Irish Boston History & Heritage

A new era in city government took hold on  Monday, January 5, 1885, when  Hugh O'Brien became  Boston's first Irish-born mayor.  O'Brien's victory at the polls in December finally  broke the hegemony of old-line Yankees who had run local government since Boston was incorporated as a city in 1822.  O'Brien defeated incumbent mayor Augustus Pearl Martin by 3, 124 votes, with more than 52,000 citizens casting their votes.  Once Mayor Martin heard the news, he sent a note to O'Brien cordially congratulating him on his victory.  O'Brien said in a statement that evening:  “As I have been elected, I am ready to assume the responsibilities of the position fearlessly and in good faith. In this connection I will say emphatically that there is no ring behind me, and there never will be. The nomination was tendered to and accepted by me without pledges of any kind, or of any name or nature. After living In Boston for upwards of half a century, being educ...

Charles E. Logue at Fenway Park Charles E. Logue (1858-1919), an Irish-born contractor from County Derry who build Fenway Park and dozens of churches, government building and schools throughout greater Boston, died suddenly on December 5, 1919 while working on the roof of St Mary's Catholic Church in Dedham, Massachusetts. According to news reports, Logue was about 100 feet above ground on staging, when he "seemed to stagger" and was helped by workmen before he fell to the ground. "Heart failure, caused by the exertion of climbing the ladder, was given as the cause of death," according to The Boston Globe. Logue had climbed the ladder with his son John, to inspect repair work being done on the church cupola. Logue and his wife Josephine were the parents of thirteen children, and lived at 24 Baker Place and later at Barry Street in Dorchester. In addition to his contracting career, Logue was appointed Schoolhouse Commissioner and a member of the Tenement House C...

On December 5, 1770, nine months to the day after the  Boston Massacre , two of the nine soldiers in the British regiment,  Matthew Kilroy and Hugh Montgomery, were found guilty of manslaughter for the killing of five local Boston men; the other seven soldiers were exonerated. The verdict was a culmination of a long and contentious trial fueled  by the now famous episode that took place on a wintry Monday night on March 5, 1770, when a deadly confrontation between occupying British soldiers and local Bostonians resulted in five townspeople being shot and killed.  Between March and December, Bostonians experienced a range of emotions: rage at the British Crown for putting armed forces in Boston, anti-Catholic sentiments directed at the soldiers, and finally, recognition that the trail had to appear fair-minded and just to the eyes of the world if the colonists were ever to make a case for independence.   On the night in question, five men - Samuel Gray Samuel Mav...

  John F. Kennedy, photo by White House Photographer Jacques Lowe President Kennedy’s thousand days in office marked an epoch in the Boston Irish story. It is the story of one man stepping forth from a marginalized community, emerging victorious on behalf of a people who had struggled mightily for so many generations, a people facing hostility and surviving on the edge of society, driven to success by fear of hunger and anger at prejudice, determined to right the wrongs for the sake of the children and future generations.  John F. Kennedy personified the future generation that his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents had daydreamed about as they were toiling in America, saving their pennies, getting stronger, wiser, and warier. While he represented the hopes and dreams of the world, and of the nation,  JFK represented the pinnacle of immigrant dreams for millions of Irish around the world and especially in America. Poetry Kennedy’s optimism and resolve was emblema...

(BOSTON) -- The Boston Irish Tourism Association (BITA) today released its 2025 winter issue of  Travel & Culture , a free tourism magazine highlighting cultural activities in New England and Ireland.  The magazine is  distributed  free at visitor kiosks and cultural venues throughout Massachusetts and New England. Read the  online digital magazine here .   The winter issue starts with a  Holiday Greeting , followed by a  Christmas round-up  of Celtic, classical, jazz and family venues around New England - from the Irish Tenors, Lúnasa and Chloë Agnew to jazz pianist David Benoit and the popular play,  How the Grinch Stole Christmas . Other local activities include Christmas tree lightings, holiday parades and Santa Claus visits.  A calendar of  holiday events  is included, plus details of  Spectacle Live shows  and Spectacle Live  venues  in three states. Massport offers holiday  travel t...

Many people wonder why the Boston Celtics wear shamrocks on their green uniforms and have a giant leprechaun smoking a cigar as their team logo. And why is the team mascot a guy named Lucky who looks like he stepped out of a box of Lucky Charms? According to the Boston Celtics official web site, the name came about in 1946 when owner Walter Brown started the team. He and his public relations guy, Howie McHugh, were throwing out potential nicknames, including the Whirlwinds, Unicorns and Olympics. It was Brown who had the epiphany, saying, “Wait, I’ve got it – the Celtics. The name has a great basketball tradition from the old Original Celtics in New York (1920s). And Boston is full of Irishman. We’ll put them in green uniforms and call them the Boston Celtics.” Red Auerbach , the now legendary coach of the early Celtics, then commissioned his brother Zang, a graphic designer in the newspaper business, to come up with the famous Celtics logo in the early 1950s. The logo manages to incl...