Irish Boston History & Heritage

James Michael Curley , the legendary Irish-American politician who dominated Boston and Massachusetts politics for half a century, was also one of the most photographed politicians of his time. Last year, the Jamaica Plain Historical Society purchased nearly 1,300 photographs of Mr. Curley from 1934-58, and has made that collection available online, thanks to a collaboration with the Boston Public Library and the   UMass/Amherst Libraries . Here is the James Michael Curley Negatives Collection . For more about Boston's Irish-American history, visit the IrishHeritageTrail.org .

For the 120 th  running of the  Boston Marathon  taking place on Monday, April 18, 2016, we pay tribute to the amazing John Adelbert  Kelley, who holds the record for running more Boston Marathons than any other athlete.  Kelley was born in 1907 in West Medford, outside of Boston, and traces his ancestry to County Wexford.  "My father's people left to go to Australia," he told The Boston Globe in 1981, when he was preparing for his 50 th  race.  "The boat stopped in Boston and they never left."  Kelley ran his first marathons in 1928 and 1932 but did not finish either race.  He ran again in 1933 and has competed in every single race through 1992!  He finished in the top 10 eighteen times, taking first place in 1935 and again in 1945.  He owns the record for the most races started (61) and the most finished (58).  His best time was two hours and thirty minutes, posted in 1943.  He was 84 when he ran his l...

The famous Boston Irish traditional ensemble, Dan Sullivan and the Shamrock Recording Band, performed at Shepard's Department Store in downtown Boston on March 23, 1929, according to this ad in the Boston Globe. The juxtaposition of band and the venue were significant, since Sullivan was one of the first Irish musicians to record extensively out of Boston, on Columbia, Victor and Decca labels, according to the Irish Traditional Music Archives in Dublin.  The Shepard Stores, located on Tremont Street right across from Park Street Station, actually built its own fully-equipped radio broadcasting station, WNAC, on the third floor of its building,with a 65 foot signal tower atop the roof, according to the blog site, Shopping Days in Retro Boston .  The band had a regular radio slot on WNAC , starting in 1928, usually on Monday's at 8:00 p.m.  An ad on April 9 of that year listed the band, along with special guests: Michael C. Hanafin, violinist; Thomas Qui...

Maud Gonne , rebel, activist and poetic muse, came to the United States in February 1900, to tell Americans about the atrocities of the British in South Africa's Boer War.  She spoke forcefully about British refugee camps filled with women and children, and of efforts by Irish and Irish-Americans to fight alongside the Boers.   Gonne's husband,  Major John MacBride , led the  Irish Transvaal Brigade  on the side of the Boers during the war.  They were married in 1903 and divorced in 1905. Already renowned for her beauty and fiery disposition, she was described by  The Boston Globe  as "pictuesque in a black velvet gown with a silver girdle at the waist...her splendid voice extremely musical." Gonne spoke in Lowell on Sunday, February 11, 1900 in  Associate Hall , and later met with a group of German-Americans from Lawrence.  Then on Monday, February 12, she addressed 2,500 people in Fall River, during which eight Irish s...

On Monday, January 5, 1885,  Hugh O'Brien  was sworn-in as the city of Boston's first Irish-born Mayor, launching an era of Irish-American dominance of  Boston City Hall  that continued through the 20th century. O'Brien was born in County Cork, Ireland on July 13, 1827, and emigrated with his family to Boston in 1832 when he was five years old.  He was educated in a public school in the Fort Hill neighborhood, and when he was 12 he 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 launched his political career in 1875 on the Board of Alderman, and in 1884 ran against and defeated incumbent Boston Mayor Augustus Martin.  At tha...

The City of Boston laid the cornerstone for the   Civil War Sailors and Soldiers Monument   at Flagstaff Hill on Boston Common on Monday, September 18,1871. "The event was celebrated by an imposing public display.  Business was generally suspended, the streets were thronged with people drawn together from all parts of the State to honor the occasion." Among the attendees were Martin Milmore, the Irish-born sculptor who had won the commission to create the monument;  Patrick A. Collins , state senator from South Boston;  General P.R. Guiney  of the Massachusetts 9th Irish Regiment, and Gilmore's Band, led by  Patrick S. Gilmore . The following year Milmore went to Rome, Italy, where he spent the next five years working on the monument.  It was shipped back to Boston and officially unveiled on September 17, 1877. For more information, see  Irish Boston: A Lively Look at Boston's Colorful Irish Past .  For more on Boston's I...

Tourists, school children and local residents are once again able to stand next to the beloved statue of President John F. Kennedy which stands alongside other famous Bostonians on the front lawn of the MassachusettsState House . The 8 foot 2 inch tall bronze depiction of President John F. Kennedy, purposeful and confident in full stride, was created by sculptor Isabel McIlvain of Sherborn,  and unveiled on May 30, 1990.   Nearby are statues of Daniel Webster, Horace Mann and Anne Hutchinson.    This area of the statehouse was closed off on September 11, 2001, and stayed closed due to security reasons.  But recently, government officials agreed to open access to the front law from April through October, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.. The Massachusetts State House has self-guided tour information about State House the building and grounds, which includes numerous statues and plaques that tell the story of the state’s illustrious polit...