Editing Ellis Island (section)

==Geography and access==
[[File:Ellis island air photo.jpg|thumb|Aerial view (1976, before renovations)]]
Ellis Island is in [[New York Harbor]], east of [[Liberty State Park]] and north of [[Liberty Island]]. While most of the island is in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], a small section is an exclave of [[New York City]].<ref>{{Cite book |publisher=Hagstrom Map Company, Inc |isbn=978-0-88097-763-0 |title=Hudson County New Jersey Street Map |year=2010}}</ref><ref name="ERIS">{{cite web |first1=Richard G. |last1=Castagna |first2=Lawrence L. |last2=Thornton |first3=John M. |last3=Tyrawski |publisher=ESRI |url=http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc99/proceed/papers/pap138/p138.htm |access-date=November 17, 2013 |title=GIS and Coastal Boundary Disputes: Where is Ellis Island? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018003341/http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc99/proceed/papers/pap138/p138.htm |archive-date=October 18, 2014 |quote=The New York portion of Ellis Island is landlocked, enclaved within New Jersey's territory.}}</ref> The island has a land area of {{cvt|27.5|acre|ha}}, much of which is from [[land reclamation]].<ref>{{Cite web  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606074806/https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-island-history |archive-date=June 6, 2020 |title=Ellis Island History |website=The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island |url=https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-island-history |access-date=February 7, 2020}}</ref> The natural island and contiguous areas comprise {{cvt|4.68|acre}} within New York, and are located on the northern portion of the present-day island.<ref name="ERIS" /> The artificial land is part of New Jersey.<ref>{{cite news |author-link=Joan Biskupic |first=Joan |last=Biskupic |title=N.J. Wins Claim to Most of Ellis Island |date=May 27, 1998 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/supcourt/stories/wpellis052798.htm |access-date=July 12, 2014 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |archive-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208125927/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/supcourt/stories/wpellis052798.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ERIS" /> The island has been owned and administered by the [[federal government of the United States]] since 1808 and operated by the [[National Park Service]] since 1965.<ref>{{cite web |title=Frequently asked questions |work=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=National Park Service |url=http://www.nps.gov/elis/faqs.htm |access-date=November 18, 2013 |archive-date=December 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203094502/http://www.nps.gov/elis/faqs.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-timeline |title=Ellis Island – A Brief History of Events |website=The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606144747/https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-timeline |archive-date=June 6, 2020 |access-date=February 7, 2020}}</ref>

===Land expansion===
[[File:Ellis Island and Manhattan as seen from New Jersey shore 2020-06-29.jpg|thumb|left|Ellis Island and Manhattan as seen from New Jersey shore in 2020]]
Initially, much of the Upper New York Bay's western shore consisted of large [[Mudflat|tidal flats]] with vast [[Oyster|oyster beds]], which were a major source of food for the [[Lenape]]. Ellis Island was one of three "Oyster Islands," the other two being [[Liberty Island]] and the now-subsumed [[Black Tom explosion#Black Tom Island|Black Tom Island]].<ref>{{cite book |author=New Jersey. Legislature. Senate |title=Journal of the ... Senate of the State of New Jersey: Being the ... Session of the Legislature |year=1860 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wm1MAAAAYAAJ |access-date=June 11, 2019 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130324/https://books.google.com/books?id=wm1MAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Kurlansky 2007 p. 35">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nwYl-7DhMvcC&pg=PA35 |title=The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell |last=Kurlansky |first=Mark |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-58836-591-0 |page=35 |access-date=June 4, 2019 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130050/https://books.google.com/books?id=nwYl-7DhMvcC&pg=PA35#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nyt20060301">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/books/before-there-were-bagels-new-york-had-the-oyster.html |title=Before There Were Bagels, New York Had the Oyster |last=Grimes |first=William |date=February 1, 2006 |website=The New York Times |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=April 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410034849/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/books/before-there-were-bagels-new-york-had-the-oyster.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the late 19th century, the federal government began expanding the island by [[land reclamation]] to accommodate its immigration station, and the expansions continued until 1934.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ellis Island, New Jersey, in Upper New York Bay, was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station for over sixty years from 1892 until 1954 |date=August 24, 2017 |website=Home &#124; Library of Congress |url=http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017882211/ |access-date=July 14, 2019 |archive-date=July 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714141530/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017882211/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[National Park Service]] cites the fill as supposedly having been acquired from the ballast of ships, as well as material excavated from the [[Early history of the IRT subway|first line]] of the [[New York City Subway]];<ref name="NPS-Fact-Sheet">{{cite web |title=Fact Sheet: Statue of Liberty NM – Ellis Island |website=National Parks of New York Harbor |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |date=May 11, 1965 |url=https://www.nps.gov/npnh/learn/news/fact-sheet-elis.htm |access-date=May 1, 2019 |archive-date=June 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601032120/https://www.nps.gov/npnh/learn/news/fact-sheet-elis.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> however,  ''The New York Times'' writes that there is no evidence of subway fill being transported to the island.<ref>{{Cite news |last=MacFarquhar |first=Neil |date=December 31, 1995 |title=Ellis Island May Have Been Made for You and Me, but Who Owns It? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/31/nyregion/ellis-island-may-have-been-made-for-you-and-me-but-who-owns-it.html |access-date=October 13, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> It also may have come from the [[Rail yard|railyards]] of the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]] and the [[Central Railroad of New Jersey]]. It eventually obliterated the oyster beds, engulfed one of the Oyster Islands, and brought the shoreline much closer to the others.<ref name="Justia209473">{{cite court |url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/209/473/case.html |litigants=Central R. Co. of New Jersey v. Jersey City |vol=209 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=473 |year=1908 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212122745/http://supreme.justia.com/us/209/473/case.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The current island is shaped like a "C", with two landmasses of equal size on the northeastern and southwestern sides, separated by what was formerly a ferry pier.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="NPS-Map" /> It was originally three separate islands. The current north side, formerly called island 1, contains the original island and the fill around it. The current south side was composed of island 2, created in 1899, and island 3, created in 1906. Two eastward-facing ferry docks separated the three numbered landmasses.<ref name="EI-EIS p. 5" /><ref name="NPS-Map">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/education/upload/9-12-Ellis-Island-Map.pdf |title=Structural Development of Ellis Island, 1890–1935 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=December 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212173214/https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/education/upload/9-12-Ellis-Island-Map.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The fill was retained with a system of wood piles and cribbing, and later encased with more than 7,700 linear feet of concrete and granite sea wall. It was placed atop either wood piles, cribbing, or submerged bags of concrete. In the 1920s, the second ferry basin between islands 2 and 3 was infilled to create the great lawn, forming the current south side of Ellis Island. As part of the project, a concrete and granite seawall was built to connect the tip of these landmasses.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Stakely|2003|p=73}}</ref>

===State sovereignty dispute===
[[File:Ellis Island 1890 - 1935 NPS map.jpg|thumb|left|State border after ''New Jersey v. New York'', 1998]]

The circumstances which led to an exclave of New York being located within New Jersey began in the colonial era, after the British takeover of [[New Netherland]] in 1664. A clause in the colonial land grant outlined the territory that the proprietors of New Jersey would receive as being "westward of Long Island, and Manhitas Island and bounded on the east part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's river."<ref>See: *{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nj01.asp |title=The Federal and State constitutions, colonial charters, and other organic laws of the state[s], territories, and colonies now or heretofore forming the United States of America /compiled and edited under the Act of Congress of June 30, 1906 |date=December 18, 1998 |access-date=April 4, 2010 |archive-date=September 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906103925/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nj01.asp |url-status=live }} *{{cite book |title=American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States |publisher=Gales and Seaton |series=Issue 20 |year=1832 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rvA1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA479 479] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvA1AQAAMAAJ |access-date=February 12, 2020 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130050/https://books.google.com/books?id=rvA1AQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }} *{{cite book |title=Historical Magazine: And Notes and Queries Concerning the Antiquities, History, and Biography of America |publisher=H. B. Dawson |year=1867 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JW4-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA136 136] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JW4-AQAAMAAJ |access-date=February 12, 2020 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130051/https://books.google.com/books?id=JW4-AQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Gannett|1900|p=82}}

As early as 1804 attempts were made to resolve the status of the state line.<ref name="NPS-Legal-Status">{{Cite web |title=Ellis Island: Its Legal Status |publisher=General Services Administration Office of General Counsel |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/stli/ellis_island_legal.pdf |access-date=September 25, 2010 |date=February 11, 1963 |archive-date=August 31, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831182303/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/stli/ellis_island_legal.pdf}}</ref> The [[government of New York City]] claimed the right to regulate trade on all waters. This was contested in ''[[Gibbons v. Ogden]]'', which decided that the regulation of interstate commerce fell under the authority of the federal government, thus influencing competition in the newly developing steam ferry service in [[New York Harbor]].<ref>{{ussc|name=Gibbons v. Ogden|link= |volume=22|page=1|pin= |year=1824 |reporter=Wheat.|reporter-volume=9}}</ref> In 1830, New Jersey planned to bring suit to clarify the border, but the case was never heard.<ref name="nyt19980527">{{Cite news |last=Greenhouse |first=Linda |date=May 27, 1998 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/27/nyregion/ellis-island-verdict-ruling-high-court-gives-new-jersey-most-ellis-island.html |title=The Ellis Island Verdict: The Ruling; High Court Gives New Jersey Most of Ellis Island |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=January 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113042835/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/27/nyregion/ellis-island-verdict-ruling-high-court-gives-new-jersey-most-ellis-island.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The matter was resolved with a compact between the states, ratified by [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] in 1834.<ref name="nyt19980527" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 11" /><ref name="Stakely p. 18" /> This set the boundary line at the middle of the Hudson River and New York Harbor; however, New York was guaranteed "exclusive jurisdiction of and over all the waters of Hudson River lying west of Manhattan and to the south of the mouth of [[Spuyten Duyvil Creek|Spuytenduyvil Creek]]; and of and over the lands covered by the said waters, to the low-water mark on the New Jersey shore."{{sfn|Gannett|1900|pp=78–79}} This was later confirmed in other cases by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]].<ref name="Justia209473" /><ref name="NPS-Legal-Status" /><ref>{{cite court |litigants=Application of Devoe Manufacturing Company for a Writ of Prohibition/Opinion of the Court |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Application_of_Devoe_Manufacuring_Company_for_a_Writ_of_Prohibition/Opinion_of_the_Court |vol=108 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=401 |year=1882 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714141529/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Application_of_Devoe_Manufacuring_Company_for_a_Writ_of_Prohibition/Opinion_of_the_Court |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenhouse |first=Linda |title=Skeptical High Court Hears Case Over Pride and Acreage on Ellis I. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/13/nyregion/skeptical-high-court-hears-case-over-pride-and-acreage-on-ellis-i.html |date=January 13, 1998 |work=The New York Times |access-date=February 11, 2020 |archive-date=September 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907234255/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/13/nyregion/skeptical-high-court-hears-case-over-pride-and-acreage-on-ellis-i.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

New Jersey contended that the artificial portions of the island were part of New Jersey, since they were outside New York's border. In 1956, after the closure of the U.S. immigration station two years prior, the [[Mayor of Jersey City]] [[Bernard J. Berry]] commandeered a U.S. Coast Guard cutter and led a contingent of New Jersey officials on an expedition to claim the island.<ref name="Logan-McCarten">{{cite magazine |last1=Logan |first1=Andy |last2=McCarten |first2=John |title=Invasion from Jersey |magazine=The New Yorker |date=January 14, 1956 |page=19 |access-date=February 14, 2011 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1956/01/14/1956_01_14_019_TNY_CARDS_000252353 |archive-date=January 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106090152/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1956/01/14/1956_01_14_019_TNY_CARDS_000252353 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Jurisdictional disputes reemerged in the 1980s with the renovation of Ellis Island,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32504422/ |title=A tale of two cities: Both claim Ellis Island |last=Moritz |first=Owen |date=June 20, 1982 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=75 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130055/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-a-tale-of-two-cities-both-cl/32504422/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and then again in the 1990s with the proposed redevelopment of the south side.<ref name="n32246752">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32246752/ |title=Ellis Island mostly in N.J. |last=Seitz |first=Sharon |date=April 2, 1997 |work=Central New Jersey Home News |access-date=October 7, 2022 |pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32246787/ 6] |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130102/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-central-new-jersey-home-news-ellis-i/32246752/ |url-status=live }}</ref> New Jersey sued in 1997.<ref name="n32246752" /> The lawsuit was escalated to the Supreme Court, which ruled in ''[[New Jersey v. New York]]''. {{Ussc|523|767|1998|el=no}}<ref name="nyt19980527" /><ref name="Justia523767">{{Cite court |litigants=New Jersey v. New York |reporter=U.S. |vol=523 |opinion=767 |year=1998 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/523/767/ |quote=New Jersey has sovereign authority over the filled land added to the original Island. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104110500/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/523/767/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Court rules Ellis Island is mostly in New Jersey |last1=Brogan |first1=Pamela |date=May 27, 1998 |work=Courier-Post |agency=Gannett News Service |location=Camden, NJ |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32518085/ |access-date=October 7, 2022 |pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32518184/ 4] |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> The border was redrawn using [[geographic information science]] data:<ref>{{cite book |last=Cho |first=G. |title=Geographic Information Science: Mastering the Legal Issues |publisher=Wiley |series=Mastering GIS: Technol, Applications & Mgmnt |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-470-01355-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-nGK3Lr-DqQC&pg=PA37 |access-date=June 11, 2019 |page=37}}</ref> It was decided that {{cvt|22.80|acre}} of the [[Land reclamation|land fill]] area are territory of New Jersey and that {{cvt|4.68|acre}}, including the original island, are territory of New York.<ref name="ERIS" /> This caused some initial confusion, as some buildings straddled the interstate border.<ref name="nyt19980527" /> The ruling had no effect on the status of [[Liberty Island]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Historic Fill Of The Jersey City Quadrangle Historic Fill Map HFM-53 |publisher=New State Department of Environmental Protection |year=2004 |url=http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/geodata/historicfill/jersey.pdf |access-date=August 31, 2014 |archive-date=September 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906133806/http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/geodata/historicfill/jersey.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although the island remained under federal ownership after the lawsuit, New Jersey and New York agreed to share jurisdiction over the land itself. Neither state took any fiscal or physical responsibility for the maintenance, preservation, or improvement of any of the historic properties, and each state has jurisdiction over its respective land areas. Jersey City and New York City then gave separate tax lot numbers to their respective claims.<ref name="Justia523767" />{{efn|The boundaries remain the same as today.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |website=Maps |date=March 9, 2016 |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/maps.htm |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=June 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190612041421/https://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/maps.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The New York side of the island is [[Tax assessment|assessed]] as Manhattan Block 1, Lot 201,<ref>{{cite web |title=An inaugural choice: Will N.J. governor's gala really be in New York? |url=https://www.silive.com/opinion/2013/12/an_inaugural_choice_will_nj_go.html |access-date=June 3, 2019 |website=silive.com |date=December 21, 2013 |quote=After the 1998 court event, both states agreed to share jurisdiction, even though the islands remain a wholly federal property. To cement those claims, New York assigned Ellis Island the tax designation of Block 1, Lot 201. The state of New Jersey gave the place its own tax number. |archive-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603022755/https://www.silive.com/opinion/2013/12/an_inaugural_choice_will_nj_go.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=6}}</ref> while the portion of the island in New Jersey is assessed as Jersey City Block 21603, Lot 1.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.njspls.org/?130 |title=Is Liberty a Jersey Girl |date=February 4, 2014 |access-date=February 10, 2020 |publisher=New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors |archive-date=April 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421232806/http://www.njspls.org/?130 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tax Map Viewer – Jersey City |at=Sheet 216 |website=hostedfiles.civilsolutions.biz |url=http://hostedfiles.civilsolutions.biz/jerseycity/taxmaps/index.htm |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603022758/http://hostedfiles.civilsolutions.biz/jerseycity/taxmaps/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

===Public access===
Two ferry slips are located on the northern side of the basin that bisects Ellis Island. No charge is made for entrance to the Statue of Liberty National Monument, but there is a cost for the ferry service.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/fees.htm |title=Fees & Passes |date=May 20, 2019 |website=Statue Of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |access-date=June 16, 2019 |archive-date=October 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004115929/https://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/fees.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> A concession was granted in 2007 to [[Statue Cruises]] to operate the transportation and ticketing facilities, replacing [[Circle Line Downtown|Circle Line]], which had operated the service since 1953.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ramirez |first=Anthony |title=Circle Line Loses Pact for Ferries to Liberty Island |website=The New York Times |date=June 29, 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/nyregion/29ferry.html |access-date=June 16, 2019 |archive-date=June 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616152059/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/nyregion/29ferry.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The ferries travel from [[Liberty State Park]] in [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]] and [[The Battery (Manhattan)|the Battery]] in [[Lower Manhattan]].<ref>{{cite web |title=NPS: Liberty and Ellis Island ferry map |work=Ferry Map |publisher=National Park Service |url=http://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/ferry-system-map.htm |access-date=October 20, 2011 |archive-date=June 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629071103/http://www.nps.gov/stli/planyourvisit/ferry-system-map.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Save Ellis Isand  offers guided public tours of the south side as part of the "Hard Hat Tour".<ref name="NPS-south-side-tours-begin">{{Cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/news/south-side-tours-begin.htm |title=Unrestored Ellis Island Buildings Opening for the First Time in 60 Years – Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |date=September 15, 2014 |website=nps.gov |access-date=June 16, 2019 |archive-date=July 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706014004/https://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/news/south-side-tours-begin.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.saveellisisland.org/tour/hard-hat-tours.html |title=Hard Hat Tours |website=saveellisisland.org |access-date=June 16, 2019 |archive-date=April 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416224554/https://saveellisisland.org/tour/hard-hat-tours.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Ellis Island Bridge south jeh.JPG|thumb|The bridge to Liberty State Park]]
A bridge to Liberty State Park was built in 1986 for transporting materials and personnel during the island's late-1980s restoration. Originally slated to be torn down in 1992,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/29/nyregion/linking-jersey-city-to-ellis-i-bridge-with-a-brief-life-span.html |title=Linking Jersey City to Ellis I., Bridge with a Brief Life Span |last=Norman |first=Michael |date=April 29, 1986 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608204648/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/29/nyregion/linking-jersey-city-to-ellis-i-bridge-with-a-brief-life-span.html |url-status=live }}</ref> it remained after construction was complete.<ref name="nyt19950512">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/12/nyregion/house-action-dooms-plan-for-a-bridge-to-ellis-island.html |title=House Action Dooms Plan For a Bridge to Ellis Island |last=MacFarquhar |first=Neil |date=May 12, 1995 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608223218/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/12/nyregion/house-action-dooms-plan-for-a-bridge-to-ellis-island.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It is not open to the public. The city of New York and the island's private ferry operator have opposed proposals to use it or replace it with a pedestrian bridge,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Low |first1=Setha |last2=Taplin |first2=Dana |last3=Scheld |first3=Suzanne |title=Rethinking Urban Parks: Public Space and Cultural Diversity |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-292-77821-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cUhYBCSAYIEC |access-date=June 3, 2019 |at=chapter 4}}</ref> and a 1995 proposal for a new pedestrian bridge to New Jersey was voted down in the [[United States House of Representatives]].<ref name="nyt19950512" /> The bridge is not strong enough to be classified as a permanent bridge, and any action to convert it into a pedestrian passageway would require renovations.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/27/nyregion/on-the-waterfront-a-bridge-to-ellis-island-what-about-one-that-s-there.html |title=On the Waterfront; A Bridge to Ellis Island? What About One That's There? |last=Stemer |first=Rosalie |date=August 27, 1995 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608223231/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/27/nyregion/on-the-waterfront-a-bridge-to-ellis-island-what-about-one-that-s-there.html |url-status=live }}</ref>