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Showing posts from July, 2016

Boston Parks Department Created Irish Floral Design in Public Garden to Welcome AOH Convention

Scene from the Boston Public Garden, ca. 1916   Photo Courtesy of Digital Massachusetts In July, 1916, the  Boston Parks & Recreation Department  created a floral design of an Irish harp in Boston's  Public Garden  to welcome the national convention of the  Ancient Order of Hibernians .  The convention took place on July 19-23 and attracted over 50,000 delegates, many from the mid-Atlantic and mid-Western states. According to a  Boston Globe  story on July 2, 1916, a number of local residents complained about the Irish arrangement to John H. Dillon, chairman of the Parks Department and  James M. Curley , mayor of Boston . Dillon "explained that it has always been his policy to plant in the Public Garden an emblem of any large organization holding its convention in Boston , but up to the present instance of the harp no objection has ever been made.  He recalled that last year the emblem of the Zionists was planted in the Public Garden and that at ot