Ellis Island United States

Legendary

Once the busiest immigration station in the US, almost 12 million migrants arrived through this port.

Photo by Linus Henning

Not everyone who sailed into New York had to stop at Ellis Island. If you could afford a first- or second-class ticket, inspectors came aboard your ship, checked your papers, and let you walk straight into the city.

Only passengers in the cheapest section below deck were ferried to the island. Your ticket price decided your experience.

Ellis Island opened as an immigration station on January 1, 1892. The very first person through the doors was Annie Moore, a 15-year-old girl from Ireland traveling with her two younger brothers.

Between 1892 and 1924, about 12 million people passed through. The busiest single day came on April 17, 1907, when 11,747 people were processed.

The inspection usually took three to seven hours. Doctors checked people for illness, and officials asked questions about work, money, and family.

Most people passed. Some didn't, and families were sometimes separated right there in the great hall.

That's why the island earned two nicknames. People called it the Island of Hope and the Island of Tears.

The island itself kept growing. It started at about 3.3 acres and was expanded with landfill until it reached 27.5 acres.

When World War I began, far fewer ships arrived and the island's job changed. It became an Army hospital and a place to detain people the government suspected of being enemies.

A new law in 1924 ended the great immigration era. From then on, most people applied at American offices in their home countries instead.

During World War II, the Coast Guard trained about 60,000 members here. The island also held roughly 7,000 German, Italian, and Japanese civilians the government had classified as enemy aliens.

Ellis Island finally closed in November 1954. Today, around 40 percent of people in the United States can trace an ancestor who passed through it.

Walk into the Great Hall, the enormous tiled room where people waited for inspection. Search the passenger records to see whether your own family name appears. Step outside for a clear view across the water to the Statue of Liberty, the first thing many arrivals ever saw of America.