In American culture, size matters. From tall buildings to super-size fries, we tend to appreciate greatness.

Genealogists are no exception—big databases with lots of names really get our attention. This in large part explains why there is so much interest in the Big Apple when it comes to researching immigration. After all, more immigrants to the United States have entered through New York than all other U.S. ports of entry combined, making the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Castle Garden some of the most potent symbols of the U.S. immigrant experience.

On the other hand, if there is one thing that genealogists appreciate as much as the preeminent, it is the exception. What's the use of those millions of names in the Ellis Island and Castle Garden databases if your ancestor didn't sail into New York?

Ports, Ports, and More Ports
Immigrants entered the United States through over three hundred official ports of entry, in numbers ranging from hundreds to millions, at land border crossings and scores of seaports. They arrived in major cities on the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf Coast, and Great Lakes, as well as in small, far-flung locations, including Fairbanks, Alaska; Calexico, California; Key West, Florida; and Hilo, Hawaii.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS, formerly the INS) has compiled a comprehensive, state-by-state list of land and sea ports of entry, with information about records held at the National Archives and Records Administration. A number of port-specific records are also available on Ancestry.com.

Besides U.S. ports, many would-be Americans arrived at Canadian ports, especially Quebec City and Halifax. Under an agreement with the Canadian government, U.S. officials were on hand at Canadian ports to inspect and record immigrants headed for the United States.

Choosing a Port
There were many factors in considering a port of destination. For some it was a question of what job opportunities existed in or near the destination city. For others, it was a matter of finding the best route to a further destination westward on the continent or the most direct route to where other family members were living. In many cases, to a further destination westward on the continent or the most direct route to where other family members were living. In many cases, the price of passage was of foremost consideration, and the best route would be the cheapest route. There were also considerations of convenience—which ship sailed the soonest or at the most convenient time, which ship or shipping line provided the shortest or most comfortable passage.

Ships and shipping lines contracted with ports, choosing ports based on how lucrative it was to dock there. Decisions were based on port regulations and fees, port accessibility, relationships with related businesses in the same port, trade opportunities in a port for non-passenger cargo, and, occasionally, demand—where immigrants leaving a specific European port wanted to go.

Each port earned a history as unique as the immigrants who landed there, and reviewing the history of an ancestor's port of arrival can yield clues about an ancestor's motivation in coming to America. Additionally, when you don't know an immigrant's port of arrival, learning more about major ports, their peak operation years, and the immigrants who landed there may help you better focus your search.

Port Histories
New York
New York was not always the leading port, even though it was the oldest major North American port city, having been established by the Dutch as New Amsterdam in 1625. It was not until after the Erie Canal opened in 1825 and word spread of this faster and cheaper route to the western interior that New York became the busiest port of entry. Prior to that, it was overshadowed by Philadelphia and Boston.

Prior to World War II, other major ports included Baltimore, New Orleans, and San Francisco. Fluctuations in nationwide immigration patterns were generally reflected in the arrivals at individual ports, although the impact of these fluctuations was sometimes felt differently. As a result, the ranking of the major ports, other than New York, shifted from time to time.

Boston
Founded in 1630, Boston was the leading trading and passenger port in North America from the early colonial period until approximately 1750. Thereafter, Boston continued to be a leading port for trade, but not for passengers, as Philadelphia and, later, Baltimore and New Orleans became more popular arrival ports.

Boston experienced a major influx of immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century, as Irish famine immigrants found cheap passage there. By 1879, Boston became established as a distant second to New York with an estimated 2 million people immigrating through the port of Boston between 1820 and 1920. New York, by comparison, welcomed over 24 million people in the same period.

Baltimore
Baltimore, located more than 150 miles up the largest estuary in the United States, the Chesapeake Bay, is the nation's best protected deep water port, and the closest East Coast port to the Midwest. Following its founding in 1729, Baltimore grew quickly and became the second U.S. city, after New York, to reach a population of 100,000.

Baltimore became a major port of immigration thanks in large part to the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which linked the port of Baltimore, first to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and, in 1853, directly to the Ohio River making Baltimore the quickest route to major Midwestern cities.

An interesting fact about Baltimore is that it did not have a major immigrant processing station—only a boarding station at Locust Point. Inspectors boarded ships at the mouth of the Chesapeake and completed inspections on board while the ships sailed north to Baltimore.

About 1.5 million immigrants sailed into Baltimore.

Philadelphia
Founded in 1682, Philadelphia grew to become Boston's rival in shipping and, for a time, was the leading port of immigration in North America until New York rose to prominence.

During the Irish potato famine, 1847–1854, Philadelphia failed to establish adequate shipping lines to receive the major influx of immigrants, and thus fell behind the other major ports. While Philadelphia had by then built some of the earliest rail lines, the port suffered as it was difficult to access during winter months due to ice on the Delaware River. The ice was overcome in later years through the use of ice-breaking barges and more modern steamships, and Philadelphia enjoyed a period of major immigration from the mid 1870s until World War I. While it regained its place among the major ports of immigration, it never again caught up with Boston or Baltimore.

Approximately 1.2 million immigrants came through Philadelphia between 1820 and 1920; the vast majority of them arrived after 1870.

New Orleans
New Orleans, one of the nation's most culturally diverse cities, was founded by the French in 1718 and controlled by Spain from 1762 until Napoleon sold it to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Once it became a U.S port, shipping traffic to the city grew dramatically, and New Orleans grew to the fourth largest city in the United States by 1840 with a significant immigrant population.

The development of steamboat travel along the Mississippi River made New Orleans the best way to access America's western interior. Immigration via New Orleans, then by steamboat to St. Louis and other points along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers, made The Big Easy a rival to the major East Coast ports.

Over 710,000 immigrants came through New Orleans between 1820 and 1920, the vast majority arriving prior to 1860, and during some of those years the numbers exceeded Boston, Philadelphia, and even Baltimore. However, the Civil War brought an abrupt end to New Orleans's heyday as a port of immigration, and while it was reopened to immigrants after the war, it never regained its position among the major ports.

San Francisco
Settled by the Spanish in 1776, San Francisco became part of the United States in 1847 as a result of the Mexican War. At the time, California was sparsely populated and the city of San Francisco had barely one thousand residents, but with the gold rush, the city grew dramatically. By the end of 1849, San Francisco boasted over 25,000 residents.

By far, the majority of immigrants who sailed to San Francisco were Asian—most European immigrants to California came by land, having first sailed to East Coast or Gulf ports. Chinese immigrants arrived by ship in San Francisco to work in California during the gold rush and during the construction of the transcontinental railroad. The immigrants faced racial discrimination including official government sanction with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Angel Island, often referred to as “The Ellis Island of the West,” has been more appropriately called the “Guardian of the Western Gate”—it was a processing and detainment center built to enforce exclusion, remembered with loathing by the some 175,000 Chinese, 150,000 Japanese, and thousands of immigrants from other nations who passed through it from 1910 to 1940.

Total immigration through San Francisco between 1820 and 1920 is estimated at 500,000.