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LANDMARKS
Irish-American
Landmarks
Listed below are a number of the more important, though
"more important" is always, naturally, a matter
of judgment. Collectively, the landmarks described
illustrate some essential aspects of the Irish-American
experience, including immigration, building the nation,
military service and sacrifice, political life, the
Irish-American religious heritage, and achieving the
American Dream.
California
MILL VALLEY: THE REED SAWMILL RESTORATION
This Marin County landmark, across the Golden Gate from
San Francisco, played a key role in the birth of the
Empire City of the Pacific. Built in the 1840s by John
Reed, a Dublin native and first non-Spanish settler in
the Marin area, the sawmill was working when the 49ers
descended on California after James Marshall discovered
gold at Sutter's Mill. Reed's sawmill has been preserved
as a landmark, and is open to the public.
SAN
FRANCISCO: ROBERT EMMET STATUE,
GOLDEN GATE PARK
Erected to commemorate the Irish patriot who was executed
in 1803 for leading an unsuccessful uprising, the statue
has long been a popular site for Irish-American speeches
and events. Each year Emmet's eloquent and prophetic
Speech from the Dock is read here is as a memorial.
SAN
FRANCISCO:
ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, 756 MISSION STREET
This has been called "the most Irish church on the
continent." The present structure, built of brick
with a slender tower and steeple, is the fourth erected
by the parish since it was established in 1851 by Father
Maginnis, then the only English-speaking priest in San
Francisco. A series of stained-glass windows tells the
stories of various Irish saints, each a patron of, or
closely associated with, one of the 32 counties.
District of Columbia
WASHINGTON:
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, GEORGETOWN
This world-famous Jesuit institution, founded in 1789 by
soon-to-be-bishop John Carroll and other leading
Irish-American Catholics, was the country's first
Catholic institution of higher learning.
Illinois
CHICAGO:
OLD ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, 718 WEST ADAMS
If you believe in miracles, there may be one in the fact
that this church still stands. During the Great Fire of
1871, most of the city's center -- and its churches --
was destroyed. The flames devastated everything around
St. Patrick's as well, even the adjoining buildings, but
stopped abruptly at the church steps. Dedicated on
Christmas Day, 1856, and built in Romanesque style, St.
Patrick's in Chicago's oldest standing church -- and
perhaps the oldest public building. Throughout the
church, decorative touches taken from the Book of Kells
and ancient Celtic design.
Louisiana
LAKEVIEW:
NEW BASIN CANAL PARK
During the 1830s, the city of New Orleans built the New
Basin Cana, which was designed to connect Lake
Ponchartrain with what is now the Howard Avenue section
of the city. Thousands of recent Irish immigrants were
employed to dig the waterway along a route that ran
mostly through fever-infested cypress swamp. Eight
thousand workers died before the project was completed --
and some estimate the death toll as high as 20,000. The
Irish Cultural Center of New Orleans recently erected a
monument to their sacrifice in the form of a Celtic
cross.
Maryland
BALTIMORE:
BASILICA OF THE ASSUMPTION,
CATHEDRAL AND MULBERRY STREETS
Designed by Benjamin Latrobe, this was the first Catholic
cathedral built in the United States. In 1806, the year
the cornerstone was laid by John Carroll, more than half
the nation's Catholics lived in Maryland. The basilica is
open to visitors between 6:30am and 3:30pm daily.
Massachusetts
BOSTON:
JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY MEMORIAL, THE FENWAY
Boston abounds with mementos of this 19th-century
Irish-born journalist and poet, who became owner and
editor of The Boston Pilot in 1876. O'Reilly not only
made The Pilot the most influential and respected
Irish-American journal of its day, but also won many
admirers through his public speaking, his peotry and his
outspoken championing of oppressed groups, including
African-Americans and Jews as well as his fellow Irish
and Irish-Americans.
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BROOKLINE:
KENNEDY NATIONAL HISTORICAL SITE,
83 BEALS STREET
Birthplace of the 35th U.S. president, the first
Irish-American Catholic to attain that office. Joseph and
Rose Kennedy lived here from 1915 until 1921, when the
needs of their growing family forced them to move to a
larger house nearby. JFK's birthplace is furnished as it
was during those years and contains a collection of
Kennedy family memorabilia.
Michigan
DEARBORN:
HENRY FORD BIRTHPLACE,
GREENFIELD VILLAGE,
20900 OAKWOOD BOULEVARD
Ford, the son of Famine immigrants from County Cork,
pioneered standardization and mass-production techniques
in the infant U.S. automovile industry, enabling the
average American to afford a car for the first time.
Relocated here by Ford, who brought together at
Greenfield Village homes and buildings linked with many
famous Americans, the Ford Birthplace is open seven days
a week.
New York
GREENE COUNTY:
CAIRO AND EAST DURHAM
Set amid the northern Catskill Mountains of New York
State, these Greene County resort communities have been a
summer and holiday retreat for Irish-Americans for a
century. Hotels and guest houses bearing names from every
corner of Ireland stand along the wooded roads, and at
least three Irish-American festivals are held in the area
each summer. The local chamber of commerce bills Greene
County as "Ireland's 33rd county."
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NEW
YORK:
THE NEW YORK PORT OF ENTRY
The experience of millions of immigrants from Ireland and
elsewhere can be relived, to some degree, by visiting the
former immigration facilities and associated museums in
Lower Manhattan and New York Harbor:
(a) South Street Seaport, South Street, Manhattan, which
provides a restored and sanitized picture of the scene
awaiting Irish immigrants who landed from the Liverpool
packets that docked along South Street until 1856;
(b) Castle Clinton National Monument, Battery Park,
Manhattan, where immigrants were processed between 1855
and 1889; and (c) Ellis Island National Monument
(formerly the United States Immigration Station), were
most immigrants were processed between
the early 1890s and 1954.
(Immigrants
from Ireland formed the second-largest group to come
through the station; in fact, a 15-year-old colleen from
County Cork was the first person officially processed
after Ellis Island opened on January 2, 1894.)
Ellis
Island is open in season and can be reached via the
Liberty Island ferry from Battery Park. The museums of
immigration on Liberty and Ellis islands are being
greatly expanded, and the American Museum of Immigration,
15 Pine Street, New York, is also worth a visit.
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NEW
YORK:
ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL,
FIFTH AVENUE AT 50TH STREET
Built over a 21-year period, 1858 to 1879, "St.
Pat's" was begun by the Right Reverend John Joseph
Hughes, New York's first Catholic archbishop, and
dedicated by John Cardinal McCloskey, America's first
cardinal. From its very name, to its central role in New
York's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, to the heritage
of its resident archbishops and much of its congregation,
St. Patrick's has always been closely associated with New
York's Irish community.
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ROME:
OLD ERIE CANAL STATE PARK,
STATE ROUTES 5 AND 46
Here, as at some other points between Albany and Buffalo,
surviving sections of the original Erie Canal can be
seen. Built largely by immigrant Irish muscle working for
Irish-born contractors, the historic waterway was
completed in 1825. It halped open America's interior to
large-scale settlement and trade for the first time. And
this, in turn, helped make New York City the nation's
leading port. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton, whose
brainchild the canal was, had an Irish-born grandfather
himself.
Pennsylvania
GETTYSBURG:
GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK
Here, in the summer of 1863, a Confederate army under
General Robert E. Lee sought a dramatic breakthrough
victory on Northern soil. Instead, in three days of
savage fighting, Northern forces commanded by
Irish-American George G. Meade turned back the attempt,
helping hasten the Union's final victory at Appomattox.
For
both sides, however, Gettysburg was a costly battle, paid
for in 7,000 lives and 45,000 wounded and missing.
Irish-Americans fought courageously on both sides, but
the largest and most famous unit in which they fought as
a group was the Union's Irish Brigade, organized by
Colonel Michael Corcoran, a County Sligo native.
The
brigade had already suffered heavy losses at Bull Run,
Fredericksburg, Antietam and Chancellorsville as well as
lesser-known clashes, but so many were killed or wounded
at Gettysburg that the brigade ceased to exist
thereafter. The courage and sacrifice of those who served
in the brigade is commemorated at Gettysburg in a
poignant monument: a mourning wolfhound at the base of a
Celtic cross. Park rangers will direct you to the
monument.
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READING:
DANIEL BOONE HOMESTEAD,
NORTH OF BAUMSTOWN,
SEVEN MILES EAST OF READING
Daniel Boone was born in this house in 1734, when Reading
was on the edge of the frontier. He was given his first
rifle at age 10, and had become an expert at living in
the wilds by the time the Boones moved to North Carolina
in 1750. The stone homestead has been restored to reflect
life in the early 19th century; there are also a
blacksmith shop, a smokehouse and other buildings. Open
daily, 9:30am to 4:30pm Monday through Saturday, and
Sunday, 1:00 to 4:30pm.
Rhode Island
PROVIDENCE:
GEORGE M. COHAN BIRTHPLACE,
536 WICKENDEN STREET
Famous for such patriotic songs as "Yankee Doodle
Dandy" and "Grand Old Flag," George
Michael Cohan (1878-1942) was a giant of the American
musical theatre. he was not only a composer and
dramatist, but was widely praised for his acting and
song-and-dance routines. During a theatrical career that
spanned over half a century, Cohan had a hand (or voice)
in scores of popular productions. Cohan's success
inspired many younger Irish-Americans to enter the world
of entertainment.
South Carolina
CHARLESTON:
HIBERNIAN HALL NATIONAL LANDMARK
The Hibernian Society of Charleston was originally
founded, in part, to raise money for the relief of needy
Irish immigrants who had emigrated to Charleston
following the unsuccessful Irish uprising of 1798.
During
the late 1840s, the Society led efforts throughout the
Southeast to aid victims of the Great Famine in Ireland.
Texas
HOUSTON:
THE DICK DOWLING MEMORIAL,
HERMANN PARK
This memorial commemorates the courage and fighting still
of a handful of Irish-born Houstonians who fought and won
the Battle of Sabine Pass, a dramatic
Confederate Civil War victory.
On
September 8, 1863, 42 members of the Jefferson Davis
Guards manned six cannon behind a simple earthwork at
Sabine Pass, where the Sabine and neches rivers empty
into the Gulf of Mexico near Port Arthur. Nearly all of
the men were County Galway natives, like their commander,
25-year-old Lieutenant (Richard W.) Dick Dowling.
Offshore, a Union expedition of 20 ships prepared to
disembark an invasion force of 5,000 troops. When the
three Union gunboats moved inshore to "soften
up" the defenses, however, the Davis Guards turned
the tables. With just three or four shots, they put the
first Federal gunboat out of action and then quickly
disabled the second.
The surrender of the second gunboat ended the battle,
which had lasted only 45 minutes. The remaining Union
ships sailed back to New Orleans, giving the expedition's
commander, General Franklin, the honor of being the first
American general to lose a fleet to shore batteries
alone.
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SAN
ANTONIO:
THE ALAMO -- SHRINE OF TEXAS LIBERTY
Originally founded as a Franciscan mission station in the
early 1700s,this famous landmark had become a presidio --
a Spanish military post -- by the end of the century. Its
fame rests on the pivotal role it played in the War for
Texas Independence, when 186 Texas volunteers under
Colonel William Barrett Travis fought to the last man
against forces vastly superior in number under Mexican
General Santa Ana.
At
least 12 of the Texan defenders were Irish-born, and
another 32 were of Irish descent, including Travis and
several other prominent leaders. The self-sacrifice of
these men at the Alamo bought just enough time for
Seneral Sam Houston, who was also of Ulster stock, to
regroup his forces at San Jacinto.
There
he shortly afterward inflicted on the Mexicans the
decisive defeat that secured Texas Independence. The
Alamo remained the property of the Roman Catholic Church
until early in this century, when Clara Driscoll, an
Irish-American philanthropist, bought the property on
behalf of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, who
operate the shrine today.
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SAN
PATRICIO COUNTY:
SAN PATRICIO
Located some dozen miles northeast of Corpus Christi, San
Patricio de Hibernia was one of the first two Irish
colonies established in Texas. In the last 1820s, james
McGloin and John McMullen secured a land grant for this
area from the Mexican government, which looked favorably
upon settlement in Texas by Irish people who shared their
Catholic faith.
The
men recruited about 250 Catholic settlers, mainly in
Donegal, Leinster and Connaught. In 1829, with a roster
including names such as Brennan, Carroll, Conway, Dwyer,
Fadden, Haughey and O'Docharty, they established the new
town. San Patricio (the "de hibernia" was soon
dropped) became chiefly a farming and ranching community.
On
the orders of General Sam Houston, San Patricio County
had the honor of being the first county organized in the
newly independent Texas Republic, on March 17th, St.
Patrick's Day, 1836. Most of the settlers had moved on by
the end of the 19th century, and the town effectively
ceased to exist. Since then, however, it has been
reincorporated (1971), and visitors can tour the restored
old courthouse and several of the original houses each
St. Patrick's Day.
Wyoming
CODY:
CODY BIRTHPLACE /
BUFFALO BILL HISTORICAL CENTER,
720 SHERIDAN AVENUE
Son of an Irish immigrant, "Buffalo Bill" Cody
came to symbolize the exploits of American in taming the
western frontier. He excelled as a scout and a hunter,
and later became a world-famous showman, entertaining
hordes with his Wild West troupe.
The
Cody Birthplace contains a fascinating collection of
memorabilia. Within blocks, you may also visit the
Whitney Gallery of Western Art, the Plains Indian Museum,
and Buffalo Bill Village & Western Exhibits, a
recreated town of the early West. All facilities are open
daily, 7am to 10pm, June through August.
  
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