Ellis Island Hospital Complex Opening For First Time In 60 Years
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Ellis Island Hospital Complex will be opening to the public for the first time in 60 years.
A new exhibit, "Unframed -- Ellis Island," by the artist JR will be on display at the unrestored hospital complex, which will be open for tours starting Oct. 1.
PHOTOS: Ellis Island Hospital Complex
The exhibit features old pictures superimposed on the walls and doors of the hospital.
Ellis Island Hospital Opening After 60 Years For Art Exhibit
Visitors will have to wear hard hats during the 90-minute tour, which takes them through the laundry building, infectious and contagious disease wards, kitchen, staff housing, autopsy room and more.
CBS 2's Vanessa Murdock reports the morgue may be the most intriguing room on the tour, with floor-to-ceiling spaces for the dead on the left and theater seating on the right. Doctors from all around the country came to Ellis Island and watched autopsies to learn because Ellis Island was the largest U.S. Public Health Service institution in the country.
It is estimated that 1.2 million immigrants received health care at the hospital complex from 1901 to 1954. Of all the immigrants to pass through the halls, only 3,500 died.
Ellis Island Hospital Complex Opening For First Time In 60 Years
"This is a part of the history of immigration that is really not well known," museum historian Barry Moreno said.
Guide Jessica Cameron-Bush said these buildings are not just for tourists.
They are "for people who live in this area that see the Statue of Liberty every day, or that hear about Ellis Island every day," she said. "It's something new for them to come back and see."
Save Ellis Island, in partnership with the National Park Service, raised funds to stabilize the site and finally open it to the public.
"It opens up an entire other section of American history through Ellis Island," President of Save Ellis Island, Janis Calella, said.
Tickets will be available through Save Ellis Island. All proceeds will go to the restoration and preservation of the unrestored historic south side buildings, according to the nonprofit organization.
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