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Liberty Island
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Liberty Island, formerly called Bedloe's Island, is a small uninhabited island in New York Harbor in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. The name Liberty Island has been in use since the early 20th century, although the name was not officially changed until 1956. Before the Statue of Liberty, Bedloe's Island was the home to Fort Wood, an eleven pointed star-shaped fortification made of granite.
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Encyclopedia
Liberty Island, formerly called Bedloe's Island, is a small uninhabited island in New York Harbor in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. The name Liberty Island has been in use since the early 20th century, although the name was not officially changed until 1956. Before the Statue of Liberty, Bedloe's Island was the home to Fort Wood, an eleven pointed star-shaped fortification made of granite. Because of this, its nickname was "Star Fort".
The island is the property of the federal government and is operated by the National Park Service. It is accessible to the public only by ferry, either from Battery Park in Manhattan or Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is separated from nearby Ellis Island by approximately 1 mi (1.6 km). There is also ferry service between the two islands.
Liberty Island is 2000 feet (600 m) from Liberty State Park in Jersey City. By comparison it is 1-5/8 statute miles (2.6 kilometers) from Battery Park in Manhattan; this makes Liberty Island much closer to Jersey City, than to the rest of New York City, of which it is a part. The island has a land area of 59,558 square meters, or 14.717 acres, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Since September 11, 2001, the waters surrounding the island are guarded by around-the-clock patrols of the United States Park Police Marine Patrol Unit.
Bedloe's Island
Originally granted to Captain Robert Needham by Governor Richard Nicolls in 1664, the island was sold to Isaack Bedloo December 23, 1667. The island was retained by his estate until 1732 when it was sold for 5 shillings to New York merchants Adolphe Philipse and Henry Lane. During their ownership, the island was temporarily commandeered by the city of New York to establish a smallpox quarantine station. . In 1746 the island was purchased by Archibald Kennedy, Earl of Cassils for use as a summer home. In 1753 the island is described in an advertisement as being available for rental: To
be Let. Bedloe's Island, alias Love Island, together with
the dwelling-house and lighthouse being finely situated for
a tavern, where all kinds of garden stuff, poultry, etc., may
be easily raised for the shipping outward bound, and from
where any quantity of pickled oysters may be transported ;
it abounds with English rabbits." .
The transformation from "Bedloo's" to Bedloe's" island may have occurred with the publication of this advertisement.
In 1756 Kennedy allowed the island to again be used as a smallpox quarantine station, and on February 18, 1758 the Corporation of the City of New York bought the island for £1,000 for use as a pest house.
When the British troops occupied New York in the lead-up to the American Revolutionary War, the island was to be used for housing for Tory refugees, but on April 2, 1776, the buildings constructed on the island for their use were burned to the ground.
On February 15, 1800, the New York State Legislature ceded the island to the federal government, for the construction of a defensive fort to be built there (along with Governor's Island and Ellis Island). Construction of a land battery on the island in the shape of an 11-point star began in 1806 and completed in 1811. Following the War of 1812, the fort was named "Fort Wood" after Lt. Col Eleazer Derby Wood who was killed in the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. This 11-pointed star became the outline of the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty when it was erected.
In 1877 Bedloe's Island was chosen as the site for the Statue of Liberty. The National Park Service was formed in 1912 and took over operations of the island in two stages: 2 acres in 1933, and the remainder in 1937.
Relationship to New York and New Jersey
Liberty Island is within the territorial jurisdiction of the State of New York, a status that was established in 1664, reaffirmed in 1834, and which has never been officially disputed. The island has been owned by the federal government since 1800.
The belief that Liberty Island is in New Jersey is derived from these facts:
- Liberty Island's proximity to Jersey City;
- Its appearance on maps on the New Jersey side of the state line;
- New Jersey's victory in a 1998 lawsuit with New York over the ownership of parts of Ellis Island.
- New Jersey's provision of all utility services, including electricity, water, and sewage, to Liberty and Ellis islands
The Statue of Liberty itself is claimed as a symbol by both New York and New Jersey. It was featured on New York State's from 1986 through 2000 and on a special celebrating Liberty State Park in Jersey City. The Statue is also seen on the New York State Quarter.
It is indisputable that maps draw the boundary between New Jersey and New York in the center of the Hudson River, with Liberty Island situated well on the New Jersey side of the line. The State of New Jersey in fact does retain the riparian rights to all the submerged land surrounding the statue, extending eastward to the boundary line. New Jersey has never claimed any legal rights to the dry land of Liberty Island.
The islands of New York harbor have been part of New York since the issuance in 1664 of the colonial charter that created New Jersey (see ). This charter stated that New Jersey was "bounded by the Hudson River" rather than from the middle channel, as was common in other colonial charters. That is, as everyone understood at the time, the New York-New Jersey border did not go through the center of the river channel as one might naturally assume. An 1834 compact between New York and New Jersey, which primarily concerned the status of Staten Island, set the boundary line between the States as the middle of the Hudson River but reaffirmed that Staten Island and the other islands belonged to New York.
The Ellis Island lawsuit concerned a special situation. Ellis Island is mostly constructed of artificial infill. New Jersey argued and the court agreed that the 1834 compact covered only the natural parts of the island, and not the portions added by infill. Thus it was agreed that the parts of the island made of filled land belonged to New Jersey while the original natural part belonged to New York. (This proved impractical to administer and New Jersey and New York subsequently agreed to share jurisdiction of the entire island). This special situation only applies to Ellis Island and part of Shooter's Island. The natural islands such as Staten Island, Liberty Island, and Prall's Island were not and are not in dispute.
Question 127 on a naturalization examination piloted in 2006 asks "Where is the Statue of Liberty?" The U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services gives "New York Harbor" and "Liberty Island" as preferred answers, but notes that "New Jersey," "near New York City," and "on the Hudson" are acceptable.
According to the USGS, Liberty Island is located in New York's 8th Congressional District
See also
External links
- Notes on territorial history and status of Liberty island
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