Hi, Castle Garden opened in 1855 and was the nation's first center for processing arriving immigrants. I have no idea what type of processing took place before that or where the immigrants would have gone to. There is a history of Ellis Island/Castle Garden at http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlwat/hist.htm You can send e-mail to get additional information, that's what I've done. Hope I was of some help. Elaine