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Visit these Public Memorials to John Boyle O'Reilly throughout Massachusetts
Born 180 years ago on June 28, 1844, John Boyle O’Reilly helped shape the history or Ireland and America in the late 19th century in powerful ways.
Today, O'Reilly’s stature as a seminal figure in Irish and Irish-American history is particularly evident in his beloved birthplace of Dowth, County Meath; in Freemantle, Australia where he was imprisoned; and indeed, throughout the Irish Diaspora.
O'REILLY LANDMARKS IN MASSACHUSETTS
O’Reilly remains popular in Boston, New Bedford, Hull and Springfield where there is a selection of memorials and plaques, parks and city squares, library collections and Irish organizations honoring O’Reilly’s memory.
In Boston, the John Boyle O’Reilly Memorial at the corner of Boylston Street and The Fens, not far from Fenway Park, was unveiled in 1896 by famed Concord sculptor Daniel French. The Memorial is part of Boston’s Irish Heritage Trail.
In Charlestown, O’Reilly lived at 34 Winthrop Street, where there is a plaque in his honor. In 1988 the city placed an O’Reilly plaque in Thompson Square, and City Square Park honors O’Reilly with an inscription and bronze medallion.
At Holyhood Cemetery, 584 Heath Street, Brookline, the centerpiece of O’Reilly’s gravesite is a giant stone from the church on which O’Reilly carved his initials with a nail as a young boy in Dowth, adorned with a bronze portrait bust of O’Reilly by sculptor John Donoghue. Each June, local Hibernians hold a mass at O’Reilly’s gravesite.
The Boston Public Library and John J. Burns Library at Boston College each have replica O’Reilly busts by Donoghue and valuable collections of correspondence by and about O’Reilly and his daughters.
O’Reilly’s summer home in Hull, where he died on August 10, 1890, from an accidental overdose of medication, is today the town’s public library. It is part of the South Shore Irish Heritage Trail.
The Whaling Museum at 18 Johnny Cake Hill in New Bedford has great information about the city’s famous Whaling Ships of the 19th century, including the Gazelle and Catalpa.
In Springfield, the John Boyle O’Reilly Club at 33 Progress Avenue was organized in 1904 by Irish immigrants living in western Massachusetts and remains active today.
Read more about O'Reilly in Michael Quinlin's article, Where Shall We Seek for a Hero? published this week in Irish America Magazine.
John Boyle O’Reilly monument, Boston, by Daniel Chester French, 1896
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(Originally published in 2013, this post was updated in 2021) Here are the Mayors of Boston Claiming Irish Heritage: Hugh O’Brien 1885–88 Patrick Collins 1902–05 John F. Fitzgerald 1906–07, 1910–13 James M. Curley 1914–17, 1922–25, 1930–33, 1946–49 Frederick W. Mansfield 1934–37 Maurice Tobin 1938–41, 1941-44 John Kerrigan 1945 John B. Hynes 1950–59 John Collins 1960–68 Kevin H. White 1968–83 Raymond L. Flynn 1984–93 Martin J. Walsh 2014- 2021 The lineage of Boston mayors with Irish ancestry dates back to 1885, when Irish immigrant Hugh O'Brien of County Cork assumed office and became the first Irish-born mayor elected in Boston, serving four one-year terms (1885-88). O'Brien was followed by Irish-born Patrick Collins (1902-05), also of County Cork, who died in office in 1905. He was replaced by John F. Fitzgerald, who became the first American-born mayor of Irish descent, serving two terms. A noteworthy...
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