Fenway Park - built by Irishman Charles E. Logue - is on Boston's Irish Heritage Trail

Charles E. Logue at Fenway Park, April 20, 2012

(courtesy of the Logue Family)

Fenway Park, approaching its 100th birthday in April 2012, is one of the landmarks along Boston's Irish Heritage Trail.

The iconic park, described by writer John Updike as "a lyric little bandbox of a park," was built by an Irish immigrant from County Derry named Charles E. Logue. You can read the full story on on Mr. Logue and Fenway here.

According to the book Fenway, by Boston Globe reporters Dan Shaughnessy and Stan Grossfeld, officials broke ground on the new ballpark on September 25, 1911 and the first game was played there on April 20, 1912.

Mr. Logue built many of the city's Catholic Churches and part of the Boston College campus. His descendants have carried on the family business with their firm, Logue Engineering, located in Hingham, Massachusetts. .

Fenway Park is the final stop on the 20-site Irish Heritage Trail, which starts at the Rose Kennedy Garden along the waterfront, passes Boston City Hall, the Irish Famine Memorial, the Massachusetts State House and Copley Square.

Fenway Park was also the site of various Irish sporting matches hosted by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and Irish leader Eamon deValera spoke before a crowd of 60,000 people there in June, 1919. For more details on Fenway's Irish connections, read Irish Boston: A Lively Account of Boston's Colorful Irish Past.

You can pick up a free copy of the Irish Heritage Trail map at the visitor centers on Boston Common (151 Tremont Street) and the Prudential Center. For information on taking a guided tour of the Irish Heritage Trail, click here for details.

For year round information on Irish culture, heritage and history in greater Boston, visit the Boston Irish Tourism Association.

For tourist information, visit MassVacation or BostonUSA.

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