PART II EMIGRANT PERSPECTIVE
A Post-bellum New York Perspective for the Next Irish Migrant Wave
Fig. 34. 1874 Engraving of NY City from Brooklyn Heights The East River Bridge, then the longest suspension bridge in the world, was built between 1870 and 1883, creating a direct link between Brooklyn and Manhattan Island. Renamed the Brooklyn Bridge in 1915. ------------------------------------------------------------ The 18 th century village of Brooklyn gained a steamboat ferry service to Lower Manhattan in 1814, and by 1860 had grown to become the third largest city in the USA after New York City and Philadelphia. And the largest cities in the USA in 1860 were: 1 st - New York – 805,651, 2 nd – Philadelphia – 585,529, 3 rd – Brooklyn – 266,661, 4 th – Baltimore – 212,418, 5 th – Boston – 177,812, 6 th – New Orleans – 168,675, 7 th – Cincinnati – 161,044, 8 th – St Louis – 160,773, 9 th – Chicago – 109,260, 10 th – Buffalo – 81,129. All ten cities were busy shipping ports. The Irish were the dominant ethnic group in five of the largest six US cities in 1860. The 4 th city, Baltimore, and the 7 th – 10 th cities hosted more Germans with Ireland taking second place. In 1860 Brooklyn the Irish were the dominant ethnic group with 56,710 of the 104,589 foreign-born residents. 23,993 came from the German States.
Part III returns to the Cork Maritime Community
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