Irish Boston History & Heritage

Image courtesy of Canadian-American Club On May 19, 1937, a group of Canadian expatriates living in Massachusetts came together to form the Canadian-American League. The Boston Globe reported that the group was "seeking 1,000 charter members....(and) more than 200 attended" the first meeting. Three weeks later, on June 16, 1937, the group met again at Intercolonial Hall on Dudley Street in Roxbury, which was a regular gathering spot of Canadian immigrants. Attorney Joseph S. O'Neill, the organizer and first president of the Canadian-American League, was originally from Charlotteville, Prince Edward Island, according to his obituary in The Boston Globe published on August 20, 1938. He worked at the Dolan, O'Neill and Balch law firm in Boston. Other officers included Alexander C. Chisholm, treasurer; Mrs Colin W. MacDonald, secretary and Jeannette C. Chisholm, assistant secretary. "The purpose of the organization is to unite the great number of Canadi...

Piper Patsy Brown A Boston Globe feature story called "Mystery of the Bagpipes" by Virginia Bright , published on January 3, 1954, gives insight into greater Boston's Irish and Scottish musical environment during that decade. The first part of the story focuses on the challenge of organizing Scottish pipe bands in the region, finding the right instruments and practice sets, not to mention the bass drums and kilts.   Frederick Colvin of Burlington, formerly of Belfast, conveyed his efforts to start a band.  It took him a year to find an instructor, Archibald MacLeod of Malden, pipe major for the Caledonian Band.  Scottish-American activities were on the decline in 1950s Boston.  The Boston Caledonian Club, in existence since the 1850s, held its last Highland Games Festival in 1956, according to writer Emily Ann Donaldson in her book, The Scottish Highland Games in America.     The Globe story then turns to what it calls 'the Irish bagp...

Irish music and ceili dancing will take place on Super Bowl Sunday in greater Boston, thanks to Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, the Irish Musicians Association. The event is taking place this Sunday, February 6, 2011 from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Canadian American Club at 202 Arlington Street in Watertown, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. Admission is $8 at the door.  "In prior years, when the Patriots played in the Super Bowl, the dance has been canceled," said fiddler Larry Reynolds , president of the Boston chapter of Comhaltas. "But the session is on this year and starts an hour earlier than usual." For a list of ongoing activities at the Boston Comhaltas branch, click here . For year round Irish music and cultural activities, visit IrishMassachusetts.com .

Who could ever forget Johnny Cunningham's rattlesnake-skin cowboy boots stomping the tempo of a jig into the floor? Or the lit cigarette perched between two fingers of his bow hand as he waylaid a Scottish strathspey and raced it to a furious conclusion amid gasps of awe and joy from onlookers? When Cunningham died of a heart attack at age 46 on December 15, 2003, Bostonians mourned one of the most talented musicians to ever grace the local scene, a man renowned as much for his wit and personality as for his music. Whether performing on stage at Harvard's Saunders Theater or telling stories around a table at Tiernan's Pub on Broad Street, Johnny Cunningham was Scotland's greatest export to Boston over the last 25 years. That is why a contingent of local musicians traveled down to New York City for the funeral service, including fiddlers Seamus Connolly and Larry Reynolds and piper Paddy Keenan. Joining them were Tommy McCarthy and Louise Costelloe, owners of the Burren ...