Ellis Island
Between 1905 and 1914, an average of one million immigrants per year arrived in the United States. Immigration officials reviewed about 5,000 immigrants per day during peak times at Ellis Island. Two-thirds of those individuals emigrated from eastern, southern and central Europe. The peak year for immigration at Ellis Island was 1907, with 1,004,756 immigrants processed. The all-time daily high occurred on April 17, 1907, when 11,747 immigrants arrived. After the Immigration Act of 1924 was passed, which greatly restricted immigration and allowed processing at overseas embassies, the only immigrants to pass through the station were those who had problems with their immigration paperwork, displaced persons, and war refugees. Today, over 100 million Americans—about one-third to 40% of the population of the United States—can trace their ancestry to immigrants who arrived in America at Ellis Island before dispersing to points all over the country.
The Ellis School
Dr. Marion Hope Hamilton became headmistress in 1955 and began at once to search for new property. The school ultimately purchased the 5.1-acre site at 6425 Fifth Avenue, part of the estate of Charles and Thomas Arbuthnot, where it remains today. The groundbreaking ceremony took place in May, 1958. There were two houses on the property and one was razed to make room for a new facility. The other house became the Lower School for the next 30 years, and 116 Lower School students moved into their quarters in late 1958, having walked hand-in-hand from the Edwards campus. 
The dedication of the buildings for the Middle and Upper Schools took place in November, 1959. Enrollment was 383, with a faculty of thirty-nine. Ellis' high quality was becoming more widely recognized. In 1961, the school was authorized to establish a chapter of the Cum Laude Society.