West Battery was intended to complement Fort Williams (still extant) on Governor's Island, which was East Battery to defend New York City from English forces in the tensions that marked the run-up to the War of 1812, but never saw action in that or any war. Subsequent landfill expanded Battery Park, and placed the fort on the mainland of Manhattan Island.
Changing names and uses
West Battery was renamed Castle Clinton in 1815, its current official name, in honor of New York City mayorDewitt Clinton.
The US Army stopped using the fort in 1821 and it was leased to New York City as a place of public entertainment and it opened as Castle Garden on July 3, 1824, a name by which it was popularly known for most of its existence, even to the present time. It served as a restaurant, opera house, and theatre.
In 1855, it became the Emmigrant Landing Depot as a New York State immigrant processing facility until 1890, when the Federal Government took over control of immigration processing, and opened the larger and more isolated Ellis Island facility for that purpose in 1892.
In 1890 Castle Garden became the site of the New York City Aquarium until 1941. The builder Robert Moses wanted to tear the structure down completely, claiming that this was necessary to build his Brooklyn_Battery Tunnel. The public outcry at the loss of both a popular recreation and a landmark stymied his effort at demolition, but the aquarium was closed and not replaced until Moses opened a new facility on Coney Island in 1957.
During its tenure for non-military uses, it was extensively altered and roofed over to a height of several stories, though the original masonry fort remained. After the aquarium was ousted, most of the added structure was removed and the fort remained closed.
Castle Clinton National Monument
Castle Garden was designated a National Monument in 1946, but no effort at rehabilitation was made for decades. Major rehabilitation took place in the 1970s. Today it appears much as it did in its earliest days, contains a museum, and is again called Castle Clinton.
External Links
Castle Clinton National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/cacl/)
Castle Clinton from GORP (http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/US_nm/ny_castl.htm)
CastleClinton National Monument is both a link with America's colonial past and a symbol of a growing new nation.
CastleClinton was born of the tensions of the Napoleonic era.
Because of the efforts of determined New Yorkers, the historic structure was not destroyed, and, on August 12, 1946, the establishment of CastleClinton as a national monument was authorized by act of Congress.
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