Castle Clinton

Castle Clinton (also known as Fort Clinton and Castle Garden) is a restored circular sandstone fort within Battery Park at the southern end of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Built from 1808 to 1811, it was the first American immigration station, predating Ellis Island. More than 7.5 million people arrived in the United States at Fort Clinton between 1855 and 1890. Over its active life, it has also functioned as a beer garden, exhibition hall, theater, and public aquarium. The structure is a New York City designated landmark and a U.S. national monument, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Fort Clinton was originally known as the West Battery or the Southwest Battery, occupying an artificial island off the shore of Lower Manhattan. Designed by John McComb Jr., with Jonathan Williams as consulting engineer, the fort was garrisoned in 1812 but was never used for warfare. In 1824, the New York City government converted Fort Clinton into a 6,000-seat entertainment venue known as Castle Garden, which operated until 1855. Castle Garden then served as an immigrant processing depot for 35 years. When the processing facilities were moved to Ellis Island in 1892, Castle Garden was converted into the first home of the New York Aquarium, which opened in 1896 and continued operating until 1941. The fort was expanded and renovated several times during this period.

In the 1940s, New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses proposed demolishing Fort Clinton as part of the construction of the nearby Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel. This led to a prolonged debate over the fort's preservation, as well as the creation of the Castle Clinton National Monument in 1946. The National Park Service took over the fort in 1950. After several unsuccessful attempts to restore the fort, Castle Clinton reopened in 1975 following an extensive renovation. Since 1986, it has served as a visitor center and a departure point for ferries to the Statue of Liberty National Monument.

Castle Clinton stands slightly west of where Fort Amsterdam was built in 1626, when New York City was known by the Dutch name New Amsterdam. Fort Amsterdam was demolished by 1790 after the American Revolutionary War. Proposals for a new fort were made after two separate war scares involving Britain and France in the 1790s, but neither plan was ultimately carried out. By 1805, there were growing tensions between Britain and the U.S., marking the run-up to the War of 1812. Late that year, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Williams of the United States Army Engineers began planning a series of fortifications in New York Harbor. Williams was part of a group of three commissioners who, in 1807, submitted a report that recommended the construction of such fortifications.

Fort Clinton, originally known as West Battery and sometimes as Southwest Battery, was built on an artificial island, created just off shore when the fort was built. Construction began in 1808, and the fort was completed in 1811, although modifications continued through the 1820s. Designed by John McComb Jr. with Jonathan Williams as consulting engineer, West Battery was roughly circular with a radius of approximately 92 feet (28 m). About one-eighth of the circle had a straight wall instead of a curved wall. The walls were made of red sandstone quarried in New Jersey. The fort had 28 thirty-two-pounder cannons. A wooden bridge led from the fort to the rest of Manhattan. West Battery was intended to complement the three-tiered Castle Williams, the East Battery, on Governors Island.

The fort was completed in late 1811, and it was garrisoned in 1812. However, the fort was never used for warfare, and British and American forces signed a peace treaty in February 1815. By then, West Battery was renamed Fort Clinton in honor of DeWitt Clinton, the mayor of New York City and later the Governor of New York. The castle proper was converted to administrative headquarters for the Army. Simultaneously, at the end of the war, there was a public movement to build a park in the Battery area. A 1816 proposal to construct two small office buildings at Fort Clinton was canceled due to public opposition, and the castle lay dormant for three years. The Common Council of New York proposed in May 1820 that the United States government transfer ownership of the castle to the city government, but the United States Congress declined to pass legislation to that effect.

By 1820, Fort Clinton was being used as a paymaster's quarters and storage area. The United States Army stopped using the fort in 1821, and it was ceded to the city by an act of Congress in March 1822. By then, the bridge leading to Fort Clinton was frequently used by fishermen who were catching fish from the bridge, which was connected to the shore at the foot of Broadway.

The fort was leased to the New York City government as an entertainment venue in June 1824; the city originally paid $1,400 a year for five years. The city government subleased the fort to Francis Fitch, Arthur Roorbach, and J. Rathbone. Fort Clinton became Castle Garden, which served as a beer garden, exhibition hall, and theater. The venue contained 50 boxes, each with a table and eight seats. Atop Castle Garden was a circular promenade with a canopy above it. Castle Garden was surrounded by a gravel promenade and shrubbery atop a seawall. The New-York Daily Tribune wrote that the fort "afterward became associated with scenes of peace and popular amusement". One critic described Castle Garden in 1828 as "a favored place of public resort".