Cleveland Irish: The History of Irish Parishes in Cleveland by Francis McGarry A story from this months issue of the Ohio Irish American News The Irish in Cleveland established themselves in multiple communities during the 19th Century. East of the River, parishes like Immaculate Conception, 1865, and St. Columbkille, 1871, administered to the spiritual needs of their Irish congregations. As the Irish communities on the eastside continued to grow and respond to a city that was growing as well, new communities began and soon these communities had their own parishes. “Kilkenny, Ireland. 18 and 60. To my dear and loving son, John, … your mother says not to work on the railroad.” John may well have listened, but the Irish in Cleveland followed the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway to Collinwood. In order to celebrate Mass, they had to travel to Euclid. As a result, they petitioned the Diocese for a new parish. In 1876, St. Joseph’s Collinwood was established and its first rectory was built in 1901. The economy of Cleveland and Collinwood supported more immigration, including populations of Italian and Slovenian Catholics. As population increased and became multi-ethnic, new parishes were requested so that all could worship as the Irish did, with their brethren. As a result, St Mary’s was established in 1905 for the Slovenians, St. Jerome in 1919 for 125 families who lived north of the Collinwood Railroad and Holy Redeemer in 1924 for the Italians. St. Thomas Aquinas was established in 1898 at Superior and Ansel Road under the leadership of Father Thomas Mahon to minister to a predominately Irish populace, mostly first generation Irish Americans. Fr. Mahon quickly realized the vastness of his parish territory and suggested the creation of a second parish on St. Clair, which became St. Aloysius parish. As Irish immigration increased in the years preceding the First World War, the congregations of Immaculate Conception, St. Aloysius and St. Thomas Aquinas were becoming overcrowded. Bishop John Farrelly established St. Philip Neri in 1914 at St. Clair and East 82nd Street. But that did not slow the growth of St. Aloysius. By the beginning of the Second World War, the Irish and Irish American community of St. Aloysius supported one of the largest parishes in Cleveland. We were just getting started. The people who built the Erie Canal and founded bluestone quarries were becoming adept at building communities and parishes. The Cleveland Irish were on the move. The growth of Cleveland’s industrial complex and demographic internal migration brought Irish Catholics to East Cleveland and the Diocese responded with the founding of St. Philomena’s in 1902. In just twenty some years, the Irish helped found Christ the King at Euclid Avenue and Noble Road, a mere two miles from St. Philomena’s. Father Thomas Shannon actively built the parish and school of Christ the King with the assistance of Sisters Mary Eugene Beaumount, Constance Fogarty, Mary McGregor and Mary Brigid McDonough. The Cleveland Irish were both in the pulpit and in the pews. The Irish community was also moving up the hill to Cleveland Heights. St. Ann’s Church was founded in 1915 with the support of Father John Mary Powers and attorney Michael Patrick Mooney. They formed the “Meadowbrook Land Company” and purchased land with money borrowed from Bishop Farrelly, a truly Cleveland story. Apparently the existing community in Cleveland Heights was not too fond of the idea of a new parish with a population of Irish Catholics. That did not deter Father Powers. In December of 1918 he held a benefit concert for St. Ann’s at Grey’s Armory. This was the first performance of the newly formed Cleveland Orchestra. Father Powers with the help of benefits and private donations purchased pillars from 1st National Bank and built St. Ann’s Church. The Irish American community in Euclid assisted the creation of Holy Cross Parish in 1924 at Lake Shore and 200th Street under the guidance of Father Thomas Kirby. The Cleveland Irish had come a long way from Immaculate Conception at 41st and Superior. In the first hundred years of the Diocese, the Irish in Cleveland had fought to establish community; and, as the Cleveland landscape evolved, so did they. The founding of new parishes on the eastside details this intra-city migration. Those who arrived after the Famine had created enclaves for their children and the children of Erin who were to follow. The Irish in Cleveland did not compare to the Irish in New York or Boston in their political position or power, but they built community by building parish. In researching my family history and the history of the Irish in Cleveland, my first source was the “Irish Americans and Their Communities of Cleveland” by Nelson Callahan and William Hickey. That text is the seminal work on the Cleveland Irish, and it has been of great assistance. However, it does not include the topics or data that I have used in my articles. It does not mention the Fenians or Duncan McFarland and the Village of Bluestone. That is why I discuss the history that has been silenced by omission in the general narrative of our people in this city. The goal is to celebrate all of the contributions the Irish have made to this great city. On February 22nd we have scheduled such a celebration at Immaculate Conception at 41st and Superior. A Hibernian Mass will be said at 10am and a brunch at the Irish American Club East Side will follow immediately. It is a chance for all of our community to gather and honor a parish founded by the Irish Community in Cleveland in 1865. In celebrating this early Irish parish, we celebrate all those that followed. We stand where we are today because of what happened yesterday and that knowledge of our history allows us to move forward into the future. *Francis McGarry is President of the Irish American Club East Side and the Bluestone Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. w.francis.mcgarry@gmail
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 03:17:23 +0000