Galveston Immigration Stations
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Galveston was the port of entry for thousands of immigrants who settled in Texas and the southwest. Federal laws enacted in 1875 ended the unrestricted entry of immigrants into the country and led to the establishment of the area's first U. S. Immigration Station at Galveston's Pier 29. There U. S. Customs officials conducted medical exams, baggage inspections and formal processing of immigrants; those found to be diseased or incapacitated faced deportation. The U. S. Congress chose Galveston over New Orleans as the site of a major new Federal immigration station in 1906. Plans to build an impressive immigrant landing station on Pelican Island comparable to New York's Ellis Island facility were never fully realized. The scaled-down station, fully operational by 1913, was damaged by hurricane winds in 1915 and closed in 1916. The immigration offices were subsequently relocated to a building on Galveston's 21st Street. A new 3-story immigration station containing immigration offices, dormitories, medical facilities, a kitchen, and dining and recreational areas was completed here at 1700 Strand Avenue in 1933. It was used as an immigration and deportee-staging facility until about 1940 when it was converted for use as a U. S. Customs Office.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
For decades Galveston was the great southwestern gateway for immigrants entering the United States, its Gulf docks a Texas counterpart to the Atlantic's landing stations. From the first federal station at Pier 29 in the 1870s through an ambitious plan for an Ellis Island of the South, officials here inspected, processed, and sometimes turned away newcomers, ending with a substantial 1933 station on the Strand.
Why it matters
Galveston reminds us that America's immigrant story arrived through many doors, not just New York harbor, and that the Gulf Coast helped shape the peopling of Texas and the West.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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The Heidenheimer Bros. - Marine Building
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