Ellis Island opened on this date in 1892

Profile America — The place where many of our ancestors first stepped ashore when they came to America seeking a new life opened on this date in 1892—Ellis Island in New York Harbor. The very first immigrant processed at the new facility was a 15-year-old Irish girl named Annie Moore. Over the course of more than 60 years, some 12 million people flowed through the center. Some sources say the number is considerably higher. The peak year was 1907, when just over a million immigrants came to Ellis Island. The complex now belongs to the National Park Service and is visited by several million people a year. In 1910, the foreign-born represented some 15 percent of America’s population. Now, that figure has actually declined slightly, to 12.9 percent. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.

Sources:
http://ellisisland.org/genealogy/ellis_island_timeline.asp
http://www.census.gov/how/infographics/foreign_born.html