Ellis Island
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50 free Ellis Island trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
For more than sixty years, a small island in New York Harbor decided who could become an American. Families who had crossed an ocean in the cheapest berths faced doctors, interpreters and inspectors in a single anxious day, and most walked out the other side to start new lives. A large share of Americans today can trace an ancestor to that moment. This quiz covers the island's whole story: its colonial owners and military past, the two immigration stations, the medical and legal inspections, the myth about changed names, and the laws that first widened and then narrowed the gate. It also looks west to Angel Island, at well-known people who arrived as children, and at what visitors find on the island now. It suits family historians, classes studying immigration in U.S. history or APUSH, and anyone planning a trip to the museum. Every question is multiple choice and every answer comes with an explanation, so it works as a study guide as well as a game.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01A 1998 Supreme Court ruling placed most of Ellis Island in which state, ending a long border feud?
New Jersey
New Jersey was awarded the landfill added since the 1890s, roughly 23 of the island's 27.5 acres. The original patch beneath the main building stayed in New York.
Q 02Annie Moore, the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island in 1892, had sailed from which country?
Ireland
Ireland was home for Annie Moore, who left County Cork with her two younger brothers to join their parents in New York. Memorials to her now stand on both sides of the Atlantic.
Q 03Ellis Island doctors wrote code letters on immigrants' coats, such as H for heart, using what?
Chalk
Chalk let a doctor flag a problem in seconds: L meant lameness, E eyes, K hernia. Some immigrants reportedly wiped the mark off or turned their coats inside out.
Q 04Which film helped spread the myth that Ellis Island clerks changed immigrants' surnames?
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II shows an officer registering young Vito Andolini under the name of his village, Corleone. In reality families usually Americanized their own surnames, on average about five years after arriving.
Q 05For a healthy immigrant with papers in order, how long did Ellis Island inspection usually take?
A few hours
A few hours was typical, usually three to five. The pace had to be quick: at the peak, inspectors were clearing about 5,000 people a day.
Q 06Which class of passengers went by barge to Ellis Island instead of being inspected aboard ship?
Steerage
Steerage, or third class, meant the crowded lower decks. Officials assumed anyone who could afford a better cabin was unlikely to become a burden, so those travelers got a quick check on board.
Q 07Despite its fearsome reputation, what share of arrivals at Ellis Island were refused entry?
About 2%
About 2% were sent back, usually over a contagious disease or doubts that they could support themselves. For those families the place earned the name Island of Tears.
Q 08Ellis Island doctors rolled back immigrants' eyelids to check for disease with which tool?
A buttonhook
A buttonhook, sold for fastening tight boots and gloves, was used to turn the eyelid inside out. Many arrivals remembered the check as especially painful and terrifying.
Q 09Ellis Island's museum library is named for which British-born entertainer who arrived as a child?
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, born in London, landed in 1908 at age four on his way to Cleveland. Congress put his name on the museum library in 2008, over the objections of the agency that runs the island.
Q 10A bridge has reached Ellis Island since 1986, yet how must ordinary visitors still get there?
By ferry
By ferry is the only public way in. The bridge was put up to carry workers and materials for the 1980s restoration and has stayed closed to visitors ever since.
Q 11Since 1965, Ellis Island has been part of a national monument named for which nearby landmark?
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty was declared a national monument in 1924. Ellis Island joined it by presidential proclamation in 1965, though visitors could not set foot there until 1976.
Q 12Which federal agency has run Ellis Island since 1965, museum and ruins alike?
National Park Service
The National Park Service took over 11 years after the last detainee left. In between, the government tried to sell the island as surplus property and drew a bid for a resort hotel.
Q 13Which auto executive did President Reagan pick in 1982 to raise money to restore Ellis Island?
Q 21At Ellis Island, a letter X marked on an immigrant's coat meant doctors suspected what?
A mental disorder
A mental disorder was the suspicion behind an X, and a circled X meant definite signs. Anyone so marked was sent to a side room for a longer examination.
Q 22Which contagious eye disease sent more immigrants home from Ellis Island than any other illness?
Trachoma
Trachoma, a bacterial infection that roughens the inner eyelid, can end in blindness. It worried Washington enough that in 1913 funds were set aside to wipe it out at home.
Q 23Ellis Island inspectors wrote no names down; they checked arrivals against which pre-sailing list?
The ship's manifest
Lee Iacocca
Lee Iacocca headed the foundation that raised more than $350 million in donations. The money paid for the work that let the main building reopen as a museum in 1990.
Q 14Ellis Island takes its name from Samuel Ellis, a colonial merchant who came from which country?
Wales
Wales was the homeland of Samuel Ellis, a merchant from Wrexham. He advertised the island for sale in 1785, found no buyer, and still owned it when he died in 1794.
Q 15Dutch colonists named Ellis Island after which shellfish that crowded the surrounding tidal flats?
Oysters
Oysters gave it the name Little Oyster Island, and colonial New Yorkers held roasts and picnics there. Landfill for the immigration station later buried the beds.
Q 16What destroyed Ellis Island's first immigration station in 1897, five years after it opened?
A fire
A fire of unknown origin levelled the pine buildings overnight. Nobody died, but decades of immigration records burned, and the government ordered a replacement that could not burn.
Q 17Ellis Island's main building won a design gold medal at a 1900 world's fair in which city?
Paris
Paris awarded the gold medal to a design by Edward Tilton and William Boring. They had won the job in only the second federal design contest opened to private architects.
Q 18In which vast second-floor hall at Ellis Island did inspectors question each new arrival?
The Registry Room
The Registry Room, also known as the Great Hall, rises to a 56-foot ceiling. Handrails once split the waiting crowd into lanes; benches replaced them around 1911.
Q 19German saboteurs' 1916 munitions blast damaged Ellis Island; on which nearby island did it happen?
Black Tom
Black Tom was a depot packed with munitions awaiting shipment to the Allies. The blast collapsed the main building's roof and shattered windows, yet every immigrant was evacuated safely.
Q 20Immigration law let Ellis Island inspectors exclude anyone likely to become a public what?
Charge
Charge was the legal term for anyone expected to need public support. Inspectors asked how much money each newcomer carried, hoping to see roughly $18 to $25.
The ship's manifest was filled in at the port of departure and held each traveler's answers to a set of questions. Inspectors used it to cross-examine, and often corrected its mistakes.
Q 24When Ellis Island inspectors rejected an immigrant, who had to pay for the voyage home?
The steamship company
The steamship company had to carry a rejected passenger home at its own expense. That gave the lines a strong reason to screen travelers before they ever boarded.
Q 25An 1885 law meant Ellis Island arrivals could be turned away for admitting they already had what?
A job contract
A job contract signed before sailing was outlawed to stop employers importing cheap labor. Yet the same newcomers also had to convince inspectors they could support themselves.
Q 26From 1917, adults arriving at Ellis Island had to prove they could do what in their own language?
Read a short passage
Read a short passage, that is; children under 16 were exempt. Congress had to override President Wilson's veto to make the test law.
Q 27A 1924 immigration law emptied Ellis Island's inspection lines by setting what for each country?
Annual quotas
Annual quotas were pegged to each nationality's share of the 1890 census, favoring older immigrant groups. Afterward the island mostly held people awaiting deportation.
Q 28After 1924, where were immigrants screened before sailing, ending Ellis Island's main role?
American consulates
American consulates took over the paperwork and medical checks, so a traveler held a visa before boarding. Only those with problems were still taken to the island.
Q 29About how many immigrants were processed at Ellis Island between 1892 and its closing in 1954?
12 million
About 12 million people came through, and by one estimate some two-fifths of Americans have an ancestor among them. The busiest single day, in April 1907, brought 11,747 arrivals.
Q 30What nickname stuck to the Ellis Island spot where admitted immigrants met their waiting relatives?
The Kissing Post
The Kissing Post was a plain wooden column, named for the hugs and tears of families meeting again once the inspection was over.