This unique time in our nation’s history was unlike any other.More than a century ago, Ellis Island in the east and Angel Island in the west have processed millions of immigrants, all of whom came to the U.S. looking for a better life, or at least a new start. The photographs taken during this time tell of the Old World, as people disembarked from their steamer ships wearing the traditional dress of their countries, belongings in fabric bundles, sometimes with a smile for the camera and sometimes not. Here are 24 stunning photos of immigration at the turn of the century that give us a glimpse of what these immigrants were experiencing upon their arrival to America.









The boom in immigration around the turn of the century meant that extraordinary numbers of people from all over the world flooded Ellis Island and major cities across the country. It wasn’t easy, but they made the best of the situation, making friends and money as they could and carving out new lives in this unfamiliar new land.