the Board of Alderman and only one many with an Irish name ever recorded on the Common Council. In 1870, there were at least half a dozen Irish men on the Common Council and a few Irish had been or were on the Board of Alderman. In their new political positions, they created new schools, libraries, health facilities and fire departments. They enlarged water supplies and ran new sewer lines. They did all of these things to accommodate their increasing Irish community in Boston. The Irish-Americans were finally beginning to carve out their own little niche in Boston. They began to prove to the ‘natives’ their worth. They succeeded in pushing the natives out into the suburbs, whether or not this was purely because of prejudice or choice is unknown. Either way, I think that both the Irish-Americans and natives were content with the situation. The Irish further enriched the city that the ‘natives’ had built, in spite of the adversity that the natives had shown the Irish. In the end, I honestly think it was a win-win situation for both the Irish-Americans and the ‘natives.’ Both prospered after long periods of hard work, and also prospered because of each other’s hard work.*...
