By the last decade of the nineteenth century, the large-folio, bird’s-eye perspective had become a defining feature of printed views of American cities. Dominating the center foreground of this 1892 view of New York Harbor is the circular Castle Garden building. Originally built as a fort, Castle Garden was used from 1855 to 1890 as an immigration depot. Currier & Ives may have issued this print to mark the opening of Ellis Island in 1892. The new, larger port of call for ships carrying immigrants would serve twenty-two million newcomers (nearly three times the number who disembarked at Castle Garden) before 1924, when the U.S. government began to process immigrants through its embassies. Also visible in this scene is that other famous immigrant beacon, the Statue of Liberty, dedicated on October 28, 1886.