109-682: Irishtown Bend is the name given to both a former Irish American neighborhood and a landform located on the Flats of the west bank of the Cuyahoga River in the city of Cleveland in the U.S. state of Ohio in the United States. The landform consists of a tight meander in the Cuyahoga River, and the steep hillside above this meander. The neighborhood of Irish immigrants and Irish Americans emerged about 1830. Portions of
218-553: A fault has shifted vertically in relation to the other. The topographic expression of fault scarps results from the differential erosion of rocks of contrasting resistance and the displacement of land surface by movement along the fault. Differential movement and erosion may occur either along older inactive geologic faults, or recent active faults . Fault scarps often involve zones of highly fractured rock and discontinuities of hard and weak consistencies of rock. Bluffs can form from upthrown blocks and can be very steep, as in
327-447: A 2019 study, "the sons of farmers and illiterate men were more likely to emigrate than their literate and skilled counterparts. Emigration rates were highest in poorer farming communities with stronger migrant networks." Of the total Irish immigrants to the U.S. from 1820 to 1860, many died crossing the ocean due to disease and dismal conditions of what became known as coffin ships . Irish immigration had greatly increased beginning in
436-586: A cropland rent spike in Ireland. From 1815 to 1845, 500,000 more Irish Protestant immigrants came from Ireland to the United States, as part of a migration of approximately 1 million immigrants from Ireland from 1820 to 1845. In 1820, following the Louisiana Purchase in 1804 and the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1819, and acquisition of territories formerly controlled by Catholic European nations,
545-660: A generation of Americans, not of Englishmen or Germans or Scots-Irish." The two groups had little initial interaction in America, as the 18th-century Ulster immigrants were predominantly Protestant and had become settled largely in upland regions of the American interior, while the huge wave of 19th-century Catholic immigrant families settled primarily in the Northeast and Midwest port cities such as Boston , Philadelphia , New York , Buffalo , or Chicago . However, beginning in
654-600: A great influence on the later culture of the Southern United States in particular and the culture of the United States in general through such contributions as American folk music , country and western music, and stock car racing , which became popular throughout the country in the late 20th century. Irish immigrants of this period participated in significant numbers in the American Revolution , leading one British Army officer to testify at
763-571: A highly malignant disease environment, with mosquitoes spreading disease. Most of the men did not establish families and died childless because the population of the Chesapeake Colonies, like the Thirteen Colonies in the aggregate, was not sex-balanced until the 18th century. Three-quarters of the immigrants to the Chesapeake Colonies were male (and in some periods, 4:1 or 6:1 male-to-female) and fewer than 1 percent were over
872-415: A history zone, with boardwalks over excavated archeological sites. From Riverbed Street to the shoreline would be a riverfront zone, with pedestrian promenade and man-made wetland. Paths would zigzag across the park, connecting the zones. A 22-foot (6.7 m) high canopy walkway in the neighborhood park and history zones would allow pedestrians to access residential areas on north of the park via an arch in
981-476: A massive wave of Irish immigration to the United States. By 1870, 10 percent of Cleveland's 100,000 residents were Irish. Nearly all the residents of Irishtown Bend after 1850 were predominantly unskilled laborers. Eighty residential parcels were laid out by the city. Irishtown Bend is frequently referred to in the press and popular histories as a " shanty town ". Nelson J. Callahan and William F. Hickey, historians of Cleveland's Irish community, state that nearly all
1090-452: A number of temporary shacks were erected. The 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m) Lederer Terminal Warehouse opened at 1530 Riverbed about 1920. A Hooverville grew up on the largely vacant Irishtown Bend in the 1930s. Most oral histories and written descriptions depicting housing here as a "shanty town" date to this period. Only five homes still stood in the area in 1952, and all of these had long been vacant. A garage made of concrete block
1199-422: A sandstone foundation and wood frame construction, and was two and a half stories high. The limited photographic evidence available also indicates a community of well-constructed homes on level ground. Descriptions of the area as a "shantytown" appear to be rooted in anti-Irish sentiment, rather than fact. Between 1860 and 1880, the nature of Irishtown Bend had changed. Instead of Irish immigrants, most residents of
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#17327946193271308-628: A significant portion, if not the vast majority, of native Irish Americans belonged to the Protestant faith, having converted prior to or after settling in the Thirteen Colonies . In 1820 Irish-born John England became the first Catholic bishop in the mainly Protestant city of Charleston, South Carolina . During the 1820s and 1830s, Bishop England defended the Catholic minority against Protestant prejudices. In 1831 and 1835, he established free schools for free African American children. Inflamed by
1417-446: A very triangular shape. This formation is known as a triangular facet ; however, this landform is not limited to fault scarps. Fault scarps may vary in size from a few centimeters to many meters. Fault-line scarps are typically formed due to the differential erosion of weaker rocks along a fault. Such erosion, occurring over long time periods, may shift a physical cliff far from the actual fault location, which may be buried beneath
1526-537: Is not open to the public, but can be seen from Riverbed Road. Irish American 38,597,428 Irish Americans ( Irish : Gael-Mheiriceánaigh ) are ethnic Irish who live in the United States and are American citizens. Most Irish Americans of the 21st century are descendants of immigrants who moved to the United States in the mid-19th century because of the Great Famine in Ireland. Some of
1635-460: The 1st Proprietary-Governor of Maryland ). The Maryland General Assembly later passed the 1649 Maryland Toleration Act explicitly guaranteeing those privileges for Catholics. Like the rest of the indentured servant population (who were mostly men) in the Chesapeake Colonies at the time, 40 to 50 percent died before completing their contracts. Conditions were harsh and the Tidewater region had
1744-793: The Chesapeake Colonies from the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in the 1650s (out of a total of approximately 10,000 Catholic immigrants from Ireland to the United States prior to the American Revolutionary War in 1775). Indentured servitude in British America emerged in part due to the high cost of passage across the Atlantic Ocean. Indentured servants followed their patrons to the latter's choice of colonies as destinations. While
1853-554: The Church of England as the official state church. In 1698 and 1699, Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina passed laws specifically limiting immigration of Irish Catholic indentured servants. In 1700, the estimated population of Maryland was 29,600, about 2,500 of whom were Catholic. In the 18th century, emigration from Ireland to the Thirteen Colonies shifted from being primarily Catholic to being primarily Protestant . With
1962-706: The Cleveland Museum of Natural History , began a three-year-long series of archaeological digs at Irishtown Bend. The archaeological dig generated interest in preserving the site and making it accessible to the public. After two years of work by six governmental planning agencies, the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission released a report in April 1992 that recommended an 18-mile (29 km) series of parks, protected areas, trails, and other new infrastructure to connect Lake Erie with
2071-797: The Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad in Cleveland, but a crossing of the Cuyahoga was never effected. The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad leased the C&;M in July 1863, and agreed to complete the line within the Cleveland city limits. Work on a new passenger depot at the Scranton Flats began in August 1863, and the tracks to the new depot were completed on November 4. In March 1880,
2180-640: The Colony of Virginia established the Anglican Church as the official religion, and passed laws prohibiting the free exercise of Catholicism during the colonial period , the General Assembly of the Province of Maryland enacted laws in 1639 protecting freedom of religion (following the instructions of a 1632 letter from Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore to his brother Leonard Calvert ,
2289-822: The Continental United States as of the 1790 Census . A 1932 report conducted by the American Council of Learned Societies , in collaboration with the United States Census Bureau , concluded that around 6.3% of the White population was of native Irish descent - separate from those of Anglo-Irish and Scots-Irish descent - by determining ancestry based on distinctly native Irish surnames (such as Murphy , Sullivan and Doherty , for example). It has been noted by several historians - in particular Kerby A. Miller - that
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#17327946193272398-679: The Cuyahoga Valley National Park to the south of Cleveland. The report advocated a series of biking and hiking trails at Irishtown Bend and "the Angle" to link the area with Whiskey Island to the north and the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail and other parks and trails in the south. With the instability of the Irishtown Bend making it increasingly clear that the area should not be used for important infrastructure,
2507-761: The Democratic Party Organizations , opposed abolition of slavery , and generally favored preserving the Union in 1860, when they voted for Stephen Douglas . After secession in 1861, the Southern Irish Catholic community supported the Confederate States of America and 20,000 Irish Catholics served in the Confederate States Army . Gleason says: Support for Irish Confederate soldiers from home
2616-574: The Detroit-Superior Bridge , a distance of about 2,500 feet (760 m). It extends from the shore of the Cuyahoga River up the hill to Franklin Avenue and W. 25th Street. The summit of the west side plateau is roughly 100 feet (30 m) above the river. The Irishtown Bend neighborhood was part of a larger Irish enclave in Cleveland known as "the Angle". The other section of the Angle was bounded by W. 28th Street, Division Avenue, and
2725-753: The Duke's Laws . The Frame of Government in William Penn 's 1682 land grant established free exercise of religion for all Christians in the Province of Pennsylvania . Following the Glorious Revolution (1688–1689), colonial governments disenfranchised Catholics in Maryland, New York, Rhode Island, Carolina, and Virginia. In Maryland, suffrage was restored in 1702. In 1692, the Maryland General Assembly had established
2834-737: The House of Commons that "half the rebels (referring to soldiers in the Continental Army) were from Ireland and that half of them spoke Irish." Irish Americans - Charles Carroll , Daniel Carroll , Thomas Lynch Jr. , James Duane , Cornelius Harnett , and several more signed the foundational documents of the United States—the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution —and, beginning with Andrew Jackson , served as president. Estimated Irish American population in
2943-575: The Southern Colonies ). Immigration during the war came to a standstill except by 5,000 German mercenaries from Hesse who remained in the country following the war. Out of the 115 killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill , 22 were Irish-born. Their names include Callaghan, Casey, Collins, Connelly, Dillon, Donohue, Flynn, McGrath, Nugent, Shannon, and Sullivan. By the end of the war in 1783, there were approximately 24,000 to 25,000 Catholics in
3052-648: The " Hearts of Steel ", also known as the "Steelboys", before the American revolution cut off further emigration. In 1704, the Maryland General Assembly passed a law that banned the Jesuits from proselytizing , baptizing children other than those with Catholic parents, and publicly conducting Catholic Mass . Two months after its passage, the General Assembly modified the legislation to allow Mass to be privately conducted for an 18-month period. In 1707,
3161-593: The 1790s. In the 18th century Thirteen Colonies and the independent United States, while interethnic marriage among Catholics remained a dominant pattern, Catholic-Protestant intermarriage became more common (notably in the Shenandoah Valley where intermarriage among Ulster Protestants and the significant minority of Irish Catholics in particular was not uncommon or stigmatized). While fewer Catholic parents required that their children be disinherited in their wills if they renounced Catholicism, compared to
3270-479: The 1830s due to the need for unskilled labor in canal building, lumbering, and construction works in the Northeast . The large Erie Canal project was one such example where Irishmen were many of the laborers. Small but tight communities developed in growing cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. Fault scarp A fault scarp is a small step-like offset of the ground surface in which one side of
3379-473: The 1850s or 1860s) featured a look-out basement with walls of dressed sandstone and a brick floor. A poor widow's home (built prior to 1872) had a brick foundation and wood frame construction, and was two stories high. It also had two wood frame outbuildings, each with a foundation. A semi-skilled dockworker's home (built prior to 1852) exhibited a deep foundation and a false facade of commercially manufactured brick. A middle-class professional worker's house had
Irishtown Bend - Misplaced Pages Continue
3488-463: The 30 Catholic churches with regular services in the Thirteen Colonies, 15 were located in Maryland, 11 in Pennsylvania, and 4 in the former New Netherland colonies. By 1756, the number of Catholics in Maryland had increased to approximately 7,000, which increased further to 20,000 by 1765. In Pennsylvania, there were approximately 3,000 Catholics in 1756 and 6,000 by 1765 (the large majority of
3597-650: The Alamo in March 1836 were 12 who were Irish-born, while an additional 14 bore Irish surnames. About 100 Irish-born soldiers participated in the Battle of San Jacinto – about one-seventh of the total force of Texians in that conflict. The Irish Catholics concentrated in a few medium-sized cities, where they were highly visible, especially in Charleston , Savannah and New Orleans . They often became precinct leaders in
3706-558: The Americas traveled as indentured servants , with their passage paid for a wealthier person to whom they owed labor for a period of time. Some were merchants and landowners, who served as key players in a variety of different mercantile and colonizing enterprises. In the 1620s significant numbers of Irish laborers began traveling to English colonies such as Virginia on the continent, and the Leeward Islands and Barbados in
3815-412: The Americas was the result of a series of complex causes. The Tudor conquest and subsequent colonization by English and Scots people during the 16th and 17th centuries had led to widespread social upheaval in Ireland. Many Irish people tried to seek a better life elsewhere. At the time European colonies were being founded in the Americas , offering destinations for emigration. Most Irish immigrants to
3924-828: The Atlantic & Great Western emerged from bankruptcy as a new company, the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad (NYP&O). In the spring of 1886, the NYP&;O extended the old C&M route in Cleveland by crossing the base of the Scranton Peninsula, curving around Irishtown Bend, and crossing "the Angle" to reach and then bridge the Old Ship Channel. Trains began running July 4. Docks were built on either side of Columbus Road on Irishtown Bend. The rail yards extended for nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) along
4033-623: The Caribbean region. Half of the Irish immigrants to the United States in its colonial era (1607–1775) came from the Irish province of Ulster and were largely Protestant, while the other half came from the other three provinces ( Leinster , Munster , and Connacht ). In the 17th century, immigration from Ireland to the Thirteen Colonies was minimal, confined mostly to male Irish indentured servants who were primarily Catholic and peaked with 8,000 prisoner-of-war penal transports to
4142-487: The Catholic population of the United States had grown to 195,000 (or approximately 2 percent of the total population of approximately 9.6 million). By 1840, along with resumed immigration from Germany by the 1820s, the Catholic population grew to 663,000 (or approximately 4 percent out of the total population of 17.1 million). Following the potato blight in late 1845 that initiated the Great Famine in Ireland, from 1846 to 1851, more than 1 million more Irish immigrated to
4251-445: The Cuyahoga River in this area was so extensive, the C&MV had a rail yard eight tracks wide along Irishtown Bend to accommodate it. The navigable Cuyahoga River in and near Cleveland has a number of exceptionally tight meanders . As Great Lakes freighters became increasingly larger near the end of the 1800s, these meanders became a hindrance to river traffic. The city of Cleveland the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked together over
4360-581: The Cuyahoga River shoreline on either side of Columbus Road and slightly downstream of Columbus Road, the coal tipple near the Detroit-Superior Bridge, and the foundations of the Lederer Terminal Warehouse still exist. Much of the archeologically important evidence lies beneath 2 to 7.5 feet (0.61 to 2.29 m) of soil. This soil comes from grading of land after the demolition of adjacent properties, soil pushed over
4469-552: The Detroit-Superior Bridge (rather than descending all the way to the riverbank or up onto W. 25th Street). The proposed park design was submitted to the Cleveland Planning Commission on September 1, 2017. The state of Ohio approved $ 2.5 million ($ 3,000,000 in 2023 dollars) to support stabilization of Irishtown Bend in March 2018, half what had been sought by backers of the park. Cuyahoga County leased two acres (parcels 003-21-001 and 003-20-004) adjacent to
Irishtown Bend - Misplaced Pages Continue
4578-585: The Dover River's northward flow. Water backed up, until it began to flow southward along the course of the ancestral Tuscarawas River . As the ice sheet retreated, it left behind a recessional moraine near Akron, Ohio . The ice sheet retreated further, then made a minor advance. This advance left behind another recessional moraine near Defiance, Ohio . These moraines acted like dams, trapping water between them. The ephemeral lakes that formed laid down extensive deposits of clay and silt . Streams flowing down
4687-565: The General Assembly passed a law which permanently allowed Mass to be privately conducted. During this period, the General Assembly also began levying taxes on the passage of Irish Catholic indentured servants. In 1718, the General Assembly required a religious test for voting that resumed disenfranchisement of Catholics. However, lax enforcement of penal laws in Maryland (due to its population being overwhelmingly rural) enabled churches on Jesuit-operated farms and plantations to serve growing populations and become stable parishes . In 1750, of
4796-776: The Irish saint when they established the San Patricio Colony south of San Antonio; James Power and James Hewetson contracted to create the Refugio Colony on the Gulf Coast. The two colonies were settled mainly by Irish, but also by Mexicans and other nationalities. At least 87 Irish-surnamed individuals settled in the Peters Colony, which included much of present-day north-central Texas, in the 1840s. The Irish participated in all phases of Texas' war of independence against Mexico. Among those who died defending
4905-572: The Irishtown Bend. Between 1987 and 1989, the Department of Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History began excavations at the site of three former homes in the Irishtown Bend residential district. The histories of the three families were documented using archival and genealogical sources, and the artifacts from the sites revealed the economic status of each family. The archaeological dig generated interest in preserving
5014-627: The Pennsylvania Catholic population was from provinces of southern Germany ). From 1717 to 1775, though scholarly estimates vary, the most common approximation is that 250,000 immigrants from Ireland emigrated to the Thirteen Colonies. By the beginning of the American Revolutionary War in 1775, approximately only 2 to 3 percent of the colonial labor force was composed of indentured servants, and of those arriving from Britain from 1773 to 1776, fewer than 5 percent were from Ireland (while 85 percent remained male and 72 percent went to
5123-512: The Scotch-Irish (such as The Mind of the South by W. J. Cash ) is often incorrect. Historians David Hackett Fischer and James G. Leyburn note that usage of the term is unique to North American English and it is rarely used by British historians, or in Ireland or Scotland, where Scots-Irish is a term used by Irish Scottish people to describe themselves. The first recorded usage of
5232-489: The Superior Viaduct to the park planning organizations in April 2018. The terms of the lease are $ 1 per year, with an initial term of 25 years. It is renewable for an additional 50 years, up to a total of 99 years. The planning organizations have an option to buy, but the county will retain an easement to allow inspection of the former bridge. The Irishtown Bend Archeological District is a historic site located on
5341-504: The United States (including 3,000 slaves ) out of a total population of approximately 3 million (or less than 1 percent). The majority of the Catholic population in the United States during the colonial period came from England , Germany, and France , not Ireland. Irish historiographers tried and failed to demonstrate Irish Catholics were more numerous in the colonial period than previous scholarship had indicated. By 1790, approximately 400,000 people of Irish birth or ancestry lived in
5450-465: The United States (or greater than 10 percent of the total population of approximately 3.9 million). The U.S. Bureau of the Census estimates 2% of the United States population in 1776 was of native Irish heritage. The Catholic population grew to approximately 50,000 by 1800 (or less than 1 percent of the total population of approximately 5.3 million) due to increased Catholic emigration from Ireland during
5559-410: The United States in the 18th century likely became common among Episcopalians and Quakers in Pennsylvania, where numerous of these immigrants entered through Philadelphia. Records show that usage of the term with this meaning was made as early as 1757 by Anglo-Irish philosopher Edmund Burke . However, multiple historians have noted that from the time of the American Revolutionary War until 1850,
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#17327946193275668-417: The United States, 90 percent of whom were Catholic. From 1800 to 1844, Irish emigrants were mainly skilled and economically sufficient Ulster Protestants , including artisans, tradesmen and professionals, and farmers. The Famine and the threat of starvation amongst the Irish Catholic population broke down the psychological barriers that had discouraged them from making the passage to America before. After
5777-479: The United States. During the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), there was a 22-year economic expansion in Ireland due to increased need for agricultural products for British soldiers and an expanding population in England. Following the conclusion of the War of the Seventh Coalition and Napoleon 's exile to Saint Helena in 1815, there was a six-year international economic depression that led to plummeting grain prices and
5886-437: The Westerly Low-Level Interceptor about 30 feet (9.1 m) below Riverbed Street. The tunnel was poorly designed, and constructed in an area known to be prone to subsidence. In 1914, construction began on the Detroit-Superior Bridge at the north end of Irishtown Bend. The railroad tracks ran beneath one of the arches of the bridge. The railroad dock was moved 200 feet (61 m) upstream in 1917 to accommodate construction of
5995-405: The age of 35. As a consequence, the population grew only because of sustained immigration rather than natural increase . Many of those who survived their indentured servitude contracts left the region. In 1650, all five Catholic churches with regular services in the eight British American colonies were located in Maryland. The Province of Carolina did not restrict suffrage to members of
6104-409: The area became industrial in the late 1800s. By 1900, most Irish residents had left the area, and it became an Eastern European immigrant enclave. The neighborhood went into significant decline for several reasons, and what little remained of it was razed at the end of the 1950s. No commercial or residential buildings existed at the site by the 1980s, when archeological digs began. In 1990, a portion of
6213-416: The area were first-generation Irish Americans. Beginning in 1880, Irish residents were displaced by immigrants from Eastern Europe, primarily Hungarians . Although Irish Americans continued to own most of the land at Irishtown Bend, fully half the residents of the area were of Eastern European descent by 1900. By this time, Irish Americans still living in Irishtown Bend were skilled or semi-skilled workers, and
6322-473: The case of Pakistan's coastal cliffs. The height of the scarp formation tends to be defined in terms of the vertical displacement along the fault. Active scarp faults may reflect rapid tectonic displacement and can be caused by any type of fault including strike-slip faults . Vertical displacement of ten meters may occur in fault scarps in volcanic bedrock, but is usually the result of multiple episodic movements of 5 to 10 meters per tectonic event. Due to
6431-407: The city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, several nonprofits, and landowners at Irishtown Bend began parallel discussions in 2006 about the future of the area and the abandoned railroad tracks. In January 2009, these groups issued a report, the "Flats Connections Plan", which advocated turning the abandoned trackbed between Kingsbury Run and Whiskey Island into a biking-hiking trail. The plan also included
6540-455: The city of Cleveland, the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, and the nonprofit park advocacy group LAND Studio in a planning effort to begin the work of designing the park and the trail that would run through it. The now-17-acre (69,000 m2) park included the summit of hillside, an area occupied by Ohio City Farms, four buildings, and a parking lot. Public meetings about the park design began to be held in June 2017. A revised park design
6649-405: The cliff onto the hillside during construction of the CMHA housing, illegal refuse and soil dumping, erosion, and possibly disturbances during squatter occupation of the site during the Great Depression . Despite being covered by fill dirt and regraded extensively, most archeologically important evidence still remains undisturbed in the historic district. The Irishtown Bend Archeological District
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#17327946193276758-538: The colonial period, Irish Protestant immigrants settled in the southern Appalachian backcountry and in the Carolina Piedmont . They became the primary cultural group in these areas, and their descendants were in the vanguard of westward movement through Virginia into Tennessee and Kentucky , and thence into Arkansas , Missouri and Texas . By the 19th century, through intermarriage with settlers of English and German ancestry, their descendants lost their identification with Ireland. "This generation of pioneers...was
6867-405: The construction of a new pedestrian bridge over the Old Ship Channel of the Cuyahoga River to reconnect the tracks with the old rail yard on Whiskey Island. Another of the plan proposed converting the Irishtown Bend hillside into a park, playgrounds, and wetlands. Initial design work for trail began in 2009. The Cuyahoga County Planning Commission took over planning for the pedestrian bridge linking
6976-415: The demand. Many of the Famine immigrants to New York City were required quarantine on Staten Island or Blackwell's Island . Weakened by famine and diseases of the poor, who suffered lack of sanitation and crowded shipboard conditions, thousands died from typhoid fever or cholera for reasons directly or indirectly related to the Famine. Doctors did not know how to treat or prevent these. Despite
7085-404: The dramatic uplift along the fault, which exposes its surface, the fault scarp is very prone to erosion. This is especially true if the material being uplifted consists of unconsolidated sediment. Weathering, mass wasting, and water runoff can soon wear down these bluffs, sometimes resulting in V-shaped valleys along runoff channels. Adjacent V-shaped valley formations give the remaining fault spurs
7194-412: The early 19th century, many Irish migrated individually to the interior for work on large-scale infrastructure projects such as canals and, later in the century, railroads . The Irish Protestants settled mainly in the colonial "back country" of the Appalachian Mountain region, and became the prominent ethnic strain in the culture that developed there. The descendants of Irish Protestant settlers had
7303-464: The emergence of medium fault scarps have occurred along Riverbed Street to the water, indicating the failure of the toe of the slope (likely due to failure of 1950s-era bulkheads) and increased water in the soil. There is evidence that a failure plane exists about 100 feet (30 m) behind the surface of the hillside. The Irishtown Bend landform is located on the west bank of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. It runs from Columbus Road downstream to
7412-454: The established Anglican church. In contrast to 17th century Maryland, the New England colonies had a variety of policies. Plymouth , Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut Colonies restricted suffrage to members of the established Puritan church. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations had no established church, while the former New Netherland colonies ( New York , New Jersey , and Delaware ) had no established church under
7521-428: The exception of the 1790s, it would remain so until the mid-to-late 1830s, with Presbyterians constituting the absolute majority until 1835. These Protestant immigrants were principally descended from Scottish and English pastoralists and colonial administrators (often from the South/ Lowlands of Scotland and the bordering North of England ) who had in the previous century settled the Plantations of Ireland ,
7630-445: The first Irish people to travel to the New World did so as members of the Spanish garrison in Florida during the 1560s. Small numbers of Irish colonists were involved in efforts to establish colonies in the Amazon region , in Newfoundland , and in Virginia between 1604 and the 1630s. According to historian Donald Akenson, there were "few if any" Irish forcibly transported to the Americas during this period. Irish immigration to
7739-412: The hillside to be unstable. About 15 feet (4.6 m) above the mean water line, the shear strength is 1,000 pounds per square foot (48 kPa), while at the top of the hill the shear strength is 2,000 pounds per square foot (96 kPa). Geological data indicate that the hill is sliding into the river at a rate of about 2 inches (51 mm) per year. Extensive fill dirt was placed on the slope from
7848-496: The hillside. Road and sewer repair, the construction of a "lake link" trail through the area, and the establishment of a large new public park at Irishtown Bend were put on hold while funding was sought for the stabilization effort. Funds raised for the $ 28 million ($ 34,800,000 in 2023 dollars) bulkhead restoration project totaled $ 10.5 million ($ 13,100,000 in 2023 dollars) by November 2017, with several funding sources still being sought. In 1987, Dr. Alfred M. Lee, an archaeologist at
7957-508: The homes in Irishtown Bend were "shanties" (shacks), their riverside ends built on stilts over the steep ground. Archeological evidence from a Cleveland Museum of Natural History investigation in the 1980s indicates a starkly different picture of solidly built wood frame homes, built on level ground and many with concrete or stone foundations. The neighborhood was working class , not poor, and most homes were "1 or 2 story, single family, frame structures." One excavated structure (probably from
8066-482: The land of trees, built homes, and planted fields. Many others worked in coastal areas as fishers, on ships, and as dockworkers. In the 1800s, Irish immigrants in the United States tended to stay in the large cities where they landed. From 1820 to 1860, 1,956,557 Irish arrived, 75% of these after the Great Irish Famine (or The Great Hunger , Irish : An Gorta Mór ) of 1845–1852, struck. According to
8175-608: The largest of which was the Plantation of Ulster . By the late 18th century, these Protestant immigrants primarily migrated as families rather than as individuals. Most of these Irish Protestants were Ulster Protestants . During the first half of the 18th century, 15,000 Ulster Protestants emigrated to North America , with another 25,000 during the period 1751 to 1775. The reasons for their emigration consisted mainly of: bad harvests, landlords increasing rents as leases fell through, and agrarian violence by Protestant gangs such as
8284-516: The late 1950s to the early 1960s. This increased pressure on the soil below, turning what had been a dormant or slow slide into an accelerated one. Regrading of the hillside occurred afterward, after which significant slope instability began. Fault scarps (ranging in size from a few inches to several feet) exist at the top of the slope (where the slope meets the West Side Plateau) and along Franklin Avenue. Since about 2004, subsidence and
8393-661: The lead in identifying a solution for stabilizing the soil at Irishtown Bend in October 2012. In 2009, the Corps of Engineers estimated that stabilizing the hillside would cost $ 219 million ($ 311,000,000 in 2023 dollars). A 17-month study of the site by the Port Authority led to a new estimate of just $ 49 million ($ 63,000,000 in 2023 dollars) in February 2015. Ohio City Inc. (a nonprofit community development corporation ) led
8502-647: The main line of the now-removed railroad track. Problems with water saturating the northern end of Irishtown Bend and worsening the hill's stability problems were first identified in 1960, when the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad tracks north of the Lederer Terminal Warehouse subsided significantly and had to be repaired. An investigation by the CMHA concluded that saturated soil was the culprit, and blamed either an unspecified nearby broken water line or an unknown natural spring. A landslide occurred in 1966, which
8611-569: The new immigrant residents of the neighborhood appear to have chosen the Bend as their new home because they, too, were skilled or semi-skilled. At its height, Irishtown Bend had 119 buildings, including 78 residences housing 138 families. Beginning about 1898, Irishtown Bend began to be abandoned as residents moved into better homes elsewhere and strict national immigration limits meant there were few immigrants to replace them. A third of all residences had been demolished by 1912. Many more were vacant, and
8720-465: The next six decades to implement a plan to widen the river in a number of places, especially where the meanders were tight. Irishtown Bend was one of the key trouble spots. The first extensive cuts on the west bank of the river occurred in August 1940. Steel sheet bulkheads were driven vertically into the riverbed at the shoreline to help hold back the land above. The widening was only partially completed when World War II broke out and delayed completion of
8829-594: The northern section of the trail (from the Detroit-Superior Bridge to the Old Ship Channel) in August 2016, and it opened on June 9, 2017. Work on the middle section of the trail was delayed pending stabilization of the Irishtown Bend hillside. Cleveland Metroparks said it would seek bids to build the Whiskey Island pedestrian bridge before the end of 2017, and hoped to complete work at the end of 2019. The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority took
8938-512: The preglacial Teays River and Dover River carved most of the ancient Cuyahoga River valley into the Devonian and Permian bedrock of Ohio. At least four major glacial periods covered Ohio in ice during the last two million years. The glaciers that swept over the land left behind unsorted till and sorted outwash . Between 25,000 and 14,000 years ago, the Wisconsin glaciation blocked
9047-417: The project. A 15-year postwar battle to win funding for completion of the river widening project finally concluded in the 1950s, and the west bank once more widened and bulkheaded in 1958. Although records are scanty, a brick sewer was built along what is now Riverbed Street some time about 1900. In 1947, Cleveland sewer district engineers built a 60-inch (150 cm) brick and concrete sewer tunnel known as
9156-595: The propaganda of the American Anti-Slavery Society , a mob raided the Charleston post office in 1835 and the next day turned its attention to England's school. England led Charleston's "Irish Volunteers" to defend the school. Soon after this, however, all schools for "free blacks" were closed in Charleston, and England acquiesced. Two pairs of Irish empresarios founded colonies in coastal Texas in 1828. John McMullen and James McGloin honored
9265-676: The rest of the US population, this response was more common among Catholic parents that Protestants. Despite such constraints, many Irish Catholics who immigrated to the United States from 1770 to 1830 converted to Baptist and Methodist churches during the Second Great Awakening (1790–1840). Between the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 and the War of 1812 , 100,000 immigrants came from Ulster to
9374-525: The river. People of Irish descent first settled in Cleveland in large numbers about 1825. Most of the men had been workers on the Erie Canal , and as work on the canal ended they settled in Cleveland and moved their families to the small but growing town. Anti-Irish discrimination was strong, and the Irish were forced to settle on high ground along the shores of Lake Erie near the mouth of the Cuyahoga. This area, which later became known as Whiskey Island ,
9483-434: The rowdiness of their foreign-born employees. Nevertheless, they recognized the importance of the Irish worker to the protection of slavery.... The Catholicism practiced by Irish immigrants was of little concern to Southern natives. Before the 1800s, Irish immigrants to North America often moved to the countryside. Some worked in the fur trade, trapping and exploring, but most settled in rural farms and villages. They cleared
9592-403: The second potato blight in 1846, panic over the need to escape their difficult situation in Ireland led many to the belief that "anywhere is better than here". Irish Catholics traveled to England , Canada , and America for new lives. Irish immigration increased dramatically during the period 1845–1849, as ships started transporting Irish emigrants during the autumn and winter periods to meet
9701-491: The sides of the moraines left behind alluvial fans and deltas . This left the ancient Dover River valley buried beneath as much as 500 feet (150 m) of various types of soil. About 10,000 years ago, several streams joined together north of the Defiance moraine and eroded their way through the buried Dover River valley to Lake Erie . Headward erosion eventually breached both the Defiance and Akron moraines and tapped into
9810-726: The site and making it accessible to the public. The Irishtown Bend Archeological District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 25, 1990. It is bounded by Riverbed Street, Russia Street, Franklin Avenue, and Columbus Road. These streets (some of which no longer exist) defined the residential area during the 19th century. Construction of the Lederer Warehouse Terminal and CMHA public housing essentially destroyed any archeological evidence which may have existed north of Russia Street or west or south of Franklin Avenue. Remnants of coal docks on
9919-676: The site, known as the Irishtown Bend Archeological District , was added to the National Register of Historic Places . Beginning in 2006, efforts began to stabilize the soil of Irishtown Bend, preserve the archeological history of the site, and convert the area into a park, with construction beginning in 2023. During the Mesozoic Era and until the end of the Tertiary period of the Cenozoic Era,
10028-479: The small increase in Catholic-Protestant intermarriage following the American Revolutionary War, Catholic-Protestant intermarriage remained uncommon in the United States in the 19th century. Historians have characterized the etymology of the term " Scotch-Irish " as obscure. The term itself is misleading and confusing to the extent that even its usage by authors in historic works of literature about
10137-656: The southward flowing Tuscarawas River. As water levels receded, the northward-flowing Cuyahoga separated from the Tuscarawas (which still flows southward to this day). Irishtown Bend reflects the complex geology created over the last 252 million years. The Devonian shale bedrock of the area is overlain by 40 to 60 feet (12 to 18 m) of compact glacial till, followed by 20 to 30 feet (6.1 to 9.1 m) of stiff clay, 30 feet (9.1 m) of weak clay, 20 feet (6.1 m) of silt, 10 feet (3.0 m) of sand, and 10 to 20 feet (3.0 to 6.1 m) of fill dirt . These layers cause
10246-489: The southwest bank of the Old Ship Channel, around Irishtown Bend, in Tremont, and east of Broadway Avenue in Cleveland's North Broadway and South Broadway neighborhoods. Docks were built just north of where the tracks curved westward to pass under Detroit Avenue. The railroad built a new, steam-operated dock in 1912 near what is now the Detroit-Superior Bridge. It was designed by a local firm, Wellman Engineering. Traffic along
10355-459: The street in January 2006, major cracks reappeared only two weeks later. The city ordered the street closed as a safety measure. Throughout 2007, the subsidence worsened, with the eastern half of Riverbed Street dropping by more than 4 feet (1.2 m). After seven years and several studies, local authorities settled in February 2015 on a $ 49 million ($ 63,000,000 in 2023 dollars) plan to stabilize
10464-605: The term largely fell out of usage, because most Ulster Protestants identified as "Irish" until large waves of immigration by Irish Catholics both during and after the 1840s Great Famine in Ireland led those Ulster Protestants in America who lived in proximity to the new immigrants to change their self-identification to "Scotch-Irish," Those Ulster Protestants who did not live in proximity to Irish Catholics continued to self-identify as "Irish" or, as time went on, began to identify as being of " American ancestry ." While those historians note that renewed usage of "Scotch-Irish" after 1850
10573-565: The term was by Elizabeth I of England in 1573 in reference to Gaelic-speaking Scottish Highlanders who crossed the Irish Sea and intermarried with the Irish Catholic natives of Ireland. While Protestant immigrants from Ireland in the 18th century were more commonly identified as "Anglo-Irish," and while some preferred to self-identify as "Anglo-Irish," usage of "Scotch-Irish" in reference to Ulster Protestants who immigrated to
10682-647: The trail to Whiskey Island, and was considering four design finalists by October 2014. A design by Miguel Rosales / Schlaich Bergermann Partner / Osborn Engineering was chosen as the preferred alternative in June 2015. The George Gund Foundation gave $ 2 million ($ 2,700,000 in 2023 dollars) to the project in November 2011, and The Cleveland Foundation made a $ 5 million ($ 6,400,000 in 2023 dollars) gift in August 2014. In honor of The Cleveland Foundation gift, Cleveland Metroparks (designer, builder, and eventual maintainer of
10791-517: The trail) said the path would be renamed the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Lake Link Trail. The Cleveland Foundation Centennial Lake Link Trail was constructed in three phases. Work began on the south leg of the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Lake Link Trail (from the head of the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail to Columbus Road) in the fall of 2014, and it opened on August 13, 2015. Work began on
10900-672: The western abutments of the bridge. In December 1959, the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) purchased 22 acres (89,000 m) of land along the Irishtown Bend with the intent of building public housing on the site. The area encompassed by the purchase was bounded by Bridge Avenue, W. 25th Street, Detroit Avenue, and the railroad tracks. CMHA's 15-story Riverview Towers opened in January 1964. Another 15 three-story "garden apartments" were built around Riverview Towers between W. 25th Street, Bridge Avenue, and Franklin Avenue. Extensive fill dirt
11009-430: Was a peninsula which in 1827 was cut off by the creation of a new mouth of the Cuyahoga River. In the 1830s, the rapidly-expanding Cleveland economy had drawn more Irish to the area, doubling the size of the enclave and establishing "the Angle" as an adjunct to the Irish community on Whiskey Island. Irishtown Bend emerged as a residential community for Irish immigrants in the 1850s after the Great Famine of Ireland caused
11118-416: Was also a very important factor in Irish integration [into Southern society].... Upper-class southerners, therefore, did not object to the Irish, because Irish immigration never threatened to overwhelm their cities or states.... The Irish were willing to take on potentially high-mortality occupations, thereby sparing valuable slave property. Some employers objected not only to the cost of Irish labor but also to
11227-438: Was built at Irishtown Bend between 1952 and 1954, but this appears to be the only new construction in several decades. What was left of Irishtown Bend was razed in the mid to late 1950s. The Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad (C&M; later the Cleveland and Mahoning Valley Railroad ) was founded in 1848 and authorized to build a line from Cleveland to Warren, Ohio , and then into Pennsylvania. The railroad intended to connect with
11336-566: Was later attributed to water saturation caused by either a broken water main or sewer line. The following year, drains and a gutter were constructed from W. 25th Street down to the river's edge to help guide runoff away from the slope. By 1989, extensive water seepage had begun to flow out of the hill and over Riverbed Street. About 2004 or 2005, the Irishtown Bend hill began to subside at a significantly higher rate. In November 2005, major cracks appeared in Riverbed Street. The city repaved
11445-694: Was motivated by anti-Catholic prejudices among Ulster Protestants, considering the historically low rates of intermarriage between Protestants and Catholics in both Ireland and the United States, as well as the relative frequency of interethnic and interdenominational marriage amongst Protestants in Ulster, and despite the fact that not all Protestant migrants from Ireland historically were of Scottish descent, James G. Leyburn argued for retaining its usage for reasons of utility and preciseness, while historian Wayland F. Dunaway also argued for retention for historical precedent and linguistic description . During
11554-604: Was one of the Southern United States ' most outspoken supporters during the American Civil War through his newspapers the Southern Citizen and the Richmond Enquirer . Although most began as unskilled laborers, Irish Catholics in the South achieved average or above average economic status by 1900. David T. Gleeson emphasizes how well they were accepted by society: Native tolerance, however,
11663-419: Was placed on the slope from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, and the hillside regraded. The fill dirt reactivated and accelerated existing slides, and initiated several new ones. Additional infrastructure changes on the hillside included relocated the intersection of Franklin Avenue and W. 25th Street farther north in 1965, and widening one-lane Riverbed Street to two lanes in 1985. The new eastern lane covered
11772-484: Was unveiled in late August 2017. A primary entry plaza was planned for the intersection of Franklin Avenue and W. 25th Street, with a secondary entry plaza and cultural center near the Detroit-Superior Bridge. The proposed park had four zones. At the summit on the south was Ohio City Farms, which would be integrated into the park. North of the farms was a neighborhood park and playground. The hillside above Franklin Avenue and between Franklin Avenue and Riverbed Street would be
11881-578: Was vital both for encouraging them to stay in the army and to highlight to native white southerners that the entire Irish community was behind the Confederacy. Civilian leaders of the Irish and the South did embrace the Confederate national project and most became advocates of a 'hard-war' policy. Irish nationalist John Mitchel lived in Tennessee and Virginia during his exile from Ireland and
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