The Irish Come to Rockford

Miriam C. Carlson
Heritage School, Rockford

The Potato Famine of 1845-1847 sent Irish immigrants to the cities of the United States. When the Irish of Chicago took jobs building the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad to Rockford, they brought their families. The railroad arrived in Rockford in 1852, but there was no bridge. The Irish stayed to build the bridge.

In 1849 the Illinois Legislature passed an act for the "improvement of the Rock River" and "the production of hydraulic power." The Rock River's stone bottom proved perfect for a dam. In 1851 Rockford businessmen created the Rockford Water Power District. Between 1852 and 1862, there was a huge rush and Rockford tripled in size.

The Irish first settled west of the Rock River allowing the men to walk to the the bridge construction site. This third ward neighborhood became known as "the Irish Patch" or "the Potato Patch" or just "the Patch." Those who came later and worked in the Water Power District settled in South Rockford or the fifth ward. The Irish who worked on the railroad settled on the east side, near what is now St. James Church. The 1870 Census was the first census to show origin of birth. It reported that 13 percent of the third ward and 7 percent of the fifth ward were born in Ireland.

Religion was important to the Irish. Beginning in 1844, priests traveled to Rockford to offer Mass. This continued until 1852 when the Chicago Diocese built St. James, Rockford's first Catholic church. The Irish from "the Patch" and South Rockford walked across a foot bridge near the present day library to attend Mass. A story is told of James Owen who believed that his horses had worked all week and had a right to rest on Sunday. As a result, he walked about four miles to Mass.

Local histories report that the Irish were known for drinking and fighting. But they were also known for hospitality and their dependence on each other. "Even if you lived four blocks away no one had to know your problem, but there would be help," a local historian said in a recent interview.

Stories about the use and abuse of alcohol by the Irish are common. Once a week a wagon from the brewery delivered beer. One family's grandmother did not want the beer wagon stopping at her house, so she had her weekly case delivered across the street to her sister's house. Another story tells of a lady who took the Sisters of St. James School for a buggy ride. As she drove down State Street, the horse clopped from side to side, stopping at each of the saloons, revealing her husband's routine.

The Irish were on both sides of the "alcohol" issue. In 1859, seven hundred women, including many Irish women, persuaded the Rockford City Council to ban the sale of liquor. This lasted until Mayor Charles William's term ended after the Civil War. The women insisted on a referendum in the 1880s. The men did not bother to vote. In spite of heavy rain, the vote was 3,122 to 24 in favor of prohibition. However, eleven of the fourteen aldermen were "wet," and simply declared that the saloons would stay open.

When this happened, Kate O'Connor was a little girl in the east side Irish section of Rockford. This event influenced her life. As she later said:

The injustice of this struck home, as it seemed to me an ignominious insult to these earnest women. . . I think it was then that I donned my fighting clothes and have worn them ever since, for when one ceases to fight he commences to die.

Kate worked for the rights of people. She was the first woman to run for a political office in Winnebago County when she ran for superintendent of schools in 1908. Later she worked in the U.S. Department of Labor, becoming friends with Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins and Eleanor Roosevelt.

One of the hardships that the Irish faced were the Swedes who owned many of the furniture factories in Rockford. The Swedes posted signs that read "Irish Need Not Apply." The Irish believed this was against their religion. There were fights between the Swedes and the Irish. Children on the way to St. James had to walk on the opposite side of the streets so the Swedish children at Hall and Lincoln Junior High Schools would not fight and throw things. Stories are still told of the Irish and Swedish youths fighting on the State Street Bridge. Another story is of Margaret Buttimer, a trained Church of England parish worker from County Cork who joined the Rockford Episcopal Church. The women of the church so shunned her for being Irish that she joined the Methodist church.

When the time came to found a second Catholic church, now on the west side, no one wanted to sell land to the Chicago Diocese. The Diocese had to buy the land secretly. Property was finally purchased on the corner of Elm and South Winnebago Streets. When the new parish of St. Mary was announced at a meeting of the Irish from both South Rockford and "The Patch," Laurence Byrne made the first donation of five hundred dollars.

But other events led to the integration of the Irish into America. In 1862 President Lincoln asked for three hundred thousand volunteers to fight to

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save the Union. Rockford Mayor Charles Williams and Reverend Donelan of St. James asked Patrick Flynn to raise a company of Irish volunteers. Major Flynn raised 140 Irishmen in sixteen days. The Mulligan Guards eventually included three hundred men from Winnebago, Boone, and Stephenson Counties. The Mulligan Guards became Company A of the Nineteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry.

After the war, new businessmen also emerged among the Irish of "The Patch." Many were composed of brothers and fathers and sons. Prominent were the two Dr. Cuihanes, the Condons, and three generations of the Gills. "The Patch" disappeared as businesses spread into the area between Cedar, Horsman, Chestnut Streets, and Rockton Avenue. The Irish were now becoming "Americans."—[John J. Bums, "Early History of Irish: First Families Arrived in City 100 years Ago," Rockford Morning Star, March 17, 1946; "Leonard R. Condon, 78, Dies; Civic Leader Here," Rockford Morning Star, Jan. 23, 1962; We the People... of Winnebago County; Herman G. Nelson, "Irish Among City's Earliest Residents: Still Occupy 'Patch' Area, Built Railroads," Rockford Morning Star, Mar. 17, 1955; "Irish Families Figure In Seedsman's Memories," Rockford Morning Star, Mar. 9, 1958; John D. Rowley, ed, Winnebago County, Illinois 1870 Federal Census; "Sons of Erin Are Hard to Find in Rockford,"Rockford Register Republic, Mar. 17, 1967; student historian's interviews with Dorothy Belin, Sept. 20, 1999, with Catherine Meyer-Phelps, Sept. 27, 1999; "Suffragette Part of Irish Colony," Rockford Register Republic, June 1975.]

4 ILLINOIS HISTORY / DECEMBER 1999