Ellis Island

Ellis Island in New York Harbor served as the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in United States history, with about 12 million people passing through between 1892 and 1954. Known earlier to Native peoples as Kioshk and later named for merchant Samuel Ellis, the island also housed Fort Gibson and a naval magazine before becoming an immigration station. Its larger complex, opened in 1900 after a fire destroyed the first station, handled medical and legal inspections, quarantine, detention, and deportation, and later functioned mainly as a detention center. Expanded by landfill, it is now part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and remains a powerful symbol of immigration and American memory.

New York, New York · United States