The Battery Park with Castle Garden in the background. From 1855 to 1890, Castle Garden served as the
New York State immigration station. Engraving published in the New York
Illustrated, D. Appleton & Co., 1877.
Here, text that accompanies this engraving in the New York Illustrated: «This spot, an ample park, is identified with the history of the city from the earliest colonial times. Here were planted the tents of the settlers, and the first fortifications were erected for the defense of the Dutch colonists. Here were enacted many of the stirring scenes that preceded the American Revolution, in which the Sons of Liberty — among whom were Alexander Hamilton and the ancestors of not a few of the present "Old Knickerbockers" — played an important part. And here, when hostilities were about to close, the evacuation of the city by the British troops took place. Washington and the principal generals of the Revolution were then more familiar with the spot than even the boys of the present generation.
In later years the Battery became a fashionable park, and the wealthy citizens sought the neighborhood, not only as a place of residence, but for the enjoyment afforded by a promenade among its beautiful shade-trees. It filled a space of seven acres, and was surrounded by a neat iron fence, having gates at the principal streets. Along the sea-wall was a flagging twenty feet wide, and on a summer afternoon thousands flocked thither to drink in the cool breezes of the ocean. In fact, forty years ago, the population of two hundred and thirty thousand appeared to appreciate their Battery more than do the million of to-day the grander and more ambitious Central Park. An old fort built upon its sea-border, now known under the familiar name of "Castle Garden," is the great entrepot for immigrants. After its abandonment as a fort it was converted into a summer-garden, whence its name ; and upon its ramparts the worthy citizens were prone to indulge, on summer afternoons, in the costly luxuries of ices and soda-water. Distinguished guests of the corporation were frequently received at this point. In 1824 a great ball was given here to the Marquis Lafayette — an event the old folks still love to talk about. In 1832, General Jackson, and in 1843, President John Tyler, were also publicly received at Castle Garden. Subsequently it became a concert-hall, and is noted as the place where Jenny Lind made her first appearance in America. Its walls have echoed to the notes of many famous singers.
Castle Garden's musical epoch was its closing glory. The tide of upper-tendom began its flow upward, and for several years past the place has been an immigrant depot where thousands who seek their fortunes in the New World are received from the ships and sent to various destinations. For a time the locality presented a squalid appearance, being a receptacle for rubbish ; but in 1870-'71 the Battery was entirely renovated, and again has become an attractive resort, being now rendered easily accessible from remote parts of the city by the Elevated Railway, which extends to South Ferry, along the outer edge of the grounds. On summer evenings its walks are crowded with promenaders. The lines of gas-lamps seen through the trees, the colored steering-lights of the boats on the river, and the distant glimmer of the light-houses in the bay, compose an exceedingly picturesque sight that will fully repay a visit to the place.»
