Community History, Neighborhoods & Cultural Legacy
Philadelphia holds a foundational place in the Irish-American story dating back to the American Revolution, when County Wexford-born Commodore John Barry earned renown as the “Father of the American Navy.”
In May and July of 1844, anti-Irish nativist mobs attacked Catholic churches in the Philadelphia Nativist Riots, burning St. Michael’s and St. Augustine’s churches. The resilient Irish community rebuilt, organizing fraternal orders like the Ancient Order of Hibernians and founding St. Joseph’s and Villanova universities.