San Francisco’s Stations - Before, During, and After Angel Island

San Francisco’s history with immigrant detention reveals a challenging and, at times, troubling story of how the US has treated newcomers, particularly from Asia. In the late 19th century, growing anti-Chinese sentiment led to the creation of discriminatory laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. These laws forced many immigrants into cramped and temporary detention sites, starting with ships anchored in San Francisco Bay.

Over time, detention moved to makeshift facilities, including a wooden "detention shed" and, eventually, Angel Island Immigration Station. These places were more than just processing centers; they reflected the fear and prejudice of the era. By looking back at this history, we can better understand the systems and attitudes that shaped immigration in the United States.

View a Google Map of the locations mentioned in this post.

Detention Ships / 1883 - 1898

As early as the 1860s, public sentiment toward Chinese laborers soured, leading to waves of xenophobia and violence across California, Oregon, and Washington State. In 1882, US Congress decided to take action against the “yellow peril” by passing a law that denied entry to arrivals from China. The following year, a judge ordered the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to detain Chinese immigrants aboard their ship, City of Tokio, until their cases were decided. City of Tokio became the first of several detention ships used by the company in San Francisco Bay.

Detention Shed at Pier 40 / 1898 - 1910

By the late 1800s, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company was struggling to keep up with the growing number of detained immigrants. When its largest ship was sent off to support the US military during the Spanish-American War, the company needed a new solution. They decided to convert their upstairs loft at Pier 40 into a makeshift detention facility for Chinese migrants.

This small wooden room, known as the “detention shed,” measured only 100 by 50 feet. It quickly earned grim nicknames from the immigrants held there, such as the muk uk (wooden house), “iron cage,” or “Chinese jail.” The facility was overcrowded and poorly ventilated, with bunks stacked five or six tiers high. A journalist visiting the site in 1898 described over 350 immigrants packed into the space, comparing it to a "honeycomb of tiny rooms."

The shed was plagued by issues and controversies, including the 1904 detention of Sun Yat-sen, the “Father of Modern China.” Yat-sen was born in the Territory of Hawaiʻi, making him a native-born citizen of the United States per the 14th Amendment. However, immigration commissioner Hart Hyatt North claimed Yat-sen waived his US citizenship to become a subject of China; therefore, he should be detained at the Pacific Mail dock with other Chinese arrivals. It wasn’t until Yat-sen appealed to the Acting Secretary of Commerce and Labor that his release was secured.

The detention shed came under increased scrutiny from Commissioner North for its poor security and unacceptable living conditions. In a July 1909 letter, North proposed detaining immigrants on the steamship City of Peking (sister ship of City of Tokio) until a new location was ready.

“Present detention shed, both gov’t officers and steamship people agree, is too small, offers a constant danger of escape therefrom, is unsanitary owing to crowded conditions and lack of possibility for exercise in the sunlight and fresh air, is so arranged that it is impossible to prevent communication with Chinese on the outside, thereby to a large extent destroying the efficiency of the exclusion law… I am decidedly of the opinion that the use of the City of Peking is in every way the most advantageous place for detention… By using the Peking, the Chinese could be more comfortably housed, [and] the exclusion law could be better enforced…”

Several months later, the Angel Island Immigration Station became the city’s first immigration station. On January 23, 1910, officials moved 101 Chinese detainees and one South Asian detainee from the Pacific Mail dock to Angel Island, effectively ending privatized immigrant detention in San Francisco.

Angel Island Immigration Station / 1910 - 1940

Angel Island was meant to be the West Coast’s answer to Ellis Island. Located in the San Francisco Bay, it opened in January 1910 as a more permanent and controlled immigration station. However, it quickly became infamous for its harsh conditions and the grueling interrogations that many immigrants endured, especially Chinese arrivals. Immigrants were often detained for weeks, months, or even years as they navigated a system designed to enforce exclusion laws rather than welcome newcomers.

The Angel Island Immigration Station was the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization’s headquarters for 30 years. During that time, the bureau also operated two additional sites, both of which were located in San Francisco.

Angel Island Headquarters and Immigrant Detention Station (Bureau of Immigration)
Once the facility opened, the commissioner’s offices moved from the Appraiser’s Building to Angel Island. The headquarters focused on immigrant detention, arrival and deportation hearings, and record-keeping for the San Francisco district.

Old Appraiser’s Building (Immigration Field Office)
An immigration office opened in the Old Appraiser’s Building years before the Angel Island station. The location remained open as a field office for the Bureau of Immigration inspectors, who were responsible for ship inspections and immigration enforcement (warrants and arrests).

US Post Office and Courthouse Building (Bureau of Naturalization)
Citizenship cases were the responsibility of District Courts until 1906 when Congress passed the Basic Naturalization Act to “restore dignity and uniformity among the nation’s more than 5,000 naturalization courts.” The act created the Bureau of Naturalization, whose activities remained at the courthouse where officers could work closely with the Department of Justice.

In 1940, a fire destroyed much of the administration building, effectively ending its use. Immigrants were transferred to 801 Silver Avenue, a temporary facility in San Francisco, marking the close of an important yet painful chapter in immigration history.

801 Silver Avenue & Sharp Park / 1940 - 1944

After the Angel Island fire, immigration operations moved to 801 Silver Avenue, a former Salvation Army training center in San Francisco. The facility quickly became the central location for detaining immigrants and processing deportation cases. Detainees were housed in a gymnasium, with tiered beds crammed into tight rows.

During World War II, the site also became part of the US government's internment program for "enemy aliens," including Japanese, German, and Italian immigrants. Though intended as a temporary solution, 801 Silver Avenue played a critical role in immigration enforcement during a turbulent time in American history.

801 Silver Avenue (INS Headquarters)
For a few short months between August and November 1940, immigrants were transferred between Angel Island and 801 Silver Avenue for their hearings. The facility was located four miles inland from San Francisco Bay, which required INS to transport immigrants from ships to the site via what one former detainee described as a “paddy wagon.”

Sharp Park Detention Station / Camp Sharp Park (INS Internment Camp)
Located 15 miles south of San Francisco in Pacifica, Sharp Park was originally built as a relief camp during the Great Depression. By 1942, it had been repurposed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to house Japanese, German, and Italian internees as part of the "enemy alien" control program. The camp could hold over 1,000 individuals and became a waystation for many internees before they were sent to more permanent detention centers across the country.

New Appraiser’s Building / 1944 - Present

Several years before the immigration station closed on Angel Island, plans were made to move to a location on the mainland. The San Francisco News ran a story in 1937, announcing the proposed site.

“New Customs building here is forecast; House votes funds for many Federal construction projects; Replacement of the old U.S. Customs Appraisers building at Sansome, Washington, and Jackson Streets with a modern, five-story building… to include an immigration station.”

Planning for the facility took time. First, the Old Appraiser’s Building had to be razed before anything new could be built. Unfortunately, time was not on the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s side. After an electrical fire consumed the administration offices, dining facilities, and women’s dormitories on Angel Island, INS established a semi-permanent operation at 801 Silver Avenue until 630 Sansome Street was completed.

In 1944, immigration operations moved to the newly built Appraiser’s Building in downtown San Francisco. This modern, 16-story facility became the headquarters for the Immigration and Naturalization Service and remains a center for immigration activity to this day. According to Stephen Louie, a Chinese interpreter for the service, INS occupied floors 9 through 12 of the building. The 9th floor was for administration, the 10th floor was for examining immigrants, the 11th floor was for male detainees, and the 12th floor was for female detainees.

Although the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 allowed INS to release noncitizens while their cases were considered, the practice of immigrant detention continued. In a November 1954 memo from the district director of INS offers the following details regarding the city’s detention facilities.

“Aliens in detention at the Service-operated detention quarters, San Francisco, were transferred to the Alameda County Rehabilitation Center on October 20th… At the close of business on September 23, 1954, there were 88 aliens detained at the San Francisco Detention Facility. Of this number, only 6 are exclusion cases.”

Today, the building houses the field office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the city’s immigration court, among other federal entities.

Abandoned Alcatraz Proposal / 1913 - 1915

When the Angel Island Immigration Station opened in 1910, it was considered woefully inadequate for the Bureau of Immigration’s work and unsafe for immigrant detainees. Federal officials began searching for a new location in San Francisco Bay, including Fort Mason and the Presidio, but the War Department refused. In July 1913, the San Francisco Call announced that the military prison on Alcatraz was selected as the city’s new immigration station.

“Alcatraz Island offers an ideal site for a great immigrant landing station… Undoubtedly the new prison buildings recently completed on Alcatraz could be remodeled and utilized as a part of the immigration station equipment. The suggested changes involve infinitely less expense than the construction of either an entirely new immigrant station or a new prison.”

Over the next year, Congress pushed for the move with H.R. 9017, a bill proposing the transfer of Alcatraz to the Department of Labor. The Federation of Civil Service Employees also supported the relocation efforts and proposed that the abandoned immigration station become a sanitarium. One motivating factor for the move was the imminent opening of the Panama Canal. The Commissioner of Immigration argued that Angel Island could not accommodate the influx of European immigrants the canal would bring to San Francisco Bay.

The Panama Canal opened in August 1914 but failed to increase immigrant arrivals as anticipated. In January 1915, a majority of Congress still supported the transfer, but a sole objection blocked the bill from passing. Shortly thereafter, the proposal was abandoned.

Other Abandoned Proposals