Irish Boston History & Heritage

Courtesy of the NB A Congratulations to the  Boston Celtics  for hoisting Banner 18 at the rafters at TD Garden. It was an incredible season and here’s to the quest for Banner 19 in 2025!   The Larry O’Brien trophy was presented courtside at TD Garden to the Boston Celtics organization by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Monday, June 17, the night the Celtics became the coveted NBA champions.  And on Friday, June 21, the  25.5" inches tall, 30 pound trophy was hoisted by Celtics star Jason Tatum along the three mile parade route, attended by more than one million people.  Photo courtesy of WCVB-TV A lot of basketball fans are wondering, who is Larry O’Brien, for whom the National Basketball Association (NBA) Championship Trophy is named? Here is a quick sketch of Mr. O’Brien. Lawrence Francis O’Brien (1917-1990) was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the son of Irish immigrants Lawrence Sr. and Myra Sweeney from County Cork. He attended Northeastern University, was a World War II

  Plaque to Jeremiah O'Brien at Massachusetts State House On June 12,  1937 a plaque dedicated to Captain Jeremiah O'Brien was unveiled at the Massachusetts State House commemorating O'Brien's "distinguished services for winning the first navel engagement in the War of the Revolution and of his subsequent exploits in said war as the first regularly commissioned naval officer    and commander of the Revolutionary Navy of Massachusetts."   More than 300 people attended the ceremony, including Mass Governor Charles F. Hurley, Lt.Governor Francis E. Kelley, and Deborah Wilson Campbell, a descendent of Captain O'Brien.  The plaque, created by artist John Paramino, is located on the staircase next to the Hall of Flags.  At the unveiling, ex-Secretary of the Navy Francis Adams gave the address,  and Joseph F. O'Connell delivered the oration. Rev John A. Sheridan, state chaplain of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, gave the benediction. Other special guests inc

Colonel Thomas Cass Statue, Boston Public Garden Boston Civil War hero Thomas Cass, commander of the  Massachusetts Ninth Regiment , was born on June 4, 1821 in Farmleigh, Queen's County (now County Laois).  His family immigrated to Boston when he was an infant, and settled in the North End, at that time a heavily Irish neighborhood. Cass was a member of the Boston School Committee and a successful businessman.  During the 1850s, he organized a local militia unit of Irish immigrants known as the Columbian Artillery but the group was dismantled by the nativist Know-Nothing movement in 1855.  When the Civil War broke out, and with the encouragement of  Governor John Andrew , Cass gathered his men to form Boston's first Irish troop, the Ninth Regiment. Colonel Cass reported with the regiment of 1,022 men at the State House on Tuesday, June 25, 1861, to receive the state flag and to be reviewed by Governor Andrew.    Fellow Irish immigrant  Patrick S. Gilmore  and his Band played a