Ferry Building Wayside

The Ferry Building at the end of the Ellis slip.

Quick Facts

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Overlooking the Ellis Island slip, the Ferry building has undergone may changes over the years. Today you see the third evolution of this building as a primary docking area for National Park Service boats.

Old Ferry Building

Built in 1901, the Old Ferry Building serviced the workers and riders of the Ellis Island: a ferryboat that transported employees, supplies, and immigrants released from the island to New York City. In 1904, the building was widened so that it could handle the growing number of immigrants.
The Old Ferry Building was proposed to be a plain, durable, fireproof structure consisting of a central receiving area with waiting rooms on either side. This was where passengers (both employees and released immigrants) waited to board the New York-bound Ellis Island. Additionally, the Old Ferry Building contained offices and living facilities for the ferry's staff.
By 1933, the Old Ferry Building was in poor condition. In 1935, the building was torn down and replaced by the New Ferry Building.

New Ferry Building

The New Ferry Building was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936 and designed by WPA architects Louis A. Simon and Chester Aldrich. This new fireproof ferry building was made of brick and featured a high central pavilion surmounted by a copper-covered cupola and two single-story wings. The central pavilion housed a waiting room for immigrants, the left wing was designated for use by the United States Customs Service, and the right wing had a lunchroom with kitchen facilities.
The Ferry Building and its connecting corridors are also the key connection between the immigrant processing facility in Main Building and the United States Public Health Service hospital complex on the other side of the island.
In 1999, the Statue of Liberty National Monument/Ellis Island was awarded a $1.2 million federal challenge grant from the Save America's Treasures program to restore the New Ferry Building. Initiated in 1998, the program is one of the largest and most successful grant programs for the protection of our nation's endangered and irreplaceable cultural heritage.
While open to the public from 2007 through 2012, the building is closed today.

The Ferryboat Ellis Island

From 1904 to 1954, the Ferryboat Ellis Island transported passengers of all types between Ellis Island and Lower Manhattan - federal immigrant inspectors, doctors, nurses, interpreters, clerks, watchmen, matrons, and charwomen. It also carried immigrants bound for Manhattan and, after 1925, was the main ferry carrying all immigrants to and from Ellis Island.
With a captain and crew of seven men, the Ellis Island could carry up to 1,000 passengers. It was 160 feet long and 45 feet at her widest point. Accommodations included an upper deck for staff, a lower deck for immigrants, a private room for Ellis Island's commissioner, an infirmary for twelve patients, and a padded cell for the mentally ill.