Irish Boston History & Heritage

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 ...