After being closed for 12 months following the devastation suffered in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which crippled the region last year, the Ellis Island and the Immigration Museum reopened Monday, Oct. 28 — 364 days after the storm.
According to the National Parks Service, the storm flooded 75 percent of Liberty Island, which opened on July 4. Nearly all of Ellis Island was flooded, and most of the infrastructure on both islands was destroyed.
But on Monday morning, nearly everything was the same as it was over a year ago. The captains of the Statue Cruises’ fleet announced once again that after leaving Liberty Island, the boat would stop at Ellis Island.
Chuck Wilson, 42, who was chaperoning a group of almost 100 students from Wales, U.K., said the opening of the island was a pleasant surprise for him and the students.
“It is a great coincidence that it opened up while we were here,” Wilson said. “We were able to do the Statue [of Liberty] and Ellis Island.”
Matt and Lisa Herlocker, both 48, from Sacramento, Calif., originally thought they would not be able to visit Ellis Island during their time in New York City.
“We were originally very disappointed,” Matt said. “But our daughter saw it on Twitter yesterday and told us.”
Despite opening to visitors again, pieces of the museum remain missing.
“Because of the storm, most of the museum collection is currently stored at the National Park Service’s Museum Resources Center, a climate-controlled facility in Landover, Maryland,” the NPS said on its website.
Karen Hiebert, 62, from Saskatchewan, Canada, whose grandfather immigrated to the United States via Ellis Island in 1905, noted the lack of artifacts throughout the museum.
“It wasn’t what I was expecting,” Hiebert said. “I thought there would be more.”
The exhibits and artifacts should be fully restored early next year, a park ranger said while welcoming visitors to the island.
Statue Cruises, the company contracted by the NPS to provide ferry service to Liberty and Ellis islands also took a hit from Sandy.
“Post-July 4, our attendance has been down 8 to 12 percent for want of Ellis Island,” Statue Cruises chief operating officer and vice president Michael Burke said. “We are relieved for our employees and owner and our partners at the National Park Service that this nightmare year is over.”
Some students, like Steinhardt sophomore Elise Conklin, whose great-grandparents immigrated through Ellis Island, are glad to see the island and museum open once again.
“It’s valuable to the heritage of our nation for [Ellis Island] to be open again because it connects Americans,” Conklin said. “It’s a reminder that we all came from somewhere to here, for a reason.”
Repairs will continue on the islands, and the Department of the Interior estimates that the project will cost $77 million for the Statue of Liberty National Monument, which includes Liberty and Ellis islands.
*Elise Conklin copy edited for WSN during the fall 2012 semester.
A version of this article appeared in the Tuesday, Oct. 29 print edition. Graham Rapier is a contributing writer. Email him at [email protected].
