An excerpt from Buried Treasure: Irishtown Bend Artifacts"19th century Clevelanders recognized the area as a distinct Irish neighborhood, and part of a larger, growing presence of Irish community on the city's West Side. When the Irish first arrived as diggers for the Erie and Ohio canals, they settled on Whiskey Island near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. After the 1948 potato famine, Irish immigration increased substantially, and settlements grew in the 1850's along the west bank of the Flats in Irishtown Bend, and "The Angle", an extension of the Irish enclave north of Detroit." |