The Irish community is one of New York's major and important ethnic groups, and has been a significant proportion of the city's population since the waves of immigration in the late 19th century.
As a result of the Great Famine in Ireland, many Irish families were forced to emigrate from the country. By 1854, between 1.5 and 2 million Irish had left their country. In the United States, most Irish became city-dwellers. With little money, many had to settle in the cities that the ships landed in. By 1850, the Irish made up a quarter of the population in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.
New York City today has the largest number of Irish-Americans of any city in America. During the Celtic Tiger years, when the Irish economy was booming, a buying spree of homes and apartments by native Irish in New York City as second homes, or as investment property was seen.
Irish-Americans play a significant role in New York city and state politics, media, Wall Street, the Roman Catholic church, and the major sports leagues. They have been highly active in the Fire Department of New York City, New York City Police Department, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Famous quotes containing the words irish, americans, york and/or city:
“Ireland still remains the Holy Isle whose aspirations must on no account be mixed with the profane class-struggles of the rest of the sinful world ... the Irish peasant must not on any account know that the Socialist workers are his sole allies in Europe.”
—Friedrich Engels (1820–1895)
“The Americans have many virtues, but they have not Faith and Hope. I know no two words whose meaning is more lost sight of.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“You have a lifetime to work, but children are only young once.”
—Polish Proverb. New York Times Magazine (February 20, 1994)
“The city of Washington is in some respects self-contained, and it is easy there to forget what the rest of the United States is thinking about. I count it a fortunate circumstance that almost all the windows of the White House and its offices open upon unoccupied spaces that stretch to the banks of the Potomac ... and that as I sit there I can constantly forget Washington and remember the United States.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)