Today in History: November 12, Ellis Island closes its doors

Today is Thursday, Nov. 12, the 316th day of 2026. There are 49 days left in the year. Today in history: On Nov. 12, 1954, Ellis Island officially closed as an immigration station and detention center. More than 12 million immigrants arrived in the United States via Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. Also on this date: In 1927, Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party. In 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in Washington, D.C., and gave the green light to traffic. In 1936, American playwright Eugene O'Neill received the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1948, Japanese general and former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war-crimes tribunal; Tojo was executed in December 1948. In 1970, the Bhola cyclone struck East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. The deadliest tropical cyclone on record claimed the lives of an estimated 300,000-500,000 people. In 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, en route to the Dominican Republic, crashed after takeoff from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 people on board and five people on the ground. In 2019, Venice saw its worst flooding in more than 50 years, with the water reaching 6.14 feet (1.87 meters) above average sea level; damage was estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2021, a judge in Los Angeles ended the conservatorship that had controlled the life and money of pop star Britney Spears for nearly 14 years. In 2024, Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guard member, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for leaking classified military documents about the war in Ukraine. Nearly a year after his April 2023 arrest, Teixeira had pleaded guilty to willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act. Today’s Birthdays: Actor-playwright Wallace Shawn is 83. Rock musician Booker T. Jones is 82. Sportscaster Al Michaels is 82. Singer-songwriter Neil Young is 81. Actor Megan Mullally is 68. Olympic gold medal gymnast Nadia Comăneci is 65. Former American figure skater Tonya Harding is 56. Olympic gold medal swimmer Jason Lezak is 51. Pakistani filmmaker and journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is 48. Actor Ryan Gosling is 46. Actor Anne Hathaway is 44. Golfer Jason Day is 39. MotoGP star Marco Bezzecchi is 28. NBA All-Star Paolo Banchero is 24. More from this section Living The Homebuying Advice Service Members Need (but Don’t Always Get) Nov 9, 2026 News In Mexico, journalists face threats from attackers — and from the system meant to protect them, too Updated 5 hrs ago Texas How gas prices have changed in Texarkana in the last week Updated Nov 9, 2026 News Maine veteran turned Texan uses skills with machinery to forge path in Central Texas 15 hrs ago Inside Killeen Podcast