MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

Sorry no, think bilingual!

[Gloria]

Montreal?

[Stanley]

Yes! Well done Gloria......

[Stanley]

Can you tell me what this is and where it is?

[Steeplejerk]

Wages office cotton mill

[Cathy]

The old Co-op Barlick

[Stanley]

Sorry no, much further afield. Clue, it's on an island.

[Big Kev]

Alcatraz prison?

[Cathy]

Early immigrants registration area upon arrival in America. Port of New York.

[Steeplejerk]

Staten Island.

[Stanley]

Not Alcatraz. Wrong island Tom. Cathy is right but I want the location and more detail.

[Gloria]

Ellis Island museum.

[Stanley]

Yes Gloria bur what is significant about the suite of offices in the picture.....

[Gloria]

Was it where they registered, showed their documents to prove they had a guarantor to stay with.

[Cathy]

Castle Garden

[Stanley]

Sorry but no Gloria. Not sure what Castle Garden means Cathy.
Another Clue, the firm that started in these offices as a service for Immigrants is now a household name.....

[Big Kev]

Not sure what Castle Garden means Cathy.

Castle Garden (now Castle Clinton), located in the Battery of Manhattan, served as the New York State immigration station from 1855 to 1890.

[Stanley]

I didn't know that. Not the Battery which is on Manhattan Island.
What was the famous firm?

[Big Kev]

I didn't know that. Not the Battery which is on Manhattan Island.
What was the famous firm?

No idea but, because of the immigrant connection, I'll guess at Levi Strauss selling clothing.

[Stanley]

No Kev. I'd better knock it on the head. These were the offices of a small freight forwarding company founded in 1850 which opened this office at Ellis Island in order to help immigrants accepted into the US to get to their final destination. The company was American Express.

[Cathy]

[Stanley]

What is it?

[Gloria]

The only thing I can think it’s for, and I’m sure I’m way out, is for putting the “dimples” I’m mattresses. It looks as though they will be squeezing something fragile.

[Stanley]

Sorry Gloria, no.

[Gloria]

Sorry Gloria, no.

Worth a try