Beginning in the late 19th century, hundreds of thousands of Irish left their Emerald Isle for America in hopes of finding a better life. The Great Famine had left over a million dead bodies in its wake, and twice as many survivors emigrated from Ireland in response to the period of starvation that lasted from 1845 to 1852. Hundreds of thousands of these Irish landed in New York City and made the metropolis their new home.
In 1910, there were more Irish people in New York City than in the Irish capital of Dublin. Immigrants sought a sense of community and the prospect of employment in big cities, and many could simply not afford transportation away from the city. Instead, the stayed, and often became domestic servants, factory workers and physical labourers.
Living in tenement buildings and squalid city slums, life as an Irishman in New York City was anything but easy. The poorest immigrant group to enter the country in a century, the Irish arrived with little money and skills and were faced with “Irish Need Not Apply” signs at many businesses. However, one place that was hiring the Irish was the local police departments. In the early 1900s, 5 out of 6 New York City police officers were Irish.
The Irish community remains strong in New York City, which has the highest number of Irish-Americans in the country. Descendants of Great Famine immigrants still play a large part in the city’s politics, sports, religious life, media and services. Irish enclaves are found all over the city, but most notably in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Broad Channel, Queens, and Woodlawn in the Bronx. After searching for cheap flights, stay in one of the many New York hotels in these areas to be close to the best authentic Irish pubs in the city. The city has had many notable Irish mayors, including William R. Grace, Jimmy Walker and John Purroy Mitchel and the Catholic Church has appointed 12 Irish Bishops as head of the Archdiocese of the city.
Both New York City and the entire country owe a great debt to the Irish that fought their way up from being poor immigrants with bad reputations to substantially contributing to all facets of American culture.
