Who was the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island?

Annie Moore was the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island.

Moore was a 17-year-old girl from County Cork, Ireland, who arrived on January 1, 1892, with her two younger brothers. She was received by officials at the newly opened federal immigration station and was presented with a ten-dollar gold coin by New York officials.

Ellis Island replaced the earlier immigration facility at Castle Garden in Manhattan. During its years of operation, the station processed more than twelve million immigrants entering the United States. Medical inspections, legal questioning, and record checks were conducted there, though most arrivals were admitted.

Annie Moore is sometimes confused with Emma Lazarus, whose poem “The New Colossus” is associated with the Statue of Liberty. Lazarus wrote the poem years before Ellis Island opened, and she was not an immigrant processed there. Moore’s story is specifically tied to the station’s opening day and its first recorded arrival.