The Immigrants

"The Immigrants" in Battery Park, NYC

In 1855, Battery Park became a processing center for immigrants coming into New York City. Though it would be succeeded by Ellis Island some forty years later, it served its purpose and was a vital step in helping people from other countries to claim better lives.

There was Molly, who was thrown out of her country for walking around on her knees and pantomiming the "YMCA" song even though it wouldn't be written for another 125 years. Then there were Larry and Michelle Drexel, who had a newborn baby and didn't actually plan on going to America, but their insistence on always staring up at the sky caused them to take several wrong turns and wind up in New York City instead of the general store to buy more diapers. The Drexels were followed by their friend Stan, who did everything the Drexels did and therefore kept staring at the sky with his hand on his heart and mistakenly ended up in America as well. Martin was another immigrant who came through Battery Park, and he came because he had heard that America was a place where a man could crawl around on his hands and knees and shake hands with imaginary rabbits in peace.

When the Battery Park immigration office closed down to make way for Ellis Island, they became more firm about who they accepted and began asking people important questions, such as whether or not they shake hands with imaginary animals or ever look at the ground.