Europe's huddled masses were welcomed to the rebuilt United States immigration centre for the first time on this day 103 years ago.
Q: What happened to the old one?
A: It was destroyed by fire in 1897. While reconstruction work was under way premises in Battery Park, Manhattan, took responsibility for processing immigrants. Ellis Island re-opened just in time.
Q: Why?
A: Shortly before the big day, the New York Tribune carried a scathing report about conditions at the Battery Park office, describing them as being ''more suggestive of an enclosure for animals than a receiving station for prospective citizens of the United States''.
Q: Was the new centre much better?
A: It was fire-proofed for a start. More than 2200 people were processed on the first day, a total soon surpassed as immigrants passed through New York on their way to a new life in America.
Q: How many, exactly?
A: Ellis Island served as America's major immigration centre from1892 to 1924. During that period, an estimated 17 million immigrants went through its doors.
Q: Busiest year?
A: Thought to be 1907, when Ellis Island handled more than one million arrivals. April 17, 1907, was the busiest day - 11,747 immigrants. Its role was reduced after 1924 and in 1943 immigration reception was moved to New York City. Ellis Island served as a detention centre for
aliens and deportees
until 1954.
Q: And today?
A: It's a museum, part of Statue of Liberty National Monument. The statue is on nearby Liberty Island.
Q: Why Ellis Island?
A: It's named after Samuel Ellis, a Manhattan merchant who bought it in the 1770s and developed it into a picnic spot. Before then, it was known as Gull, Oyster, and Gibbet island, the latter because it was where pirates were hanged.
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