Danny Kravitz - In the Shadow of Lady Liberty: Immigrant Stories from Ellis Island

Just off the New Jersey shore, a bridge juts out into New York Harbor. That bridge leads to a small piece of land covered with empty buildings called Ellis Island. The buildings are made mostly of red and white bricks with red-shingled roofs. Trees and lawns of green grass surround them. An American flag flies high atop a flagpole waving in the wind.

The main building on this quiet island is now called the Ellis Island Museum. Its Great Hall stuns guests with large arched windows, shiny wood floors, and ceilings nearly 60 feet (18 meters) high. The building is quiet now. But the hall was once filled with millions of voices, speaking many languages.

More than 100 years ago, Ellis Island was a busy immigration station. Every day it was filled with thousands of immigrants waiting to enter the United States. These people had all left their homes and traveled thousands of miles by ship. They all had a different story but had one thing in common they all came to America in search of better lives.

A great wave of immigration flooded Americas shores beginning in the 1880s and lasted roughly 40 years. Most of the travelers were from eastern and southern Europe. These immigrants were escaping poverty, religious Russi who came to America in 1908.

Because of growing immigration, the U.S. government decided it needed a place to organize incoming immigrants. Most immigrants entered the country in New York. So a nearby island Ellis Island was chosen as the location of the new immigration station. When the station opened in 1892, hopeful immigrants went through an inspection process there. If all went well, they walked out the back doors of Ellis Island to start their new lives.

FACT: About 98 percent of the immigrants who came to Ellis Island passed the inspections and were allowed into the country.

Albert You got thousands of people marching in, a little bit excited, a little bit scared. Just imagine, youre 14 and a half years old and you dont know whats going to happen.

More than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Islands Great Hall between 1892 and 1954.

Before the 1890s, each state handled the immigrants who arrived at its borders. The Secretary of the Treasury, William I felt it was my duty to have another investigation made [immigration] could better be done by the Federal Government. Windom argued that a federally owned system would protect citizens from unhealthy or criminal immigrants. It would also protect immigrants from being mistreated. As Windom explained, I preferred an island where we could exclude those people whom we did not think [proper] to first come in contact with the immigrants landing on our shores.

over 4,000,000 feet of lumber have been used in its construction, stated an article in the New-York Daily Tribune.

The government constructed and remodeled many buildings before opening Ellis Island. These included new dock landings for boats (upper left), an immigrant dining hall (upper right), a two-story main building (center), homes for doctors (lower left), detention rooms (lower right), and several others.

FACT: Ellis Island was used as a military base during the War of 1812 (18121815). Many dangerous weapons were still there in the 1890s. The government had to clean up the weapons before building the immigration station.

When Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892, it was a city unto itself. Taldone, an immigrant from Italy. Its like in heaven. You dont know what it is. Youre so happy there in America.

About 1.5 million immigrants passed through Ellis Islands original central building from 1892 to 1897.

When Ellis Island opened, no one could have known that more than 12 million immigrants would come through its halls. Nor could they have known that disaster was about to strike.

Immigrants often wore all their clothing when they traveled. They wanted to save luggage space for their family heirlooms, photographs, and other treasured keepsakes.

The first immigrant to officially pass through Ellis Island was a 15-year-old Irish girl named Annie Moore. Moore journeyed from County Cork, Ireland, with her two younger brothers, Anthony and Philip. They joined their parents who were already living in New York City.

On the night of June 14, 1897, a fire broke out on the island. Smoke appeared in the I rushed as quickly as possible and rang the alarm in all the rooms, he said.

Workers helped the nearly 200 immigrants escape the deadly heat and smoke. At least 100 tugboats arrived to rescue people from the burning island. By morning the immigration station was nothing more than a smoldering pile of rubble. No one died, but all of the records stored there were destroyed.