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This is the only extant building that is directly associated with the life of Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810 –1891). It contains many objects related to Barnum and life in Bridgeport. Barnum was best known as a showman, but he was also active as a social and political reformer who supported Irish home rule. In his autobiography, Barnum claims that there were no Irish people living near his home town of Bethel, Connecticut and that he did not know any of them until he moved to New York in the 1850s ... [ more ]

In November 1982, at the request of then-Mayor Leonard Paoletta, City Clerk Catherine Brannelly gathered a small group of people representing the local Irish community to discuss an idea that became reality on March 17, 1983-the First Annual Greater Bridgeport St. Patrick's Day Parade.  The original parade was small by comparison to later efforts; but nonetheless a proud display of Irish spirit, led by our first Grand Marshal, Martin Reidy, a respected member of the Irish- American community of Greater Bridgeport ... [ more ]

It was on April 22, 1876, that Bridgeporter James Henry O'Rourke is credited with making baseball history -- the first base hit in the then-fledgling National League -- while at bat on a Philadelphia ball field in a game celebrating America's upcoming Centennial.  The dramatic instant after ball and bat made contact is captured by West Haven sculptor Susan Clinard -- with O'Rourke frozen in his follow-through swing -- in a life-size bronze statue that was unveiled Friday, August 27, 2010 in ceremonies at Bridgeport's Ballpark at Harbor Yard. ... [ more ]

The precursor to the cathedral was Saint James the Apostle Church, dedicated on Arch Street by Bishop Benedict Fenwick of Boston on July 24, 1842. The Catholic population of city at the time was estimated at 250 souls. The first Catholic church in Fairfield County, Saint James predated the establishment of the Diocese of Hartford (now an Archdiocese) by four months ... [ more ]

The Parish of St. Peter is the third oldest parish in the Bridgeport diocese, founded in 1851. The church was established by the growing Irish immigrant community, which first occupied a former Universalist church building. By 1870, they were able to commission the leading Catholic church architects of the time to design the current church building ... [ more ]

The goals of this organization are the preservation and teaching of Irish heritage and culture for enrichment and of all people who are interested in Irish heritage with a program of teaching, workshops and cultural events. Classes and workshops for Irish Language, Dance, Music, Singing, Drama, Storytelling, Genealogy, Literature, History and Gaelic Sports. Events would include Irish language days, concerts, plays, games, lectures, book clubs and seisiúin ... [ more ]

Founded in 1999, this parade usually takes place the Sunday after St. Patrick's Day. It is sponsored by the Greater Danbury Irish Cultural Center ... [ more ]

St. Peter's Convent, School and Rectory are all associated with St. Peter's Catholic church, which is one block north of them and on the other (east) side of Main Street. They were built to serve St. Peter's predominantly Irish congregation. All three buildings face east and they occupy most of the Main Street frontage of the block between Boughton Street and Wooster Street ... [ more ]

The Irish were well established in Danbury by the 1880s. Most of them lived in the Town Hill area, the Fourth Ward, and most of them were Democrats. They were a powerful political force in town. The first known Irishman in Danbury was a man named Flynn, who deserted from British General Tryon's troops during his raid on the town in 1777 ... [ more ]

The first annual Fairfield County Irish Festival was held in 1988 at Roger Ludlowe Field in Fairfield. In addition to an enthusiastic sharing of all things Irish, its stated goal was to raise funds to benefit the Gaelic-American Club Building Fund. Dreams were for this building to come alive as a social and cultural center to celebrate Irish music, dancing, drama, history and art. In reality, the origins for the festival actually began forty years earlier when ... [ more ]

The Gaelic American Club, Inc. was founded in 1948 in Bridgeport, CT and was incorporated in 1950. Locations were rented in Bridgeport and Fairfield until this clubhouse was built. Feile, Inc was founded in 1989 as a 501c(3) nonprofit corporation and is the cultural branch of the club. The purpose of the club and Feile is to foster Irish culture among its membership and the community ... [ more ]

Daniel Patrick (sometimes spelled Partrick) was born in Ireland, but served as a British officer in the Pequot War of 1637. He next appears in 1639, when, with Robert Feaks, he purchased Greenwich from an Indian sachem, thus becoming the first settlers of that town. The founders of Greenwich were placed in the difficult position of being placed on the border between the colonial claims of both the English and Dutch governments while residing in the midst of hostile native populations ... [ more ]

The Greenwich Hibernian Association, states that Greenwich was co-founded in 1640 by an Irishman named Captain Daniel Partrick and his companion Robert Feakes. They paid for a large tract of Indian land with 25 coats. Captain Partrick, distinguished more for bravery in battle than manners, had arrived in Greenwich from Boston, from whence he was expelled by Puritans ''for unbecoming behavior.'' The Greenwich Hibernian Association is a nonprofit fellowship of men and women of Irish ... [ more ]

Irish immigrants were the majority of the workforce in the mill in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first mill at this location was Jared V. Peck's cotton mill which began operations in 1790. Peck sold the mill in 1820 and a series of owners constructed new buildings on the site as their businesses grew. The mill was purchased by Tingue, House and Company in 1875 ... [ more ]

The town experienced a big change with an influx of Irish immigrants, many of whom came through the area as railroad workers in the early 19th century and stayed to farm land abandoned by earlier farmers. Most of the early Irish residents lived in the Sandy Hook and Walnut Tree Hill neighborhoods, as well as farms along Route 25 in the Botsford section of town. "The Irish were very polarizing socially, religiously, and politically in town," said Daniel Cruson, the town historian ... [ more ]

The original owner of Rock Ledge, James Augustus Farrell (1863-1941) was born in New Haven but moved to Pittsburgh, where he worked as a laborer in a wire mill. An embodiment of the American success story, he had risen by 1911 to the presidency of the United States Steel Corporation. Farrell was a leader of Irish-American "society," one of the First Irish Families, sometimes known as FIFs One of the most interesting of social elites, this group was largely rejected by WASP society, while it in turn spurned nouveau riche Irish like Joseph Kennedy ... [ more ]

Rock Ledge is both historically and architecturally significant. In scale and importance the estate is an early twentieth- century counterpart in South Norwalk of the Lockwood Mansion of the 1860s in Norwalk itself. The original owner of Rock Ledge, James Augustus Farrell (1863-1941) was born in New Haven but moved to Pittsburgh, where he worked as a laborer in a wire mill. An embodiment of of the American success story, he had risen in 1911 to the Presidency of the United States Steel Corporation. Farrell was a leader of Irish-American society, one of the First Irish Familes ... [ more ]

Bishop William Tyler of Southern New England was given the task of founding communities throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island. He resided in Providence, Rhode Island because there were more Catholics there, but he visited the small group of Catholics in Norwalk in 1847. That same year he wrote these words about his pastoral visits: "Next Summer I expect three priests from the College of Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland. I have no vestments, chalices, etc. for them. I wish to send these newly ordained priests to serve places where there are bodies of poor Catholic laborers, and in some of these places there is not the semblance of a church" ... [ more ]

The Dublin Hill neighborhood in Southbury became an Irish farming neighborhood in the mid-19th century. Stephen Collins and his wife Bridget were the first to purchase land, obtaining 14 acres with a dwelling house and other buildings for $600 in 1859. Patrick and Ellen Doolan purchased 8 acres just south of Collins in 1860 ... [ more ]

The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) in America was founded May 4th, 1836 at New York's St. James Church to protect the clergy and church property from the "Know Nothings" and their followers. The AOH Division in Stamford is the Gen. Philip Sheridan Division founded in 1894. The building houses their clubrooms including a pub and hall where various events and functions are held. The hall is also available for rentals ... [ more ]

St. Patrick's Day Parade celebrating all things Irish in downtown Stamford. Participants include bagpipe and pipe bands from throughout the region, local school bands, Irish dancing troupes, police and fire department personnel and vehicles, youth athletic associations and community organizations ... [ more ]

The parish was founded by immigrant Irish Catholics, and the present church was built with stone dragged from a local quarry by the Irish Catholic members of the parish themselves. At the time it was the largest stone church in southern Connecticut. The stained glass windows form one of the largest collections of American 19th century church stained glass on the east. The Basilica is now home to the largest Catholic community in Stamford, whose members hale from dozens of countries ... [ more ]

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 ]