Battery park underpass4/27/2023 From 1855 to 1890 the building was used as the federal immigration center for the east coast, processing approximately eight million immigrants. Morse demonstrated his “wireless telegraph” in 1842, and singer Jenny Lind made her American debut in 1850. General Lafayette was welcomed there in 1824 and Hungarian patriot Lajos Kossuth in 1851. Meanwhile, the old fort was renamed Castle Garden and provided the setting for countless receptions, demonstrations, and performances for more than thirty years. Another massive landfill project got underway in 1853 and was completed in 1872. Around this time, the park was extended further by landfills to an area of about ten acres. It was renamed Castle Clinton (for Governor De Witt Clinton) in 1815 and ceded to the City in 1823. Between 18, a new circular fort known as the West Battery was erected 200 feet offshore. Fort George (as Fort Amsterdam was then known) was completely razed in 1788, and its remnants were used to fill in the shore and expand the Battery. Its development as a public park owes to its enlargement through landfill. With its fine promenade and magnificent vista of the harbor, the Battery became a popular place for New Yorkers to visit in the early 18th century. The Dutch constructed Fort Amsterdam as early as 1626, and around 1683, the first of a series of gun batteries was constructed around the shore. As the colony grew and its commerce expanded, piers, wharves, and slips rose along the coastline. Near this point, the colonists of the Dutch West India Company began the settlement of New Amsterdam in 1625. The area’s strategic location was recognized by Native Americans and Dutch settlers, who called it Capske Hook (from Kapsee, an Indian term for rocky ledge). Located at the southern tip of Manhattan with ready access to the harbor and the Hudson River, Battery Park is where the history of New York City began.
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