
These are the last haunting images of America's immigration gateway Ellis Island before it was turned into a tourist attraction.

Newly released photographs show the eerie, dust-strewn interior of the processing centre - the first bit of U.S. soil millions of immigrants would ever set foot on.

These buildings were abandoned for decades until the hospital and inspection complexes were overhauled to become a world famous immigration museum that is now part of the Statue of Liberty Monument in 2008.



Decay: The iconic Statue of Liberty would have loomed on the horizon, as the ships carrying the millions of new immigrants to the U.S. would have approached the processing centre. The huge two-story boilers in the powerhouse, heated the vast complex until it was abandoned in 1954

‘There were places in which foliage grew inside the building, and there were signs of significant water damage, but the structure itself was in surprisingly good condition.

‘The Baggage and Dormitory Building had not seen any sort of stabilisation whatsoever, yet every floor was intact, every staircase sound.

‘The various buildings had been abandoned for periods of time ranging from 55 to 78 years, but they were in remarkably good shape.

He said: ‘There are few places I can think of where so much history is stuffed onto a 27-acre island.

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Taken by New York photographer, Ian Ference, the pictures show the last decaying remains just before the transformation.

But during the height of immigration to the U.S. from the 1890's to the 1950's, millions of the disposed, the persecuted, and people just looking for a chance to pursue a new life, would have passed through these now decrepit, crumbling corridors and rooms.

History: This is one of the very few private rooms on the entire complex. It was most recently used to contain German POWs during Second World War

Influx: Dozens of sinks stand covered in debris in what was the communal washroom. During the centre's peak, thousands would have cleaned themselves here or nearby washrooms each day

Cleanliness: The enormous flow of people meant most facilities at Ellis Island needed to be on an industrial scale. Here the autoclaves which are used to sterilise dozens of patient mattresses in the hospital appear untouched since the last person left in 1954

Haunting: The peeling paint and cracking tiles of the dormitory in Ellis Island hospital stand as silent witness to the once frenetic hub which would have seen the arrival of thousands of people each week who had arrived in the U.S. in search of a new life

Frozen in time: Radiators lie stacked next to each other after being detached from around the hospital building and deposited in the first-floor dormitory



Fateful: The open door to patient room in the isolation ward, built in 1909, and the unsettling view of eight trays within the 1909 mortuary building, are testament to the grim condition many of the immigrants arrived in after an arduous journey to Ellis Island in New York City



Grim task: A view of main autopsy theatre area from ground in 1909 mortuary building which featured raised areas where medical students could observe autopsies on deceased immigrants

Possessions: A patient's suitcase which was intended to go to St. Vincent's Hospital, was found in 1908 annex to hospital in Ellis Island. We can only wonder what became of the owner

'It was surprising that the supposedly-stabilised complex was still pockmarked with broken-out windows that were letting water continue to erode the interiors of the various structures.’

For sixty years Ellis Island doctors were in charge of inspecting the anxious new arrivals to decide if they were fit to start a new life in America.

Mr Ference added: ‘The hospital complex consists of over 20 buildings constructed between 1902 and 1914.

‘It was intended to be a full-scale medical facility, even boasting operating rooms with skylights for light in the event of power failures or other lapses in artificial lighting during surgeries.

‘Over the next few years, the purpose of the hospital shifted dramatically from treatment of acute conditions to quarantine and isolation.

‘Various wards for the containment of contagious diseases were added to the facility, along with laundry facilities, a pathology lab, and a morgue in an autopsy theatre.

Gateway: Around eight million immigrants had been processed by New York State officials at Castle Garden Immigration Depot in lower Manhattan, just across the bay, until land reclaimed from the water using ballast from construction of the city's subway tunnels allowed the creation of the new processing centre Ellis Island

Arrivals: A crowd of immigrants moves toward a gangway, left, having arrived at Ellis Island to be processed, in a picture dated 7 September, 1914. After their checks, a queue of immigrants line up for a ferry to take them to New York, right, in this photo which dates to around 1900



Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty National Monument, New Jersey, New York City, USA --- United States, New York City, Ellis Island, national museum of the history of immigration, registration room ‘This allowed medical students to observe the autopsies of deceased immigrants.’

Immigration officials were in charge of screening new arrivals and some found themselves held in a detention building located on the island.

‘The Baggage and Dormitory Building was on the north side of the island,’ said Ian.

Original caption: 1915 Ellis Island Registration Hall full of immigrants

‘The name was little more than a euphemism.

‘Over the 55 years in which it was utilised, the sorts of undesirables it housed would change many times.

‘Socialists and radicals as well as Germans, Italians and Japanese all got periods of prominence in the detention facility.

‘During World War 2, it was used to house prisoners of war.



Like the rest of the island, it was abandoned in 1954.’

It was the lost experiences of the people who travelled though these buildings that captured Ian's imagination.

‘One half of the Ellis Island story is the joy of those who passed through the golden door,’ he said.

‘Those who made landfall with hearts filled with the promise of a new life, freedoms and hope.



But sometimes families who made it through the perilous voyage surviving on crusts of bread, perhaps losing a member en route, only to find out that one of the children had an illness.

‘They would have a short time to say goodbye, and the child would be quarantined and sent home, never to see their family again.



I wished to capture what the buildings looked like at a particular moment in time, to freeze them that way.

‘That is the job of the preservationist photographer - to capture moments for posterity.’

In 1890 the U.S. Federal Government took control of immigration and spent $75,000 constructing a new processing centre.

It was intended to remove the burden from New York Harbor which had processed nearly eight million new arrivals at the Castle Garden Immigration Depot in lower Manhattan, in the 35 years before Ellis Island came in to service.



Ellis Island was reclaimed from the water. Wells were dug and landfill was hauled in from incoming ships' ballast and from construction of New York City's Subway tunnels to help double Ellis Island to over six acres.



In 1897, a fire razed much of the mainly wooden structures on Ellis Island to the ground, luckily with out any reported loss of life

Almost 450,000 immigrants were processed at the station during its first year. About 1.5 million immigrants had been processed at the first building during its five years in use.

When it opened on 17 Dec 1900, officials estimated 5,000 immigrants per day would be processed. But this proved to be a major under estimation.



Facilities proved to barely handle the flood of immigrants that arrived in the years just before World War I.



Writer Louis Adamic came to America from Slovenia in southeastern Europe in 1913 and described the night he and many other immigrants slept on bunk beds in a huge hall.



Lacking a warm blanket, the young man 'shivered, sleepless, all night, listening to snores' and dreams 'in perhaps a dozen different languages'.



The facility was so large that the dining room could seat 1,000 people.