Update 5-22-20: Special thanks to Randy Harter over on the You are positively from Fort Wayne, if you remember. . Group for providing a link to the Sanborn maps. I was off on my numbering quite a bit. The 1890 Sanborn map of Fort Wayne will be exactly what I need for this part of the project!
As part of my research for the book, I am reconstructing the Irishtown neighborhood, using old Fort Wayne City Directories ( the predecessor of what would become the phone book in the 20th century). An interesting problem cropped up in my map project. The addresses are listed in the city directories, however the street numbering format has changed over the years. What was once Welch's Hardware Store at 190 Calhoun Street, is now Welch's Ale House (formerly CS3) at 1915 S Calhoun Street. Same building, different address number. So is it just a matter of multiplying the old address by a factor of ten? Kind of, but not exactly. One of the city directories explains how the streets are numbered. Calhoun Street begins at the St Mary's River and extends to the city limits. So what I need is a second vector to give me a baseline. In another directory, the Fort Wayne Sentinel building was omitted from the directory. The folks who created the directory were kind enough to include the Sentinel on an omissions page. It is listed as being on the east side of Calhoun Street between Wayne and Washington. A subsequent city directory lists the address as 107 Calhoun Street. So I was able to use the Sentinel and Welch's to estimate the address numbering system used before it changed in the early 20th century. Now that's just Calhoun Street. I still have dozens of other streets to figure out. Definitely not something I anticipated when I started the project, but fascinating (to me) nonetheless.
Sláinte! Rob Stone is ALL about Fort Wayne”s historic Irishtown Neighborhood—hear our conversationon on his journey & what he has discovered today during Morning Edition & ATC.
After 27 years as an information technology professional, Rob Stone figured the pandemic was the perfect time to reassess.
Stone loved studying human history, so he started taking anthropology classes at Purdue University Fort Wayne. He’d been writing history-based articles for years as a hobby, using the pen name O’Donoghue because it was his grandmother’s maiden name.
As part of his new academic direction, Stone started researching to write a book on the history of the Irish in Fort Wayne. About a year-and-a-half into that process, he came across a News-Sentinel article at The History Center that included, “The section of the city immediately south of the Pennsy Shops became known as ‘Irish Town.’”
On Oct. 1, a Fort Wayne organization will host an event that looks to remember Irishtown, a forgotten Fort Wayne neighborhood with history “too rich and too vibrant to lose,” according to the organization.
ARCH, a historic preservation organization in Fort Wayne, will host the Irishtown Trolley Tour and Festival, which will offer trolley rides and self-guided neighborhood walks that teach guests about the history of Irishtown.
Irishtown used to roughly make up the land south of downtown from Baker Street to Pontiac Street and from Fairfield Avenue to Calhoun Street, said ARCH Executive Director Connie Haas Zuber.
Haas Zuber said many Irish immigrants helped construct the Wabash & Erie Canal, and those immigrants mostly settled down in what became Irishtown.
“It just so happened, though, that the Irish families tended to clump — as immigrant groups do — in this area just immediately south of what was then a tiny Fort Wayne,” Haas Zuber said.
As Irish immigrants continued to settle into Irishtown, Haas Zuber said the Irish community also had a hand in Fort Wayne’s locomotive industry.
Haas Zuber said by the 1880s, there were 1,100 Irish immigrants living in Irishtown in addition to descendants of Irish immigrants who were born in America.
The Becker House, located at 425 W. Williams St., is in the heart of what once was Irishtown and is documented by the National Register of Historic Places. According to the National Register of Historic Places, the Becker House was built in 1886.
“[Fort Wayne] continued being a good place to get a good job and to bring your family, and Irish people kept coming here,” Haas Zuber said.
However, by around the 1920s, Haas Zuber said Irishtown was starting to be rebuilt and the Irish community started dispersing to other parts of Fort Wayne, which caused the memory and Irishtown to fade away over time.
Some of the Irishtown staples Haas Zuber said have been lost to time include Irish-based fraternal organizations, a grocery store and an ice cream factory.
Even the name itself is no longer used, as the area considered to be Irishtown is now divided into two neighborhoods: Hoagland Masterson and Williams-Woodland Park.
Irishtown Plaza, located at Fairfield Avenue and Taylor Street, sits in the heart of what once was Irishtown.
However, she also pointed out that some remnants of Irishtown still remain including St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and some houses that are either documented by the National Register of Historic Places or have been around since the 1860s.
The Irishtown area (also known as Hoagland Masterson Neighborhood Association and Poplar Neighborhood Association) in the Packard Area Planning Alliance (PAPA) was settled over 170 years ago, much of it by Irish immigrants who built Fort Wayne's canals and railroads. The Irishtown Neighborhood, home to St. Patrick's, the Irishtown Shamrocks Baseball Team, and many other Irish businesses was well documented until the mid-1920s, when the area lost its historic name and much of its identity was forgotten. Only recent archeological and historic preservation work has uncovered the neighborhood's past.
The Packard 2030 Neighborhood Plan was adopted last year. It included identifying and marketing the Irishtown area as a vibrant multicultural corridor and historic neighborhood located south of downtown along Fairfield Avenue.
We are excited to see these new markers installed today to begin celebrating our vibrant history in Fort Wayne. Special thanks to the City of Fort Wayne Government Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services and Public Works Right of Way for supporting this action step in the plan.
The Irishtown area connecting the Poplar Neighborhood Association and the Hoagland Masterson Neighborhood Association in the Packard Area Planning Alliance (PAPA) was settled over 170 years ago. Early Irish immigrants built Fort Wayne's canals and railroads. Irishtown was home to St. Patrick's Catholic Church, the Irishtown Shamrocks Baseball Team, and many other Irish businesses.
The Packard 2030 Neighborhood Plan adopted Irishtown with historical markers along the Fairfield Avenue corridor just south of downtown thanks to the City of Fort Wayne Government Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services and Public Works Right of Way. Learn more about the Packard Area Planning Alliance (PAPA) or participate in ongoing planning for your neighborhood.
Where is Irishtown? From 1880 to 1912 the neighborhood changed. At its height in 1880, the neighborhood spanned East to West from Calhoun to Fairfield and North to South from the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks to around Dewald Street. By 1912, it covered East to West from Calhoun to Hoagland streets and as far South as Dewald Street.
Note: The Google Map screenshot is from my research, based on Fort Wayne residents born in Ireland from the 1880 U.S. Census.
The other three photos are from The Fort Wayne Sentinel
Sat, Aug 10, 1912 ·Page 9.
