1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
On Nov. 12, 1954, Ellis Island shut it doors in New York Harbor after processing more than 12 million immigrants since opening in 1892. Today, an estimated 40% of all Americans can trace their roots through Ellis Island, named for merchant Samuel Ellis who owned the land in the 1770s. On Jan. 2, 1892, 15-year-old Annie Moore from Ireland became the first person to pass through the newly opened Ellis Island, which President Benjamin Harrison designated as America’s first federal immigration center in 1890. Before that time, the processing of immigrants had been handled by individual states. While first- and second-class passengers who arrived submitted to a brief shipboard inspection and then disembarked at the piers in New York or New Jersey, where they passed through customs, people in third class were transported to Ellis Island. They underwent medical and legal inspections to ensure they didn’t have a contagious disease or some condition that would make them a burden to the government. Only 2% of all immigrants were denied entrance into the U.S. Immigration to Ellis Island peaked between 1892 and 1924, and during the busiest year of operation, 1907, over 1 million people were processed there. World Wars I and II, and quotas established by the Immigration Act of 1924 reduced the influx until its closure.
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