What You Can Do
- Send a letter to your California legislator opposing the budget cuts.
- Hear from California State Parks Foundation President Elizabeth Goldstein on the closure crisis.
- Read more about the proposed budget cuts and the parks slated for closure.
11 Most Endangered
Angel Island Immigration Station
Year Listed: 1999
Location: , California
Current Status: Saved
Threat: Deterioration, Natural Forces, Neglect
Latest News
May 28, 2009: Governor Schwarzenegger announced a plan to eliminate $143 million in funding from the California State Park budget, resulting in closure of more than 80% of the system's 279 parks, including Angel Island State Park. In 2008, the National Trust listed California's State Parks as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. Join us and the California State Parks Foundation in fighting this proposal.
The main barracks building is being restored.
Credit: Daphne Kwok, Angel Island Association
Significance
As a major port of entry for immigrants from the Pacific Rim and parts of South America, the Angel Island Immigration Station is sometimes called "the Ellis Island of the West Coast." An estimated 250,000 Chinese and 150,000 Japanese, along with thousands of immigrants from other nations, passed through the station from 1910 to 1940. This hallowed spot, a California state park, fell into ruin. Its plight was mirrored throughout the 265 units of the state parks system, where chronic underfunding resulted in a deferred maintenance debt approaching $500 million for historic sites alone.
Updates
May 2009: As part of a plan to curb California's growing budget deficit, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a proposal to eliminate $70 million in state funding;from the California State Parks budget in 2009 and to cut the entire $143 million budget in 2010. As a result, 80% of California's 279 state parks, historic sites, beaches, and recreation areas, including Angel Island State Park, would close after Labor Day, 2009. The newly restored Immigration Station, just opened in February, would once again be closed to the public. The proposed budget cuts, which equal just over one tenth of one percent of the state's budget and just under 1% of the budget deficit, would also cause significant harm to local economies. California's state parks attract more than 75 million visitor days every year making them a critical piece of the state's travel and tourism industry. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the California State Parks Foundation are working to prevent the budget cuts and protect important historic sites in California's state parks.
May 2009: Senator Diane Feinstein recognizes the Angel Island Immigration Station in her floor statement celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Read more.
March 2009: Congress approved expenditure of $1,250,000 for the restoration and preservation of the Immigration Station hospital, resulting in over $5 million secured to begin stabilizing the hospital and repairing the roof and interior walls. Another $10 to $12 million is needed to complete the project and turn the hospital into a conference center, exhibition space, genealogy center, and office space.
February 15, 2009: The U.S. Immigration Station, Angel Island will re-open after more than three years of restoration and preservation work. During that time, many improvements have been made to stabilize this National Historic Landmark, set within a California State Park, and the interpretation of the Immigration Station’s story has been enhanced. Read more about Angel Island's remarkable restoration.
Working in Partnership with California State Parks and the National Park Service, the nonprofit Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) completed a Master Plan for the restoration of Angel Island Immigration Station in June 2003. The first part of a three-phase rehabilitation plan is currently underway to preserve the station detention barracks, establish an interpretive center, and create a multipurpose learning center, archives, and research facility. The work is scheduled to be completed by the Angel Island Immigration Station centennial in 2010. The AIISF has raised over $18 million of the estimated $50 million cost of the project and continues to spearhead a national campaign to bring corporate and individual dollars to the project. Most recently, the Immigration Station has benefited from grants from the Save America’s Treasures program and the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express Partners in Preservation program.
Read More:
Share your memories of this endangered place
Submitted by Angelgroove at: September 18, 2009
The State of California needs a program like the historical trust of Maryland. This program allows citizens of character that have the proper background to minister the needed preservation and the citizens who then fix up the properties receive a life lease for payment of their sweat equity in the property. The property remains in the State of California with citizen teams providing the manpower to restoring these historical properties. With Federal grants to the State for purchasing the goods, and the services coming from volunteers, the cost savings are huge and the benefit to the public is preserved. http://dnr.maryland.gov/land/rcs/index.asp The Briones house in Palo Alto http://www.brioneshouse.org/ , or the historical homes in the parks department of San Jose that are all decaying are but a few examples where citizen restorers like in the Maryland program all become vibrant and the public gets the preservation of its vital icons. Otherwise the local governments simply put a sign up dedicating the site. Big deal!