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From 1892 to 1924 immigrants arriving on ships, passed by the Statue of Liberty on their way to Ellis Island for processing.  They were given a medical exam and their passports were checked for any known criminals.  Some were rejected because of illness or legal reasons.  Some were sent to a hospital to recover.  Sometimes babies were born on Ellis Island.  The first wood main buildings burned down in 1897 with a lot of records lost.  A temporary building was used until a new main building was opened in 1900.  So if looking for relatives names on the Ellis Island website that came over before 1900 you probably will not find it.  Today the main building is a large museum.  The American Family History Center at the museum has computers for you to look up names.  An employee helping people at the center told me I would probably find nothing, but when I got home go to castlegarden.org where any found information prior to 1900 is being put on.  My dad's father came over around 1897.  His mom came over sometime after that from Slovakia(Austro-Hungary).  They met in  Pennsylvania and were married in 1902.  After people were approved to enter the country they were put on a ferry that went to a large train terminal on the Jersey seashore.  The terminal is closed and in disrepair.  Workers were working on repairing it from Hurricane Sandy damage.  Plywood covered parts of the roof.  In 1924 consulates started processing people in their own countries and given visas so the need of Ellis Island for processing became unnecessary.  From 1924 to 1954 Ellis Island was used as a deportation center, hospital, and coast guard.  It closed in 1954 and opened as a museum in 1990.