The place where many thousands of immigrants entered the US, around the early 20th century. My grandparents did so before becoming citizens.
Ellis Island was originally just a small swampy island located in NY harbor, between NY & NJ. Over time it became the repository of the ballast removed from the many sailing ships entering the harbor. It finally became large enough to support buildings and was where the Immigration and Customs Center was built.
It was the only place where people from all over the world set foot on land that actually came from all over the world also.
( I thought this was a really strange and interesting piece of data.)
![Sailing :sailing:](./images/smilies/sailing.gif)
![USA :usa:](./images/smilies/USA.gif)