The sounds of people on the move echoed through the cavernous halls of Ellis Island again as the gateway through which 12 million immigrants passed into the land of opportunity reopened as a museum.
Six years and $156 million after work began on the biggest restoration project in U.S. history, the 90-year-old brick building was dedicated Sunday as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and turned over to the National Park Service."What we celebrate in Ellis Island is nothing less than the triumph of the American spirit," said Vice President Dan Quayle, who snipped a white ribbon to open the museum at what was once America's busiest port of entry.
"We may all know in our minds that time and time again, it has been the immigrant who has renewed and rekindled the American spirit. But here in Ellis Island, we feel it in our hearts."
An audience of about 2,500 invited guests gathered outside the huge, four-towered immigration building, which was renovated entirely with private contributions to a foundation that also repaired the Statue of Liberty nearby.
After the ceremony, people poured inside the building, once again filling the vast Registry Room with sound.
Forty-nine new citizens were sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and six people who entered the nation through Ellis Island in the first quarter of the century were singled out to represent the 12 million immigrants who passed through from 1892 until 1954.