With tickets fastened to their coats and dresses, the immigrants pass through the gate to enter into their new inheritance, and become our felllow citizens.

During the quarter century following 1890, 18 million immigrants arrived in the United States. Prior to the Civil War, most immigrants came from northern and western Europe, particularly from England, Germany, Ireland, and Scandinavia.

After 1890, most newcomers were from southern and eastern Europe, especially Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Russia. By 1900, New York City had more Italians than any city in Italy except Rome, more Poles than any city in Poland except Warsaw, as many Irish as Dublin, and more Jews than any other city in the world.

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