Ellis Island public and the museum partially re-opened on October 28, 2013, after major renovations. Originally much of the west shore of Upper New York Bay consisted of large tidal flats which hosted vast oyster banks, a major source of food for the Lenape population who lived in the area prior to the arrival of Dutch settlers. There were several islands which were not completely submerged at high tide. Three of them (later to be known as Liberty Island, Black Tom Island and Ellis Island) were given the name Oyster Islands by the settlers of New Netherland, the first European colony in
History of the Long Island Rail Road in 1887 and reorganized it as the New York and Rockaway Beach Railway, but operated it separately until the LIRR leased it on July 1, 1904.The current Oyster Bay Branch was extended from Locust Valley to Oyster Bay in 1889.The New York Bay Extension Railroad opened as a branch from the South Side at Valley Stream northeast to Hempstead in 1893.The Wading River Branch opened from Port Jefferson east to Wading River in 1895. Corbin attempted to buy the East River Ferry Company, which by then operated lines from Long Island City to James Slip, East 7th Street (abandoned within