Ellis Island’s Main Immigration Building stands in New York Harbor as a record of arrival, inspection, and waiting. Its Great Hall concentrated millions of individual journeys into a federal process that shaped who could enter the United States.
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The huge arched windows and copper-capped towers make this building feel ceremonial, but its central room was built for inspection. Ellis Island became the nation’s principal federal immigration station in 1892; the present Main Building opened in 1900 after a fire destroyed the original wooden station.
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- The immigration station opened on Ellis Island in 1892.
- The current Main Immigration Building opened in 1900 after an 1897 fire.
- More than 12 million immigrants were processed on Ellis Island.
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