To mark the news that the Senate has approved comprehensive immigration reform, BuzzFeed has published a series of stunning photographs from our Manuscripts and Archives Division showing immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island in the early 1900s. The images were taken by Ellis Island clerk Augustus Sherman, and are definitely worth checking out. Our whole digitized collection of Sherman photographs can be found here. 

The 1958 Plan to Turn Ellis Island Into a Vacation Resort

After Ellis Island was closed in November 1954, no one was quite sure what to do with it. The 27-acre government facility located in New York Harbor had stopped processing immigrants coming into the United States and no government entity was stepping up with a plan for the site. So in 1956 the U.S. government started soliciting bids for any private corporation or person that wanted to buy it.

As Vincent J. Cannato notes in his book American Passage: The History of Ellis Island, there were a number of different proposals:

But perhaps the most lavish idea came from the highest bidder, Sol G. Atlas. Mr. Atlas offered the government $201,000 and wanted to build a $55 million resort. According to the February 17, 1958 issue of the Monessen Valley Independent in Pennsylvania, “The plans call for a 600-room hotel, museum, language school, music center, swimming pool, convention hall, shops and a promenade. Read more.