Irish Boston History & Heritage

  The committee of the Bunker Hili Monument Association issued a Request for Proposals to the Bunker Hill Monument being planned in Charlestown Massachusetts, according to an advertisement in the Vermont Journal dated November 21, 1825. The proposal offered "a premium of $100 for the best model of a monumental structure or column, 220 feet in height, to be built of hewn granite." The committee stipulated that "the proposals should contain two plans; one, the architectural plan and elevation of the work, with a suitable scale; vertical and horizontal sections of the interior; particular statements of the proportions and magnitudes of the members; and if a column, drawings of the ornamental portions of the pedestal; the other (plan) a handsomely finished prospective communications view be of the forwarded work."  Edward Everett was the signatory. But even as the request for proposals had gone out, the Committee had already decided that architect Solomon Willard was th...

  Twin Statues of James Michael Curley on Union Street, across from Boston City Hall  James Michael Curley, known as the Purple Shamrock, the Rascal King and the Mayor of the Poor, died on November 12, 1958 from pneumonia. Over 100,000 people passed by his coffin in the Hall of Flags at the Massachusetts State House to pay their respects. A dominant figure in Boston and Massachusetts politics for half a century, Curley served four four-year terms as mayor of Boston, in 1914, 1922, 1930 and 1946. He was Governor of Massachusetts from 1935-37, and served as US Congressman from 1911-14. He was born on November 20, 1874 on Northampton Street in Roxbury to Irish immigrant parents Michael Curley and Sarah Clancy from County Galway. In his autobiography, I'd Do It Again, published in 1957 by Prentice Hall Publishers, Curley conveys his humble beginnings and his rise to fame. "The Clancys and the Curleys, joined the Galway colony in Roxbury, formerly known as The Highlands," he...

Thomas Mooney of Dublin, a writer, lecturer, historian self-published a 1,700 page book, 'A History of Ireland From its first Settlement to the Present Time.'  The sweeping study included chapters on Literature, Music, Architecture and Natural Resources, 200 biographical sketches of famous men, and 88 Irish melodies that included both musical notations and lyrics. The  Boston Pilot  reported that the first edition of 'A History of Ireland' was to be distributed to subscribers on Monday November 10, 1845 at the Odeon on Franklin Street, opposite Holy Cross Church, where "a concert would be performed of music in the book by the best melodists of Boston." Mooney had come to Boston in 1841 and was a welcomed speaker at the Boston Repeal Association and other local organizations. "The cause of Repeal is the cause of truth and justice in Ireland," he said on his lecture tour.  The Boston Post wrote that he “appeared to striking advantage in the repeal u...

In fall, 2011, esteemed Irish poet William Butler Years and fellow writer Lady Gregory came to the United States to promote Ireland's new theater movement with the Irish Players of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, where they performed in 30 venues from September through November.   As part of its tour, the Irish Players performed at the Court Square Theater in Springfield, MA on Thursday, November 9, 1911.  The plays included "Kathleen Ni Houlihan,' by William Butler Keats, "The Building Fund" by William Boyle and "The Rising of the Moon' by Lady Gregory. On the previous day, November 8, the Irish Players performed two shows at the Northampton Academy of Music, a matinee and evening performance.  "The company has been in the United States for the past six weeks, five of them in Boston, where crities and public were fascinated by the art of the dramatists, but more by the singularly simple and effective acting of the players," wrote the Springfiel...

  In one of his final acts as mayor of Boston, James Michael Curley dedicated a bronze memorial on Boston Common to Revolutionary War hero Commodore John Barry, on Sunday, October 16, 1949. He was joined at the unveiling by Joseph Shields, Irish consul; John E. Hurley, state treasurer; Captain C. E. Kelly of the U.s.Navy; and John J. Foley, president of the Central Council of Irish County Clubs. Barry, a naval hero of the Revolutionary War, was born in Tacumshane, County Wexford in 1745, and was a long-standing favorite historical figure of Irish-Americans across the United States. The idea for the Barry memorial in Boston was first announced by the Central Council of Irish County Clubs on September 23, 1945, at the city’s annual Barry Day banquet at the Copley Plaza Hotel commemorating the bicentennary of Barry’s birth in Wexford. Four years later, at the Charitable Irish Society annual dinner on March 17, 1949, Mayor James Michael Curley vowed to build a memorial to Barry in ...

On October 14, 1869, the Town of Woburn MA dedicated its Civil War Soldiers Monument in the center of town, complete "with appropriate and imposing ceremonies," including some 1,600 school children marching in a procession, led by Governor William Clafin and other dignitaries, military heroes, town officials, fire departments and temperance associations. The bronze figure was created by 25 year old Irish-born sculptor Martin Milmore, who was quickly gaining faming as a young artist for his series of Civil War statues and monument, as well as three classical figures for the prestigious Massachusetts Horticultural Society Building on Tremont Street. Prior to the unveiling, the Boston Evening Transcript described the monument: "The statue is in bronze, and is designed and moulded be Martin Milmore. It is eight feet high, and represented a soldier standing at ease. It is considered one of the best specimens of a soldier yet cast in bronze. The granite has been elegantly ...