Born in Cork, Ireland, Hugh O'Brien was Boston's First Irish-Born Mayor, 1885-88

Hugh O'Brien of County Cork, the first Irish-born person to be elected as mayor of the city of Boston, died on August 1, 1895 in Somerville, after

His funeral was held at Holy Cross Cathedral, and "thousands of people thronged the cathedral to pay their last tribute of love and respect" to O'Brien, a local newspaper wrote. The Charitable Irish Society sent a five-foot high Irish harp, made of roses, orchards and lilys. "The largest and most conspicuous delegation was that from the St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum, 200 little children dressed alike, who sat immediately behind the family," Republic Newspaper reported.

Born in Ireland on July 13, 1827, O'Brien emigrated with his family to Boston in 1832 when he was five years old. He attended a public school in Boston’s Fort Hill neighborhood, and at age 12 joined the Boston Courier newspaper as an apprentice. By the age of 15, he had become foreman of a printing office, before starting his own publication, the Shipping and Commercial List. He had a successful career as a businessman and gained the respect of city leaders as well as the Irish immigrant community that struggled to gain a foothold in Boston.

O'Brien was re-elected as mayor four years in a row, serving from 1885-1888. During that time, he presided over the creation of the city's Emerald Necklace park system, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, and he laid the cornerstone for the new Boston Public Library at Copley Square. In 1887, the Hugh O'Brien Schoolhouse was opened at the corner of Dudley and Langdon Streets in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, one of the city's most Irish neighborhoods at the time.He also had a prominent role in the creation of the Boston Massacre Monument on Boston Common, unveiled in November 1888.

Boston College Professor Thomas O'Connor wrote in his book Bibles, Brahmins, and Bosses that O'Brien's "preoccupation with holding down the tax rate, improving and widening the streets, and expanding the powers of the mayor, made him almost indistinguishable from the procession of Yankee mayors who had preceded him.”

A bust of Hugh O'Brien by sculptor John O'Donoghue is at the Boston Public Library, which is part of Boston's Irish Heritage Trail.

Here is a list of 12 Irish-Americans who served as mayor of Boston from 1885 through 2021.

- MQ

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