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Ellis Island officially opened as an immigration station on January 1, 1892. Seventeen-year-old Annie Moore, from County Cork, Ireland was the first immigrant to be processed at the new federal immigration depot.
Due to the economic depression at the time, immigration was light and Ellis Island inspectors had no difficulty in processing the fewer than 20,000 immigrants who arrived annually. On June 15, 1897 a fire destroyed the complex of wooden buildings.