Best Places to Be Irish in America

March and St. Patricks Day are the perfect times to explore The Best Places to be Irish in America! Grab your shalalee! It’s time to get green!

• Irish in Early America
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Plan It!
• Breezy Point, New York
• Plan It!
• Woodside, New York
• Plan It!
• Butte, Montana
• WAYS TO HAVE AN ALL AMERICAN SPRING
• COWBOY UP AT A CHUCKWAGON DINNER
• Plan It!
• Erin, Tennesse
• Plan It!
• O’Neill, Nebraska
• Plan It
• New London, Wisconsin
• Plan It!
• Dublin, Ohio
• DISCOVER NATIVE AMERICA
• DISCOVER SCOTTISH AMERICAN EVENTS AND HIGHLAND GAMES
• Plan It!
• Hot Springs, Arkansas
• Plan It!
• Chicago, Illinois
• Plan It!
• St. Patrick, Missouri
• Plan It!
• Final Notes
• Pin It For Later!
• Related posts:

Irish in Early America

Did you know the Irish have been here since before America was America? Yup, there is a particular Irish man I’m thinking of, Hercules Mulligan, who was an Irish tailor who was critical to the American Revolution. Up until the fame of Hamilton (Broadway musical of 2015) he was all but unknown…spies are like that…at least the good ones are ??

Are you singing that line from Hamilton now? I totally am…100%

• Hercules Mulligan in Hamilton
• Hercules Mulligan in real life

The Irish have been contributing to the building of this country since they arrived. They haven’t always been treated well but that hasn’t seem to stop them. In matters big and small, the Irish have shaped the United States and likely will continue that tradition.

Since so many Americans have a bit of Irish descent it’s no wonder St. Patrick’s Day has taken on the role as the day to display Irish pride.

Read on to discover The Best Places to be Irish in America, celebrate St.Patricks Day and the fascinating stories behind each location.

Boston, Massachusetts

South Boston Parade courtesy of Nathan Klima for The Boston Globe

No great surprise Boston tops the list of The Best Places to be Irish in America. As you might expect, people of Irish descent make the largest ethnic group in the city of Boston. (Just shy of 16%) The Great Irish Famine was the catalyst for many seeking a better life for themselves and their families. Years later, the city would become one of the most famous Irish enclaves in the world.

For the Irish in Boston, discrimination was rampant (think “No Irish Need Apply” signs posted everywhere). It wasn’t until the American Civil War that their reputation improved. Shortly after that, the Boston Irish effectively reshaped the electoral politics of the city. In 1914, David Ignatius Walsh became the first Irish Catholic Governor of Massachusetts, and began a long tradition of Irish American public figures characterizing much of its history. Today, Boston Irish heritage sites include the Irish Famine Memorial, Bunker Hill Catholic Cemetery, and Hibernian Hall, an early hub of Irish American life in Boston that now serves as an arts center in Roxbury.

Boston has more to celebrate than just St. Patrick’s Day. On March 17th, many Bostonians commemorate Evacuation Day, the anniversary of departure of British army on March 17, 1776. It was the first and monumental victory for the colonial army and the memory of that win would sustain colonial spirits through the ugly of the American Revolution that was to follow. Many Irish Catholics were involved in this defeat of British soldiers.

It’s a public holiday so no school but activities on the day may include Evacuation Day re-enactments, essay contests, and visits to historically significant sites as well as the Boston Marathon and the St. Patricks Day events you would expect.

Plan It!

Breezy Point, New York

Ancient Order of Hibernians

Breezy Point is located in Queens and has long been known as the “Irish Riviera”. It boasts the highest concentration of people claiming Irish ancestry of any urban neighborhood in the U.S. (over 60%) For generations it was a secluded place and a summer getaway for New York residents.

When Hurricane Sandy struck it all but devastated the area. The Emerald Guild, a New York City-based group of Irish builders and superintendents, rose to the occasion and distributed life-saving supplies through Long Island. Then a group of Irish construction workers from Navillus Contracting Company also stepped up to respond to the emergency, helping over 100 families in the two days that followed the storm. Two weeks after the disaster, they had dug out a grand total of 300 homes. and in doing so, providing a fine example of the dauntless community care for which the Irish people are known.

Breezy Point hosts a parade for St. Patrick’s Day of course but it also hosts some other community events at that same time. But most of all, Breezy Point made this list because it is a testament to the culture of Irish America, community minded, hard working, and generous. The Irish spirit is alive and well in Breezy Point!

Plan It!

Woodside, New York

photo courtesy of ny curbed

Known as “Irishtown” because of the Significant growth in Irish population in the 1800’s through the 1900’s, one of the biggest signs the Irish had come to stay was in 1901, when the Greater New York Irish Athletic Association opened a large athletic complex and called it Celtic Park. By the early 1930s, the area was 80% Irish.

Now a days Woodside is quite a melting pot with over 49 languages currently spoken there. Their St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, however, are significant. Woodside hosts the St. Pat’s for All Parade and it is the only St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York that welcomes members of the LGBT community to march. Often well known politicians will partake in the festivities. Alumni include former New York City mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, and former U.S. senator and secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

Plan It!

Butte, Montana

WAYS TO HAVE AN ALL AMERICAN SPRING

Courtesy of Montana Connections

Here’s a surprise! Butte has the largest population of Irish Americans of any city in the United States. Over 1/4 of the city claims Irish descent! Since 1882 St. Patrick’s Day celebrations center around the parade led by the Ancient Order of Hibernians. It draws 30,000+ locals and more because it’s a full on festival with dancers, bag pipers, pot luck, and even a limerick reading. It’s a dynamic celebration that involves the whole city.

COWBOY UP AT A CHUCKWAGON DINNER

Plan It!

Erin, Tennesse

The double stack Limekilns

Erin, otherwise known as “Irish Town, Tennessee”, is named for the female personification of Ireland. There is another theory that the name may have come from the phrase, “Erin go bragh!” This was used by rebel Irish in their revolution of 1798 from England. The saying translates to “Ireland forever,” so either way it works and you’ll hear both theories at the Erin Irish Day Parade, traditionally held on the third Saturday of every March.

Erin makes it to the National Register of Historic Places with the Twin Lime kilns. This is due to their significance to the lime industry in the county that brought so many Irish to Tennessee.

Plan It!

O’Neill, Nebraska

(City of O’Neill)

Known as Nebraska’s Irish capital, citizens of this town are loud and proud when it comes to their ancestry. The town is named after founder John Charles O’Neill, soldier in the Civil War as First Cavalry and later, the Fifth Indiana Cavalry. He emigrated when the Great Famine began to take its toll on his homeland.

Not surprisingly, O’Neill does St. Patricks Day with all the fervor you would hope for in an Irish celebration. On that day, the city doubles its population as people swarm in to partake in the Grand Parade and Green Eggs and Ham, a children’s breakfast that features green scrambled eggs.

In the town center is the painting of the world’s largest permanent shamrock on record. It is gigantic and is the heart of the town.

Plan It

New London, Wisconsin

Sneaky leprechauns up to leprechaun shenanigans

St. Patrick’s Day officially begins in New London when the Shamrock Club, a group of residents dressed as leprechauns, sneakily changes highway signs to read New Dublin.

Although German immigrants originally settled the town, an influx of Irish residents in the 19th century forever changed the town’s traditions. Now, every March, corned beef and cabbage appear on the menu at local restaurants, Irish carolers sing at the senior citizens’ home and Shamrock Club members a.k.a. leprechauns, visit hospitals and schools.

The parade draws 30,000 people to the town of 7,000. In addition to a staged Finnegan’s Wake (a shout-out to the final work of Irish author James Joyce, in which a green-painted hearse drives down the parade route), bagpipe players and the high school band march down the street, following a trail of shamrocks painted on the pavement. The grand finale is “Irish Fest,” which brings Celtic bands.

Plan It!

Dublin, Ohio

(Dublin Irish Festival)

Hopewell, Adenas, Delaware, Shawnee and Wyandot were the first inhabitants of the countryside that was to become Dublin. The Hopewell left several mounds, one of which is part of a City of Dublin park/education center. Today’s Historic Dublin includes a section or about 800 acres of land given to Lieutenant James Holt by the Commonwealth of Virginia as payment for service in the Revolutionary War. This part of what became Ohio was known as the Virginia Military District.

DISCOVER NATIVE AMERICA

Despite Dublin’s name, very few Irish families were among those finding a home in early Dublin. But…the name of the town was chosen by John Shields, who did hail from Ireland. He wrote, “If I have the honor conferred upon me to name your village, with the brightness of the morn, and the gleaming of the sun on the hills and dales surrounding this beautiful valley, it would give me great pleasure to name your new town after my birthplace, Dublin, Ireland.”

Dublin proudly hosts annual Dublin Irish Festival, boasting the largest three-day Irish Festival on the planet. It’s every August.

DISCOVER SCOTTISH AMERICAN EVENTS AND HIGHLAND GAMES

Plan It!

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Appropriately enough, the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade history begins with an Arkansan of Irish descent sharing a few pints of malted beverage with some friends. As the pub where they had gathered was situated on the World’s Shortest Street in Everyday Use — Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas’, Bridge Street, the conversation evolved into a question of how to use Bridge Street’s 98-foot length to attract visitors to Hot Springs.

Naturally, it was the Irish descendant who suggested organizing the shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade on the street.

That was 2003, and The First Ever First Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held on March 17, 2004 and it made St. Patrick’s Day Parade history. A few thousand people gathered for fun and frivolity in the heart of America’s First Resort and it became a St. Patrick’s Day tradition in Hot Springs.

(information courtesy of shortestpats.com)

This festival truly celebrates the Irish sense of humor and that is what secures its place as one of The Best Places to be Irish in America.

Plan It!

Chicago, Illinois

In the city of Chicago, the Irish population is well known, especially in the fire and police departments. It should be noted that for 80 years straight, the city elected consecutive Irish American mayors (12 in all). The Irish community also founded Loyola University Chicago and DePaul University. Aaaaannnnddd Irish dancer Michael Flatley, of Riverdance fame hails from Chicago. So yeah, definitely one of The Best Places to be Irish in America!

Surprisingly it wasn’t until 1979, members of the Irish community congregated for the city’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade. Today, the South Side Irish is one of the largest and most prominent ethnic communities in Chicago, and the parade is known world wide, along with one other iconic St Patrick’s Day event…dying the Chicago River itself green. It’s freaking amazing.

Plan It!

St. Patrick, Missouri

Originally settled by Irish immigrants, it is still predominantly an Irish Catholic town. The Shrine of St. Patrick, a medieval-inspired Catholic church, is a focal point. Legend has it homemade bricks for the church were forged in a kiln located east of the local cemetery. Local masons thought the bricks too soft so the clergy got a great price. The rectory was built from these bricks in 1861 and stood tall for nearly one hundred years before rebuilding was necessary.

The beautiful church isn’t the only unique thing about this town. The post office of St. Patrick, Missouri issues a postage stamp that’s not available for sale anywhere else in the world. Seriously. It bears a green shamrock symbol, an Irish-style hat and pipe, and the words “St. Patrick, Missouri: The Only One in the World.” Uh…that’s awesome!

Plan It!

Final Notes

With so many Americans boasting Irish descent, it’s difficult to narrow down The Best Places to be Irish in America but this list is where Irish pride is celebrated the loudest…for a day, a month, always!

The Irish spirit is known for tenacity and great humor in the face of difficulty. It is no wonder these have become trademarks of Americans as well.

So celebrate the Emerald Isle…from sea to shining sea with these places full of history and culture worth more than any pot of gold!!

Do you have a contribution for The Best Places to be Irish in America? Let me know and I’ll be happy to add it! Irish American pride right here!