Italian immigrants took their first steps on U.S. soil in a place that has now become legend — Ellis Island. In the 1880s, they numbered 300,000; in the 1890s, 600,000; in the decade after that, more than two million. By 1920, when immigration began to taper off, more than 4 million Italians had come to the United States, and represented more than 10 percent of the nation’s foreign-born population.

They worked in mines and on the railroads, they built subway systems and skyscrapers, and some were lucky enough to start businesses of their own — some of which remain in existence today. Here are a handful of their stories...