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About 1740, a young Scots-Irishman named Edward Pattison emigrated from County Tyrone to Connecticut, arriving, according to family tradition, with just 16 cents in his pocket. In what is today the town of Berlin, Pattison established the first tinsmith shop in the American colonies. He cut tin imported from England and beat it into shapes with wooden mallets on wooden patterns ... [ more ]

St. Patrick Church of Enfield, built by early Irish immigrants who came to work on the Windsor Locks canal or at the carpet mill, is the mother church of the Catholic churches in the Enfield, Connecticut, area. Mass was first celebrated in private homes, and later a wooden church of St. Patrick was built at the corner of Pearl and Cross Streets. Incoming carpet workers caused rapid expansion of the parish, and necessitated building a larger church ... [ more ]

The church's architect, Patrick Charles Keely, had immigrated to the U.S. in 1842 from Ireland and designed almost 600 Roman Catholic Churches over his career. The church was built to serve the Irish immigrants who had moved to Unionville to work in the paper mills in the 19th century ... [ more ]

The Greater Hartford Irish Festival has sustained itself for more than 30 years as the result of the foresight and dedication of countless individuals, committed to the development and encouragement of Irish culture. It was just such pioneers who saw this annual event as an opportunity – a fundraising opportunity to assist in achieving the ongoing goals of the Irish American Home Society, as well as an opportunity to welcome visitors from throughout Connecticut and the Northeast to the Society's "home" in Glastonbury ... [ more ]

In October of 1944, several men met at a home in West Hartford to formulate a plan for an Irish-American Society. Prior to this time there had been several Irish groups in the Hartford area some of which had been dissolved due to a lack of a central meeting place. It was felt that a unified single group would best serve the needs of the Irish community. The general mission of the Irish American Home was and continues to be a society that welcomes and brings together rish and Irish American families, and practices and preserves Irish traditions, culture, music and friendship ... [ more ]

In 1894, the Rev. Walter J. Shanley, rector of St. Joseph's Cathedral, organized a fraternity of Catholic young men known as the Cathedral Lyceum. The Lyceum's membership grew so rapidly that, by the following March, officials of the diocese decided the organization would need its own building. A benefactor, William F. O'Neil, donated the land. John J. Dwyer, a prominent Hartford architect, drew on ancient Greek and Roman styles to craft a building with a reading room, gymnasium, and a two-story auditorium. Ground was broken in June 1895 and ... [ more ]

This was the home of Catherine M. Flanagan, a native of Hartford and a first generation Irish-American who was active in the suffragette movement during and after World War I. She and five other women were arrested on August 16, 1917 for picketing in font of the White House. They were all sentenced to thirty days in jail under deplorable conditions. Her arrest increased the passion of the struggle for women's suffrage in Connecticut and she played a leading role as an organizer in that effort ... [ more ]

The Central Connecticut Celtic Cultural Committee was formed for the purpose of fostering, promoting, and celebrating the cultural and historical contributions of Irish and Irish- American individuals and groups in Central Connecticut. To achieve this purpose, activities include the sponsorship of the Greater Hartford St. Patrick's Day Parade, including the selection of the Parade Person of the Year and the Parade Grand Marshal. Other activities include  ... [ more ]

This flag was especially designed for the Ninth Regiment. It and an American flag were presented to the Regiment at Camp Welch on October 31, 1861. The flags were both made of silk. The American flag, or "flag of the Union," was donated by Mrs. Charles DeForest and the regimental flag was donated by a group of "patriotic ladies."  Hartford sign painter and artist, Frederick F. Rice, made the first national flags purchased for Connecticut's troops during the Civil War ... [ more ]

George Keller, the architect who designed the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, came to Hartford in 1865 when he was 22 years old to design cemetery monuments for James G. Batterson, the man who founded Travelers Insurance Company. Keller was born on December 15, 1842, in Cork, Ireland, where his father owned a wallpaper factory. When the potato famine hit Ireland, the Kellers decided to move to the United States; however, eight-year-old George and one of his brothers were left behind and sent to live ... [ more ]

St. Patrick-St. Anthony parish has played a central role in the rich history of the Catholic Church in Connecticut since its very beginning. Located in the heart of Connecticut's capitol city, it traces its roots back to Holy Trinity parish, the first Catholic Church in Connecticut. Holy Trinity was founded in 1829 to welcome and serve the thousands of Irish immigrants who had begun to crowd into Hartford in the mid-19th century ... [ more ]

In 1859 St. Patrick's Parish, which had been founded in 1829 under the name of Holy Trinity, was still the only Catholic Church in Hartford. James Buchanan was president, there were 33 states in the United States, and the population of the City of Hartford had by that time risen to the proud total of 28,000, a fraction of who was Catholic. On September 25, 1859, during Sunday vespers at St. Patrick's, the Rt. Rev. Francis P. McFarland, Bishop of Hartford, announced that he was creating a second parish from the southern half of St. Patrick's ... [ more ]

As soon as refurbishing of the new church was completed, construction of a school was started. It was built on the largest area of land available at that time, to the rear of the church. The school was opened in the fall of 1860 with 200 students. The principal and the three laywomen who taught in the school had their salaries paid by the city of Hartford. Father Kelly was the first Catholic pastor in Connecticut to ask for and obtain recognition of a parochial school as part of a city school system ... [ more ]

The Thomas McManus Plaque is significant historically because it is a memorial to a prominent individual who participated in the Civil War. Thomas McManus was born in Hartford January 20, 1834, four years after his parents emigrated from Ireland. After graduating from Hartford Public High School, he learned the carpenter's trade and plied it for several years in repair shops of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. He then studied law in the offices of Eaton & Collier, being admitted to the bar January 20, 1864 ... [ more ]

This is the first Roman Catholic church in New Britain. It was founded in 1848 Rev. Luke Daly and a group of 25 Irish Catholic families. The church was built in 1886 with labor provided by the parishioners, most of whom working in New Britain's many factories. The church burned to its walls in 1902 and was rebuilt under the direction of Keely's firm ... [ more ]

The church is located in the Tariffville Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Saint Bernard's parish was organized and built its first church, c.1850, to serve Irish immigrants who came to Tariffville as laborers. The first Mass in Tariffville was celebrated in 1846 by Father John Brady. Priests from Hartford, such as Fathers Brady and Peter Walsh, served Tariffville until Father Luke Daly of New Britain assumed this duty in September 1848. In 1876 the church was destroyed by fire  ... [ more ]

The French army led by Comte de Rochambeau crossed Connecticut after landing in Rhode Island, on its way to meet General Washington's army on the Hudson River. They then marched to Virginia to successfully besiege General Cornwallis' British army at Yorktown in the last campaign of the American Revolution. While at Southington, Rochambeau's army was accompanied by an Irish brigade, both on the way to Yorktown and on the way back. Although there were no strictly Irish units in Rochambeau's army itself, there were scattered Irish men, including ... [ more ]

Suffield was established around 1670 as a settlement after John Pynchon paid the Indians 30 pounds for a place called Stony Brooke Plantation. The area connected Windsor and Springfield. Families (mostly from Springfield) settled the area and made their homes there. But in 1675 King Philip's War was raging and the people there (as many other smaller settlements in the region had to do,) were forced to move back to Springfield. The settlement was destroyed by fire by the Indians. Around 1679 they returned  ... [ more ]

The Enfield Canal was constructed from June 1827 to November 1829 under the supervision of Canvass White, engineer for the Connecticut River Company. Over four hundred Irish immigrant laborers, many with families, came to Windsor and Suffield, Connecticut to construct the canal. The work was done entirely by hand, using only pick and shovel, and the earth was carried off with wheelbarrows ... [ more ]

Between 1827 and 1829, over four hundred Irish immigrant laborers, many with families, came to Windsor and Suffield, Connecticut to construct a canal bypassing the Connecticut River's Enfield Rapids. This ambitious project came at the beginning of America's canal building era, which began in 1825 and ended about 1845, when railroads made most canals obsolete ... [ more ]

The church was built to serve the congregation of Irishmen working on the Windsor Locks Canal who had been ministered to since 1827, primarily by priests traveling from the Hartford area. In 1852 Father James Smyth purchased land on which to build a church for the sum of $1. On September, 14 1852, Bishop Bernard O'Reilly blessed the cornerstone of the new church building, and Patrick Quirk became the first infant baptized in the new parish on January 2, 1853 ... [ more ]