1910 – Angel Island Immigration Station Opens

“In 1905, construction of an Immigration Station began in the area known as China Cove. Surrounded by public controversy from its inception, the station was finally put into operation in 1910. Although it was billed as the ‘Ellis Island of the West,’ within the Immigration Service it was known as ‘The Guardian of the Western Gate’ and was designed control the flow of Chinese into the country… By 1920, an estimated 6,000 to 19,000 Japanese ‘picture brides’ were processed through Angel Island… In 1940, the government decided to abandon the Immigration Station on Angel Island. Their decision was hastened by a fire that destroyed the administration building in August of that year.”