Irish Boston History & Heritage

Over 15,000 spectators attend the Greater Boston Feis at Malden Municipal Stadium in Malden , Massachusetts on Sunday, July 30, 1950.  It was part of a cultural rekindling of Irish traditions taking place in Ireland and Diaspora communities after World War II, and continued annually in greater Boston throughout the 1950s. The bilingual program book, printed in English and Irish, was organized by the Central Council of Irish County Clubs, Inc, with Richard J. Cardinal Cushing , Archbishop of Boston, listed as the event’s patron. Over 1,500 contestants participated in 72 different events, ranging from competitions in accordion, violin, harp, piano and Irish war pipes.   Among the winners were Joe Derrane of Roxbury, who won first for senior accordion solo, with Joseph Joyce of Jamaica Plain and Tom Senier of Dorchester tied for second place.   Paul Derrane, Joe’s younger brother, took first place for junior accordion solo and John F. Conroy of Dorchester won ...

Boston Mayor  Martin Walsh  was joined today by the  National Park Service ,  Boston Parks & Recreation Department ,  Friends of the Public Garden  and  Museum of African American History  officials to formalize a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaboratively restore the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Regiment Memorial, known as the Shaw Memorial. Located at the corner of Beacon and Park Streets, across from the Massachusetts State House, the memorial pays tribute to the 54th Black Regiment of soldiers who fought valiantly in the American Civil War.  This work captures the humanity, nobility and unfettered idealism of war in the depiction of the foot soldiers who fought for freedom from slavery.   Mayor Walsh called the memorial, “one of the most important pieces of art in the  United States of America  and we are deeply proud to have that piece here in the city of ...

On June 11, 1837 a brawl erupted in downtown Boston when an Irish funeral procession and a volunteer fire brigade returning to the station reached an intersection at the same time.   In what became known as the Broad Street Riot , the firemen and their supporters chased the Irish along Purchase and Broad streets into their houses, which were then attacked by the enraged mob.   “The air was full of flying feathers and straw from the beds which had been ripped up and emptied into the streets,” according to historian J.B. Cullen .   Mayor Samuel A. Eliot ordered 800 National Lancers, a military group, to quell the riot and maintain peace. Excerpt from the book, Irish Boston: A Lively Look at Boston's Colorful Irish Past .

Tom Flatley , business leader, philanthropist, devout Catholic, and champion of people in need, was the chairman of the  Boston Irish Famine Memorial  committee, which was formed to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Ireland's devastating famines in the 1840s.   The Memorial, created by sculptor   Robert Shure , was unveiled on June 28, 1998 before 7,000+ people.  A Commemorative Book  was issued on the day of the unveiling, with text from the eight commemorative plaques encircling the twin statues. As part of  Boston's Irish Heritage Trail , the Irish Famine Memorial continues to be a destination for visitors and residents who pass the park each year and stop to reflect on the story of the Irish and other immigrants who cross oceans and desserts to come here.   Mr. Flatley died ten years ago on May 17, 2008, but his vision, charity and faith continue to inspire people who knew him.   

Courtesy of Performing Arts Archive A Festival of Irish Minstrelsy, Song and History, known in Gaelic as Feis Ceol Agus Seanachas, was held at Hollis Street Theatre in Boston on May 6, 1900.   The festival was organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians , the Philo-Celtic Society of Boston and the Gaelic Society.   Among the highlights: a Gaelic version of “The Star Spangled Banner” by eminent Irish baritone William Ludwig . The Boston Globe described the festival thus: “the occasion will form a novel innovation, inasmuch as for the first time in Boston the ballads of chivalry, love and war, Gaelic folk songs, gems of Irish opera and other unusual features of Irish national music will be heard, as well as the more familiar harp and bagpipe music of Ireland.” Professor Fred Robinson , Gaelic scholar at Harvard University was cited as an enthusiast for the city’s Irish language movement. Ludwig, ‘whose lifework has been given to the interpretation...

John Wiseman (left) and Scott Skinner  Two of the top traditional fiddlers from the British Isles, 82 year old James Scott Skinner of Aberdeen, Scotland and 76 year old John Wiseman of Bantry, County Cork, crossed the Atlantic Ocean together to compete in the World's Old Fiddlers Contest, taking place April 5-10, 1926 in Lewiston, Maine.  Both arrived in Boston on the Cunard liner Caronia, and were greeted with enthusiasm by the Irish and Scottish communities, with fiddlers, pipers and dancers lined up to greet the ship as it docked. The contest was open to fiddlers from around the world aged 60 or older. More than 340 fiddlers competed for the $1,000 prize and Gold Cup.  Joining Skinner and Wiseman were other notable fiddlers, including Mellie Dunham, Chas E. McBride, 80 year old John Wilder of Vermont and uncle of President Calvin Coolidge, and local favorite "Uncle John" McKenney of Lewiston. The contest was broken out into categories such as Irish Night,...

On March 19, 1918, the Massachusetts Senate adopted resolutions offered by Representative John L. Donovan of Boston : Resolved . That the General Court of Massachusetts hereby requests that the Congress of the United States, if it shall be deemed expedient, shall recommend that the right of Ireland to be a free and Independent country be considered at any peace conference which may   be held at the termination of the present war; and be it further Resolved . That copies of these resolutions be sent by the secretary of the Commonwealth to the presiding officers of both branches of Congress and to each Senator and Representative in Congress from This Commonwealth. The resolution was submitted to the Congressional Record by Congressmen James A. Galvin, Peter F. Tague and George H. Tinkham and by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge on April 3, 1918.