Pittsburgh Irish: Erin on the Three Rivers

Presbyterians from the Irish province of Ulster were among the first to push the wild frontier west and found the city of Pittsburgh. By the 1840s, the flow of Irish Catholic immigrants had become a flood. Fleeing the great hunger and facing resentment in the city, they established themselves as key members of the community, building railroads and canals and establishing schools, hospitals and fraternal orders. During the Civil War, 156 women, many of them Irish, made the ultimate sacrifice for their new country when the Allegheny Arsenal exploded. The Fenians fought Southern Rebels under a green flag and made a little-known invasion of Canada in 1866. In the twentieth century, the sons and daughters of Erin took on roles as political leaders, labor agitators and entrepreneurs. Exploring tales of saints, sinners and visionaries, author Gerard F. O'Neil offers a beguiling and fascinating history of the Pittsburgh Irish.
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Pittsburgh Irish: Erin on the Three Rivers

Presbyterians from the Irish province of Ulster were among the first to push the wild frontier west and found the city of Pittsburgh. By the 1840s, the flow of Irish Catholic immigrants had become a flood. Fleeing the great hunger and facing resentment in the city, they established themselves as key members of the community, building railroads and canals and establishing schools, hospitals and fraternal orders. During the Civil War, 156 women, many of them Irish, made the ultimate sacrifice for their new country when the Allegheny Arsenal exploded. The Fenians fought Southern Rebels under a green flag and made a little-known invasion of Canada in 1866. In the twentieth century, the sons and daughters of Erin took on roles as political leaders, labor agitators and entrepreneurs. Exploring tales of saints, sinners and visionaries, author Gerard F. O'Neil offers a beguiling and fascinating history of the Pittsburgh Irish.
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Pittsburgh Irish: Erin on the Three Rivers

Pittsburgh Irish: Erin on the Three Rivers

Pittsburgh Irish: Erin on the Three Rivers

Pittsburgh Irish: Erin on the Three Rivers

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Overview


Presbyterians from the Irish province of Ulster were among the first to push the wild frontier west and found the city of Pittsburgh. By the 1840s, the flow of Irish Catholic immigrants had become a flood. Fleeing the great hunger and facing resentment in the city, they established themselves as key members of the community, building railroads and canals and establishing schools, hospitals and fraternal orders. During the Civil War, 156 women, many of them Irish, made the ultimate sacrifice for their new country when the Allegheny Arsenal exploded. The Fenians fought Southern Rebels under a green flag and made a little-known invasion of Canada in 1866. In the twentieth century, the sons and daughters of Erin took on roles as political leaders, labor agitators and entrepreneurs. Exploring tales of saints, sinners and visionaries, author Gerard F. O'Neil offers a beguiling and fascinating history of the Pittsburgh Irish.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781626198296
Publisher: History Press, The
Publication date: 08/17/2015
Pages: 160
Sales rank: 1,048,186
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author


Gerard O'Neil has lived in the Pittsburgh area for over twenty years and has an MA in public history from Duquesne University, where he currently works as an archivist. In addition to working at the writers' center at La Roche College, he also provides sound systems for numerous cultural events in the Pittsburgh area. He has worked with many Irish bands and organizations in his capacity as a sound engineer, helping them bring the sounds of Ireland to Pittsburgh.

Table of Contents

Foreword Dianc V. Byrnes 7

Acknowledgements 11

Introduction 13

Part I 'The Pennsylvania Frontier: Rogues, Rebels and the Respectable, 1717-1820 17

From Ireland into the Wilderness 18

The Whiskey Rebellion 25

Frontier Music 28

Donegal on the Allegheny (Armstrong County) 30

Part II The Young City, 1820-1860 33

Dousing Debauchery in "Old Galway" (Near Fifth and liberty) 37

Rioting on the Railroads 39

Hibernians Arise in Pennsylvania 43

The Bishop and the Bigot 46

The Lost Shantytown of Iffly 53

Part III Irish Pittsburgh in the Civil War, 1861-1865 59

Charles McKenna of the 155th Regiment 63

Theresa and Edward O'Brien 71

The Allegheny Arsenal Disaster 74

The Fenian Connection 78

Part IV Irish in the Mills and Mines of the Steel City, 1866-1914 83

In the Barroom 89

Life at the Point 94

Dunbar's Mules 101

Real "Conspiracies": Organizing Labor Unions 105

Part V Twentieth-Century Rebels N'at, 1914-1945 109

Martyrs 110

De Valera Visits Pittsburgh 115

The Klan Provokes the Ire of Carnegie, Pennsylvania 121

Father James Renshaw Cox 123

The Pittsburgh Kid 129

Part VI Finishing Touches: Renaissance and Reinvention, 1945-2015 133

Reigning in the Radicals 133

Mayors N'at 135

Twentieth-Century Global Connections 138

Three Rivers Dance 142

Conclusion 147

Selected Bibliography 151

Index 157

About the Author 160

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