commissioners in mid-1892.
The state government voted to allocate $150,000 for the construction of an aquarium within Castle Garden.
The aquarium's
architect of record
Architect of record is the architect or architecture firm whose name appears on a building permit issued for a specific project on which that architect or firm performed services.
Issuance of building permits
Building permits are issued by a ...
, H. T. Woodman, reported in April 1894 that several of the tanks were ready for use.
During the renovation process, the architect alleged that the tiles in the tanks had not been installed properly, which led to a protracted dispute. The city government allocated another $25,000 for the aquarium's completion at the end of 1894 ().
The aquarium was supposed to have been completed by mid-1894,
but it did not open for another two years.
By mid-1895, the aquarium was delayed by what the ''
New-York Tribune
The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...
'' characterized as "gross stupidity".
For instance, the skylights on the roof acted as a
greenhouse
A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...
that raised the temperature of the water in the tanks, and the saltwater fish in the aquarium were dying off because of the low salinity of the Hudson River. The ''Tribune'' estimated that these mistakes had increased the project's cost by $35,000 ().
Local media reported in September 1896 that the aquarium was largely completed.
At the time, the tanks contained 45 species, some of which had been in the aquarium for two years.
Ultimately, it cost $175,000 to renovate Castle Garden into an aquarium ().
The aquarium opened on December 10, 1896,
following a soft opening the previous day.
The aquarium attracted thousands of visitors on its opening day,
and it averaged over 10,000 visitors per day during its first several months.
Visitors were not charged admission, which may have contributed to the aquarium's popularity.
The aquarium had two million guests within a year,
and it had 5.5 million total guests by May 1900.
1900s to 1930s
In March 1902, New York state legislators proposed transferring operation of the New York Aquarium to the
New York Zoological Society
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995
* "New" (Daya song), 2017
* "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
. City officials had suggested the idea to remove political interference from the aquarium's operation.
The
New York City Board of Estimate
The New York City Board of Estimate was a governmental body in New York City responsible for numerous areas of municipal policy and decisions, including the city budget, land-use, contracts, franchises, and water rates. Under the amendments eff ...
authorized mayor
Seth Low
Seth Low (January 18, 1850 – September 17, 1916) was an American educator and political figure who served as the mayor of Brooklyn from 1881 to 1885, the president of Columbia University from 1890 to 1901, a diplomatic representative of ...
to lease the aquarium to the Zoological Society in July 1902, and the Zoological Society took over on October 31, 1902, with
Charles Haskins Townsend as the aquarium's director.
Townsend soon made several modifications to Castle Garden's facilities. He covered the tanks' tiled surfaces with rocks,
as well as reconfiguring each of the tanks' pipes to reduce energy usage.
The Zoological Society added a classroom next to the fort,
and it installed a tank underneath the fort to store saltwater.
The organization also repainted the interior for the first time in Castle Garden's history.
These modifications cost over $30,000 ().
The fort's design continued to pose issues; for example, aquarium officials discovered in 1905 that the roof skylights were causing some of the fish to become blind.
The Zoological Society installed new pipes at Castle Garden in 1908.
Meanwhile, by the early 20th century, city officials were planning to rebuild Battery Park,
and they considered replacing Castle Garden with a skyscraper.
By January 1911, officials instead planned to expand Castle Garden,
adding semicircular wings to the west and east for over $1 million.
Each wing was to contain three tiers of tanks
and classroom space.
The Zoological Society asked the Board of Estimate to allocate $1.75 million to the renovation,
but the board still had not funded the renovation of Castle Garden by 1916.
Townsend said the aquarium's mechanical facilities needed major upgrades;
according to Townsend, the mechanical equipment under the fort was flooded at high tide, and power was provided by coal bunkers, which had to be manually replenished every four days.
In addition, the fort had never been properly renovated for the aquarium's use, and the second story's wooden frame was flammable. Townsend said the annexes would not only provide additional exhibition space but also allow the mechanical facilities to be upgraded.
In 1921, Townsend announced that the Zoological Society would spend $75,000 () to construct an electric plant in the basement, replacing a steam plant on the south side of the fort, and then install two tanks in the space formerly occupied by the steam plant. This work was funded by a bequest from Mrs. Russell Sage.
The same year, a bust of Jenny Lind was dedicated and installed at the center of the fort. The Board of Estimate voted in December 1921 to provide $105,000 for the construction of an additional story atop the fort.
By early 1923, the Zoological Society was carrying out the renovations at a cost of $86,000 ().
In June 1923, the board voted to give $76,500 for the construction of an additional story above the fort.
The Zoological Society planned to add deeper tanks on the second floor, expanding exhibition space by 20 percent. By then, the aquarium had two million annual visitors.
The expansion was largely completed by early 1924.
Townsend announced in 1926 that Castle Garden would undergo further modifications at a cost of $225,000 (). The plans included constructing a third story for workrooms and laboratory space, installing tanks behind the fort, adding a new mechanical plant in the basement, and covering the facade with a gray cement finish.
Several local residents expressed opposition to these modifications and created the Battery Park Association to advocate against the plans.
By the late 1920s, there were plans to reconstruct Battery Park into a formal vista. As part of this plan, an amphitheater would have been constructed in the southern end of Battery Park, complementing Castle Garden at the northern end. The Castle Garden Aquarium remained popular in the 1930s, with two million visitors per year.
Two laboratories were built on the structure's third story in 1940,
and a new metal dome was installed above the fort the same year.
By then, the aquarium's acting director Charles M. Breder Jr. wished to develop a new building nearby, as he believed the aquarium had outgrown Castle Garden.
Demolition attempts and preservation
Initial plans
In February 1941,
Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Commissioner
Robert Moses
Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influentia ...
announced that he would demolish Castle Garden when the park was rebuilt during the
Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel
The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, commonly referred to as the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, Battery Tunnel or Battery Park Tunnel, is a toll road, tolled tunnel in New York City that connects Red Hook, Brooklyn, Red Hook in Brooklyn with The Battery (Ma ...
's construction.
He justified the demolition by saying that the fort had poor lighting and ventilation and that it required extensive repairs.
In response, the
New-York Historical Society
The New York Historical (known as the New-York Historical Society from 1804 to 2024) is an American history museum and library on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. It ...
proposed restoring the fort and turning it into a maritime museum.
George McAneny, a former mayor and the chairman of the
Regional Plan Association
The Regional Plan Association is an independent, not-for-profit regional planning organization, founded in 1922, that focuses on recommendations to improve the quality of life and economic competitiveness of a 31-county New York (state), New Yo ...
's board, proposed restoring Castle Garden;
he continued to advocate the fort's preservation for nine years. Moses opposed efforts to preserve Castle Garden, saying that the old fort "never fired a shot".
The city government closed the New York Aquarium and moved some fish and turtles to other aquariums in late 1941;
other fish were released into the Atlantic Ocean.
A new aquarium was ultimately built on
Coney Island
Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...
in 1957.

Moses presented plans for a reconstruction of Battery Park to the Board of Estimate in March 1942, in which the fort was to be replaced by a landscaped promenade.
The board voted in favor of removing the fort from Battery Park that June.
City officials quickly placed the fort for sale, allowing potential buyers to preserve the fort by relocating it,
but the officials rejected the sole bid from a Brooklyn junkyard operator who offered $1,120 ().
The Fine Arts Federation of New York held an
architectural design competition
An architectural competition is a type of design competition, in which an entity that intends to build new work, or is just seeking ideas, invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning scheme is usually chosen by an independent panel ...
in August 1942, soliciting plans for a renovation of Castle Garden.
Despite ongoing disputes over the fort's fate,
workers began removing metal from Castle Garden on September 25, while the rest of the building remained in place for the time being.
The fort's original door, attached to the wall using 768 iron bolts, was also removed.
An engineer hired by Moses to conduct a structural survey of Fort Clinton reported a "pronounced vertical crack" on the fort's walls.
Preservationists asked a New York state judge to grant an injunction to prevent demolition,
but a judge declined the request in April 1943. Preservationists again petitioned the Board of Estimate to preserve the building, but the board voted in October 1945 to demolish the fort.
Preservation as national monument
Albert S. Bard,
Walter D. Binger, and other civic reformers continued to advocate in favor of preserving the fort. In July 1946, U.S. representative
Sol Bloom introduced a bill to designate Castle Garden as a
U.S. national monument.
Both the
House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
and the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
approved the legislation,
and president
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...
signed the bill into law on August 12, 1946, enabling the
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...
to determine whether to take over the fort.
At the time, the city government still owned the property, and the fort could not become a national monument unless the federal government took ownership.
Engineers estimated that it would cost between $40,000 and $100,000 to preserve the fort while the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel was being constructed.
The city government would only retain the fort if the federal government agreed to pay for its restoration, though Moses did suggest constructing a monument on the site.
After the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
declined to allocate funding for Fort Clinton's renovation, the Board of Estimate voted yet again to demolish the fort in July 1947.
Some demolition work did take place,
but the structure was not totally demolished due to a lack of funding.
After Interior undersecretary
Oscar L. Chapman indicated in August 1947 that Congress would allocate money to the project in 1948, the board voted to delay further action for one year. In the meantime, the city allocated $50,000 () to shore up the fort's southeastern corner while the tunnel was being built.
In March 1948, a
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Ass ...
committee refused to vote on a bill that would have allowed the federal government to take over Fort Clinton.
Two months later, the Board of Estimate voted to demolish the castle for the sixth time. The
American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society
The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society was created in 1895 as New York's first organized preservation lobby. The Society operated as a national organization to protect the natural scenery and the preservation of historic landmarks ...
continued to advocate for the fort's preservation, asking the
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...
to restrict the city from demolishing Fort Clinton in July 1948.
The state Supreme Court issued an injunction that December, requiring the
New York City Art Commission to approve any proposal to demolish the fort,
but the
Supreme Court's Appellate Division struck down this injunction in March 1949.
By early 1949, U.S. president
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...
had also expressed support for preserving Fort Clinton.
The Assembly voted in March 1949 to cede the fort to the federal government,
and the
New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...
passed an identical bill. New York governor
Thomas E. Dewey signed the bill the next month, allowing the city to transfer the fort to the federal government. Separately, the
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs.
The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...
voted to allow the New York state government to take over Fort Clinton if the federal government did not want to take over ownership.
The U.S. House voted in October to allocate $165,750 for the fort's restoration (),
allowing the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
(NPS) to start restoring the fort after the federal government gained ownership. The city's mayor
William O'Dwyer supported the fort's preservation, but, due to legal technicalities, the city government did not transfer ownership of the fort for several months.
On July 18, 1950, the city deeded the land and castle to the federal government.
Federal government ownership
The modern-day Castle Clinton is a one-story structure with a radius of . The roof above the fort's interior has largely been removed, and there is a nearly circular, open-air parade ground at the center of the fort.
It is surrounded by a wall measuring thick.
The
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
on the facade was removed under the National Park Service's ownership, and the brownstone-and-ashlar exterior walls were restored to their original condition. Underneath the walls is a rough stone foundation. The circumference of the fort contains a
portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...
with wooden columns surrounding a canopy. There is also a gravel courtyard, brick
powder magazines, and two subterranean water tanks covered by wooden trapdoors.
The
SeaGlass Carousel
The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan#Manhattan Island, Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. The park is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling ...
is just southeast of the modern-day fort.
Since 1986, the fort's interior has housed an information kiosk and ticket booths for the
Statue of Liberty National Monument
The Statue of Liberty National Monument is a United States national monument comprising Liberty Island and Ellis Island in the states of New Jersey and New York. It includes the 1886 Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World'') b ...
, which comprises the
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...
and Ellis Island;
the fort continues to sell tickets for the Statue of Liberty National Monument .
Statue Cruises
Hornblower Cruises is a San Francisco–based charter yacht, dining cruise and ferry service company. In 2021, the company rebranded most of its services as City Cruises or City Experiences. In 2024, the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
...
, which operates the only ferry line to
Liberty Island
Liberty Island is a federally owned island in Upper New York Bay in the northeastern United States. Its most notable feature is the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''), a large statue by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi that was ...
and Ellis Island, sells ferry tickets inside the fort.
Admission to Castle Clinton itself is free, and the National Park Service gives
guided tours when the monument is open to the public.
The fort also contains a small history exhibit and occasionally hosts concerts.
The nonprofit Battery Conservancy is also housed within Castle Clinton.
According to the NPS, Castle Clinton typically has over three million visitors a year, making it one of the most visited national monuments in the United States.
Restoration

The Castle Clinton National Monument was formally dedicated on October 24, 1950.
Battery Park reopened to the public two years later, although Castle Clinton had not yet been restored at the time.
The NPS announced in early 1952 that it would begin restoring the fort's exterior; the project was expected to cost $117,000 () and take two years.
As part of this project, the NPS reconstructed the fort's original door.
Following the partial demolition of Fort Clinton in the 1940s, only the exterior wall remained intact. The interior of the fort was so dilapidated that, according to ''The New York Times'', "not even grass grew in the desolate, cratered parade ground".
In 1954, the
New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs.
The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...
passed a resolution asking Congress to establish a committee to provide suggestions for restoring Castle Clinton, the
Federal Hall National Memorial
Federal Hall was the first capitol building of the United States under the Constitution. Serving as the meeting place of the First United States Congress and the site of George Washington's first presidential inauguration, the building existe ...
, and the Statue of Liberty National Monument. The next year, the federal government created the New York City National Shrines Advisory Board.
The board first convened in February 1956,
and the federal government allocated $498,500 that July for a renovation of Castle Clinton (). In February 1957, the board recommended allocating $3 million for the restoration of the three sites. The United States Department of the Interior subsequently postponed the repair project to 1966. This led architect Frederick G. Frost Jr. to propose in 1958 that the fort be renovated for use as a maritime museum and a restaurant.
In 1962, New York City parks commissioner
Newbold Morris proposed relocating 18 columns from the soon-to-be-demolished
Pennsylvania Station to a promenade outside Castle Clinton.
This never happened, and the columns were instead dumped in a landfill in New Jersey.
Castle Clinton was one of the earliest buildings that the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the Government of New York City, New York City agency charged with administering the city's Historic preservation, Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting Ne ...
(LPC) considered protecting as a New York City landmark. The LPC designated the fort as a city landmark in November 1965, seven months after the city's landmarks law was signed. Subsequently, Castle Clinton was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
on October 15, 1966,
the day the
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA, , ) is legislation intended to preserve historic and archaeological sites in the United States of America. The act created the National Register of Historic Places, the list of National Historic Landm ...
went into effect.
A restoration of Castle Clinton commenced in August 1968.
The work included restoring the exterior and interior walls; adding a shingle roof; removing a moat and other facilities related to the fort's use as an aquarium; and repairing officers' quarters, parade ground, and ammunition storage areas.
This renovation was supposed to last one year.
The federal government postponed funding for further restoration because of the Vietnam War.
The NPS commenced a wider-ranging restoration project 1972, which cost about $750,000 (). As part of this project, the officers' quarters were restored, and an exhibit was placed inside a former powder magazine.
Preservationists were advocating for Castle Clinton to be used as a performing-arts center by late 1972.
The following June, the fort hosted its first concert since the 1850s, a performance commemorating Jenny Lind.
Castle Clinton reopened on May 25, 1975, with a performance of
Beethoven's 9th by the
American Symphony Orchestra.
City and federal officials rededicated the monument the next month.
Use as national monument
1970s to 1990s
When it reopened, Castle Clinton hosted concerts for the public during summer weekends,
and it also hosted exhibits and guided tours.
The fort contained dioramas depicting Manhattan at various points in the 19th and 20th centuries.
In 1979, the NPS and the Manhattan Cultural Council commissioned four sculptures, which were installed within Castle Clinton's central courtyard. Following a series of thefts and break-ins at Castle Clinton in the early 1980s, the NPS stationed several armed guards outside the fort. In the decade after it was rededicated, the fort was open nine months a year, operating five days per week. NPS officials estimated that the fort had no more than 100,000 annual visitors.
The NPS closed Castle Clinton for renovations in December 1985.
It announced plans to install two ticket booths and a waiting area for ferries to the
Statue of Liberty National Monument
The Statue of Liberty National Monument is a United States national monument comprising Liberty Island and Ellis Island in the states of New Jersey and New York. It includes the 1886 Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World'') b ...
.
The NPS planned to spend $1.5 million to replace two structures, add exhibitions, restore the roof and parade ground, and reconstruct a doorway that had been sealed in 1974. The fort was to operate every day of the week, year-round,
though the NPS subsequently decided to close all national monuments in Manhattan on Sundays. The NPS expected that the fort would attract up to five million visitors a year.
A ferry pier was also installed behind Castle Clinton.
The fort reopened the weekend of July 4, 1986, as a visitor center and ticket office for the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
Castle Clinton also began selling ferry tickets to Ellis Island in 1990, when that island's main building was converted into a museum.
By 1996, the Conservancy for Historic Battery Park was raising $350,000 () for a seasonal
tensile structure, to be placed above the fort between April and October of each year. The conservancy wished to raise another $25 million to $30 million and convert Castle Clinton into an educational and cultural center.
This was part of a $5.5 million renovation of the adjacent waterfront promenade within Battery Park, which was completed in November 2001, although the tensile structure was not installed. The Battery Park Conservancy had selected
Thomas Phifer in 2001 to redesign Castle Clinton as a performing-arts center,
but the redesign was stalled for several years.
2000s to present
The
National Guard
National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
...
occupied Castle Clinton for six weeks after the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
in 2001. Castle Clinton reopened to the public on October 22, 2001, though the ferries to the Statue of Liberty National Monument were not operating at the time.
That December, the NPS erected a tent with seven
body scanners at Castle Clinton, where visitors to the Statue of Liberty National Monument underwent a security screening. The facility could not handle large crowds, often resulting in waits of more than one hour.
The NPS considered relocating the security-screening facilities to the nearby
City Pier A
Pier A, also known as City Pier A, is a pier in the Hudson River at Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It was built from 1884 to 1886 as the headquarters of the Commissioner of Docks and Ferries of the City of New York, New York C ...
in 2003 but decided against it.
Although the security tent in front of Castle Clinton had been intended as a temporary measure, it remained in place for more than a decade.
The security screening facilities were supposed to have been relocated to Ellis Island in 2013;
, the screening facilities were located southeast of Castle Clinton.
During excavations for the nearby
South Ferry station in late 2005, builders found the remains of a stone wall dating from the late 17th or 18th centuries. Workers subsequently found another wall under the site, and the NPS exhibited part of one of the walls inside Castle Clinton.
, Castle Clinton remains a visitor center and ticket office for the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
See also
*
List of national monuments of the United States
The United States has 138 protected areas known as national monuments. The president of the United States can establish a national monument by presidential proclamation, and the United States Congress can do so by legislation. The president's a ...
*
List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan below 14th Street
*
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
Castle Clinton from GORPThe Battery ConservancyCastleGarden.org searchable database of 13.3 million immigrants arriving in New York before 1892 (90% complete)
{{authority control
1811 establishments in New York (state)
The Battery (Manhattan)
Forts in Manhattan
Forts on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
History museums in New York City
IUCN protected area errors
John McComb Jr. buildings
Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan
Military installations established in 1808
Monuments and memorials in Manhattan
Museums in Manhattan
National Park Service areas in New York City
New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan
New York State Register of Historic Places in New York County