"Barge Office" In Battery Park
"A temporary immigration center was set up in an old building housing the "Barge Office" in Battery Park. This center was open from June 1897 to December 17, 1900 when the new Ellis Island Center was dedicated."
"Rumors had circulated among the passengers about those who were denied entry because they looked suspicious or did not promptly answer the questions of immigration inspectors. The joy and excitement of reaching the "promise land" was mingled with the terrible dread of being rejected."
Passengers of first and second class escaped the rigors of the Ellis Island ordeal by being processed on board ship, then delivered directly to Manhattan. The third class or steerage passengers sometimes sat three to four days in the crowded harbor waiting their ship's turn to disembark passengers. "The picture to the left shows the steerage passengers waiting their turn to disembark for processing."
A broad-decked Government harbor boat would be sent out to the steamers to pick up hundreds of immigrants and bring them to the "Barge Office" for processing." "As they were herded into the barges to take them to the processing center; Philipp experienced another scare. He detected that it was not just a process of signing in and going their way." Philip watched as friends and neighbors were turned away, for one reason or another. All passengers who made that long trip across the the ocean did not make it off the ship, they died en route, others were turned away by the inspectors. I am sure, that this must have been a dreadful moment for my great grandfather.
"The immigrants were lined up in the "pens" under the shed's roof, the "pens" being for the newly arrived. The aisles were made stout by railings; for the "detained" those that have been examined and not admitted; the "rejected" and those who are to go before the Inquiry Board, have spaces blocked off into rooms by strong iron netting from the floor to the ceiling. Some family members might be accepted and theirs rejected. The painful decision to stay or return with a loved one had to be made on the spot. Some could not face the disgrace or ruin of deportation and it is estimated that as many as 3000 immigrants committed suicide. To enter the U. S. the immigrants knew that one must be disease-free and create the impression that they could make a living."
"The "Barge Office" handled one ship load at a time. Each immigrant had a card distinquished by a "letter" and a "number." The letter showed which aisle the immigrant was to stand in while waiting, the number was his identification on the ships' manifest."
SOURCES USED FOR THIS ARTICLE
THE BARGE OFFICE - 1898 "THE ARRIVAL OF THE IMMIGRANT" by Cromwell Childe, (New York Times Magazine, August 14, 1898) - Posted to the Comunes Of Italy Mailing List by Gay Parisano Raab - 12 July 1998, HTML Format Copyright ©1998 Louis S. Alfano All rights reserved. [http://members.tripod.com/~L_Alfano.bargeoff.htm]
Shirley Hornbeck, "IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION THROUGH CASTLE GARDENS AND ELLIS ISLAND AND WHERE TO FIND RECORDS," THIS & THAT GENEOALOGY TIPS, 1. [http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/5643/thisnt/12.html]