Irish Americans in New York City explained

The Irish community is one of New York City's major and important ethnic groups, and has been a significant proportion of the city's population since the waves of immigration in the late 19th century.

As a result of the Great Famine in Ireland, many Irish families were forced to emigrate from the country. By 1854, between 1.5 and 2 million Irish had left their country. In the United States, most Irish became city-dwellers. With little money, many had to settle in the cities that the ships landed in. By 1850, the Irish made up a quarter of the population in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Buffalo, and Baltimore.

Today, Boston has the largest percentage of Irish-Americans of any city in the United States, while New York City has the most Irish Americans in raw numbers.[1] During the Celtic Tiger years, when the Irish economy was booming, the city saw a buying spree of residences by native Irish as second homes[2] or as investment property.[3]

History

Irish Americans (most of whom are Irish Catholic) make up approximately 5.3% of New York City's population, composing the second largest non-Hispanic white ethnic group.[4] Irish American Protestants Scotch-Irish Americans first came to America in colonial years (pre-1776).The largest wave of Catholic Irish immigration came after the Great Famine in 1845 although many Catholics immigrated during the colonial period.[5] Most came from some of Ireland's most populous counties, such as Cork, Galway, and Tipperary. Large numbers also originated in counties Cavan, Meath, Dublin, and Laois.[6]

In the Civil War, the massive anti-draft riots of 1863 represented a "civil war" inside the Irish Catholic community, according to Toby Joyce. The mostly Irish Catholic rioters confronted police, soldiers, and pro-war politicians who were often leaders of the Irish community.[7] In the "early days", the 19th century, the Irish formed a predominant part of the European immigrant population of New York City, a "city of immigrants", which added to the city's diversity to this day. After they came, Irish immigrants often crowded into subdivided homes, only meant for one family, and cellars, attics, and alleys all became home for the poorest immigrants. As they accumulated wealth they moved into better housing.[8] Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, was originally developed as a resort for wealthy Manhattanites in 1879, but instead became an upscale family-oriented Italian- and Irish-American community.[9] Another large Irish-American community is located in Woodlawn Heights, Bronx, but Woodlawn Heights also has a mix of different ethnic groups.[10] Conditions were slow to improve in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen.[11]

Other sizable Irish-American communities include Belle Harbor and Breezy Point, both in Queens.[12] [13] Two big Irish communities are Marine Park and neighboring Gerritsen Beach. The Irish have also settled "to a far lesser extent [in] Maspeth, Woodside, and Sunnyside, Queens."

The Irish Catholic men were successful in joining the New York City Police Department as well as the New York Fire Department. Religious women became nuns teaching in parochial schools; others became public school teachers. In the neighborhoods, the Irish organized to again control over territory, jobs, and political organizations. As the "new immigrants" from Southern and Eastern Europe arrived 1880s-1914, the Irish incorporating them into their established system. It was a process of "Americanization." The Irish dominated the Catholic Church as bishops, priests, pastors and nuns.[14] The Church worked hard to keep Catholicism strong among the new arrivals, opening parish schools and high schools.[15] After 1945, a large-scale movement to the suburbs was made possible by the steady upward social mobility of the Irish.[16]

Irish colleges and universities

Irish neighborhoods

Current

Historic

Notable Irish New Yorkers

Irish mayors

Irish Bishops of the Archdiocese of New York

Irish Bishops of the Diocese of Brooklyn

Notable Irish New Yorkers

Irish gangs

See also: List of identities in The Gangs of New York (book).

Entertainment about Irish in New York City

Music

Fairytale of New York by Irish band The Pogues refers to the NYPD choir singing Galway Bay. This is traditional because the force traditionally was largely made up of Irish Americans.

Notable films

Television

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/st-patricks-day/irish-numbers.htm Irish American Fun Facts & Trivia
  2. http://www.therealestatebloggers.com/2007/05/08/the-irish-are-coming-the-irish-are-coming/ The Real Estate Bloggers
  3. An Irish Taste for Real Estate in Manhattan, by Patrick McHeehan, N.Y. Times, May 8, 2007 (The page number is not available; it is available on-line with registration).
  4. Web site: New York city, New York – QT-P13. Ancestry: 2000. 2000. census.gov American Fact Finder. United States Census Bureau. April 23, 2009. https://archive.today/20200212041822/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=16000US3651000&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_QTP13&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U. February 12, 2020. dead.
  5. Ronald H. Bayor and Timothy J. Meagher, eds. The New York Irish (1996) pp 12-18.
  6. Anbinder. Tyler. 10.1017/ihs.2015.22. Which Irish men and women immigrated to the United States during the Great Famine migration of 1846-54?. Irish Historical Studies. 39. 156. 620–642. 2015. 163537029.
  7. Toby Joyce, "The New York Draft Riots of 1863: An Irish Civil War?" History Ireland (March 2003) 11#2, pp 22-27.
  8. Bayor and Meagher, eds. The New York Irish (1996) pp. 88, 400-401.
  9. Web site: Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Goode. Kristen. about.com. The New York Times Company. May 4, 2009. June 23, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090623081801/http://brooklyn.about.com/od/brooklynneighborhoods/ig/Brooklyn-Neighborhoods/Bay-Ridge.htm. dead.
  10. News: If You're Thinking of Living In/Woodlawn; A Bronx Enclave With a Suburban Feel. Wilson. Claire. February 16, 2003. The New York Times. 1. May 4, 2009.
  11. Manhattan|work=primemanhattan.com|publisher=Prime Manhattan Realty|accessdate=May 4, 2009
  12. Web site: Walking Around – Belle Harbor – Irish New York City's Ethnic neighborhoods. 2004. walkingaround.com. May 4, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090302085705/http://www.walkingaround.com/belle_harbor_irish.html. 2009-03-02. dead.
  13. Web site: Walking Around – Breezy Point – Irish New York City's Ethnic neighborhoods. 2004. walkingaround.com. May 4, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090302085313/http://www.walkingaround.com/breezy_point_irish.html. 2009-03-02. dead.
  14. Thomas Shelley, " 'Only One Class of People to Draw Upon for Support': Irish-Americans and the Archdiocese of New York." American Catholic Studies (2001): 1-21.
  15. James R. Barrett, and David R. Roediger, "The Irish and the 'Americanization' of the 'New Immigrants' in the Streets and in the Churches of the Urban United States, 1900-1930." Journal of American Ethnic History 24.4 (2005): 3-33, focus on New YHork and Chicago.
  16. Morton D. Winsberg, "The Suburbanization of the Irish in Boston, Chicago and New-York." Eire-Ireland 21.3 (1986): 90-104.
  17. A bit o' the Irish brogue: Woodlawn: An Irish enclave in the far reaches of the Bronx, by Patrick Ward, amNY, February 8, 2007, at pp. 34, 36, 38; see also at http://www.amNY.com.
  18. http://www.answers.com/topic/woodlawn-bronx Answer.com page on Woodlawn
  19. http://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=restaurants&find_loc=North+Riverdale%2C+New+York%2C+NY Irish restaurants in N. Riverdale
  20. https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40B15FC395B0C778CDDAB0894DF404482 NY Times article, requires registration
  21. Web site: Irish fire-fighter obit . 2020-01-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184810/http://www.irishtribute.com/tributes/view.adp%40d%3D236920%26t%3D238541.html . 2016-03-03 . dead .
  22. http://brooklyn.about.com/od/barsnightlife/tp/irishpubs.htm "Top 7 Brooklyn Irish Pubs and Bars", by Wendy Zarganis, About:New York:Brooklyn web site
  23. http://overinbrooklyn.blogspot.com/search/label/Irish%20Brooklyn Blog: "A Shamrock Grows in Brooklyn"
  24. http://henrygrattans.net/ Henry Grattan's Pub web site
  25. http://www.house.gov/weiner/neighborhoods/hoods_gerritsenbeach.htm Congressman' s site
  26. http://www.answers.com/topic/gerritsen-beach-brooklyn Answers.com
  27. Web site: Neighborhood web site . 2007-05-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130617025007/http://www.gerritsenbeach.net/ . 2013-06-17 . dead .
  28. Web site: Civic group . 2007-05-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131116105501/http://marineparkcivic.com/president.htm . 2013-11-16 . dead .
  29. https://web.archive.org/web/20010608174103/http://www.omalleyirishdance.com/omevents.htm Irish dance group
  30. http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/Vinegar%20Hill%20Page/vinegar.html Forgotten NY web site
  31. Web site: "Close up on Vinegar Hill", by Danial Adkinson, Village Voice web site . 2007-05-18 . 2008-06-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080609213206/http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0449,adkison,59179,15.html . dead .
  32. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04EFDA1E39F932A0575BC0A9659C8B63 "If You're Thinking of Living in Vinegar Hill...", by Dulcie Leimbach, N.Y. Times, August 31, 2003 on line.
  33. Ellen Freudenheim, Queens: What to do, where to go (and how not to get lost) in New York's Undiscovered Borough, pp. 15-16 (Woodside), 262-265 (Rockaways), 267-275 (Sunnyside), 277-287 (Woodside). (St. Martin's NY 2006) .
  34. Book: Bayor and Meaghar. The New York Irish. 1996. Johns Hopkins University Press. 978-0-8018-5199-5. registration. (p. 414)
  35. http://www.statenislandarts.org/cultural/cultural.html Staten Is. Cultural web site
  36. http://www.statenislandirish.org/Home_002.html Staten Island Irish Fair web site
  37. Information on Norwood, a.k.a. Bainbridge:Answers.com page on Norwood
  38. http://www.stbarnabasbronx.org/ St. Barnabas' Parish web site
  39. Diana Shaman, If You're Thinking of Living In /Woodhaven, Queens; Diversity in a Cohesive Community, New York Times September 20, 1998, found at NY Times article on the diversity of Rego Park including Irish-Americans. Accessed November 8, 2007.

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