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Home › Articles › Family-Friendly Destinations › Indiana's Green Roots

Indiana's Green Roots

Hoosiers Can Claim Some Irish in Their Past

By Brenda Myers

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  • The canal projects of the 1830s attracted more Irish immigrants to the state, creating a demand for construction workers paid relatively high wages. The exact numbers of Irish immigrants at this time, however, are not known, as the state did not keep exact numbers. Life was harsh and the work was difficult.
  • Other early Irish settlers came to work on the National Road in the 1830s. They account for the first central Indiana settlers.
  • Irish canal workers again began working on the canals in the late 1840s and early 1850s as the state refinanced its debts and paved the way for private companies to complete the canal projects by 1853.
  • Railroad line construction also attracted Irish workers, with the first significant railroad completed in Indiana in 1847, especially settling in the South Bend area.
  • Early Indiana Irish residents experienced prejudice and anti-Catholic attitudes, yet they were active in politics and in the development of social, benevolent, temperance, military, religious and educational organizations, with most being formed in the 1870s and 1880s.
  • The Indiana Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a fraternal association, often took the lead in St. Patrick's Day celebrations in Indiana after 1871.
  • During the 1920s, while the rest of Irish immigration increased in America, the population decreased in Indiana. Lake County, in the northwest part of the state, was one exception as the Irish flocked there for work in their mills.
  • By the 1930s, most Irish families had been assimilated into American culture. Although they were less identifiable as an ethnicity, their descendants were active in politics, the church and the community.

    • For more information on planning your trip to Indiana, visit the Indiana Office of Tourism Development!


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