"Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the site of the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 to 1954. Prior to that, the much smaller original island was the site of Fort Gibson and later a naval magazine. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Since 1990, restored buildings on the island host a museum of immigration run by the National Park Service as part of Statue of Liberty National Monument. A 1998 United States Supreme Court decision found most of the island to be part of New Jersey.
State sovereignty dispute
The island is situated on the New Jersey side of the Upper New York Bay. According to the United States Census Bureau, the island, which was largely artificially created through landfill, has an official land area of 32.030 acres (129,619 m2), more than 83 percent of which lies in the city of Jersey City. The natural portion of the island, lying in New York City, is 5.302 acres (21,458 m2) and is completely surrounded by the artificially created portion.
Liberty Island and Ellis Island's location on the New Jersey side of the state line in New York Harbor led to several disputes
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. An unusual clause colonial land grant outlined the territory the proprietors of New Jersey would receive as "westward of Long Island, and Manhitas Island and bounded on the east part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's river", rather than at the river's midpoint, as was common in other colonial charters.
When the Province of New Jersey was separated from the Province of New York in 1674 it was argued that Staten Island belonged to the former. Then governor Edmund Andros directed that all islands in the bay that could be circumnavigated within 24 hours were part of New York. Soon thereafter, Captain Christopher Billopp sailed around it within the allotted time. The border came to be understood as being along the shore of the of Hudson River, the Upper New York Bay, the Kill van Kull, and Arthur Kill.
Attempts were made as early 1804 to resolve the status of the state line. The corporation of City of New York claimed the right to regulate trade on the all the waters. This was contested in Gibbons v. Ogden (22 U.S. 1) (1824), which decided that interstate commerce be regulated to the federal government, which influenced competition in the newly-developing steam ferry service in New York Harbor.
In 1830 New Jersey planned to bring suit to clarify the border, but the case was never heard. The matter was resolved with a compact between the states ratified by US Congress in 1834 which set the boundary line between them as the middle of the Hudson River and New York Harbor. This was later confirmed by the US Supreme Court in a 1908 case which also expounded on the compact.
The federal government, which had bought the island in 1808, began expanding the island by landfill, to accommodate the immigration station opened in 1892. Landfilling continued until 1934.
Nine-tenths of the current area is artificial island that did not exist at the time of the interstate compact. New Jersey contended that the new extensions were part of New Jersey, since they were not part of the original island. The state eventually filed suit to establish its jurisdiction, leading New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to remark dramatically that his father, an Italian who immigrated through Ellis Island, never intended to go to New Jersey.
The dispute eventually reached the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled in 1998 that New Jersey had jurisdiction over all portions of the island created after the original compact was approved (effectively, more than 80% of the island's present land). This caused several immediate confusions: some buildings, for instance, fell into the territory of both states. New Jersey and New York soon agreed to share jurisdiction to the island. It remains wholly a Federal property, however, and these legal decisions do not result in either state taking any fiscal or physical responsibility for the maintenance, preservation, or improvement of any of the historic properties.
For New York State tax purposes it is assessed as Manhattan Block 1, Lot 201. Since 1998, it also has a tax number assigned by the state of New Jersey."
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