Hugh O’Brien
A new era in city government took hold on Monday, January 5, 1885, when Hugh O’Brien became Boston’s first Irish-born mayor. O’Brien’s victory at the polls in December finally broke the hegemony of old-line Yankees who had run local government since Boston was incorporated as a city in 1822. O’Brien defeated incumbent mayor Augustus Pearl Martin by 3, 124…
On November 14, 1888, state and city officials and citizens from greater Boston officially unveiled the Boston Massacre Memorial on the Tremont Street Mall on Boston Common. The memorial commemorates the infamous episode in which five men were shot and killed by British soldiers in Boston on March 5, 1770, an event that helped launch the…
One of the most gifted 19th century Irish-American sculptors, according to art historians, was John Talbott Donoghue (1853-1903) , a Chicago native who lived in Boston in the 1880s and whose life and career ended tragically when he took his own life. Donoghue was discovered as a struggling artist by Oscar Wilde during the famous…
John Boyle O’Reilly and Frederick Douglass were natural allies in 19th century New England, where they aligned on pressing issues of liberty and justice for all. In the early part of their lives, both men were fugitives, on the run from their captors as they tried to make their way to freedom. Both became writers…
Along the Boston Irish Heritage Trail, one of the most popular stops is Boston Common, the nation’s oldest public park, created by English Puritans in 1634 as a training ground and grazing field for cattle. The 50 acre park has been a staging ground for rallies, protests, marches, speeches, concerts, celebrations and commemorations for nearly 400 years. Here…
Anywhere you travel in Boston, you’ll find evidence of deep-rooted Irish connections dating back to the 17th century. To appreciate the Irish and Irish-American contribution, we created the Irish Heritage Trail in 1994 to chronicle the illustrious history of the Boston Irish. It includes 20 downtown and Back Bay sites, and an additional 20 sites…
On March 5,1770, British troops fired into a crowd of Bostonians; four people were killed and a fifth victim died a few days later. Irishman Patrick Carr was one of five people shot to death in front of the Old State House on State Street on March 5, 1870 after a scuffle between colonists and…
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…
Boxing champion John L. Sullivan was born on October 12, 1858, on East Concord Street in Boston’s Roxbury/South End. His father, Mike Sullivan, emigrated from County Kerry around 1850 and married Katherine Kelly, whose family had immigrated from Athlone in 1853. They married on November 6, 1856. Most Irish boys during this time seemed to…
March 5, 2020 Ceremony at the Boston Massacre Grave Site March 5, 2020, Boston marks the 250th anniversary of the Boston Massacre, a transformative event in history that launched the road to revolution in the American colonies. The Massacre took place on a wintry Monday night on March 5, 1770, when British troops fired into a…
An exhibit entitled The Irish and Boston: An Immigrant Saga is running at the Massachusetts State House from June 10-17, 2019. Developed by the City of Boston Archives under the leadership of Director Dr. John McColgan, the acclaimed exhibit was first unveiled at the annual St. Patrick’s Breakfast hosted by South Boston’s State Senator Nick Collins in March. The…
One hundred and thirty years ago, on November 14, 1888, state and city officials unveiled the Boston Massacre Memorial on Tremont Street on Boston Common. Among the guest speakers were Governor Oliver Ames, Mayor Hugh O’Brien and State Representative Julius Caesar Chappelle, an African-American leader who advocated for civil rights, voter registration and political participation.The sculptor was Robert Kraus, a German…
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