E very year, roughly 4 million people visit the Ellis Island immigration station, wandering the manicured museum grounds and gazing at the nearby Statue of Liberty. After the war, she married Kurt Knauff, a U. Newly married, she traveled to the United States for the first time in , planning to benefit from a special immigration law enacted by Congress to make it easy for soldiers to return home with their new loves. Instead, Ellen was greeted by the hard reality of the Ellis Island immigration prison.
These days, most people think of Ellis Island as the place that welcomed generations of newcomers. That is certainly true. But in , its busiest year, one out of ten arriving passengers experienced Ellis Island as a hurdle rather than an open door, spending days or months stuck inside the detention center. After she arrived at Ellis Island, despite her American husband, she was not permitted to continue into the United States.
They claimed that her presence in the United States threatened national security, but refused to disclose their evidence.
Insistent, Knauff fought all the way to the Supreme Court. There she received little sympathy. The justices granted the federal government broad powers to keep people out.
To their surprise, immigration was on the rise. In fact, marked the busiest year at Ellis Island with approximately 1. From the very beginning of the mass migration period that spanned to , a relentless group of politicians and nativists demanded increased restrictions on immigration. As a result, Ellis Island experienced a rapid decline in usage beginning in the early s.
After World War I, U. The necessary paperwork and medical inspections were completed at the consulate, quickly replacing the Ellis Island inspection process.
After , the only passengers brought to Ellis Island were those who had problems with their paperwork, as well as war refugees and displaced persons needing assistance.
Ellis Island remained for three more decades serving a multitude of purposes, including a World War II detention center for enemy merchant seamen. In November of , the last remaining detainee on Ellis Island, a Norwegian merchant seaman named Arne Peterssen, was released and Ellis Island officially closed by the U.
Already have an account? Sign In. Forgot your password? Create an account? Having trouble? Contact Us. Get Ferry Tickets Donate. Statue of Liberty Click for more info. Ellis Island Click for more info. Foundation Click for more info. Visit Click for more info. Get Your Ferry Tickets. Accessing the Ferries. While there were many reasons to immigrate to America, no reason could be found for what would occur only five years after the Ellis Island Immigration Station opened.
During the early morning hours of June 15, , a fire on Ellis Island burned the immigration station completely to the ground. Although no lives were lost, many years of Federal and State immigration records dating back to burned along with the pine buildings that failed to protect them.
The United States Treasury quickly ordered the immigration facility be replaced under one very important condition: all future structures built on Ellis Island had to be fireproof. On December 17, , the new Main Building was opened and 2, immigrants were received that day. The great steamship companies like White Star, Red Star, Cunard and Hamburg-America played a significant role in the history of Ellis Island and immigration in general.
First and second class passengers who arrived in New York Harbor were not required to undergo the inspection process at Ellis Island. Instead, these passengers underwent a cursory inspection aboard ship, the theory being that if a person could afford to purchase a first or second class ticket, they were less likely to become a public charge in America due to medical or legal reasons.
The Federal government felt that these more affluent passengers would not end up in institutions, hospitals or become a burden to the state.
However, first and second class passengers were sent to Ellis Island for further inspection if they were sick or had legal problems. This scenario was far different for "steerage" or third class passengers. These immigrants traveled in crowded and often unsanitary conditions near the bottom of steamships with few amenities, often spending up to two weeks seasick in their bunks during rough Atlantic Ocean crossings. First and second class passengers would disembark, pass through Customs at the piers and were free to enter the United States.
The steerage and third class passengers were transported from the pier by ferry or barge to Ellis Island where everyone would undergo a medical and legal inspection. During the early s, immigration officials mistakenly thought that the peak wave of immigration had already passed. Actually, immigration was on the rise, and in more people immigrated to the United States than any other year, a record that would hold for the next 80 years.
Approximately 1. Consequently, masons and carpenters were constantly struggling to enlarge and build new facilities to accommodate this greater than anticipated influx of new immigrants.
Hospital buildings, dormitories, contagious disease wards and kitchens all were feverishly constructed between and Numerous suspected enemy aliens throughout the United States were brought to Ellis Island under custody. Between and , detained suspected enemy aliens were transferred from Ellis Island to other locations in order for the United States Navy with the Army Medical Department to take over the island complex for the duration of the war.
During this time, regular inspection of arriving immigrants was conducted onboard ship or at the docks. Hundreds were later deported based upon the principal of guilt by association with any organizations advocating revolution against the Federal government.
In , Ellis Island reopened as an immigration receiving station and , immigrants were processed that year. If the immigrant's papers were in order and they were in reasonably good health, the Ellis Island inspection process would last approximately three to five hours. The inspections took place in the Registry Room or Great Hall , where doctors would briefly scan every immigrant for obvious physical ailments.
Doctors at Ellis Island soon became very adept at conducting these "six second physicals. This document was used by the legal inspectors at Ellis Island to cross-examine the immigrant during the legal or primary inspection. On March 1, , the Immigration and Naturalization Service was restructured and included into three separate bureaus as part of the U.
Department of Homeland Security. Despite the island's reputation as an "Island of Tears", the vast majority of immigrants were treated courteously and respectfully, and were free to begin their new lives in America after only a few short hours on Ellis Island.
Only two percent of the arriving immigrants were excluded from entry. The two main reasons why an immigrant would be excluded were if a doctor diagnosed that the immigrant had a contagious disease that would endanger the public health or if a legal inspector thought the immigrant was likely to become a public charge or an illegal contract laborer.
From the very beginning of the mass migration that spanned the years to , an increasingly vociferous group of politicians and nativists demanded increased restrictions on immigration.
Laws and regulations such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Alien Contract Labor Law and the institution of a literacy test barely stemmed this flood tide of new immigrants.
Actually, the death knell for Ellis Island, as a major entry point for new immigrants, began to toll in It reached a crescendo between with the passage of the Quota Laws and with the passage of the National Origins Act.
These restrictions were based upon a percentage system according to the number of ethnic groups already living in the United States as per the and Census.
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