The B&O Railroad Museum

The B&O Railroad Museum is situated on a forty acre tract in Southwest Baltimore, the birthplace of American railroading. The B&O Railroad, chartered in 1827, was America's first commercial, long distance railroad. The initial parcel of land was donated by James Carroll from his Mount Clare estate. In 1828, the B&O established its headquarters and railroad shops at the corner of Pratt and Parkin Streets on a site known as the Mt. Clare Shops.

At a time when Baltimore's economic future appeared grim, the B&O Railroad planned a long distance commercial and passenger railway from BaltimoreÕs port to the Ohio River. Most of the labor which built America's first railroad was supplied by Irish immigrants who established residences in neighborhoods adjacent to the Mt. Clare Shops. These railroad craft shops grew from a small car-building facility to a huge complex of structures encompassing land from Parkin Street west to the Gwynns Falls and the Carrollton viaduct. During the early part of the 20th century, the B&O Railroad shops at Mt. Clare employed over 3,000 skilled workers and laborers most of whom resided in the rowhouse neighborhoods surrounding the shop complex. These neighborhoods had predominantly Irish residents.

Today the B&O Railroad Museum, a non-profit educational institution in association with the Smithsonian Institution, holds the most important collection of railroad artifacts in America. Over 250 locomotives and rolling stock make up a world class collection along with the national landmark 1884 passenger car roundhouse and other historic structures. More than 160,000 visitors come each year to learn the story of American rail transportation at the birthplace of American railroading. The MuseumÕs website is www.borail.org.

Heritage

In 1991 President George Bush first proclaimed the entire month of March of that year as Irish-American Heritage Month throughout the United States. Governor Parris N. Glendening similarly proclaimed March 1996 as Irish-American Heritage Month throughout Maryland. Governor Glendening's proclamation states in part "Whereas our citizens proudly salute the forty-four million Americans and approximately seven hundred and fifty thousand Marylanders of Irish ancestry who proudly contribute to virtually every aspect of life to include labor, education, business and industry, the nursing and medical professions, all levels and kinds of government service, the arts, science and engineering, law enforcement and the fire fighting services, now, therefore, I Parris N. Glendening, Governor of the State of Maryland, do hereby proclaim March 1996 as Irish-American Heritage Month in Maryland, and do commend this observance to all of our citizens."

Many tens of thousands of Irish had already immigrated to the United States before the mid-nineteenth century. However, it was the Irish immigrants' ability to not only survive the horror of the Great Hunger, but to also flourish in their newly adopted country. Irish immigrants and Irish-Americans continue today to profoundly effect life in Maryland and the United States. There is indeed a surge of interest and popularity in the literature, dance, music, history, song, art and culture of the Irish-Americans and Irish. As we stand facing the dawn of a New Millennium, one can only wonder about the future and the amazing and unfolding story of the Irish-Americans.

Great Hunger

Ireland is a beautiful island country located off the northwestern coast of Europe in the Atlantic Ocean. Approximately eight million Irish people lived there in 1845. The country was governed and ruled by England at the time. Many of the Irish lived in abject poverty often living as renters to landlords. They were virtually reduced to eating one crop as their main source of food-the potato. Suddenly, a disease infected the potato crop in 1845. Approximately one million Irish children, women and men (some historians estimate an even greater number) subsequently died of starvation and disease over the next five years. Ireland's Great Hunger had arrived with devastating impacts. Many other poor Irish were evicted from their meager homes for falling behind in their rent. 

Yet, the appalling and incredible reality was that the government continued to permit the exportation of tons of food from Ireland to other countries while the Irish died in massive numbers. Dr. Christine Kinealy wrote in her book, This Great Calamity, 1995: "There was no shortage of resources to avoid the tragedy of a famine. Within Ireland itself, there were substantial resources of food which, had the political will existed, could have been diverted, even as a short-term measure, to supply a starving people." Indeed, British Prime Minister Tony Blair stated in 1997 "That one million people should have died in what was then part of the richest and most powerful nation in the world is something that still causes pain as we reflect on it today. Those who governed in London at the time failed their people through standing by while a crop failure turned into a massive human tragedy." And so began in 1845 a massive and sad emigration of Irish people who escaped death by fleeing to the shores of the United States. As history would bear out, Ireland's tragic loss was America's tremendous gain. 

The Irish Shrine
In 1997 a group of concerned citizens in West Baltimore formed the Railroad Historical District Corporation (RHDC). The purpose of this non-profit organization was to acquire and restore some important houses that were slated for demolition. While some saw the condemned buildings as a worthless nuisance, the members of the RHDC recognized that these little "alley houses" were in fact important examples of historic architecture and saw them as monuments to the lives spent by the families of those who worked for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Located on W. Pratt Street across from the old B&O Roundhouse (now the B&O Railroad Museum), this row of 1840s residences housed those who worked in the "yards" of what is considered the nation's first great railroad. A difficult battle was fought but the group was successful in preventing demolition and was awarded grants from the State of Maryland that enabled restoration to begin in 1999. The row of historic little houses has been officially declared eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
Two of these structures, 918-920 Lemmon Street, have been saved to create a museum dedicated to honoring the many railroad families of the neighborhood that surrounds the B&O Roundhouse. Although there are several ethnic stories involved in this history, the Railroad Workers Museum's first project is The Irish Shrine. This memorial is offered out of respect for the tremendous Irish presence in the history of the neighborhood, at the B&O Railroad, and in the story of St. Peter's Parish. The Shrine was begun during the worldwide remembrance of Ireland's "Great Hunger" which brought so many immigrants to Baltimore and the rest of Maryland. The rowhouse at 920 Lemmon Street will be used to teach about the lives of Irish immigrants and their descendants, particularly as railroad families. The house will reflect the lifestyles of its occupants from 1848 and later, with an historical mural and archeological project in the garden.The Irish Shrine At Lemmon Street is Baltimore's first permanent monument to the Irish immigration experience and can be seen while visiting the B&O Railroad Museum.

St. Peter the Apostle Church
Immigrants from many diverse nationalities have come to America to enjoy the freedom to worship as guaranteed by the United States Constitution. The immigrants who came to America's urban centers during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries often settled in ethnic neighborhoods, where they frequently built houses of worship. These were often focal points for social and educational activities as well as places of worship.

St. Peter the Apostle Church, dating from 1842, is the oldest Catholic Church in West Baltimore. Father Edward McColgan, pastor, hired a master architect, Robert Cary Long, Jr., to design the building. Many of the parishioners who worked all day in the B&O Railroad shops reported after work to the site of the rising church to help in placing the foundation, laying the bricks, etc. St. Peter's long history has seen several ethnic groups predominating, but the earliest baptismal records show an extraordinary number of Irish family names. The congregation grew through the first hundred years, after which the numbers gradually declined as families moved away (usually west and southwest of the parish). St. Peter's School began as soon as the parish was established. Classes were first conducted in the church basement, then in a house behind the convent of Poppleton Street, as well as in an addition to the original convent. The Sisters of Mercy opened the "new" school at 16 S. Poppleton Street in 1917. A few current parishioners were students when the move took place. In the 1930's, St. Peter's Commercial School (later, Business School) was added to the eight grades already in place. Because of a financial crunch, the schools had to be closed in the late 1960's, after which St. Peter's Christian Life Center was created as a Catholic social outreach presence in the parish. Today, St. Peter's still functions as a place of worship and which along with St. Jerome's and St. Martin, comprise the Tri-Parish Catholic Community.