New York Irish History Roundtable - Journal Articles

In New York City during the twentieth century, the Catholic church was often the heart of an Irish neighborhood. However, the physical building of parishes was no longer the sole goal; churches were increasing their sphere of influence into people's personal lives positioning themselves at the center of not just religious life, but also social, recreational, and educational lives as well.' Beginning in the 1920s, the Irish parish entered a "golden age" -no longer just a church, the parish was fully realized as the vital... [Read Full Article]

Stephen Butler, Ph.D. is a faculty member in the Expository Writing Program at New York University. He is a graduate of the doctoral program in Modern History and Literature at Drew University, and was a winner of the bation, the advice Robert Frost inscribed inside the book of poetry he gave Kennedy as gift: "Be more Irish than Harvard" (Maier returned to the land of his great-grandfather's 363). Receptions Of An Irish Rebel: Brendan Behan in New York City, 1960-64 BY STEPHEN BUTLER, PA.D. the end of June 1963, as America's... [Read Full Article]

Annie Moore was the first person to enter the United States through its new Ellis Island facility. She arrived in January, 1892 from Co. Cork where she was born. Her parents arrived four years earlier and lived on Monroe Street on Manhattan's lower Eastside. Courtesy of John T. Ridge.

John Ridge is president of the New York Irish History Roundtable. He is the author of many articles and several books on the Irish in the New York City area. His last article, "Going Home-Travel to Ireland from New York" appeared in volume... [Read Full Article]

For if the port made New York, the Irish made the port. Ed.Note: This is the first of two articles by Joseph Long on the Irish in Chelsea and Greenwich Village. The second article will appear in volume 27 of New York Irish History. It will deal with work done on the Hudson River piers, waterfront labor issues, and aspects of social life in these Manhattan communities.

This is a history of the New York Irish experience in Greenwich Village and Chelsea from the Depression through the mid-1960s. Using oral histories as its... [Read Full Article]

It's hard work being impoverished in our ignorance of those who came before us. We walk New York's streets, but turn a blind eye to the giants who walked there before us. Every so often though, the past rises through cracks in the Belgian-block paving stones. Crosby Street is quiet now, right by the Housing Works Bookstore and Café. Once it resounded with bravos and huzzahs. Standing at the cash register, I realized I was in a place precious to me. I've been working on a biography of William Niblo, the... [Read Full Article]

One hundred and fifty years ago, in July 1863, the Civil War raged on, leaving thousands of soldiers dead or wounded. The Union army desperately needed men, leading the federal government to pass the nation's first conscription act. 1 There was an intense negative reaction throughout the nation, but nowhere more violently than in New York City. The city, with its growing immigrant population, had extreme class discrepancies which the draft exacerbated, resulting in four days of conflict. Following the first day of the draft,... [Read Full Article]

Late in the morning of September 5, 1854, a "grand parade" of the American Protestant Association (APA) assembled in Newark, New Jersey, to march in commemoration of the first meeting of the Continental Congress in 1775. Those in attendance includ - ed members of more than twenty lodges from New York, invited by the parade's organizer, Newark APA City Lodge No. 4. They would be marching in a state where nativist hostility had frequently erupted into violence. When the parade had concluded and the more than 2,500... [Read Full Article]

The first part of this article, published in volume 25 of New York Irish History, covered mainly downtown Manhattan where counties such as Cork, Kerry, and Tyrone staked out neighborhoods that became decidedly their own. The narrow geographic confines of lower Manhattan and the large influx of Irish immigrants during and just after the time of the Great Hunger made the congregation of Irish immigrants into distinctive neighborhoods relatively easy. But a few years later, when there were fewer Irish newcomers spreading out over a... [Read Full Article]

Ed. Note: The first part of this article appeared in volume 26 of New York Irish History and focused on development of Manhattans West Side waterfront after the Civil War, the arrival of the Irish there, and major social institutions that emerged in Chelsea and Greenwich Village through the mid-twentieth century. This final part deals with economic and labor developments in these areas, particularly after WWII, and with recreational and leisure activities that contributed to an enduring sense of community among the Irish and Irish Americans... [Read Full Article]

Photo: Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore in uniform as band leader for the 22nd Regiment of the New York National Guard. He signed a contract with the Regiment in the early1870s. The regimental band played its first concert under his leadership at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1873. Courtesy of Jarlath MacNamara.

Vol. 27, 2013 NYIHR_P20_ MacNamara_V27_1R.indd 20 9/30/14 9:47 AM With Perfect Pitch: Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore BY JARLATH MACNAMARA Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, or P. S. Gilmore as he was once known across North America, is... [Read Full Article]