From the late 1600s to the early 1900s, many people wanted to go to America. But they didn't want every single immigrant to come; their immigration centers were crowded. They wanted to have some rules.If someone had a virus, it could spread to lots of other people. But when the Ellis Island Immigration Center was built in 1892, it solved all that. It's an island part of New York, but it's so close to New Jersey that some people say Ellis Island is part of it. It is an immigration museum now, but it used to be a building for people to be examined for going into America. If someone did have a disease, it could spread to all the immigrants in America, so doctors questioned and examined their health, weight, height, birthmarks, and every possible thing that you could think of. If you were okay, you went out to your journey in the "new world," America. If you weren't okay, you would stay at the building and get a mental test if they thought you were absentminded, but if you were sick, you stayed at Ellis Island until you got better. If you had an incurable disease (there were more than we have now back then) you would take a boat back to your homeland. Lots of people called it "The Island of Hope" because, hopefully, you were welcomed into America. Some (but very few) people called Ellis Island "The Island of Tears" because they didn't get to go to America. The logo on the top of the page says that for a good reason. People thought of America as a dream because there was so much land that was unowned that they could just take for extremely low prices! They also thought of Ellis Island as a gateway to America.
98% of people were let into America, but a teeny 2% were not. That means only 440,000 immigrants were not welcomed. This seems like a lot, but compared to 21,560,000 immigrants that were let in, 440,000 is nothing.
Most people came here to see a friend or relative. They came here, got land, built a home, and waited for the rest of their family to come. Then, they would get started with their crops and/or shops and (hopefully) have a happy life in America. These people were mostly men (and maybe a son) first, but sometimes whole families came at once. But you didn't have to go to Ellis Island. You could stay in Europe or Asia or go to Angel Island, another place where Asian, Japanese and Chinese immigrants mostly went.
On November 12, 1954, Ellis Island closed. No more immigrants could come through, but they didn't really need to. But in 1990, it reopened as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Now people could learn about the history of Ellis Island.
If you finished reading this page, you're ready for the test!
Resources: Wikipedia and Google Images.
Most people came here to see a friend or relative. They came here, got land, built a home, and waited for the rest of their family to come. Then, they would get started with their crops and/or shops and (hopefully) have a happy life in America. These people were mostly men (and maybe a son) first, but sometimes whole families came at once. But you didn't have to go to Ellis Island. You could stay in Europe or Asia or go to Angel Island, another place where Asian, Japanese and Chinese immigrants mostly went.
On November 12, 1954, Ellis Island closed. No more immigrants could come through, but they didn't really need to. But in 1990, it reopened as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Now people could learn about the history of Ellis Island.
If you finished reading this page, you're ready for the test!
Resources: Wikipedia and Google Images.
Ellis Island is near the Hudson River.
A slideshow of Ellis Island pictures I found on Google.