Irish Washington, D.C. history 2024

Irish Washington, D.C.  (it wasn’t just Swampoodle)

sources on the history

originally here: https://matthewbgilmore.wordpress.com/bibliography-irish-washington-dc/ Swampoodle history blog post-Feb 4th, 2018:  Making Washington’s “Swampoodle”: Irish Neighborhood in the Tiber Valley Swampoodle history blog post resources: What Once Was–Making Washington’s “Swampoodle”: Irish Neighborhood in the Tiber Valley – References and Resources 

St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated since early in the 19th century. George Washington Parke Custis had a long involvement with the Irish community, frequently speaking at St. Patrick’s Day events (Charles S. Clark. George Washington Parke Custis: A Rarefied Life in America’s First Family. McFarland, 2021), including this dinner in 1844.

Whig Standard March 18, 1844

The St. Patrick’s Day tradition continued with varying intensity, A description of a quiet St. Patrick’s Day in Washington DC in 1854:

Daily Evening Star, March 17, 1854.

Old St. Patrick’s Church, 10th & F Sts., N.W. [LC-DIG-npcc-28305 / LC-F8122- 44637 [P&P]]

New St. Patrick’s Church, 10th & G Sts., NW [LC-DIG-npcc-31197 / LC-F8288 [P&P]]

St. Patrick’s — the landmark of Irish Catholic Washington, D.C.

A note of the very earliest Irish population of Washington City, published in 1816.

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David Baille Warden: Irish Washington David Baille Warden, A Chorographical and Statistical Description of the District of Columbia. 1816  LINK

A link to the Proposed Museum: Irish American Museum of Washington, D.C. (current status uncertain)

Books see also above: https://matthewbgilmore.wordpress.com/what-once-was-making-washingtons-swampoodle-irish-neighborhood-in-the-tiber-valley-references-and-resources/

• Urban Odyssey: A Multicultural History of Washington, D.C.; edited by Francine Curro Cary. 1996. Chapter 3: McAleer, Margaret H. “‘The Green Streets of Washington’: The Experience of Irish Mechanics in Antebellum Washington.” p. 42-64.
• Altenhofel, Jennifer Lynn. “Keeping House: Irish and Irish-American Women in the District of Columbia, 1850-1890. (Ph.D., American University, 2004) LINK https://dra.american.edu/islandora/object/auislandora%3A12392/datastream/PDF/view
• Borger, Tom. Irish roots in the Nation’s Capital: A family history. 2005.
• Gatti, Lawrence. Historic St. Stephen’s: An Account of its Eighty-five Years, 1867-1952.
• Langley, Harold D. St. Stephen Martyr Church and the Community, 1867-1967.
• MacGregor, Morris. A Parish for the Federal City: St. Patrick’s in Washington, 1794-1994. 1994. excerpt
• Schultz, Nancy Lusignan. Mrs. Mattingly’s Miracle: The Prince, the Widow, and the Cure That Shocked Washington City. 2011. locations
• Sherwood, Suzanne Berry. Foggy Bottom 1800-1975.
• Smith, Kathryn Schneider. Port Town to Urban Neighborhood: The Georgetown Waterfront of Washington, D.C., 1880-1920. 1989.
• Warden, David Bailie. A Chorographical and Statistical Description of the District of Columbia. 1816. Click here for: full text
• Diamond Jubilee of St. Aloysius’ Church, Washington, D.C. 1859-1934.
• Gonzaga College (Gonzaga College and High School). Catalog….1860s-1930s   locations
• _____. Gonzaga College, an historical sketch, from its foundation in 1821 to the solemn celebration of its first centenary in 1921. 1922.  locations and full text
• _____. Sketch from foundation in 1821 to 1896. 1897.  locations
• The history of the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of Washington, D.C. locations; Amazon
• Stewart D. McLaurin, William Seale, Matthew Costello, Merlo Kelly, Kristen Hunter Mason. James Hoban : designer and builder of the White House. White House Historical Association, Washington, 2021

Articles

• Hinkel, John V. “St. Patrick’s: Mother church of Washington.” Records of the Columbia Historical Society v.57-58.
• Kelly, Tom. “I knew my parents were Irish as soon as I knew anything.” Washingtonian March 1979: 144-150.
• Press, Emil A. “Reminiscences by Emil Press: Growing up in Swampoodle.” Records of the Columbia Historical Society v.73/74.
• Press, William H. “Reminiscences by William H. Press: Another view of Swampoodle.” Records of the Columbia Historical Society v.73/74.
• Proctor, John Clagett. [historical articles published in the Sunday Star] March 17, 1935; March 17, 1940; March 20, 1949
•  A Turbulent Time: Irish Immigrants, Free Blacks, and the Balance of Power in 1850s Washington, D.C. – By Chris Myers Asch — presented at the 2012 Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies
• Irish Protestantism in the U.S. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rac.2006.16.1.25https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rac.2006.16.1.25

Neighborhoods having had major Irish population component Brookland Foggy Bottom Swampoodle See Irish Neighborhoods in Old Washington here: for more information http://www.theusgenweb.org/dcgenweb/history/irish.shtmlNoted Irish Washingtonians/men associated with Washington

• Robert Brent (1764-1819) – first mayor of Washington https://www.jstor.org/stable/40066731?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54479526/robert-brent
• Patrick Buchanan (1938- )
• Thomas Carbery  (1791-1863)  Mayor of Washington  https://www.jstor.org/stable/40067058?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/44709285/thomas-carbery
• Thomas Corcoran (1754-1830) Mayor of Georgetown https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35521253/thomas-corcoran
• James Reed Dermot (1755-1803) American Catholic Historical Researches, Volumes 1-2
• Patrick H, Donegan, (1831-1874) City of Washington surveyor
• James Hoban (1755-1831)  https://www.nps.gov/crmjournal/summer2008/research1.html and https://www.whitehousehistory.org/collections/james-hoban-architect-of-the-white-house
• https://www.whitehousehistory.org/hoban-and-irish-washington-1790-1831
• Tom Kelly Oral History
• Jeremiah O’Leary (1919-1993)  newspaperman
• A.T. McCormick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._T._McCormick U.S Senate chaplain https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/79147426/mccormickhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/79147426/mccormick (member of prominent McCormick family)
• David Baillie Warden (1772-1845)  https://mdhistory.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/120

Websites

• When Washington Was Irish (website now archived at this like)
• Metropolitan Police Department’s Irish heritage
• And the Irish were very present in the Civil war: Irish in the Civil War
• The Irish Brigade (History Channel article) Irish Brigade

• Some Interesting Notes on Washington – Michael J. O’Brien – Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Volume 13, 1914 p.227 ff https://books.google.com/books?id=smjXAAAAMAAJ
• Barry Statue Unveiling (1914) — Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Volume 13, 1914 p.290 – 320 both in: LINK – https://books.google.com/books?id=smjXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA293&dq=irish+washington+dc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwim-Iy0nYPhAhWlT98KHf9hC5gQ6AEIYjAL#v=onepage&q=irish%20washington%20dc&f=false

The Irish of Holy Rood Some inscriptions from graves in Holy Rood Cemetery.  https://gloverparkhistory.com/cemeteries/holy-rood-cemetery/the-irish-of-holy-rood/

AND http://dcstpatsparade.com/ St. Patrick’s Parade of Washington, D.C. The mission of the St. Patrick’s Parade of Washington, D.C. is to foster the understanding of and celebrate the Irish culture in America. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been held annually in Washington, D.C., since 1971.