Ellis Island timeline 1890-1999
12 million immigrants went through Ellis Island, 1892-1954. Roughly 25 percent of these were from the British Isles, mostly England and Ireland.
1890 Castle Garden closed, temporary immigration station operated at the Barge Office custom station in Manhattan.
Jan 1, 1892 Ellis Island Immigration Center opened to process steerage passengers. First and second cabin passengers processed on board and sent directly to Manhattan.
1893 New law required shipowners to prepare manifests with detailed information on passengers.
1893 Supreme Court gives deportation authority to secretary of treasury.
1890s Immigration restriction proposals gain ground with the public.
June 14, 1897 Fire destroyed Ellis Island’s wooden building along with immigration records, 1855-1890, housed in the old Navy Magazine. Processing shifted back to Barge Office.
Late 1890s Economic depression sank immigration to a low point with Ellis Island recording only
178,748 in 1898.
Dec. 17, 1900 New EI Immigration Station opened; 2,251 immigrations received that day.
1901-1902
President Theodore Roosevelt, shortly after inauguration, “cleans house” following exposure of several scandals.
1903 Immigration control switches to the new Department of Commerce and Labor; immigration now considered an addition to the labor force rather than type of imported product.
1900-1910 Widespread disagreement over restrictions on immigration with growing attitude that it should be restricted in quantity and “quality” though some advocated admitting everyone who met legal requirements.
1907 Ellis Island immigration surged to climax of 1,004,756. All-time single-day record of
11,474 on April 17.
1900-1910 Buildings remodeled and added, including hospitals.
1910-1920 Deportations rise; 13,000 of the 650,000 at Ellis Island in 1911 were deported.
Construction and remodeling continues.
1914-1918 World War I ends mass migration to the United States.
1916
1917
Explosions by German saboteurs at nearby Black Tom Wharf damages Ellis Island station, which was safely evacuated.
Literacy test adopted after seven previous failures, 1896-1915.

1917-1919 Ellis Island becomes holding pen for thousands of suspected enemy aliens from throughout the U.S. Immigrants processed on board ships.
1920 Ellis Island reopens for immigration inspection while continuing to function as a deportation center. With end of World War I, number of immigrants rises.
1921 U.S. introduces quota system for immigrants, weighted toward northern and western Europeans.
1924 Second quota law further restricts immigration.
1924 Ellis Island no longer used for primary inspection of immigrants.
1930 Ellis Island becomes a detention station for deportees.
1930-1940 WPA projects continue improvement of facility; last major construction and remodeling, all aimed at handling of deportees. Emphasis on segregating those deemed “criminal or undesirable.”
1938 Federal investigation of records for previous nine years revealed altered manifests, missing official documents and theft of entire files. Miscreants prosecuted.
1939 Outbreak of World War II in Europe; Coast Guard takes over Ellis Island.
1940 Immigration and Naturalization Service transferred to Department of Justice because immigrants came to be considered as potential threats to national security.
1941 U.S. enters war and Ellis Island again becomes a detention center.
1946 War Brides Act proved for admission of foreign-born wives of GIs. Many of these were British.
Early 1950s Flurry of activity at Ellis Island as aliens were screened for membership in organizations considered subversive. Operating costs, diminished use prompted likelihood of vacating it.
Nov. 3, 1954 Ellis Island vacated and declared excess federal property
1965 EI added to the National Park System as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
1965-1980s Much discussion, little action on what to do with it, including a proposal by Frank Lloyd
Wright to develop it as commercial real estate. Lack of funds always the stumbling block.
1982 Lee Iacocca named to head the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Centennial Commission, and private donors were solicited on all levels of U.S. society. $400 million was raised over eight years, including thousands of $100 donations for inscribing immigrants’ names on Wall of Honor. Privatepublic, grassroots financing proved to be the essential ingredient for success.
1990 Ellis Island Immigration Museum opened with first wall bearing names of 200,000 immigrants.
1999 American Family Immigration Center opened for research.
Timeline condensed from two sources: Bolino, August C., The Ellis Island Source Book, Jackson, Mississippi: Kensington Historical Press,
1985; and Burdick, John, Ellis Isand Gateway of Hope, New York: Smithmark publishers, 1997.
Zoe Lappin, WISE Family History Society, May 18, 2013.

www.EllisIsland.org
There’s a free search, but you’d do well to register – it’s free. Sign in, click on Passenger Search, and proceed. This site has a phonetic search function and lets you use a range of approximate arrival dates. You can see a stylized extracted record, picture of the ship manifest for purchase and an image of the ship, if available. Frequent technical difficulties on this site.
* * * * * * * * * * * www.FamilySearch.org Follow this route: Click on Search on the home page, then Start
Searching, United States; enter Ellis Island in the box labeled Filter by Collection Name, and you’ll get:
New York City, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924.
Then search by whatever terms you wish. To view the image, you’ll be switched to the
Ellis Island site without having to register.
* * * * * * * * * * * www.Ancestry.com On home page, click on Immigration, Passenger Lists; then New
York Passenger lists 1820-1957. There is no separate list for Ellis Island; you’ll know from the dates 1892-1954 that the people you’re hunting came through Ellis Island. I prefer this route.
For Oral Histories at Ancestry.com, go to the Immigration and Travel main page, click on
View All in Card Catalog. Search Titles appears at left; type Ellis Island. You’ll get this link:
New York City, Ellis Island, Oral Histories, 1892-1976 .
Click and search.
This project began in 1972, but the oral histories actually go into the 21 st century, and you can hear them online. Many of these are transcribed in the book, Ellis Island Interviews, published 1997, but the names were changed apparently to protect those who still faced danger from European threats.
Zoe Lappin, May 18, 2013; WISE Family History Society
ZLappi@Hotmail.com