History of Ellis Island
Ellis Island is one of the premiere historical sites people visit during a trip to NYC. It was the very first federal immigrant processing center in the United States and it’s estimated that one quarter of all Americans can trace their ancestry back to someone who passed through Ellis Island. Despite its popularity, few people know the true history of Ellis Island. Why did Ellis Island open? Why did Ellis Island close? Who passed through Ellis Island on their way to becoming US Citizens? We will explore the answers to all these questions.
Why Did Ellis Island Open?
There is a very important fact about immigration in the United States that most Americans do not know. Ellis Island opened in 1892, and before Ellis Island opened, each state was in charge of its own immigration laws. Most people were allowed to enter freely, with a few notable exceptions.
The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act was the first immigration law in the United States that banned a specific group and class of people. Before this law, it was pretty much accepted that if you arrived and could get off the boat, you could enter the country. Becoming a citizen was, of course, a different story, but legal entry was relatively free and easy.
In 1892, the federal government decided that they wanted to set restrictions on who could enter the United States. To do this, they had to open up a central federal immigrant processing center. To do this, they found the busiest port in the United States, which was the Port of New York and The Port of New Jersey. It turned out that Ellis Island wasn’t being actively used for anything else, and the federal government owned it, since they had built a military fort, (Fort Gibson), upon it.
Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892. It was a huge press event, and they pulled a photogenic young woman from Ireland named Annie Moore to be the first immigrant processed. After her, 12 million immigrants followed suit, and other immigrant processing centers such as Angel Island opened.
Who Passed Through Ellis Island
Many famous American were immigrants who pass through Ellis Island. One of the most notable immigrants came from Russia when he was just five years old. He was a Russian Jewish immigrants, and his whole family successfully came to America. They were extremely poor, so every member of the family had to work to help put food on the table. This five year old boy when out onto the streets and sang popular songs of the day. People loved this and threw coins to him. As he got older he taught himself how to play the piano, (largely in a single key he always worked in, and with his very own special transposing piano!) and taught himself how to compose music. This Russian Jewish immigrant grew up to compose “God Bless America,” and also “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” which invented the modern day Christmas carol in the United States This was Irving Berlin! It is interesting to note when he passed through Ellis Island, his name was Israel Isadore Baliene.
Other famous immigrants included Bob Hope, Cary Grant, Max Factor, and Ettorre Boyardee, (whom you may know as Chef Boyardee). Only about 2% of immigrants processed at Ellis Island were sent home. Who knows how many of these national treasures we may never have known with different immigration laws.
Why Did Ellis Island Close?
Why did Ellis Island close? In 1924, the United States passed the Johnson-Reed Act. With this act, for the first time ever, the United States set quotas (limits) on the numbers of immigrants who could enter the United States to stay. This number was set at 150,000 total per year. Ellis Island alone could process as many as 11,000 immigrants per day, and remember there were other immigrant processing centers in the United States. The 150,000 per year limit drastically choked off the number of immigrants who could enter the United States. It also meant that most immigrants were processed in their home countries, so there was little use for Ellis Island as an immigrant processing center.
Today, Ellis Island is an interactive museum you can visit, and even take a free tour with a National Park Ranger! You can get to Ellis Island using the same ferry as to get to the Statue of Liberty, Statue City Cruises. A visit to both Liberty Island and Ellis Island is a wonderful way to pass a day in New York City.
Take lots of photos and share them with the world on our giant Times Square billboard! Prices start as low as $150 a day. Our Times Square Billboard will as special flare to any NYC vacation, and is one of the best things to in NYC.