Castle Clinton, along with more than a dozen other forts was built in anticipation of the War of 1812 to defend New York Harbor. The Southwest Battery was constructed on the rocks off the tip of Manhattan Island between 1808 and 1811. Although fully armed, the fort never had occasion to fire upon an enemy. In 1817, the fort was renamed Castle Clinton in honor of DeWitt Clinton, Mayor and later Governor of New York.
The army vacated the fort in 1821 and the structure was deeded to New York City. In the summer of 1824, a new restaurant and entertainment center opened at the site, then called Castle Garden. A roof was added in the 1840s and Castle Garden served as an opera house and theater until 1854. Many new inventions were demonstrated there to amazed audiences including the telegraph, Colts revolving rifles, steam powdered fire engines and underwater electronic explosives. The "Swedish Nightengale" Jenny Lind made her American debut here in 1850, brought to America by no other then P.T. Barnum.
By 1855, successive landfills had enlarged the Park to encompass Castle Garden and on August 3 the structure became America's first immigrant receiving center, welcoming 8.5 million people before it was closed in 1890 and succeeded by Ellis Island.
The building was altered once again and reopened as the New York City Aquarium on December 10, 1896. It was one of the city's most popular attractions, and one of America's first public aquariums until it closed in 1941.
Following its near-total demolition in 1941 and a major preservation battle, the original fort walls were declared a National Monument by an Act of Congress in 1946. Restored to its fortification appearance by the National Park Service in 1975, the Castle currently houses a small interpretive display and the ticket office for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ferry.
Castle Clinton was designated a landmarks by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965.
National Register #66000537
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