This week in history

January 1, 1892, fifteen-year-old Anne Moore became the first immigrant to pass through the doors of Ellis Island Immigration Station. Over twelve million more immigrants would follow in Anne’s footsteps. Ellis Island would operate as an immigration station for sixty-two years, sitting in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

Immigrants completing their Atlantic Ocean journeys, would disembark at Ellis Island. There, they were screened by doctors for obvious physical ailments, and by officers who reviewed their legal documents. If their papers were in order, and they were in reasonably good health, they were allowed into the United States, generally within a few hours of arrival.

Source(s): Library of Congress

Compiled by Bob Valen