nPostednon January 1, 2016
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nEllisnIsland is the famous U.S. immigration station that opened on thisndate in 1892 and operated more than half a century. Millions ofnimmigrants arriving on the East Coast of the U.S. passed through thisnstation – and, amazingly, close to 40% of all current U.S. citizensncan trace at least one of their ancestors to Ellis Island!
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nAccordingnto this short video, many people who themselves later becamenfamous – people that, in some cases, we think of as simplyn“American” – were immigrants who came to this nation throughnEllis Island. They include comedian Bob Hope (who arrived fromnBritain in 1908, just 5 years old), actors Charlie Chaplin (who wasnalso British, but who came over when he was in his early 20s, inn1912) and Cary Grant (yet another Brit who arrived in 1920, age 16),nand musician Irving Berlin (who arrived from Russia when he was 5nyears old, in 1893). n
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nDidnyou know…?
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| In this photo, Ellis Island appears just behind Liberty Island. |
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nEllisnIsland is an island in Upper New York Bay. The island is really closento Liberty Island, so immigrants had a great view of the Statue ofnLiberty as they waited in line for their “6-second physicals” andnprocessing. n
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nEllisnIsland is now a museum with numerous fascinating exhibits aboutnimmigration. It is a part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument,nrun by the National Park Service. You can take a ferry to bothnislands, one after the other, for a great day of sightseeing!
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nEllisnIsland, the island itself, was greatly enlarged with landnreclamation. n
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nInn1897, a fire broke out and destroyed the buildings on Ellis Island.nThank goodness, nobody died in the fire, but it is unfortunate thatnmost of the immigration records were destroyed. This includes notnonly the 1.5 immigrant records processed in the first five years ofnthe immigrant inspection station’s use, but also immigration recordsnbeing kept there from as far back as 1855!
The new immigrationnstation was built to be fireproof!
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nEllisnIsland by the numbers…
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Fromn 1905 to 1914, an average of one million (1,000,000) immigrants an year arrived on Ellis Island.n
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nDuringn peak years, immigration officials processed about 5,000 immigrantsn per day.
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nThen all-time daily high (in April of 1907), there were 11,747 immigrantn arrivals.
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nArrivalsn were asked 29 questions ranging from name to how much money theyn carried. Most successful immigrants spent 2 to 5 hours beingn processed.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nEuronDay
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nFirstfootnDay
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nFirstfootnDay
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nNewnYear’s Dayn(also herenand here)
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nPatriotnand silversmith Paul Revere’s birthday
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nFlagnmaker Betsy Ross’s birthday
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nFlagnmaker Betsy Ross’s birthday
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nRosenParade Day
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Plannahead:
Plannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest pages on:
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nJanuaryn birthdays
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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