Yorkville and the Upper East Side are well known throughout their respective histories for a mix of Gold Coast Patricians to the west as well as German, Czech, Slovak and Hungarian immigrants to the far-east. However, dispersed throughout both of these areas between opulent Fifth Avenue and the commercial and industrial East River waterfront was a large population of Irish Immigrants and their families through the 19th and early 20th Centuries. This event will shed a light on the lives of Irish Americans on the Upper East Side and other parts of Manhattan through the lens of the history of Archbishop John Hughes, a nearly mythic figure and Irish community leader.

Acclaimed biographer and local Upper East Side instructor John Loughery will give a lecture based on his recent book Dagger John: Archbishop John Hughes and the Making of Irish America. “Dagger” John Hughes was an infamous Irish-American figure who — in the face of bias against the Irish community — was an organizer, community advocate, and fiercely outspoken evangelist representing the Irish in America. Between founding Fordham University, a Jesuit Catholic University in the Bronx, and demanding the construction of the now-cherished St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown, Hughes was a revered (and feared) power broker for his community in Manhattan and beyond. Books will be for sale following the talk.

Co-sponsored by Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts and The American Irish Historical Society