The historic Ellis Island hospital complex, a former immigrant hospital in the New York harbour across the ferry slip, is opening to the public for the first time in 60 years. According to the New York Times, the 29 unrestored buildings of the Ellis Island Hospital has been abandoned and shut off since 1954, and now it has been restored into an immigration museum.
The Ellis Island hospital was opened to the public in 1902. Located in a majestic edifice on the island's south, newcomers to the country were processed in the place.
According to the NY Times, doctors working in the Ellis Island hospital determined if foreigners were healthy enough to enter the U.S. While some were sent back to where they came from, others were directed to the hospital.
Apparently, the place was considered the epitome of public health management during those times. The Ellis Island hospital eventually garnered over 750 beds across several buildings and it had a contagious disease wing and isolation rooms, a "psychopathic" ward, a laboratory and a morgue.
According to a documentary film called "Forgotten Ellis Island" and a book by Lorie Conway, autopsies in the Ellis Island hospital have also been attended by European physicians at times.
Meanwhile, for the tour's opening, a new installation titled "Unframed - Ellis Island" has been set up inside the Ellis Island hospital by French artist JR. According to the Associated Press, JR's work will be available on display throughout the eerie hospital.
The exhibit reportedly used historic photographs of immigrants. They are blown up to create life-sized images and have been superimposed on areas such as the walls and doors of the Ellis Island hospital. Once more, after 60 years, the public is provided a peek into how life was like for the patients and staff members of the facility.
According to the NY Times, JR offered a preview tour of his final work last week. Best known for his large than life street portraiture projects, JR used archival photos of the Ellis Island hospital from over 100 years to portray the life of the patients and staff decades ago.
JR said of the installation in the Ellis Island hospital complex, "The idea is to respect the architecture," moving past a wheat-pasted tableau where a woman's hat hovers amid tree limbs seen through a broken window. I let the walls decide what part of the image should appear."
Apparently, the project took two years to finish, and they have kept it quiet apart from JR's documentation of the installation process on his popular Instagram account.
The installation in the Ellis Island hospital is reportedly site-specific and the effect is strangely beautiful. According to the AP, the photos are designed to fade away with time.
According to CBS New York, visitors have to wear hard hats during the 90-minute tour, which goes around to the laundry building, infectious and contagious disease wards, kitchen, staff housing, autopsy room and more.
The largest U.S. Public Health Service institution in the country back then, the Ellis Island hospital was visited by experts to watch autopsies.
According to CBS News York, an estimated 1.2 million of immigrants were able to receive health care at the Ellis Island hospital complex from 1901 to 1954. Of the millions of people who went inside the facility, only 3,500 died. However, by the 1930s, the
Of all the immigrants to pass through the halls, only 3,500 died. However, by the 1930s, the immigrant hospital was gradually shut down. The space was reportedly used later by the Coast Guard and as a military detention center. Other abandoned artifacts inside the Ellis Island hospital complex still stood with the furniture, medical equipment and other artifacts.
Museum historian Barry Moreno said, "This is a part of the history of immigration that is really not well known."
Guide Jessica Cameron-Bush also said the buildings in the Ellis Island hospital complex are not simply for tourists.
Cameron-Bush said, they are "for people who live in this area that see the Statue of Liberty every day, or that hear about Ellis Island every day. It's something new for them to come back and see."
Wilkes, a photographer at from 1998 to 2003 said, "It's a really powerful place." According to Wilkes, he had been moved by realizing that some patients could see the Statue of Liberty from their sickbeds.
Wilkes said, "She's so close, and for many people who came to America and who never got out of that hospital, they never got to see any more than that."
He added, "I would feel almost human energy in these empty rooms," he said.
President Janis Calella of "Save Ellis Island", a non-profit organization which helped sponsor the exhibition inside the Ellis Island hospital, said the installation by JR is a form of time travel for her.
Calella said, "You stand there and you're in the present, and they're in the past, and you're there together."
The organization has been in partnership with the National Park Service in raising funds to stabilize the Ellis Island hospital complex and finally open it to the public.
Calella said, "It opens up an entire other section of American history through Ellis Island. It's definitely a way for us to reach another audience, a younger audience."
According to the NY Times, JR's larger "Unframed" series have put archival photos in new contexts in places like Marseille, France; São Paulo, Brazil; and Washington.
The first tour groups of the Ellis Island hospital complex will be limited to 10 people for being instrument to a pilot program. Calella said that while they have plans of expanding the exhibit, the work will remain up "until it decides to disappear," said Calella.
According to CBS New York, tickets for a tour inside the Ellis Island hospital complex will be available through Save Ellis Island. All proceeds will reportedly be going to the restoration and preservation of the unrestored historic south side buildings.
The Ellis Island hospital complex museum will be open for tours beginning Oct. 1. On Thursday, tickets for guided tours beginning Oct. 1 will be going on sale on Thursday.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
