Irish Boston History & Heritage

Martha Clark Cured at Holy Cross Cemetery. Photo by Leslie Jones Was it the power of suggestion, or the power of faith? In1929, just as the Wall Street Stock Market Crash devastated the country's financial stability and led to the Great Depression, rumors began to spread around Boston that a gravesite at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, MA was the source of miracles taking place. It was the gravesite of Father Patrick Power, who was born in Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland in 1844. After his parents died in the Irish Famine, Power was sent to Boston to live with relatives. He was ordained a priest in 1867 at Holy Cross Cathedral and was popular among his congregation. A frail person all his life, Power died of phthisis at age 25 on December 8, 1869. Sixty years later, he became the source of hope for scores of faithful Catholics, and within days, hundreds of believers began showing up at the cemetery, hoping for a miracle for themselves or their loved ones. "From Boston, from all New....

  The committee of the Bunker Hili Monument Association issued a Request for Proposals to the Bunker Hill Monument being planned in Charlestown Massachusetts, according to an advertisement in the Vermont Journal dated November 21, 1825. The proposal offered "a premium of $100 for the best model of a monumental structure or column, 220 feet in height, to be built of hewn granite." The committee stipulated that "the proposals should contain two plans; one, the architectural plan and elevation of the work, with a suitable scale; vertical and horizontal sections of the interior; particular statements of the proportions and magnitudes of the members; and if a column, drawings of the ornamental portions of the pedestal; the other (plan) a handsomely finished prospective communications view be of the forwarded work."  Edward Everett was the signatory. But even as the request for proposals had gone out, the Committee had already decided that architect Solomon Willard was th...

  Twin Statues of James Michael Curley on Union Street, across from Boston City Hall  James Michael Curley, known as the Purple Shamrock, the Rascal King and the Mayor of the Poor, died on November 12, 1958 from pneumonia. Over 100,000 people passed by his coffin in the Hall of Flags at the Massachusetts State House to pay their respects. A dominant figure in Boston and Massachusetts politics for half a century, Curley served four four-year terms as mayor of Boston, in 1914, 1922, 1930 and 1946. He was Governor of Massachusetts from 1935-37, and served as US Congressman from 1911-14. He was born on November 20, 1874 on Northampton Street in Roxbury to Irish immigrant parents Michael Curley and Sarah Clancy from County Galway. In his autobiography, I'd Do It Again, published in 1957 by Prentice Hall Publishers, Curley conveys his humble beginnings and his rise to fame. "The Clancys and the Curleys, joined the Galway colony in Roxbury, formerly known as The Highlands," he...

Thomas Mooney of Dublin, a writer, lecturer, historian self-published a 1,700 page book, 'A History of Ireland From its first Settlement to the Present Time.'  The sweeping study included chapters on Literature, Music, Architecture and Natural Resources, 200 biographical sketches of famous men, and 88 Irish melodies that included both musical notations and lyrics. The  Boston Pilot  reported that the first edition of 'A History of Ireland' was to be distributed to subscribers on Monday November 10, 1845 at the Odeon on Franklin Street, opposite Holy Cross Church, where "a concert would be performed of music in the book by the best melodists of Boston." Mooney had come to Boston in 1841 and was a welcomed speaker at the Boston Repeal Association and other local organizations. "The cause of Repeal is the cause of truth and justice in Ireland," he said on his lecture tour.  The Boston Post wrote that he “appeared to striking advantage in the repeal u...

In fall, 2011, esteemed Irish poet William Butler Years and fellow writer Lady Gregory came to the United States to promote Ireland's new theater movement with the Irish Players of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, where they performed in 30 venues from September through November.   As part of its tour, the Irish Players performed at the Court Square Theater in Springfield, MA on Thursday, November 9, 1911.  The plays included "Kathleen Ni Houlihan,' by William Butler Keats, "The Building Fund" by William Boyle and "The Rising of the Moon' by Lady Gregory. On the previous day, November 8, the Irish Players performed two shows at the Northampton Academy of Music, a matinee and evening performance.  "The company has been in the United States for the past six weeks, five of them in Boston, where crities and public were fascinated by the art of the dramatists, but more by the singularly simple and effective acting of the players," wrote the Springfiel...