New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade wasn’t the first…but it is the largest
(1601) 161 years before the New York City gathering there was the first ever recorded St. Patrick’s Day parade in the United States. The 1601 parade was to simply honor St. Patrick.
(1737) 25 years before the New York City gathering there were parades and partying in Boston. The 1737 parade in Boston was designed as a way for the Irish immigrants to connect to their new home while honoring their homeland and to show respect to the Patron Saint Patrick who is known for bringing Christianity to Ireland.
(1762) New York City gathering to celebrate.
(1766) 4 years after the gathering the first parade was organized in New York City by Irish militia men.
(1820’s) Almost 60 years after the first gathering, local Irish-American fraternities took over responsibility for overseeing the annual NYC parade.
(1840’s and 1850’s) Almost 80-90 years after the first gathering, the second wave of Irish immigration brought with it 900,000 new Irish immigrants to New York City alone. The mass exodus at this time from Ireland was due in part to the potato famine. This influx of immigration presented a new set of problems in the growing New York City. It also introduced a new and growing group of members in the NYC society that helped with the preservation of Irish culture as well as a rise in the Irish presence in politics.
(By 1855) Just under 100 years after the first gathering, Irish-Americans born in New York made up almost a third of the city’s whole population.
(By the end of the 1800’s) New York City housed the largest Irish-American population in the world.
For The History of St. Patrick’s Day in NYC click here
Sources
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