IF you were an immigrant arriving from Europe in 1904 where would you most likely have arrived first before being admitted to the US?

Answer 1

In 1904 it's likely that you would have entered the U.S. through Ellis Island in New York Harbor. Ellis Island was the principal Federal Immigration Station until 1954.

Prior to 1890, individual states regulated immigration into the United States. For example, New York State's entry point before Ellis Island opened was Castle Garden in the Battery. Ellis Island was designated the official Federal Immigration Station by President Benjamin Harrison in 1890. The station opened in 1892, and operated continuously until 1954, although the number of immigrants processed through Ellis Island dropped steadily after 1924, when prospective immigrants were permitted to apply for visas at American consulates in their countries of origin. Even the medical inspection could be conducted at the consulate. In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson declared Ellis Island part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. Eventually $160 million was spent to create the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Today, the museum receives almost 2 million visitors annually. It is a monument to many of our own forebears who arrived in this place in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty hoping for a better life than the one they left.

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