Ellis Island
Ellis Island, in Upper New York Bay, was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants to the U.S. as the United States' busiest immigrant inspection station for over 60 years from 1892 until 1954. Ellis Island was opened January 1, 1892. The island was greatly expanded with land reclamation between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the site of Fort Gibson and later a naval magazine. The island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965 and has hosted a museum of immigration since 1990.
Abraham George Ellis
Ellis graduated from the Royal Netherlands Naval College in Den Helder on 1 September 1864. He spent over forty years in the navy serving tours to the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, China, South America and Japan. In between tours he worked ashore with the Naval Torpedo Service and the Personnel Department of the Navy. In June 1902, Ellis was promoted Rear Admiral and appointed director of Willemsoord naval wharf and the Commander of the Den Helder defense line ("Stelling Den Helder"). There Ellis cracked down hard on the social democratic sailor's union, earning him a reputation as a "Devourer of Socialists" ("Socialistenvreter").