History of the Irish in Louisville

The history of the Irish in Louisville, Kentucky, USA dates to the founding of the city. There were two major waves of Irish influence on Louisville - the Scots-Irish in the late 18th century, and those who escaped from the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s.

Louisville was born from the original settlement by George Rogers Clark of Corn Island. Among the first settlers were the Irish families of Coomes, Doherty, McManis and Hart. The original surveys of the land that became Louisville were made by the Irishmen John Campbell and John Connolly. William Croghan, who was the brother-in-law of Clark, had a tremendous influence, best represented by Historic Locust Grove, which was built by Croghan and is now a National Historic Landmark. A stockade on the outer reaches of Louisville was built by Irishman James Sullivan in 1780.

In 1805, several Irish natives were living on Fifth Street by the Ohio River, but due to exogamous marriages and removals to new residences this was the last concentration of the Scots-Irish/Ulster Scots in Louisville. Irish from beyond the borders of Ulster did not arrive in Louisville until after the War of 1812.

The new wave of Irish began in 1812 when James Anderson migrated to Louisville. He started a successful wholesale dry goods store and also directed the Louisville branch of the Bank of the United States and joined the Louisville Commons Council. By 1825, many new Irish had come to Louisville, starting jobs such as candlemaking, groceries and boardinghouses.

With all the Irish coming to Louisville, many of the jobs that would normally be served by chattel slaves were instead being performed by the Irish, causing a major decrease in the number of slaves in Louisville before 1860. However, the influx of Irish brought with it different tensions, as it increased the number of Catholics in the city. This culminated in the Bloody Monday riots in 1855.

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