In March, we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with two Irish-centered presentations. Chris Naffziger started us off with a talk about Irish parishes, followed by Jackie Dana (that’s me!) telling stories about the life of Bryan Mullanphy.
The talks
Chris focused on a number of Irish parish churches in St. Louis, including several in the former Kerry Patch neighborhood of Old North, as well as St. James the Greater in Dogtown and a few others. The history he shared helped to shape an understanding of the significant Irish contributions to the growth of St. Louis.
You can view his slides below:
Meanwhile, I gave a brief outline of the life of Bryan Mullanphy, the 10th mayor of St. Louis. His eccentric life and kindness towards the poor and immigrant population make him a man worth further study. I shared a couple of stories from his life, including a dispute with one of the attorneys involved in freedom suits that almost ended up as a duel right outside the Old Courthouse.
You can view my slides below:
How to find more Unseen St. Louis history
Be sure to subscribe to Unseen St. Louis for the latest articles about local history and information about the monthly talks.
For even more history, be sure to follow the Unseen St. Louis page on Facebook. I also just created a brand new group on Facebook called STL History & Preservation, a space to talk about interesting aspects of our local history. I hope the group will also be where we can discuss at-risk buildings and what it would take to save them.
And if you haven’t joined us yet, be sure to sign up for Unseen STL History Adventures on Meetup.
Support Unseen St. Louis
Organizing talks, doing historical research, and planning tours take a lot of time. If you find value in the work that I do, your support will help me keep everything going. To help make these efforts sustainable, please consider signing up for a paid subscription to this Substack.
As always, thanks for all your support and interest in St. Louis history.
Unseen STL History Talks: A Journey through St. Louis's Irish Heritage