Ellis Island was opened originally in 1892, wooden buildings on the island in New York Harbor. The buildings burned in 1897 so processing took place in Manhattan at the Barge Office, what now is the Coast Guard station. It reopened in 1900.

The busiest year was 1906. The number of immigrants processed is cited as "12 to 16 million" by the National Park Service because a lot of records were lost in the fire and elsewhere but it is assumed that 12 million is probably most accurate.

Very little is known of Annie Moore. Ellis Island has now and had then no piers. There was an awful lot of poetic license taken in that song.

In 1921 and 1924 massive immigration reform bills were passed (this is where a lot of Social Darwinism was codified into the U.S. immigration policy toward various groups, religions, and nationalities). By 1924 immigrant processing was happening at the nation of origin, and if there were problems people would be detained at Ellis.

During World War II it was primarily a Coast Guard facility and the hospitals were used for rehabilitation of injured military. I don't have a lot of information about that period. It closed in 1954, though after that a couple of groups tried and failed to make a go of using the island. Ellis was added to the National Park Service in 1965 and is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. I worked there as an interpretive historian for two years back before the restoration of the island began. For more information I would refer you to Strangers At the Door, a book by Ann Novotny that gives an excellent overview of immigration before and through the Ellis Island years.

SRS