Liberty Island is a federally owned island in Upper New York Bay in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. The island is an exclave of the New York City borough of Manhattan, surrounded by the waters of Jersey City, New Jersey. Long known as Bedloe's Island, it was renamed by an act of United States Congress in 1956. In 1937, by proclamation 2250 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt it became part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument [3] and 1966, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island and Liberty Island.