“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”. So reads the inscription on the Statue of Liberty from Emma Lazarus’ 1883 sonnet “The New Colossus”.
While Lady Liberty lifted her lamp and greeted immigrants arriving in New York harbor, Ellis Island was often the first place they stopped when arriving in the United States. Prior to 1892, New York’s Castle Garden in Manhattan was the main processing center for immigrants. The late 19th century’s economic and political instability across Europe resulted in the largest mass human migration the world had ever seen, sending immigrants flooded into New York. The Federal government soon recognized they needed a much larger and more efficient location to process these new arrivals.
Located in New York Harbor, Ellis Island has grown through landfill and land reclamation projects from 3 acres to a size of more than 27 acres. The expansion of the island allowed the Federal government to process mass amounts of new immigrants in a timely and efficient manner. Opening on January 1, 1892 and closing in 1954, Ellis Island would see more than 12 million immigrants arrive there, before departing for other parts of the United States.
Aerial view of Ellis Island, New York, North America (Hoberman/Universal Images Group ) 
Immigrants arrive at US customs at Ellis Island. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
Italian immigrant family on ferry, leaving Ellis Island, New York City, New York, USA, Lewis Wickes Hine, 1905 (Colorized). (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
Photograph of European immigrants on Ellis Island (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
New York, circa 1926. Costumed members of the Little Theater Opera Company who sang at Ellis Island for immigrants awaiting entry into the United States. (Underwood Archives/Universal Images Group) 
Immigrant Family, Ellis Island, New York, USA, circa 1905. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
Three Women Immigrants who Failed their Entrance Exam and Waiting to be Sent Back to Europe, Ellis Island, New York, USA, circa 1902. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
Ellis Island with Manhattan Skyline in background. Historic American Buildings Survey Collection, 1970’s. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
New York, circa 1913. Immigrants representing four countries, Poland, Norway, Germany, and Russia, looking from Ellis Island towards the promised land. (Underwood Archives/Universal Images Group) 
Cobh, county Cork, Ireland. Tribute and memorial to Annie Moore and her sons, first people to sail to Ellis Island, New York, USA entering by Ellis Island. (Peter Titmuss/UCG/Universal Images Group) 
Inspection Room, Ellis Island, New York City, USA, circa 1910. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
Emigrant Mother and Daughter, Ellis Island, New York, USA, circa 1902. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
Arrival of Immigrants, Ellis Island, New York City, 1920. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty National Monument, New York (Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images Group) 
Group of Female Immigrants. Seated Portrait, Ellis Island, New York City, 1908. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
New York, circa 1913. Immigrants representing four countries, Poland, Norway, Germany, and Russia, looking from Ellis Island towards the promised land. (Underwood Archives/Universal Images Group) 
Immigrants Carrying Luggage, Ellis Island, New York City, 1910. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
Final Discharge from Ellis Island, 1902 (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
Group of arriving immigrants, Ellis Island, New York City, New York, USA, Bain News Service, 1910’s. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group) 
Italian immigrants. Old woman on Ellis Island. Lewis Wickes Hine (1874-1940). (Bildagentur-online/Universal Images Group) 
Ellis Island Immigration Museum, Statue of Liberty National Monument, New York (Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images Group) 
Slavic Woman sleeping on Bench, Ellis Island, New York . Lewis Wickes Hine, 1905. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group)
Annie Moore, a teenage girl from Cork, Ireland, arrived on Ellis Island with her two younger brothers and became the first immigrant to be processed there. Annie and her brothers endured a 12-day passage aboard the steamship Nevada. She would soon reunite with her parents and live in New York City tenement housing. She would live in New York’s Lower East Side neighborhood for the rest of her life.
Annie likely traveled in third class on the Nevada, as first and second-class passengers were allowed to disembark directly in Manhattan after a cursory inspection on the ship. Third class (or steerage) passengers were required to go through more rigorous vetting and medical inspections on Ellis Island. The inspections took place inside the Great Hall and would usually last between 3 and 5 hours if an immigrant’s paperwork was in order and they appeared in reasonably good health.
At its peak, more than 5,000 immigrants were processed daily at Ellis Island. Today, more than 40% of American citizens can track their ancestors arriving in the US via Ellis Island. The last immigrant to move through Ellis Island was Arne Peterssen, a Norwegian merchant. Once Arne was cleared, Ellis Island ceased operating as a processing center, in November 1954.
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Source:
Statue of Liberty National Monument https://www.statueofliberty.org/ellis-island/overview-history/