Immigration Timeline

  • 1190

    Angel Island Opens to Process Immigrants

    Angel Island Opens to Process Immigrants
    over the late objections of Chinese community leaders, this hastily built immigration station was opened on the northeastern edge of Angel Island, ready to receive its first guests. The first stop on disembarking at the pier on Angel Island was the Administration Building.
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    The Dead Rabbits Riot

    The Dead Rabbits riot was a two-day civil disturbance in New York City evolving from what was originally a small-scale street fight between members of the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys into a citywide gang war, which occurred July 4–5, 1857.
  • The Ku Klux Klan is Established

    The Ku Klux Klan is Established
    The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is the name of several historical and current American white supremacist, far-right terrorist organizations and hate groups. The Klan was "the first organized terror movement in American history."
  • John D. Rockefeller Creates Standard Oil

    John D. Rockefeller Creates Standard Oil
    ohn D. Rockefeller formed the Standard Oil Company on January 10, 1870, with his business partners and brother. The success of this business empire made Rockefeller one of the world's first billionaires and a celebrated philanthropist
  • Alexander Graham Bell Patents the Telephone

    Alexander Graham Bell Patents the Telephone
    On 7 March 1876, Bell was granted US patent 174465A, for a method of transmitting speech by telegraphy—the telephone
  • The Great Oklahoma Land Race

    The Great Oklahoma Land Race
    was a day of chaos, excitement, and utter confusion. Men and women rushed to claim homesteads or to purchase lots in one of the many new towns that sprang into existence overnight. An estimated eleven thousand agricultural homesteads were claimed.
  • Ellis Island Opens to Process Immigrants

    Ellis Island Opens to Process Immigrants
    Ellis Island opened as an immigration station on January 1, 1892, seventeen-year-old Annie Moore,
    from Country Cork, Ireland was the first immigrant to be processed at the new federal immigration depot
  • The Wizard of Oz (Book) is Published

    The Wizard of Oz (Book) is Published
    The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, is the first fantasy written by an American to enjoy immediate success upon publication.
  • J.P. Morgan Founds U.S. Steel

    J.P. Morgan Founds U.S. Steel
    Early in 1901, J. P. Morgan, the country's most powerful banker, merged Andrew Carnegie's Carnegie Steel Corporation with nine other steel companies to form the world's largest corporation. The United States Steel Corporation, usually known as U.S. Steel or simply Big Steel, was capitalized at $1.4 billion.
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    Teddy Roosevelt Becomes President of the United States

    The presidency of Theodore Roosevelt started on September 14, 1901, when Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th president of the United States upon the assassination of President William McKinley, and ended on March 4, 1909. Roosevelt had been the vice president for only 194 days when he succeeded to the presidency.
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    Ida Tarbell Publishes Her Article About Standard Oil

    In 1901, Tarbell began to investigate Standard Oil; her articles appeared in every issue of McClure's between November 1902 and May 1904 and were collected into a book in November 1904.
  • Ford Motor Company is Founded

    Ford Motor Company is Founded
    On June 16, 1903, Henry and 12 others invested $28,000 and created Ford Motor Company. The first car built by the Company was sold July 15, 1903.
  • The 16th Amendment is Passed

    The 16th Amendment is Passed
    Passed by Congress on July 2, 1909, and ratified February 3, 1913, the 16th amendment established Congress's right to impose a Federal income tax.
  • The 17th Amendment is Passed

    The Seventeenth Amendment restates the first paragraph of Article I, section 3 of the Constitution and provides for the election of senators by replacing the phrase “chosen by the Legislature thereof” with “elected by the people thereof.” In addition, it allows the governor or executive authority of each state, if authorized by that state’s legislature, to appoint a senator in the event of a vacancy, until a general election occurs.
  • The Empire State Building Opens

    The Empire State Building Opens
    Construction started on March 17, 1930, and the building opened thirteen and a half months afterward on May 1, 1931. Despite favorable publicity related to the building's construction, because of the Great Depression and World War II, its owners did not make a profit until the early 1950s.